We just finished uploading a big batch of pictures to Flickr, including images from the April 4th Letters About Literature Awards Ceremony and our March 20th event with “Orphan Tsunami of 1700” co-author David Yamiguchi.  Our belated thanks to David for a thoroughly entertaining and informative event and our heartiest congratulations to this year’s Letters About Literature semi-finalists and champions!

Congratulations to this year’s Letters About Literature award winners!  Today at the Washington State Capitol Rotunda, 181 Semi-finalists, 23 Honorable Mentions, and 3 Champions will be honored by State Librarian Jan Walsh and Secretary of State Sam Reed. These talented students were selected by the judges from the over 2500 letters submitted this year.  The list of those honored is online at the Washington State Library’s website.  This year’s Champions are:

McKenzie Dent from Zieger Elementary School in Puyallup.  McKenzie wrote to Alice Mead, the author of “Soldier Mom.”  Read her letter here.

Jessica Jang from NOVA School in Olympia.  Jessica wrote to Richard Adams, the author of “Watership Down.”  Read her letter here

Alayna Chamberland from Capital High School in Olympia.  Alayna wrote to Wally Lamb, the author of ”She’s Come Undone.”  Read her letter here.

Congratulations McKenzie, Jessica, and Alayna!  Their letters will also be submitted to the national Letters About Literature competition. Thank you to all the students, teachers, and families who participated in Washington’s Letters About Literature program. Keep reading and writing!

At the event last week, Washington State Librarian Jan Walsh showed off the latest Washington Reads poster.  This time we’re extremely lucky to feature Mariners starting pitcher and author/poet Miguel Batista!  Miguel is the author of a recent book of poetry entitled “Sentimentos en Blanco y Negro,” as well as thriller called “The Avenger of Blood.”  In the poster, Miguel poses with his book of poetry and encourages kids around Washington to READ!  Jan Walsh will be present on Monday, March 31 for Mariners’ Opening Day at Safeco Field to do an official unveiling of the poster during the pre-game festivities.  Thanks, Miguel, for encouraging fans all over Washington State to READ!

Update: The link to order copies of the Miguel Batista poster can be found here.  Please note that posters can ONLY be sent to Washington State residents.

State Librarian Jan Walsh selected “The Orphan Tsunami of 1700: Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America” as one of her Washington Reads last fall.  This coming Thursday March 20, we’re pleased to welcome co-author David K. Yamiguchi who will discuss how his tree ring work in Washington helped a multi-national team of researchers discover the true origins of the tsunami that struck Japan in 1700.  This should be a fascinating event!  Doors open at 6:00 pm and David’s presentation will begin at 6:30.  More information is available on Washington State Library’s website.  We hope you can join us!

Over 50 folks joined us last Thursday night to hear author and Program Director for Historic Seattle Lawrence Kreisman present on his latest book, “The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest.”  The appreciative audience got an intimate look at some of the artisans and events that shaped this important movement, as well as view a stunning slideshow featuring pictures of arts and crafts architecture, furniture, jewelry, glass, and pottery.  Lawrence was also kind enough to answer questions and sign copies of his book!

And before Lawrence’s presentation, State Librarian Jan Walsh presented this quarter’s Washington Reads.  Winter 2008’s theme is “Of the Beach and the Sea.”  You can locate these books in our library catalog, or you can browse the selections on LibraryThing.

A very special thanks to Lawrence and everyone who attended and made this event so memorable!  Pictures from the night can be found on Flickr.

We’re very excited about our upcoming evening event next week!  Author and Program Director for Historic Seattle Lawrence Kreisman will be joining us next Thursday night, February 28, to discuss “The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest.”  You’ll definitely want to join us to find how local artisans contributed to the Arts and Crafts heritage through architecture, furniture making, stained glass, and jewelry.  Doors open at 6 pm on Thursday, so come early and get the best seat!

Speaking of artisans, the staff here has developed a new handout celebrating Brooding Heron and Jawbone Presses, the presses of Washington State Poet Laureate Samuel Green.  This flyer describes the materials available at the Washington State Library associated with both of these important Washington presses, so be sure to check it out.

We were very blessed to have authors Ruth Kirk and Dick Daugherty join us on January 17!  Over 100 people were able to listen as Ruth and Dick discussed their new book, “Archaeology in Washington,” shared stories about some of their favorite Washington digs, and took a happy look back over their respective careers in this fascinating field.  Our very hearty thanks to Dick and Ruth for participating in a lively Q & A session after their presentation, as well as signing copies of their book!

The State Library has also been quite blessed by a talented staff, and several of those staff members were featured in our first Brownbag Event of the year, “The Conservation Kitchen” this past Wednesday.  Diane, Marcea, and Laurie shared preservation tips and tricks with our audience, both onsite and in various videoconferencing locations around the state.  Handouts from this event can be found here.

Pictures from both events are up on Flickr.  Thanks to everyone for making these events such a success!

We’re headed out to enjoy a chilly January weekend, but before we jet for the day we want to share some new and really nifty information with you.

Our Handouts page has been revamped.  All our handouts are now hosted on our main website, so downloading them should be much easier for those of you that have to deal with filters. 

There’s a new category for Handouts that go along with State Library Presentations and Events.  You’ll find several handouts from the upcoming “Conservation Kitchen” program there.  We’re hearing lots of buzz about this exciting brownbag event that’s happening next Wednesday, January 30th.

Four Genealogy handouts are also making their first appearance: WSL Genealogy Periodicals, Newspaper Indexes and Abstracts, Donation Land Claims, and Brief Histories of the Counties of Washington.

There’s also a new category for Northwest History News Notes.  You may remember this feature from last year.  We’ve uploaded Fall of 2006, and more will be coming soon. 

Speaking of Northwest News Notes, we’re going to be entering those featured journal articles into our new CiteULike account.  You’ll now be able to browse Northwest-related journal article citations by subject or author using our tag clouds!  If you see a couple you are interested in, we’ll be happy to email them to you; just follow our article request directions.   Books from News Notes will make their way to LibraryThing (and our online catalog of course), and new links of interest will be entered into Del.icio.us, where you can do similar types of browsing.  You’ll be able to see the feeds for the most recent entries in the margins of this blog (or you can subscribe via RSS if you’re using a feedreader like Bloglines).

Finally, we have a new map available via Platial:  Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Visitor Centers.  If you’re planning on taking that Lewis and Clark-themed road trip this spring or summer, you might want to check it out!  Our other maps are still available on our Platial site too.

Tune in next week for our Event Rewinds of Archaeology in Washington and Conservation Kitchen, as well as more groovy information from the librarians at the Washington State Library!

We hope you’ll join us for “Archaeology in Washington” with authors Ruth Kirk and Richard D. Daugherty, this Thursday, January 17 at 6:30 pm!  Ruth and Richard’s new book explores many of the archaeological finds in Washington State, including Clovis points found in Wenatchee and the infamous Kennewick Man.  Their appearance at the State Library will feature both authors speaking about their work, as well as their film on Washington archaeology.  Mark your calendars and see you in Tumwater on Thursday!

Once again the State Library’s status as a Federal Depository Library has paid off with a beautiful new book published based on the collections of the Library of Congress.  Aeronautical and Astronautical Resources of the Library of Congress: A Comprehensive Guide has a clumsy title, but is jam packed with beautiful full-color reproductions of some of the most compelling moments in the history of flight.  The usual suspects are here (the Wright brothers, World War II photographs and government propaganda), but there are also some real stunners.  Take for example, a two page reproduction of a photograph of the city of San Francisco after the 1906 fire and earthquake…taken by a camera mounted to a series of kites.  Or a group of postcards depicting the early French ballooning craze in the 1780s.  Aeronautical and Astronautical Resources is pretty reasonably priced for a book of this type, but free is even more reasonably priced!  This book is now available for checkout at the Washington State Library, as well as many other Depository libraries.