Nokomis Club - Take a Stand

The winds of change blow through Redmond.  You can see it everywhere, with construction piling on through the streets of the once quiet little town.  New apartments seem to be sprouting left and right, with ground floor commercial space available... but not quite filled.

The sense of community seems to have faded away, replaced by the urban center that demolishes everything in its path.  Look around Redmond now and you start realizing that it's nothing more but box shaped building after box shaped building, with varying degrees of bright, vibrant colors to clash with the dreary weather.  

Long before Redmond began its path to becoming a light version of Bellevue downtown, there was a thriving community, with people willing to help one another out in the most depressing of times.

In fact, in 1909 seven women formed the Nokomis Club, a group dedicated to providing services for the community.  In 1927, one of the members of the Club purchased the land and donated it to the Nokomis Club to build Redmond's first public library.  With the continued usage and popularity of the property, the Nokomis Club decided to expand it and build a Clubhouse to allow for more people to come by and have meetings.

Even with the Great Depression hitting America, the Nokomis Club was able to expand and build the Clubhouse for the community of Redmond to use.  The Club continued to grow and flourish, even giving scholarships for students.  When the Redmond public library moved to a larger location in 1964, the Nokomis Club was handed off to the Chamber of Commerce, continuing to be used as a building for the community, this time for the businesses growing in Redmond.

In 2012, the Redmond Chamber of Commerce agreed to a partnership with the Redmond Economic Development Alliance and Realize Redmond to form One Redmond.  The former Nokomis Club soon became home to another home for books, this time the McDonald's Book Exchange.  Unfortunately it was short lived as plans began to flourish for a new way to use the land.

And now, this land that was once donated to provide a center for the community of Redmond is in the process of being sold.  In it's place will be yet another five story residential / commercial building.  However, there is still something you can do to preserve this part of history.

If you want to take a stand against the change, help spread the word.  Dates and times for appeals are still in the midst of being scheduled.  Get in front of it, reach out to the community, write to the Redmond Reporter, and don't forget to email the mayor of Redmond at mayor@redmond.gov and express your concern.

- James

How Do I Love Libraries…Let Me Count The Ways…

The title isn’t exactly what I’m going to write about, but it felt more creative than “A Visit to Chicago Public Libraries”!

As you might already know, when I travel, I love experiencing new places through their libraries.  In the next six months I hope to be able to visit libraries in Oregon, Illinois (again), New Mexico, California, and South Dakota.  I recently visited an old college friend who lives smack in the middle of The Loop in downtown Chicago.  It’s a fabulous location for a visitor to start from…especially considering how many libraries there are within a few miles walking distance!

My first stop was the Harold Washington Library Center downtown.  Wow.  I’m pretty sure the entryway I came in through had more square footage than the Redmond library!  The building opened in 1991 and is a whopping 756,640 square feet.  (As soon as I confirm the square footage of the Redmond library, I’ll tell you how many times bigger than Redmond that is!).  I picked up the self-guided tour brochure at the reference desk in the lobby (atrium? foyer? rotunda?  lobby doesn’t do the space any justice) and off I went to explore the nine floors.

I won’t bore you with the play by play of my visit to each floor, but will mention a few interesting spaces I saw.  Amanda, Redmond’s Teen Librarian, had recommended “The Book Thief” to me several months ago.  I read it, thought it was fabulous, and was delighted to see it was the One Book, One Chicago selection featured in The Popular Library on the first floor.

I loved the display of new library card holders in the Thomas Hughes Children’s Library on the 2nd floor! The namesake of this section of the library did a really cool thing after the 1871 Chicago Fire.

And…we’ll jump all the way up to the 9th floor into the Winter Garden.  This is a shot looking up through the 100+ foot glass ceilings and the beautiful murals on the south side of the garden. It’s a marvelous space available for private events.

But wait, there’s even more library in store for the day!  In the early evening, we headed over to The Newberry and their annual book fair.  Alas, I only have the one sad photo of the trip below…I spent too much time perusing old cookbooks at the fair so didn’t spend too much time in the other parts of the building and completely neglected to take more pictures.  I did pick up an awesome 1970s crockpot cookbook though! It’s a good thing I’ll be back in Chicago in September and might have another shot at visiting. I’m hoping to visit the Pritzker Military Library on that trip too!

Hope to see you at Derby Days 2012!

The 72nd Annual Redmond Derby Days is just around the corner and the weather should be spectacular! The pancake breakfast at the firehouse….the parades….the music….and of course, the bicycles!  Spanning three full days this year, I hope you’ll find time to enjoy a few of the events this weekend. This year’s event also has a few special extras to help celebrate Redmond’s 100th birthday.

I’ll be in the Redmond Library booth starting at 3 p.m. and would love to chat with you about how the library can best serve your needs. Beware though, I just might try to recruit you to serve on the Board! Or the Friends!

Along with Redmond Lights (save the date: December 1), Derby Days ties for my favorite Redmond event of the year.  Actually, I think it’s a three-way tie with Ananda Mela, which is the last weekend in July and also on the City Hall Campus. All three events are a wonderful (and free) opportunity to celebrate the diversity to be found in our community and I’m grateful to be a resident in a place that honors our traditions yet is always moving forward!

July 4th Library Board Meeting Cancelled

Please Note:
The July 4^th regular meeting of the City of Redmond’s Library Board of Trustees is cancelled due to holiday observation. Our next meeting will be at its regularly scheduled date and time on Wednesday, August 1^st at 7:00 p.m.
Thank You!

The Redmond Friends Need You!

Did you know that KCLS enjoys support from 38 Friends of the Library and 15 Library Advisory Board groups? The Friends of the Library Groups provided a combined total of more than $300,158 to support programs, materials, art and other library initiatives in 2011. The Friends of the Redmond Library are seeking volunteers to provide help with the on-going book sale within the Redmond Library. Duties includes pricing books and weeding the book sale shelves. The time commitment is 1-2 hours a week on any day of the volunteer’s choosing, with the preference that the volunteer can work regularly on the same day of the week.

The Friends’ mission is to promote and celebrate cultural literacy in Redmond; to support the Redmond Library and its staff; and to support the King County Library System and its mission. As a result of funding from Friends of the Redmond Library, activities that have been added to library programming include, but are not limited, to:

• Children’s story times in Hindi, Chinese, French, and Russian
• Teen coffee house/poetry night
• Licensing for public performances of films & DVDs 
• Opera preview lectures
• Library orientations for Rose Hill and Einstein elementary students and parents

If this sounds like the perfect opportunity for you, please contact Jean Marston at jmmarston@hotmail.com or (425) 883-0455.

Big Data for a Busy Library

"Big Data” (i.e. very large data sets) is a hot topic lately in information technology.  With millions of items checked in and out each year across dozens of branches, your local library certainly has more than enough data to go around!

Enter collectionHQ. Last year, the King County Library System joined nearly 5,000 other libraries with its implementation of this software to assist each library branch with managing its collection.  The software is web-based (aka, “in the cloud”) so it can be easily accessed by library staff when data is updated monthly.

In addition to the common analysis one might expect, like top books and authors checked out, the software is also capable of helping the librarians understand what topics are popular in our library.  With this information, they can ensure the shelves are stocked with subjects in demand and relevant in our community.

The Redmond Library recently completed a weeding project to verify books that hadn’t been checked out in years were a) actually still on the shelf and b) otherwise ready to be retired.  It took nearly 6 months to analyze the Redmond branch collection and remove books that are under-utilized – called “dead” in library book parlance. 

Next, they will start analyzing specific topics to help ensure the books available are the ones that Redmond patrons want to check out. In addition, this data analysis tool allows staff to generate reports of “grubby” books – items that have been checked out so frequently they are probably worn out and in need of retiring. (The Hunger Games trilogy, anyone?)

Data is Cool.

Redmond Community Indicators 2012

Redmond Community Indicators is a tool for assessing progress toward achieving the eight broad community goals that underpin Redmond's Comprehensive Plan. The 2012 update was recently published, please see a selection of the highlights below.

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GOAL: CONSERVE
(No Overall Trend)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resource Consumption. The amount of waste per
single-family customer per week declined 3.5 pounds
to 55.3 pounds. The recycling rate among single family
customers decreased slightly to 62.4%. The
rolling three-year average water consumption fell
about four percent to 271 million cubic feet, the
lowest figure in at least nine years. Streams. All six
stream core sample sites have water quality index
scores greater than 40, which means that they are of
marginal concern or better. Two of eleven stream sites
given BIBI scores (“bug index” scores) rated above
35, the minimum required to support native habitat.

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GOAL: COMMERCE
(Improving Trend)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Businesses. There are 5,533 businesses licensed to
operate in Redmond: 958 are newly licensed while
1,445 have operated in Redmond for at least seven
years. Population and Employment. Redmond’s
population reached 55,150 in 2011 and employment
reached 76,876 (2010, latest available, not comparable
to prior years). Income and Poverty. Redmond
median household income rose to $95,038; the mean
wage rose to $110,182 (inflation adjusted). Child
poverty rose from 5% to 6.6% in the Lake Washington
School District (2010), the highest level in over 15 years.

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GOAL: CULTURE
(Improving Trend)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recreation and Arts. The largest increase in
participation in City recreation program was among
those ages 5 to 12, while overall participation
increased to over 148,000. Events. About 24,000
people took part in Redmond Lights and Derby Days
combined in 2011 – about the same number as
participated in 2010. Over 44,000 participated in
arts-related performances and exhibitions in 2011.

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Visit the City of Redmond’s Community Indicator page for complete details and access to historical annual reports.

Orientation to Ancestry: A Class for Beginning Genealogists

The Redmond Library hosts a variety of programs across ages and interests, and classes on genealogy are always popular!

On Thursday, April 26th at 7 p.m. join Bob Barnes from Eastside Genealogy Society to learn how to navigate ancestry.com like a pro. With 7 billion genealogical records from across the globe and millions of family trees, ancestry.com is the world’s largest online family history resource. Savvy researchers can accomplish so much without ever having to look beyond this single resource.

In addition to seminars at the library and other community centers, you can find volunteers from the Eastside Genealogical Society at the Bellevue Regional Library. Volunteers are in Room 6 on the second floor and are available the first Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and every Wednesday from 1 to 3 p.m. For anyone, volunteers answer questions and give advice about using the Bellevue Library and other resources in the library but do not conduct any research.

The Eastside Genealogical Society was founded in 1978 and chartered in 1982 and is a member of the Federation of Genealogy Societies.

Join the Library Board!

The Library Board of Trustees consists of five volunteers from the City of Redmond.  Our terms are five years and they are offset each year, so every year, by design, one position expires.  We are allowed to serve two terms, so we don’t always have a vacancy every year, but this year we do. (You’ll see my thank you post to our outgoing board member shortly, he started this blog back in 2008….)

If you are interested, please read the release from the City of Redmond below, we’d love to see your volunteer application!

Redmond, WA – Are you passionate about libraries and the role the Redmond Regional Library plays in the Redmond community? The Redmond Library Board of Trustees is seeking interested Redmond residents to volunteer for a Board vacancy.

The Board advises the Mayor and City Council on library policy, represents Redmond’s interests to the King County Library System and promotes local interest in the library. Members are appointed to five-year terms with a two-term limit. Meetings take place at 7 pm on the first Wednesday of each month at the Redmond Regional Library.

Interested residents living within Redmond city limits should contact the Mayor’s office at 425-556-2101 or download a community service application form.

Mail the completed application to the Office of the Mayor, City of Redmond, P.O. Box 97010, Redmond, WA 98073-9710 or fax to 425-556-2110. If possible, include a summary of related experience.

Applications will continue to be accepted until the vacancy is filled. All board and commission members are volunteers.

Library Night: Books, Stories, and Pizza

About 5 times during the school year, Rose Hill Elementary has a Library Night at the Redmond Library. The latest Library night was Tuesday, March 6th. This event is an opportunity to expose schoolchildren and their parents to the library and its resources. Best of all, every child gets to take home a book!

Typically, there are hundreds of books for children to choose from. The books are purchased in bulk from Scholastic Warehouse, usually with generous discounts. Ooooh, Soccer Mom from Outer Space — sounds like a good read!

Amy Silverman, a Rose Hill Elementary reading and math teacher, encourages a student to submit his name for the book drawing later in the evening. All students get to choose a book when their name is called.


The Library Night program always includes food. On this night pizza was on the menu. Janice Yuly, a volunteer, gives you a choice of pepperoni or cheese pizza. Dessert used to be cookies. Now it’s more nutritious, and fruit, such as grapes, is often served. Also, water is now served instead of soda.


The Library Night program also includes a read-aloud story. Here, Marilyn Bunday, a Rose Hill Elementary first-grade teacher, reads to a group of children and their parents. Tonight’s reading is from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I watched in amazement as Marilyn read the words of the entire story upside down so that children could see the pictures right-side-up. She said it’s a skill she’s developed over the years.

Finally, it’s time for the book drawing. Florinda Davis, a Rose Hill Elementary reading and math teacher, calls out a name. Anxious students wait for their chance to pick the book they’ve eyed earlier in the evening. For many students, a book is a prized possession.

Sponsorship
The costs of the Rose Hill Elementary Library Night is underwritten by the Friends of the Redmond Library — this is the 8th year of sponsorship. One of the key goals of the Friends of the Redmond Library to promote and celebrate cultural literacy in Redmond. BTW, even though Rose Hill Elementary is in Kirkland, the school attendance boundary includes students who live in Redmond, making the Redmond Library their neighborhood library.

Thank you Friends of the Redmond Library!

Friends of the Redmond Library Annual Meeting

“WORDS AND MUSIC: How a Singer became a Novelist”
Louise Marley
Redmond Regional Library
February 16 at 7:00 p.m.

”My presentation will focus on the marvelous and energizing phenomenon of a mid-life career change.  Since I had been a singer for decades before beginning to publish novels, I learned a lot about how the principles and lessons learned in a first career translate into success in the second; I also found that with age, comes courage--launching my second career was far easier than launching my first.”

Local author, Louise Marley will share her story and
evolution from the world of opera to award winning
Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has written fifteen
books. Her latest, The Brahms Deception, was released
in August 2011.

She was recognized twice with the Endeavor Award for a distinguished Science Fiction or Fantasy Book written by a Northwest author: The Child Goddess and Glass Harmonica.
Teens as well as adults are attracted to the writing style of a literary musician who intertwines intrigue with musical history and reference.

Redmond Library Open For Business (Partly) :-)

As if Redmond couldn’t be more beautiful, it’s been blanketed in (several) layers of snow for the past few days.  Wednesday was projected to be the worst of the snow, so many King County Libraries were operating on reduced schedules.

Given the novelty of this much snow in the neighborhood, and my book on hold waiting for me, I took the opportunity to snowshoe the 3 miles round-trip from my house to the library. I saw that many others were out enjoying the day as I passed skiers, sledders, walkers, and other snowshoers along the Sammamish River Trail.  Even the ducks were out for a meander!

I arrived to find a few more intrepid souls braving the elements to use the library.  In addition to a (very) few vehicles in the parking lot, people appeared to arrive by foot and … by bike.  Biking in the snow is something I’ve never tried. Maybe next time! (not really)

The City of Redmond’s website is updating regularly noting conditions within the City, so be sure to check it out before you head out on Thursday.  Please also consider donating blood - a Blood Mobile will be at City Hall tomorrow and due to the weather, supplies are dangerously low.

Hopefully you are staying safe and warm through this week!

The World of Alagaësia: A Visit from Christopher Paolini

On Tuesday November 29th at 7:00pm, meet Christopher Paolini, whose most recently published work, Inheritance, is final book of the Inheritance Cycle. Join us at the Redmond Library, where you’ll get to chat with the author and hear about the remarkable fictional world of Alagaësia, in which Eragon and his dragon Saphira battle the forces of evil. Books will be available for sale by Secret Garden Books, and a book signing follows Christopher’s presentation.

Inheritance 
Synopsis:  Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances.

Watch the trailer:

About the Author 
Christopher Paolini was born in Southern California and lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. The tall, jagged Beartooth Mountains that rise on one side of Paradise Valley inspired the fantastic scenery in Eragon, the first novel in his Inheritance cycle.

Christopher was homeschooled by his parents and often wrote short stories and poems. He made frequent trips to the library, and read widely. He was fifteen when he wrote the first draft of Eragon and his family self-published the book in 2001. His literary inspirations include the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, E. R. Eddison and the author of the epic poem Beowulf.

In August 2003, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers published Eragon and it was an instant success worldwide. Christopher's second novel Eldest was published in 2005, followed by Brisingr in 2008. To date, Eragon has been translated into 49 languages. The first three books in the series have sold 25 million copies worldwide. Inheritance, the fourth and final book in the cycle will be published on November 8, 2011 with a first printing of 2.5 million copies.

For more info about Christopher Paolini, see The Inheritance Cycle. This Web site contains activities, such as an interactive map of Alagaësia and an adventure game. You can also play the Facebook game, Inheritance Quest.

Redmond Library Schedule of Events
For upcoming events, including book discussions and author visits, see the Redmond Library’s Schedule of Events.

infoVote2011

In the past week I’ve received my King County mail-in ballot with the accompanying voter’s guide and it’s reminded me of the resources your local KCLS library has to help you cast your vote! 

The KCLS infoVote2011 site details resources available to help you to register to vote and learn about the candidates, measures, and initiatives on the ballot. Through the KCLS Collection, search the catalog for keywords such as elections; civics; voting; and democracy to locate election-related materials.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th and the final day to register to vote is Monday, October 31st. If you have more questions about voting in King County, also visit King County Elections online.

The Library: Center of Derby Days Action! (IMO)

Chances are, if you visited the 71st Annual Derby Days last weekend, you passed the Redmond Library.  The parade route led by, vendors had booths set up in the shared parking lot with City Hall, and it was only (a few) steps away from the firefighter’s pancake breakfast.

I borrowed the bike rack at the library to park my wheels, arriving early enough that I was the first person to lock up there.  Bike secured, it was off to support the Redmond Firefighter’s Benevolent Fund and enjoy eggs, sausage, and M&M pancakes. 

I finished breakfast just in time to find a spot for the start of the parades.  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen the Kids’ Parade but I think it’s safe to say it was very, very well attended.  The children, and their adorable costumes, just kept coming!  Our neighbors took part and the pictures I snapped of them look like a “Where’s Waldo” photo. Following all of the cute tikes on trikes and bikes, the Grand Parade included approximately 50 entries (I think) and the All City Marching Band/Seattle School District took top honors.  However, my favorite, of course, was the Redmond Library entry!

After the parades, I perused the booths before heading back to the library to extract my bike from the pile at the rack. (so much harder going home…one of these days I’ll be able to bike back up the Puget Power Trail to Education Hill from the Sammamish River Trail….) I hope that you and yours were able to enjoy the community festivities and stop by the library to see all that it has to offer too! If you missed the parades, you can catch the replay on RCTV.

p.s. The fireworks were rescheduled for this Friday.  Head down early to enjoy music by Leroy Bell and Doctor Funk!

Presto! -- A World of Magic with Louie Foxx

Louie Foxx will perform a magic show at the Redmond Library on Sunday, June 19th at 2:30. Louie calls his performance a “one man side show” full of:

• Astounding Magic Tricks
• Side Splitting Comedy
• Amazing Cowboy Tricks
• Eye Popping Hand Shadows
• And much much more!

The Magic!
Here are a couple of magic tricks that Louie has created. The first one is the Tortilla Magic Trick.

Louie has added a new bubble trick to his bubble act, it’s called the Exploding Bubble.

For more info, click here. For other events at the Redmond Library, see Schedule of Events.

About Louie
As a kid Louie realized that he excelled at all of the things that adults told him were a waste of time. Instead of playing baseball in high school, Louie built himself a rickety table and rode the bus into downtown to perform magic tricks on the street corner.

Thanks….for Ten Years!

How does one even begin to say enough “Thank Yous” for ten years of volunteer service!?  In our April board meeting, we said good-bye to Doris Townsend, who has recently fulfilled her two, five-year terms, the maximum allowed, on the City of Redmond’s Library Advisory Board.

Doris began her service in 2001, shortly after the opening of the building that currently houses the Redmond Regional Library (which opened in late 1999.)  Having worked in libraries, she was a perfect addition to the City’s Advisory Board. Doris is also an active member of the Friends of the Redmond Library and was very helpful as a liaison between two groups that advocate and support Redmond and its library.

Not to fear, we will still see Doris at the library! From her work on the Friends, attending various programs, and bringing her grandchildren to pick up books, she still has many reasons to see us!

With Doris’ retirement, we have an opening on the Board. Interested in serving?  Please see the City of Redmond’s Community Service Application. The position will be opened until filled.