Author: spokanepubliclibrarypac

Mark Pond, Business Research Librarian for Spokane Public Libraries, has the financial world at his fingertips, and so does anyone else who ventures into the LevelUp space on the third floor of the Downtown location.

LevelUp provides access to the only Bloomberg News terminal he knows of outside the New York Public Library.  Bloomberg provides the most in-depth business news and analysis available anywhere for investors or local businesses trying to determine, for example, the companies Apple uses to source components.  Other databases _ Reference USA and Demographics Now _ show the local market for specific goods and services, and the businesses competing for those customers.  LevelUp also has a small conference room and a video conferencing room that has been in high demand.

Business courses are available online.  Long butcher block tables made by library staff allow laptop users to spread out and enjoy the attractive new space.  And Pond is ready to help those overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the resources at hand.

LevelUp is just one example of the library system’s efforts to offer services to all comers: individual, business or academic.  With Measure No. 1, which will be on the April 25 ballot, Spokane voters can assure LevelUp and other library assets continue to help inform and serve our community.  Voters in 2013 first approved the levy of 7 cents per $1000 property valuation by a 2-1 margin.

Please vote for Measure No. 1.  It’s good business.

The Hillyard branch of the Spokane Public Libraries has gone to seed.

A one-time card catalog has been converted into a storehouse for hundreds of varieties of vegetable seeds available free to the public. You don’t even have to have a library card! All the library asks is that those who take seeds dry a few from their harvested crop to return to the library so the variety remains available to gardeners the next year.

On a recent rainy, cold afternoon a couple dozen optimists had signed out seeds for starts indoors.

The collection is part of the “Library of Things” that complements traditional library materials like books and recordings.

Access to materials such as this Seed Library will be preserved or expanded if voters approve Measure No. 1, which will be on the April 25th ballot. The measure renews a levy lift of seven cents per $1,000 valuation endorsed by voters 2-1 in 2013.

Support the measure and keep the bounty of library resources available to all.

Measure No. 1, which will be on the April 25th ballot and appear in your mailboxes around April 6th, will secure the expanded programs and hours that Spokane voters first approved four years ago by an almost two-to-one margin.

That same property tax levy of seven cents per $1,000 valuation is up for renewal, this time for seven years, at the same rate. We want to thank Spokane residents for their support then, and remind you what that levy passage allowed our libraries to do:

• Hours were extended at every branch
• Purchases of new materials were increased after cutbacks had been forced by weakened City of Spokane revenues
• Reading programs for children were expanded, as was outreach to virtually every age group
• User access to the libraries’ computers and technical materials in general were maintained and expanded
• Measure No. One will make sure all those services, and many others, remain available. Some will be expanded even more.

We’ll update you on many of the developments at Spokane libraries as we continue to shake off winter.

Thanks to many new services, you’ll be able to take the library with you when you move outdoors.