February 2013

Friends & Partnership Contact: Carol Van Baalen

LOCAL NEWS

STAFF NEWS

Barbara Blue, children’s librarian and manager at the Des Moines Library, is retiring this month.  Children, parents, and staff will miss her smiling face at story times, school visits, and at the library desk where she has served for 30 years!  A retirement party for Barb will be planned later this year.

Woodmont Library has a new teen librarian, Val Kitiona.  Val comes to us from the Newport Way Library.  Bekka Martin, former children’s and teen librarian at Des Moines and Woodmont, has moved to the Renton Library.

FRIENDS MEETINGS IN FEBRUARY

Des Moines Friends             7pm at Des Moines Library

Kent Friends                     12 noon at Kent Library

Woodmont Friends             6:30pm at Woodmont Library

The Friends support the library with their book sales and other fundraisers.  New members are always welcome!

LIBRARY LEGISLATIVE DAY

There’s still time to register for WLA’s annual Library Legislative Day in Olympia on Friday, February 15.
This is a great opportunity to network with library supporters from around the state and meet with State Legislators and their staff to discuss the value of libraries and the impact laws have on them.

Register online here: http://www.wla.org/library-legislative-day

Contact Jennifer Wiseman (425.369.3221 or jlwiseman@kcls.org)  to reserve your spot on a bus, rented by the KCLS Foundation, that will be transporting participants from KCLS’ Service Center (departing at 7:15am), as well as the Library Connection @ Southcenter (departing at 8:45am) to Olympia and back.


February Programs:  click on this link for a complete list of programs at your library http://www.kcls.org/programs/library_programs.cfm.

SYSTEM HIGHLIGHTS

FROM THE JANUARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT

OPERATIONS

In February, KCLS will launch Zinio, an on-line service that provides digital access to more than 200 magazine titles. There is no limit to the number of simultaneous users who can access a subscription. After the service is up and running, KCLS will explore the possibility of providing tablets in the magazine areas of the libraries to provide access to this new resource.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Progress continues slowly on plans for the Renton libraries. Developing plans to remodel the existing Renton Library that spans the Cedar River, a protected salmon stream, is challenging. Architects have been working on a design for the library that can use as much of the current infrastructure as possible without any renovations below or on the riverbank which will make the permitting process much simpler.

The City of Renton and the developer of the new housing project where the new Renton Highlands Library will be located have yet to finalize a purchase and sale agreement. However, it has been determined that the new library project will be completely separate from the housing development project, and once the survey and lot lines are established KCLS and THA Architects can finish the design. 

OTHER

The King County Library System Foundation launched the New Year with great news of a $100,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to the Tukwila Library Capital Campaign. The Foundation is seeking to raise $1 million to fund an additional 2,000 square feet of meeting space in the new Tukwila Library, bringing the total size of the library to 10,000 square feet. This grant brings the total to $231,000 raised to date for the project.

KCLS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN PROJECTS

View all at http://www.kcls.org/bond/or sign up here to receive automatic updates on the KCLS Capital Improvement Projects!

Upcoming Dates

The next Planning Committee Meeting takes place on Tuesday, February 26, 4pm at the Service Center.

The next Finance Committee Meeting takes place on Tuesday, February 26, 4pm at the Service Center.

The next KCLS Board of Trustees Meeting takes place on Tuesday, February 26, 5pm at the Service Center.