All Posts
Digging for accuracy: How information literacy helps you uncover the facts
Posted in Explore and Discover, News on April 14, 2020 at 6:00 am
BY CRYSTAL MILLER In the digital age, we are bombarded with news articles, ads, and memes—all trying to convey some kind of information. Deciphering which pieces of news are legitimate and unbiased takes some skills that we can all learn. These skills are especially important right now, as we are being inundated with news, possible […]
Tags: accuracy, accurate, adults, disinformation, fact check, factual, fake, fake news, information literacy, memes, misinformation, news, news sources, propaganda, real, social posts, teens, true, trustworthy
Digital Library: Making the Most of Our Online Resources
Posted in News on March 26, 2020 at 10:40 am
When you are learning, working, or relaxing at home, you’ll find that we have digital resources to save you money and help you learn and have some fun. To get the most out of our digital resources, visit our Digital Library web page. There, you’ll see a drop-down list of categories in the upper right-side […]
Tags: adults, books, digital library, digital resources, educational, entertaining, fun, Gale, gale courses, kids, news, parents, reading, recreational, school, teens
Become a fiction frequent flyer with short stories
Posted in Explore and Discover on March 25, 2020 at 6:00 am
By Melissa Rhoades As a novel enthusiast, I love returning to the same characters, settings, and writing styles for days or weeks at a time. It feels like taking an extended vacation. Short stories, in comparison, can feel like weekend getaways that end too soon. But Neil Gaiman has pointed out the positive side of […]
Tags: booklist, books, reading, short stories
Kindergarten registration, plus games & activities to get ready
Posted in News, Parents and Teachers on February 25, 2020 at 6:00 am
By Mary Ellen Braks It’s hard to believe that it is already time for parents to register their children for kindergarten. March 1 is the first day to register for most school districts in Spokane County. Even though school doesn’t start until September, this early registration allows for school districts to plan ahead to have […]
Tags: caregivers, cognitive, emotional, fine motor, gross motor, kids, Kindergarten, language, literacy, mathematics, parents, physical movement, pre-kindergarten, pre-school, ready for kindergarten, registration, skills, social, social-emotional
Glowforge 3D laser printer offers a different way to create
Posted in Explore and Discover on February 5, 2020 at 6:00 am
By Abra Cole If you’ve visited the North Spokane Library in 2019, you may have noticed the scent of burning wood. Or, maybe you noticed machine that is over 3 feet wide and 1 1/2 feet deep back in The Lab doing… something. That’s the District’s Glowforge 3D laser printer. And it is one of […]
Tags: 3D printer, adults, creating, cutting, engraving, glowforge, inkscape, laser, laser printer, scoring, teens, The Lab
Answering the question: “What does it take to be a librarian?”
Posted in Explore and Discover on January 29, 2020 at 6:00 am
By Dana Mannino As I have shared before, being a librarian is pretty awesome. So it’s no wonder that I am often asked, “What does it take to be a librarian?” Of course, I treat this as a serious reference question and immediately launch into a technical description of the degrees and experience that we […]
Tags: career, job, librarian, librarians, library life
Saving seeds from the garden: Lovage, snap peas, and coriander
Posted in Explore and Discover on July 3, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Abra Cole Ah, summer. Here you are again, bringing all that sunshine and heat and gardening goodness with you. For most of us gardeners, our seasonal plants have not only been selected by now, but they’re planted and fairly well established in our gardens. Many perennials are blooming, or nearly so. The time has […]
Tags: adults, cilantro, coriander, do-it-yourself, gardening, gardens, herbs, how-to, kids, lovage, parsely, planting, plants, saving seeds, seed, seed library, seeds, snap peas, teens, vegetables
Day in the life of a librarian
Posted in Explore and Discover on May 16, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Dana Mannino When kids tour the library, I like to ask them what they think a librarian does. Usually I get answers like “You tell us not to run.” I think to myself, “If I wanted to do that, I would have become a life guard!” I don’t think kids are the only ones […]
Tags: #dayinthelife, #ProjectMemory, adults, appointment, book a librarian, book club, day in the life, encyclopedia, finances, kids, LEGO, librarian, library, library card, overdrive, parents, preschool, Prime Time, Project Memory, reading, referenceusa, STEM, stories, story time, storytime, teens, World Book
“Palaces for the People”: Spaces and places for all of us
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 23, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Rachel Edmondson I often hear people refer to Spokane as a big city with a small-town feel, and I think this is one of the reasons many people enjoy living in Spokane. However, when talking with customers and friends, I also hear more and more about how people don’t know their neighbors anymore. How […]
Tags: civic life, community, grandparents, inequality, kids, libraries, library, neighborhoods, neighbors, nonfiction, Palaces for the People, parents, parks, places, polarization, public life, schools, social, social infrastructure, social science, society, spaces, teachers, together
From the Library of Things: Machine sewing at your fingertips
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 2, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Melissa Rhoades Did you know you can borrow a sewing machine from the Library District? Our Library of Things offers two Elna eXplore 320 sewing machines to check out for up to seven days at a time. One is available for pick up at the Spokane Valley Library and the other can be picked […]
Tags: adults, arts, books, clothes, crafts, creativity, economical, Elna, environmental, fabric, hobbies, Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center, hoopla, how-to, kids, Library of Things, overdrive, quilting, resources, sewing, sewing guides, sewing machine, sewing notions, teens, textile arts, textiles
