The new Ketchikan Public Library front entrance

Ketchikan, Alaska waited a long time for a new library, 112 years to be exact, as the oldest continuously operating library in the state had never had a home of its own. Throughout its history the little library had been housed in random municipal buildings that got progressively larger, but none was designed for use as a library. So January 2, 2013 was a day to be celebrated as the new Ketchikan Public Library on Copper Ridge Lane opened its doors to the public fo the first time. The impressive building was a result of decades of advocacy work, the new library construction grant and the cooperation of many individuals and agencies.

Senator Stedman and his library card

Hundreds of people came each day to see the new library. They loved the open spaces, comfortable chairs, laptop computers, spacious multi-purpose room and the light and bright meeting rooms and study rooms. Everyone especially enjoyed the area around the gas fireplace and the tall windows with incredible views of Deer Mountain in the distance and Bear Valley below that came with being on a ridgeline.

But one feature of the building stood out above the rest and that was “The Library Tree: Ketchikan Branch” as designed by Deb Turnball, Sherry Henrickson, Ann Carlson and Jackie Keizer. This fabric extravaganza in the children’s room took hundreds of hours to make with commonly available materials. The chicken wire base was covered with scraps of every imaginable fabric custom sewn in strips to fit tree shapes, embroidered and embellished. Once installed, the artists used huge circular needles to “sew” the fabric to the wire base to give it shape.

The words on the tree are sayings about books, reading and libraries in many languages. The leaves are pressed newsprint shaped with wire and handpainted by artists and local school children. The branches to which the leaves are attached are covered with yarn from the “Little Mis-Matched” sock company. At the end of the branches are soft sculptures, dolls and papier mache figures of characters from popular books such as Charlotte’s Web, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and My Father’s Dragon.

Lisa Pearson at the new circulation desk

The tree was funded by the 1% for Art Program and graces the new building along with the metal “Celebration of the Sea” crab, salmon and whale sculptures installed on building beams by Rhonda Green and Anne Fitzgerald, “The Salvage Divas.” Two other pieces of art are still being created and include an enormous circular carving to go above the fireplace by internationally known Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson.

On Saturday, January 19, several hundred Ketchikan residents, elected officials, builders, architects, funders, artists, reporters, Friends of the Library and library employees past and present turned out for a Grand Opening Celebration that included speeches, a ribbon cutting, treats, a scavenger hunt, live music, cupcake walk and story time. Senator Bert Stedman spoke eloquently about the importance of libraries in Alaskan communities and was given a giant lifetime library card and the grateful thanks of the community for being instrumental in getting the library funding in place.

In the first month of operation, library staff issued 152 new library cards, up 309% from the previous January, and saw a 33% increase in overall circulation. Talking books, non-fiction, juvenile fiction and young adult fiction were particularly popular with library visitors.

Charlotte L. Glover, Ketchikan Public Library

Looking up at the tree 

Adult library with view of study rooms in the distance

Cozy reading corners and great chairs 

Whale Sculpture by the “Salvage Divas” 

Teen Room 

Exterior view ofstaff work space and teen room

Photos by Charlotte L. Glover

Photo by Matt Davis

Ukulele teacher Kalani Kanahele led his Friday afternoon group in tunes like “Menehune Beach Bum Boogie,” “Hawaiian Superman” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” An appreciative crowd of about 80 people sang along and enjoyed puupuus (Hawaiian appetizers). Kids gathered in the children’s room at the end of the party to watch a puppet show about Princess Ka’iulani, the last princess of Hawaii. They made leis out of tissue paper Holly Davis, Haines Library flowers and pipe cleaners. Hawaiian decorations were borrowed from the school and borough office.

Holly Davis, Haines Library

On October 20, 1945, she married Kenneth Andress and they traveled by train and steamboat to Alaska. In summer of 1946, they returned to Indiana, packed up belongings and drove up over the Alcan that same year, as soon as it was open to civilians. Ken built a cache and a log cabin (in that order) near Eide St., in Spenard, where they lived while he constructed the house they occupied from 1950. “The cabin was built at a bear-track intersection,” Nola said, “and besides the bears, the nearest neighbor was a mile away. We drove over to Lake Spenard to wash clothes.” Ken passed away in 2001 and Nola continued to live in the family home until her death.

With assistance from the local Social and Civic Club, Nola started up in 1960 that which later became one of Loussac’s first branch libraries, the Spenard Community Library. She served as its volunteer librarian for many years until the Municipality put her on its payroll. In later decades, she volunteered at Anchorage libraries Dimond and at Loussac. She was a member of the Pioneers of Alaska and was a charter member of the Alaska Library Association. In the 1950s and 1960s, she was active in the Anchorage Garden Club, League of Women Voters and PTA.

Nola is survived by daughters Loraine and Loretta Andress of Anchorage; Merry Dye of Florida; sons Mike and Glen Sullivan of Indiana, and many grandchildren, great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. A funeral service was held in North Vernon, Indiana, and Nola joined her late husband Kenneth at rest in the Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Memorial donations are suggested to the Anchorage Library Foundation or the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Steven A. Jacobson is the author of many books on the Yup’ik language, including A Practical Grammar of the Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo Language and the Yup’ik Dialect Atlas and Study, and he has contributed to others, including the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary.

The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman, 2012, is as gorgeous a book as you will ever read. The prose is so delicious you want to savor every word like a piece of good chocolate. The bulk of the story takes place in a lighthouse on Janus Rock in post WWI Australia where war veteran Tom and his lovely bride Isabel are longing for a baby. The depth of that longing and their desire for some happiness in a cruel world will lead them to make one tragic decision after another until you can’t breath for wanting to see what happens as they try desperately to make things right. I was attracted to this novel because of the brilliant blue cover with a lighthouse and night sky beckoning the reader to open the title. I will re-read this book for the rest of my life because the inside is just as beautiful and poignant as the outside. (Charlotte L. Glover, Ketchikan Public Library)

I’ve been reading the Automobile Girls series, written by Laura Denton Crane from 1910-1913. I’ve been downloading the books from Project Gutenburg onto my phone through Kindle. The series includes the road trip adventures of a group of teenage girls, who end up involved in some mysteries in different locales. The books are suspenseful and show the strength and capability of these young women during a time when society was transitioning from wagons to cars and women had their place. Beware, however, the negative stereotypes of other cultures. I am currently reading The Automobile Girls at Washington: Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies.
(Deborah Mole, UAA/APU Consortium Library)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple, 2012. Bernadette, after receiving a prestigious MacArthur award for her architectural genius 20 years ago, no longer leaves her home except to drop her daughter at private school every day. This Seattle school is where she ‘accidentally’ runs over a fellow mother’s foot, creating school wide upheaval and an epic rivalry. In order to avoid all social situations, Bernadette employs a virtual assistant in India to take care of all of her needs, from making dinner reservations to ordering gear for her family’s upcoming trip to Antarctica (her daughter’s reward for passing middle school with flying colors). Her husband is a Microsoft genius, complete with the ‘2nd most viewed TED talk of all time,’ but he is so tuned out once he actually takes a look at what his wife has become, he believes she is in need of a psychiatric ‘retreat.’ And then Bernadette disappears without a trace—unconventional style.  (Amanda Kiely, Ketchikan Public Library)

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, 2012. One summer day in Missouri, Amy Dunne, wife of Nick, simply disappears. What happened to her? Search parties are formed, her parents arrive from New York, and the police start looking closely at Nick. Nick tells the story of their marriage and what happens as the search for Amy continues, interspersed with chapters from Amy’s diary. What should have been a perfect marriage is ever so slowly revealed to be so much less than that. Literary quicksand – if you put a toe into this book, it will suck you down into the dark story of a perfect marriage between lovely people.
(Patience Frederiksen, Alaska State Library)

So why should the literati have all the fun with their ‘Best of 2012’ lists? We read a lot and we all have opinions too, so here goes with the best books we’ve read this year, no matter how new or old or whether written for younger or older.  Patience Frederiksen

The Stonecutter – Camilla Lackberg
Night Road – Kristen Hannah
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd – Jim Fergus
Something Blue – Emily Griffin
From: Irene Ingle Public Library, Wrangell

Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History – James Joseph O’Donnell
Altered Carbon – Richard K. Morgan
Unspoken – Sarah Rees Brennan
Against All Odds: U.S. Sailors in the War of 1812 – Charles E. Brodine
Cryoburn – Lois McMaster Bujold
From: Daniel Cornwall, Alaska State Library

The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
The Dispossessed – Ursula K. LeGuin
Oath of the Renunciates – Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
From: Samantha Boardman, UAA/ APU Consortium Library

The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach
Before I Go to Sleep – S.J. Watson
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
From: Kristi Powell, UAA/APU Consortium Library

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson
Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile – Julia Fox
Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein
Never Fall Down – Patricia McCormick
Blackout – John Rocco
From: Maite Lorente, Kettleson Memorial Library, Sitka

The Postmortal – Drew Magary
The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
The Parasol Protectorate (Series) – Gail Carriger
From: Coral Sheldon-Hess, UAA/APU Consortium Library

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity – Katherine Boo
The Cellist of Sarajevo – Steven Galloway
The One and Only Ivan – Katherine Applegate
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Will Not Shut Up – Susan Cain
From: Patience Frederiksen, Alaska State Library

Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book – Wendy Welch
All Gone: A Memoir of My Mother’s Dementia. With Refreshments – Alex Witchel
The Light Between Oceans – M. L. Stedman
From: Joyce McCombs, Delta Community Library

Wonder – R. J. Palacio
Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure – Martin Sandler
Neversink – Barry Wolverton
From: Elizabeth Moreau, Mountain View Library, Anchorage Public Library
 
Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity – Andrew Solomon
The Canvas – Benjamin Stein
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats – Kristen Iversen
Traveler of the Century – Andrés Neuman
Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories – Melinda Moustakis
From: Janine Allen, Haines Borough Public Library

The Orchardist – Amanda Coplin
The Raven’s Gift – Don Rearden
The Round House – Louise Erdrich
We Sinners – Hanna Pylvainen
The Sisters Brothers – Patrick DeWitt
The Lotus Eaters – Tatjana Soli
The Snow Child – Eowan Ivey
From: Ann Dixon, Homer Public Library

When She Woke – Hillary Jordan
The Light Between Oceans – M. L. Stedman
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
From: Charlotte L. Glover, Ketchikan Public Library

Funding this law is supported by the Alaska Association of School Boards, the National Education Association-Alaska, the Alaska Association of Student Governments, and of course the Alaska Library Association. Now that the legislative session has started, our legislators need to hear from constituents across the state, particularly non-school librarians, about why funding this law is important. The most important legislators to contact are those who sit on the education or finance committees. Please consider writing a letter to one or more legislators on our behalf. Also, spread the word about why funding this law is important, and ask others to contact legislators too.

To get more information on the law, see AkASL’s advocacy page: AlaskaEmptyShelves.com. On it there is a link to CapWiz where you can easily write a letter of support. There are also links to a flyer explaining the law, the full text of the law and documents that give points to cover if you want to write your own letter.

The legislative session runs through April 14, but our legislators need to hear from us now! Please join with the school librarians in pushing for the funding of this law so that all schoolchildren in the state will benefit!

Nicole Roohi President, AkASL

Hans Christian Andersen, Oct. 1867, Thora Hallager/ Wikimedia Commons

A Danish researcher has stumbled across the first fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen in Denmark’s national archives. Entitled “The Tallow Candle,” the tale tells the story of a candle that has difficulty finding its place in the world until a tinder box discovers its worth and lights its wick.

More Information: Copyright (c) *artdaily.org* http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=59515#

Larry Hibpschman, Alaska State Archives

You see, I don’t believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that’s been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians. Monty Python

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists. Franklin Roosevelt

Those unable to catalog the past are doomed to repeat it. Lemony Snicket, The End

Education…has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. George Macaulay Trevelyan

The New Deal began on March 25, 1911. The day that the Triangle factory burned. Frances Perkins

Too often is the biographer tempted to confine himself to that comparatively brief period after the trumpet of fame has directed the eyes of the world upon him whose life story he writes. But to understand properly the greatness or littleness of any man we must know something of his whole life what went before and what went after. Franklin Roosevelt

I had acquired an eye in order to see among these shadows, and they knew me, I believe. They saw me alone with them in these galleries, in these vast, rarely visited repositories. Jules Michelet, Histoire de la Revolution Francaise

This is what we do, or what we believe we do: we make the dead speak… If the Archive(s) is a place of dreams, it permits this one, above all others, the one that Michelet dreamed first, of making the dead walk and talk. Carol Steedman, Dust

My heart is moved by all I cannot save: So much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world. Adrienne Rich

 Larry Hibpschman,Alaska State Archives

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253029/Historic-photographs-document-Alaskas-Inuit-Eskimos-survivedworlds-coldest-winters.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Larry Hibpschman, Alaska State Archives

No boundaries: A man paddles in a kayak, popularly used for fishing when carrying a spear.

Leisure time: A man sits back in a frozen field while reading a copy of the Saturday Evening Post in 1913.

Researchers described the discovery as “unique,” noting that the photographs were not included in “Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones,” a book widely considered to be the most complete inventory of the Russian Crown Jewels.

For complete article:  http://en.rian.ru/world/20121219/178254469.html

Larry Hibpschman, Alaska State Archives

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-k-biggest-distributor-childrens-181721972.html

Indeed, early learning and practice play a much greater role in all gender gaps. That was the core message delivered by Dr. Lise Eliot, a neuroscientist and author, in her public lecture Feb. 1 at the Z.J. Loussac Public Library in Anchorage.

Dr. Eliot debunked quite a few popular beliefs as myth:

• Referring to the wildly popular 1990s book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, she said the truth is closer to “men are from North Dakota, women are from South Dakota.”
• There is no such thing as a male brain or a female brain.
• There’s no good scientific evidence for the growing notion that boys and girls learn differently.

Actual gender differences at birth stem from a prenatal surge of hormones that bias – not determine – for toy preferences, sexual orientation, and activity level, Dr. Eliot said. Most of the gender differences that emerge in children are the result of early experiences. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, parents and socialization encourage children to conform to gender stereotypes.

Dr. Eliot’s talk touched on themes from her latest book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps and What We Can Do About It. Dr. Eliot is an associate professor of Neuroscience at Chicago Medical School. In addition to teaching and writing, she lectures widely on children’s brain and mental development.

“Boys and girls grow up in different cultures,” she said. They’re socialized to magnify some circuits and depress others. “We need to encourage children to use all their circuits.” Dr. Eliot said there’s much that parents and teachers can do to foster that.

The baby brain is incredibly sensitive to early experience; every experience changes the structure of the brain, which is why a “good, nurturing interactive environment is crucial” to a child’s healthy development, she said. “What infants need is not stimulation, but interaction. The best learning happens in the context of relationships.”

During her three-day visit to Alaska, Dr. Eliot also spoke with legislators and at a luncheon hosted by First Lady Sandy Parnell, delivered a keynote speech at the Anchorage AEYC (Association for the Education of Young Children) Early Childhood Conference, and conducted a workshop for parents.

Dr. Eliot’s visit was organized by Best Beginnings with support from NEA-Alaska and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. Additional support for the public lecture was provided by Anchorage Public Library, UAA College of Education, and UAA Honors College.

Best Beginnings is a nonprofit advocate for early learning in Alaska. It is the statewide umbrella for Imagination Library, promotes and supports local early childhood partnerships, and produces and distributes materials and information about early learning.

Dr. Eliot’s talk was recorded by KACN-TV. It will be available with links from YouTube.com/bestbeginningsalaska

Patty Ginsburg, Best Beginnings

Library Snapshot Day – April 2013: http://www.ala.org/librarysnapshotday Library Snapshot Day provides a way for libraries of all types across a state, region, system or community to show what happens in a single day in their libraries. This initiative provides an easy means to collect statistics, photos and stories that will enable library advocates to prove the value of their libraries to decision-makers and increase public awareness. ALA is again designating April as Library Snapshot Day in hopes of collecting statistics from across the United States to create a national snapshot. The concept originated in New Jersey as a joint effort between the New Jersey Library Association and the New Jersey State Library. Soon after, many states began emulating the effort. At the 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the ALA Advocacy Coordinating Group, in conjunction with the Chapter Relations Committee and COSLA (Chief Officers of State Library Agencies), agreed to take this initiative to a national level, asking that states across the country find a date to conduct their own Library Snapshot Day. Contact Jaclyn Finneke, ALA Office for Library Advocacy with questions.

School Library Month – April 2013: http://www.ala.org/aasl/slm School Library Month (SLM) is the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) celebration of school librarians and their programs. First celebrated in 1985 (as School Library Media Month; the name was changed to School Library Month in 2010), every April school librarians are encouraged to create activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school library programs play in a student’s educational career. Shares the theme of National Library Week. Contact the ALA American Association of School Librarians (AASL, a division of ALA) with questions.

National Library Week – April 14-20, 2013: http://www.ala.org/nlw First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries — school, public, academic and special — participate. Contact National Library Week Campaign Coordinator Megan McFarlane of the ALA Public Information Office with questions. Future National Libary Week dates are on the National Library Week/School Library Month Fact Sheet.

National Library Workers Day – Apr. 16, 2013 (Tuesday of National Library Week) http://alaapa.org/nlwd The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), the organization for the advancement of library employees, annually sponsors National Library Workers Day, which falls on the Tuesday of National Library Week. First celebrated in 2004, the purpose is to recognize all library workers, including librarians, support staff and others who make library service possible every day. Contact Lorelle Swader of ALA’s Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment with questions.

National Bookmobile Day – April 17, 2013 (Wednesday of National Library Week): http://www.ala.org/bookmobiles First celebrated in 2010 by the American Library Association Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS), the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Service (ABOS), and the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL). National Bookmobile Day is an annual celebration of the contributions of our nation’s bookmobiles and the dedicated professionals who make quality bookmobile outreach possible in their communities. Contact John Amundsen, ALA OLOS Communications Specialist with questions.

Celebrate Teen Literature Day – April 18, 2013 (Thursday of National Library Week) First celebrated in 2007 by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA, a division (ALA Events – Cont. from pg. 17) of ALA) under its original name, Support Teen Literature Day. The purpose of the renamed (starting in 2013) Celebrate Teen Literature Day is to raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today’s teens as well as showcase some award-winning authors and books in the genre. It also highlights librarians’ expertise in connecting teens with books and other reading materials. Contact the ALA Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA, a division of ALA) with questions.

Preservation Week – April 21-27, 2013 Preservation Week, first observed by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) in 2010, offers an opportunity to celebrate collecting and preservation in your community, and to highlight your institution as a source of preservation information. Contact the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS, a division of ALA) with questions.

Children’s Day/Book Day – El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día) – April 30, 2013: http://dia. ala.org Children’s Day/Book Day, also known as El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día), is a celebration of children, families, and reading held annually on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of advocating literacy for every child regardless of linguistic and cultural background. Through several grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) continues to increase public awareness of the event in libraries throughout the country. ALSC is collaborating on this effort with the Founding Partner of Día, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA). Día is an enhancement of Children’s Day, which began in 1925. Children’s Day was designated as a day to bring attention to the importance and well-being of children. In 1996, nationally acclaimed children’s book author Pat Mora proposed linking the celebration of childhood and children with literacy to found El día de los niños/El día de los libros. Contact the ALA Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC, a division of ALA) with questions.

Choose Privacy Week – 2013 dates to be announced: http://www.privacyrevolution.org Choose Privacy Week, first observed by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) in 2010, is an initiative that invites library users into a national conversation about privacy rights in a digital age. The campaign gives libraries the tools they need to educate and engage users, and gives citizens the resources to think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy. Contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) with questions.

National Library Legislative Day – May 7-8, 2013: http://www.ala.org/nlld The American Library Association, Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), the District of Columbia Library Association (DCLA) and the Special Libraries Association (SLA) sponsor National Library Legislative Day. The event was last observed April 23-24, 2012. Contact Jazzy Wright,  Press Officer, ALAWashington Office, with questions.

The School Library K12 Database Trials committee mem­bers, Robin Turk (Mat-Su and Past AkASL President), Katie Sanders (Fairbanks), Ann Morgester (Anchorage) and Jacque Peterson (State Library), conducted a rigorous, systematic search in early 2012 for outstanding, statewide databases for the K12 community which led to the acquisi­tion of BrainPOP and Teen Health and Wellness, two resources that will serve the learning and information needs of Alaska children in the years to come.

As a Digital Pipeline Champion of long standing, Steve Rollins (UAA and ALN Board Treasurer) has worked on the management, funding, coordination and promotion of the statewide database program for well over a decade for the collective good. Thanks to his vision, financial acumen and efforts, the Digital Pipeline has been yet further en­hanced in 2012 by the addition of new databases and a proxy server for more seamless authentication.

Daniel Cornwall (State Library) has worked tirelessly over the years on many aspects of the Digital Pipeline. His role as the “fix-it-man,” often behind the scenes, for all manner of authentication and technical problems— especially as new databases and services such as Teen Health and Wellness and BrainPOP are launched— has helped innumerable library staff and patrons access, use and profit from all the statewide databases and resources.

The Alaska Library Network recognizes that the success of statewide programs such as the Digital Pipeline is the work of many hands. We particularly wish to acknowledge these champions, who have gone above and beyond to create benefits for Alaskan libraries and their users.