At the Library 10/24/25

 

Who Is It? : the WPL presents photos from the Memory Lab Project Ridiculous Day, 1957, names unknown By Mark Keedy   The Memory Lab at the Washington Public Library Make-It Space will host a casual gathering to help identify people, places and events in photos scanned from old Washington Evening Journal film. The session is the first of many planned to help add details to unpublished photos from the collection now being archived. Mark Keedy, a former Evening Journal intern photographer and writer, heads up a project to preserve images from 1957 to 2004, and will lead the “Who Is It?” session on a big screen in the Make IT Place in the lower level of the Library on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 2-3:30 pm. “We’ve scanned and identified thousands of images so far,” says Keedy. “But we’ve also found interesting photos that were never published, and some published photos that include people who were not identified in the original captions.” The captions, he says, are gleaned from the Journal Archive found on the web at seiowa.advantage-preservation.com. “The site has been tremendously useful, but we’d like to fill in some of the blanks,” he added, “and we’ve already found that community input is a valuable resource.” Librarian LeAnn Kunz will help facilitate the session, and says the format is expected to be casual and fun. “We’ve seen photos that no one except the original photographers ever saw,” she said, “and learning more about them is delightful.” She said that participants will see some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the project. The discussion may include ideas on how volunteers can contribute to the project. No pre-registration is needed, but seating may be limited to about 30 people. Kunz also notes that most of the equipment being used for the Evening Journal project is available to adult library patrons with a brief introduction to the process. The Memory Lab is used for creating digital files of photos, film negatives and slides, and also has equipment available for transferring home movies and videos to computer files. In addition, there are specialized devices for scanning books and audio tapes.  Tours of the Memory Lab and other resources of the Make-It Space are available on request. You can also follow the Washington Public Library Memory Lab Facebook page to see some of fabulous photos being digitized.

At the Library 10/23/25

Come Be Creative @ Community Clubs!

by Tammy Valentine

    The fall season seems to be a very creative time for everyone, but especially for the library.

Today during our Community Calligraphy session, we shared our tips and tricks while 

practicing our own calligraphy. Linda gave us a few tips that we can all use. She said to relax, 

breathe, and enjoy the process. She also said to not worry about mistakes and to not always 

point out the mistakes, as nobody will notice anyway. One thing she does differently is that 

she practices on the couch, all curled up, as opposed to sitting flat-footed at a table. Her 

words gave us all good feelings that we can practice in our own way, imperfectly but happily. 

The assignment for our next session is to write out a poem by Robert Frost, Nothing Gold 

Can Stay. It is short and sweet and perfect for calligraphy. 

    Later this month, our Community Crafternoon session meets on October 28 at 1 pm.  We

will be having a mini-lesson with Julie Mangold on Junk Journaling. We are

very excited to have Julie returning to once again teach us how to create junk journals.

We will have newcomers to junk journaling along with others who love to create

journals of all kinds. Some of us will even be incorporating what we have learned in

our Calligraphy class. So, no matter where you are in journaling, join us to create something 

unique to you. Register for the mini-lesson online www.washington.lib.ia.us or just show up 

with your own projects. Sharing is the best part of these meetings.

    On November 18, we will combine our Community Calligraphy and Crafternoon sessions to 

accommodate busy holiday schedules. We will use our junk journals to add some beautiful 

writing in the form of the poems we copied. We will also use our junk journals to give bullet 

point journaling a try! You are welcome to attend with your own projects or to join the mini- 

lesson. Come and be creative with us!

At the Library 10/16/25

 

Language Conversation Group at the WPL

 

By Alison Greiner

Do you enjoy learning other languages?  Are you interested in meeting new people? If so, you may want to check out the latest group starting up this month at the library.  This group is a basic conversation group in English and Spanish.  We hope it will allow Spanish and English speakers to learn some basic conversational skills in the language they don't speak.   Many times, we may know basic phrases in the other language but still find it hard to go beyond. This group will be the perfect place to feel comfortable asking questions and trying out some new phrases, while being supported by others who are also learning.  

We will spend some time talking with each other and meeting the others in the group.  Next, we will work on various scenarios that would be helpful to know, such as how to order a pizza, how to call out a child from school, how to call a repair person for home repairs, and others. As we get to know each other and the needs of the group, it will be interesting to see what other ways we can utilize this group as a helpful tool for all.

This group is open to anyone and will meet upstairs in the Nicola-Stoufer meeting room on each Thursday at 5 pm.  There is no need to register, and if you cannot make every meetup, that is fine.  Please call us at the library or stop by if you have any questions.  We hope to see you there!

 

At the Library 10/2/25

Generations of Mystery

by Marissa Reisen

Marissa Reisen's Nancy Drew collection

You’ll see a new face behind the desk when you stop at the library of a weekday evening (mine!) and I’ve been given the opportunity to share a little about my love of reading with you all today. I got to help refresh the puzzle selection last week and in conversation about puzzles shared that I have some sentimental puzzles in my collection – one of them made up of the covers from Nancy Drew books. And then I went on a tangent about Nancy Drew!

I received my first Nancy Drew book in 1992. Yes, I know that for sure, because my great-grandma (Granny) gifted it to me on my birthday, with the dedication inside the cover to prove it. I didn’t know it then, but Granny would influence my future with “The Secret of the Old Clock.” (Not today’s story, but my original career path was into the world of forensic science). What I also didn’t realize was that this was A THING for her. Years down the road, as we were packing up my grandma’s belongings to downsize her home, I found Nancy Drew books in her collection. They didn’t look like my books – they had faded blue covers with no picture, and if you were to compare the story itself, they wouldn’t be exactly the same, as the original books were modified years later to be accurate to the current time period. But one of Grandma’s books had a dedication from Granny as well, and as we dug further, we found books that Granny had gifted to Mom and my aunt with similar dedications. My mom has gifted both of my daughters Nancy Drew books to carry on the custom.

Now, all of these books grace the shelves in my home as a symbol of family and tradition. And good old-fashioned mystery!

Fun facts about Nancy Drew

- Over 600 Nancy Drew books have been published over the years! The first 3 were published in April of 1930.

- All Nancy Drew books are “authored” by Carolyn Keene, which is a pseudonym. At least 30 authors have penned under this name.

- The original author, Mildred Augustine, has Iowa roots! She was from Ladora and attended the State University of Iowa, where she was the first woman to graduate from the school of journalism and the first person to receive a master’s in journalism from there.

- The original series was aimed at readers aged 8 – 11, but there have been many, MANY other Nancy Drew series extending the range to ages 5 – 14. But let’s be honest… you are never too old for a good mystery with Nan and her crew!

- My absolute favorite subseries is the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys SUPERMYSTERIES.

- WPL has the classics on the shelves, plus some of the more modern tomes. There’s also a really interesting biography of Nancy Drew that you should check out (I got some of my facts from this very book).

At the Library 9/25/25

 Washington’s Book Store: The Rebook Room!

By Cary Ann Siegfried

ReBook Room in lower level of the library

    We often hear Washington residents wishing for a bookstore here in town, not knowing that the Library actually has a bookstore!  On the lower level, right next to some other unknown treasures (the MakeIT Place and the Grayson Archive room), is the Rebook Room!

    In the Rebook Room, most hardback books sell for $1.00 and paperbacks for $.50.  We sometimes also have music or audiobook CDs and DVDs “in stock.”  Some “almost brand new” adult hardbacks go for the bargain price of $2.00. We stock a cart in the Library foyer with some “gems” to tempt you but there is always more downstairs!

    Our stock in the Rebook Room comes from a couple different sources. When we are withdrawing books from the library’s collection (a necessary step to maintaining a current library collection– see note below) they will generally end up in the Rebook Room. In addition, many of the voracious readers in our community generously donate books to the library, either right after they’ve finished reading them or when they’re reorganizing their book shelves every few years. 

    Often our patrons ask us if they can give us the 500 books that they found when cleaning out their parent’s house. The answer to that is “probably not.”  If the books have been stored in a moldy basement or dusty attic for the last 50 years, we definitely don’t want them. Mold spreads fast and we don’t want to endanger the other materials in our collection. If the books are paperbacks with yellowing and brittle pages, again, we’ll also pass (though we’ve seen some paperbacks from 30 years ago that are holding together better than some made 3 years ago).

    When patrons donate current books to us, they often hope we may add them to our collection (even though we always let donors know that if we don’t add them to the collection they’ll be put in the Rebook Room) and are later disappointed to see them in the ReBook Room or on our sale cart in the foyer. Often, that will be because we already have the book in our collection because we thought it was great too! We’ll often compare the condition of the donated book to the one in the collection just to see how our copy is holding up and might switch it out.  We very very rarely keep two copies of the same book in our adult collections, though we might have duplicates of a well-loved book in our picturebook collection. 

Brand-new books for sale in ReBook

    Here’s some advice to potential book donors:  

• We welcome recent adult fiction in good condition (published in the last 5 years or so) in hardback or paperback. Yes, we do like “the classics”, so if you have some in very good condition we’ll probably take them regardless of publication date. And there are some authors like Grisham or Clancy or Steel that we’ll take for the Rebook Room even if they’re older titles.

• We accept donations of adult nonfiction books if they’ve been published within the last 5 years. Craft books always seem to be popular in the Rebook Room. Titles dealing with medical or legal issues will generally need to have been published within the last 2 years.  We don’t accept textbooks.

• Children’s books should be in good condition without rips/tears, marks or missing pages. We prefer recent hardbacks– any children’s paperback book that has lasted more than a couple years evidently wasn’t very well “loved” by its owner so we may not love it either.  

• We don’t take donations of old National Geographics.  We do accept some magazines– check with us before bringing.

    NOTE to everyone who hates to hear that we remove books from our collection:  We love adding new books to the collection just as much as you all love reading them. But since we have to maintain an orderly library without stacking books on the floor or on 8 foot high shelving, to add some, we have to remove some. This is math and like you, we’ve always liked reading better. 

    Some books we can keep longer than others. We look at a number of factors to decide whether a book will go or stay– not just whether it’s been checked out or not (though that is big factor in most public library collections). In the adult nonfiction collection, we keep a close eye on medical and legal books– generally anything over 5 years old will go. In the travel section, do you really want to take that Fodor’s Paris published in 2012 on vacation with you?  We pride ourselves on our great adult fiction collection, but we acknowledge that to keep adding new titles, sometimes we have to be ruthless– if an author isn’t publishing any longer and no one has checked out any of their books in the last 5 years, we probably can’t keep them. But keep in mind, you can rescue them in the Rebook Room! 

 

Lots of inexpensive books for sale in ReBook

At the Library 9/18/25

Step Back in Time: A Roaring '20s Party & Gatsby Trivia Night    

 by Beth L. Swift

Technology Librarian

The Washington Public Library is thrilled to invite you to a night of glitz, glam, and great fun at our Great Gatsby Roaring ‘20s Party & Trivia Night. Get ready for an unforgettable evening filled with dazzling festivities, jazz, light bites, and a dash of 1920s charm that will transport you straight to the Jazz Age!      

Mark Your Calendar:
Monday, October 6th, 2025 at 6:00 PM                              
Washington Public Library

Live Jazz Music
Get ready to be swept away by the smooth sounds of Randy Swift and The New Old New Orleans Jazz Cats, as they provide the perfect soundtrack for the evening. Let their classic jazz tunes take you to the heart of the 1920s as you mingle with fellow party-goers.

Light Refreshments
Savor delicious bites and beverages as you enjoy the festivities. Whether you're nibbling on savory snacks or sipping a refreshing drink, we've got you covered with tasty treats to fuel your night of fun.

Photo Booth Fun
Capture the magic of the Jazz Age with our themed photo booth! With vintage props and a stunning backdrop, you’ll be able to channel your inner flapper or dapper gentleman. Strike a pose and take home a memento from the evening.

Gatsby Trivia Challenge
Do you know your Jay Gatsby from your Daisy Buchanan? Test your knowledge of The Great Gatsby with our lively trivia competition! Brush up on your Fitzgerald before the event. There could even be prizes for the sharpest minds in the room, so don’t miss out!

Trivia Teams
Trivia teams can range from 1 to 4 adults. Each participant must register separately (no need to register as a team). It's the perfect chance to grab a group of friends or challenge yourself solo!

Dress the Part!
While not required, we encourage attendees to embrace the flair of the 1920s! Think flapper dresses, feathered headbands, sharp suits, and stylish fedoras. Step into the shoes of the glamorous Gatsby era and make your evening all the more memorable.

Space is Limited, so Register Early!
This event is free, but space is limited, so don’t wait—register by October 1st, 2025 to secure your spot. Visit our website at www.washington.lib.ia.us/events to sign up and be part of this unforgettable night.

Once you’ve registered, be sure to stop by the library before the event to pick up your “admission ticket,” which will be your golden ticket to an evening of Gatsby-esque revelry!

This is your chance to immerse yourself in the world of The Great Gatsby. Don’t miss out—grab your flapper dress or dapper suit, gather your friends, and join us for a night of jazz, trivia, and timeless fun. We can’t wait to see you there!

Remember: Gatsby never does anything halfway—neither should you!

At the Library 9/11/25

 Write in the Art Galleries

by LeAnn Kunz

April in a Blue Hat by Carlton Bump

The Washington Public Library is fortunate to house two art galleries, several other art display spaces, as well as hold a permanent collection of local art. If you have never walked the whole library from main level to second level to lower level, you are missing out! We pride ourselves on being a community and cultural center of Washington and therefore, we want to foster your opportunities to enjoy and appreciate art. This month and every month on the 15th we will now be hosting a "Write in the Gallery" day. You are invited to bring your journals or laptops, sign in at the front desk, and plop yourself into a comfy chair in front of any of the pieces of art on display. Spend some time studying and writing your thoughts on what you see. 

There is actually a name for writing about artwork; it is called ekphrastic writing. The term comes from the Greek ek (“out”) and phrasis (“speak”), meaning “to speak out.” Poetry has often been written about art, but you can write in any genre. Most famously John Keats wrote an ekphrastic poem entitled "Ode on a Grecian Urn" which is a reflection on the scenes he saw on a very old urn. William Carlos Williams wrote a piece called "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" after studying a painting by Pieter Bruegel.

The members of the Washington Writers' Workshop have also experimented with this sort of writing. A few years ago they were given a tour of the library's permanent pieces and then picked a piece to write about. John Greener chose the painting by Carlton Bump called "April in a Blue Hat" and created the following poem:

Woman in a Blue Hat
by John Greener

The Bendix is gone,
I know the sound.
The tractor won't run without it.
It will be God's good time
To find another, if he can.
A used part is more expensive
Than new used to be-
Can we mortgage the crop
One more time?
If the rain comes too late,
It will make no difference.

Like our land, I am used up
Tired to the bone.
If the rain is too much, too early
We will wash away.
If it is too late,
Our land will blow away
And the Bendix will make no difference.

He will be home soon-
He is a good man
Defeated by hard times.
I must haul out my pretty face once again
To greet him.

Come by the Washington Library between 8 am - 6:30 pm on September 15 and "Write in the Gallery" with us. We would love to see the art appreciated and to read your pieces!

Art Underground Gallery