WCLS’s former Executive Director Joan Airoldi passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, December 3, 2022. Joan was our leader from 2002 to 2013. She will be remembered as a Library Champion on a multitude of counts: establishing the Whatcom READS program in collaboration with partners at Whatcom Community College, advocating for new libraries in Ferndale, North … Read more
An interview with WCLS Jail Services PSA, Barry MacHale about the services we provide our incarcerated patrons. Originally produced for our All Staff Learning Day, this episode provides insight into how the WCLS mission of connecting information, ideas, and community is fulfilled through jail service.
Collections Manager Lisa Gresham takes us on a tour of her departments that she calls “The Life Cycle of a Book” Thanks to Shari Sievers for the photos of just some of the 142 book carts at our Administrative Offices
Sumas and Everson Library Manager Paul Fullner talks with long-time Sumas residents Carl Crouse and Penny Leenders about the devastating flood that occurred in Sumas one year ago. Carl has written a book called The Waters Are Rising: Stories of Inspiration and Hope from the Sumas, Washington Flood of November 2021 available in our library catalog here The … Read more
We welcome new Ferndale branch manager Alix Prior and talk with Theresa and Sarah about the return to in-person Storytimes. “Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.” – Eudora Welty
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien It’s 1996, and Ky Tran has left her tiny hometown of Cabramatta and her Vietnamese immigrant community to scratch out a future as a journalist in Melbourne. Then tragedy strikes: Ky’s brother Denny, a star student with a bright future, is brutally murdered in a popular restaurant. Despite the … Read more
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley If you’re in the mood for a satisfying, twisty thriller laced with contemporary and traditional Native American culture, Angeline Boulley’s debut novel starts with a bang. Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine is the titular “Firekeeper’sDaughter,” half Ojibwe, half French/Italian/English, and entirely herself. A talented hockey player and aspiring doctor, Daunis has made the … Read more
Whatcom County Library Foundation Development Director Jenn Rick tells us all about the Foundation and the wonderful things they do to support the library and the community. “A library is vibrant,And vital,And chatty,And interesting,And colorful.”– Jenn Rick “You can’t turn back the clock,but you can wind it up again”– Bonnie Prudden
Think Black: A Memoir by Clyde W. Ford Few people have lives as varied and interesting as Bellingham’s own Clyde Ford. In his professional life, he’s been a chiropractor, a psychotherapist and a business owner. He’s studied mind-body healing, African mythology, the environment and history, and he’s channeled these interests into a career as a renowned … Read more
The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with Recipes) by Kate Lebo Mixing culinary history, personal reflections and tantalizing trivia, poet and pie aficionado Kate Lebo delves deep into 26 lyrical essays featuring “difficult” fruit — one for each letter of the alphabet — in her first work of nonfiction, “The … Read more