Welcome to our podcast!

This twice-monthly show will feature conversations and interviews all about your public libraries and the people who populate them. Tune in to laugh a little and learn a little about the communities, the staff, the events, the backrooms, the happenings, and, of course, the books!
It’s a half hour of happiness delivered to your earbuds every two weeks!
Open your eyes to all the ways your local libraries matter.
Listen to the podcast here or subscribe on your favorite Podcast platform.
Let us know what you would like to hear. Email the host at neil.mckay@wcls.org
You can also listen to the show on Mondays at 6:00 pm and Fridays at 10:00 am on KVAX 102.5 FM in East Whatcom County and on Saturdays at 11:00 am on KMRE 102.3 FM in Bellingham
Episode 31








Episode 30
Remembering Joan Airoldi
WCLS’s former Executive Director Joan Airoldi passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, December 3, 2022.
Joan led the county library system 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 Fork, South Whatcom, Island and Point Roberts and encouraging all of us to “Be Curious” and to “Listen, Learn & Lead.” Joan’s courage in defending patrons’ rights to privacy earned her a national recognition with a PEN/Newman Award. She generously donated the prize money to start the Whatcom County Library Foundation.
We asked WCLS staff and friends who knew Joan if they wanted to share stories and we offer a sampling of the many stories that were recorded. Heartfelt thanks to the friends and coworkers of Joan who allowed us the privilege of capturing their stories.
- Frances Barbagallo
- Tina Bixby
- Mariya Farmagay
- Jeanne Fondrie
- Lisa Gresham
- Lois Holub
- Amy Jones
- Sarah Koehler
- Linda Lambert
- Tammy LaPlante
- Laura Larson-Kollmar
- Dick Little
- Di Marrs-Smith
- Theresa Morrison
- Lisa Neulicht
- Carol Oberton
- Amory Peck
- Christine Perkins
- Cindy Pfeiffer-Hoyt
- Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt
- Jenn Rick
- Lizz Roberts
- Erin Suda
All of us at the Whatcom County Library System extend our sympathy to Joan’s family and to everyone who loved and admired her. We miss her deeply and honor her spirit in the work we do on behalf on library patrons.


Donations to the Whatcom County Library Foundation can be made in Joan’s honor here.
Hard Times Require Furious Dancing: New Poems by Alice Walker
Episode 29

Episode 28
Thanks to Shari Sievers for the photos of just some of the 142 book carts at our Administrative Offices



Episode 27 Notes
Episode 26 Notes
- Kanopy streaming films and documentaries
- Freegal streaming music
- Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett
- The Peculiar Pig by Joy Steuerwald
“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
Episode 25 Notes
“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
Episode 24 Notes
- Think Black by Clyde Ford
- Of Blood and Sweat by Clyde Ford
- Other books by Clyde Ford
- Clyde’s recommendations

- Read & Share
- Previous Read & Share books
- My Old Man and the Mountain by Leif Whittaker
- Thirst by Heather Anderson
- House Lessons by Erica Bauermeister

Episode 23 Notes
Historical Photos from the Washington Rural Heritage website
Book Recommendations



Episode 22 Notes

Summer Programs
Books Mentioned in this Episode
- The Storyteller by Dave Grohl (audio version recommended)
- Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
- Northwest Know-how: Beaches by Rena Priest
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The books of Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Lives and Times of archy and mehitabel
- Krazy & Ignatz by George Herriman (illustrator)
- The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco
- The Velveteen Rabbit on DVD narrated by Meryl Streep
- Wise Child by Monica Furlong
Summer Reading Sponsors
Episode 21 Notes

Donate to Sumas Library Recovery Fund
Jonathan’s recommendations
- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Maid by Nita Prose

- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
- Books by Sarah Dessen
- Books by Mindy McGinness
- The Cask of Amontillado and other stories by Edgar Allen Poe
- Legendborn by Tracie Deonn
- Blood and Bone by Erin Hunter
- Vicious by V. E. Schwab
- Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
- Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
- A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
- All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
- In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
- I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Episode 20 Notes
- Public Library Association Conference 2022
- Keynote Speakers
- John Cotten Dana Award
- WCLS I Believe in Libraries Campaign
- Carmi Parker interview
- National Poetry Month
- New Poetry booklist by WCLS staff
- Poetry Month video playlist on Kanopy
- How to create a Kanopy playlist of your own
- Books by Mary Oliver
Episode 19 Notes
Episode 18 Notes
- “A community that reads is nothing but good.” – Paul Hanson
- Greenwood by Michael Christie
- WhatcomREADS Events
- Village Books
- Chuckanut Radio Hour on KMRE 102.3 FM
- The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
- Ordinary Monsters by J. M. Miro
- “Brutiful”
- The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
- “The difference between the right word and the almost right word,
- is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.” – Mark Twain
- Ken Burns’ documentary on Mark Twain on Kanopy (free with your WCLS library card)
Episode 17 Notes
Episode 16 Notes
- Whatcom READS
- Singer Debby Harry explains The Pogo, the dance that was all the rage in central Missouri in the 1980s.
Episode 15 Notes
- “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face” – Victor Hugo
- Books and items in the WCLS collection by and about Victor Hugo
- Radio’s Favorite Bloopers (CD available at WCLS)
The Haunted Library by Dori Hillestad Butler
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things,
trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself,
changing yourself, changing your world.
You’re doing things you’ve never done before,
and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.”
Neil Gaiman
(Books and items written by Neil Gaiman)
Episode 14 Notes
- 11/14/2021 Whatcom News story: Whatcom County communities threatened by potential flooding take action
- 11/16/2021 Lynden Tribune article: Nooksack man photographs flooding from the sky
- 11/18/2021 KUOW/NPR story: This won’t be the last time this small Washington town goes under water
- 11/20/2021 NBC News story: Flooding in Washington state leaves residents wondering what’s next
- WCLS Community Resources searchable table
Hopeful Book Recommendation


Episode 13 Notes
Episode 12 Notes
- 75 WCLS Library Champions News Release
- Library Champions Booklet
- Storytime Videos
- WCLS on Facebook
- Whatcom County Library Foundation
- Friends of the Whatcom County Libraries page
Melanie May’s Book Recommendations
- Washington Center for the Book
- Whatcom READS
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- Library Journal Book Reviews by Christine Perkins
- Cascadia Weekly Book Reviews by Christine Perkins and Lisa Gresham
- Nancy Pearl on Twitter
- Nancy Pearl on NPR’s Morning Edition
- Dean Street Press – Furrowed Middlebrow
Nancy Pearl’s and Christine Perkins’ Book Recommendations
- Funny books
Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge
The Bear Went Over the Mountain by William Kotzwinkle - Scary books
The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
Unforgotten (DVD)
Jack Irish TV series
Jack Irish Novels
Jackson Brodie books and DVDs by Kate Atkinson - Audio Narration
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead audio by Cassandra Campbell and Alex MecKenna
Discworld books by Terry Pratchet, audio by Stephen Briggs
Belgravia by Julian Fellowes, audio by Juliet Stevenson - Hopeful Book
The Way of a Boy, a Memoir of Java
A Town Like Alice by Nevile Shute
Three Came Home by Agnes Newton Keith
The Moment of Lift by Melinda French Gates
Episode 11 Notes
- Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
- The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
- Sitka Alaska Community Radio Station KCAW
- Contact Tracing information from the CDC
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”
– J.M. Barrie
- Nancy Pearl Action Figure at Archie McPhee’s Store
- National Book Foundation LIterarian Award
- Books by Nancy Pearl
- The Seattle Channel – Book Lust podcast
- Nancy Pearl interviews Tom Hanks (Video)
- Nancy Pearl interviews Melinda French Gates (Video)
- Seattle Reads program (formerly called “If All Seattle Read the Same Book”)
- Angle of Repose by Wallace Stenger
- New Yorker article on Walker Percy’s novel, The Moviegoer
Episode 10 Notes
Book Recommendations
- Ladybug Girl
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
- Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
- The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
Book Recommendations
- Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor by Paul Beatty (Village Books)
- Ringshout, Or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times by P. Djèlí Clark
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri
Episode 9 Notes
Library of Things
Authors that Emma and Mary K. have met
Audio books with a good narrator
Ozymandias of Egypt
“Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Reading Recommendations
Children’s books
Funny books
- The 2000s Made Me Gay
- Hench by Natalie Zena Walschots
(Nancy Pearl interviews Natalie Zena Walschots on her Book Lust podcast)
Scary Books
Hopeful Books
Episode 8 Notes
Episode 7 Notes
- I Found a Baby Duck, What Do I Do? by Dale Bick Carlson
- Watch the PBS live action feature film Wind in the Willows on Kanopy
- Grow your own garden with The Edible Backyard by Ivette Soler
- Katrina’s Book Recommendation: Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding by Daniel Lieberman
- YouTube Video: Abbe Rolnick talks about how the community of Deming raised money and built their library
Episode 6 Notes
- Watch a video of the new Missoula MT library
- Read the latest Cascadia Weekly book reviews by Christine Perkins and Lisa Gresham
- Read about the surprise gift to the Everson Library which helped fund their remodel
- Watch the Nookchats, oral local histories filmed at the Everson Library
- Check out A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising by Raymond Villareal
- Check out Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison
Episode 5 Notes
Episode 4 Notes
Episode 3 Notes
- Say hello to Liz Andre on the South Whatcom Facebook page
- Read The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs
- Read Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
- Search our collection for Playaway reads
- Read the Britannica Library article about Shrewsbury, UK (log in with your library card)
- Here’s a graphic novel about Charles Darwin!
- New Teen Fiction and Nonfiction
- Find A Forest of Words and Whatcomics on our Teen page
- Newest Mysteries in our collection!
Episode 2 Notes
- Visit our Summer Reading page here
- See photos and images from past Summer Reading seasons including Tammy LaPlante’s reading lists from when she was a child.
- Watch our 2019 History Harvest interview with Tammy LaPlante on the Washington Rural Heritage website here
- Welcome North Fork Manager Katrina Buckman on the North Fork Facebook page here