May 1, 2014

For further information: Jeff Brody Director of Community Relations 360-475-9032

NEWS TIPS FROM KITSAP REGIONAL A compilation of information from KRL. Check KRL’s online calendar, http://www.krl.org/programs-and-events, for information about upcoming library programs and events.

“The Boys in the Boat” KRL’s 2014 One Book Selection Across the Kitsap Regional Library system and online, “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown was announced April 19 as Kitsap County’s One Book, One Community selection for 2014.

The One Book, One Community program encourages everyone in Kitsap to read a single title and then come together in the shared experience of discussing the book.

The same week that we announced our selection, “The Boys in the Boat” was named as the Adult Non- Fiction Book of the Year in the Indies Choice Book Awards sponsored by the American Booksellers Association.

"The Boys in the Boat" was selected for its strong themes of teamwork, hope, and resiliency.

“Sometimes reality presents us with a story so perfect that it would be considered unbelievable as fiction,” said Jeff Brody, Director of Community Relations for KRL. “’The Boys in the Boat’ is just such a story.”

The book tells the inspiring story of a most remarkable band of brothers who upstaged Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympics. It is a tale of nine working class boys from the Pacific Northwest who stormed the rowing world, transforming the sport and galvanizing the attention of millions of Americans. It reminds us all of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together.

As it was described in one review, “’Boys in the Boat’ is ‘Chariots of Fire’ with oars.”

Author Daniel James Brown will be presenting three programs in Kitsap County as part of the celebration of One Book in October, including a special event to benefit the Kitsap Regional Library Foundation. We’ll also have programs featuring daughters of two of the members of the Boys in the Boat crew. More on the programming for One Book will be announced later this summer.

Silverdale Library Site Update KRL continues to explore options for a new Silverdale Library location.

Three options were presented to the public in a joint meeting March 20 with the Central Kitsap Community Council. During that meeting, KRL announced a public survey to gather comments on the three sites. Later that week, the Silverdale Port District decided to withdraw one of the site options from consideration. KRL kept the survey active for more than a month, closing it on April 23.

A total of 1,131 people participated in the survey. Of the 1,078 who stated a preference for one of the two remaining sites, the Central Kitsap Community Campus was preferred over the Silverdale United Methodist Church site by a margin of 477 to 427. (Although the Port site was withdrawn, 174 people still stated that site as a preference.)

Neither of the two remaining sites won the support of a majority of the survey participants, and respondents cited serious concerns about both sites. Parking was listed as a concern for the Central Kitsap Community Campus site, which is next to the Silverdale Y. Access and traffic on Ridgetop Boulevard was the concern expressed about the Silverdale United Methodist Church property.

“It’s clear that people are very concerned about parking in general, at our current library location in Old Town Silverdale, and about potential parking conflicts on the Community Campus site,” said Jeff Brody, Director of Community Relations for KRL. “People are also concerned about traffic on Ridgetop, which is one lane in each direction with a center turn lane in front of the church property, and how that would affect their ability to access the library and leave the library if it was located there.”

Brody said that KRL will continue to work with Kitsap County and the Silverdale United Methodist Church, owners of the two properties, to understand the opportunities and costs that would confront the library if it chose to build at either site. In addition, the library will continue to explore other options in Silverdale to determine if there are more choices the KRL Board of Trustees should consider when it meets in June.

Choosing the Silverdale Library site is tentatively set for the agenda of the Board meeting June 24.

Military Appreciation Program for Armed Forces Festival: Defending Your Voice: Teaching Soldiers How to Tell Their Stories KRL is pleased to present a special program in appreciation of our nation’s military in conjunction with Bremerton’s Armed Forces Festival.

Shawn Wong, author and University of Washington professor, will speak about of his work with soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and will discuss how our community can help soldiers tell their stories. Wong will be speaking at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8 at KRL’s Downtown Bremerton branch library.

For the past year, Wong and a team of teachers in the Red Badge Project have been teaching veterans at JBLM how to construct the stories of their lives in writing. Through the project, soldiers are able to translate and articulate their lives away from home, their experiences and their traumas to themselves, their families and a wider audience.

Whether the narrative voice on the page is in the first person non-fiction voice of the soldier/writer or a surrogate fictional voice, the goal is the same – to be heard and understood.

Wong will discuss what he has learned from this program and how communities and soldiers might learn to share, hear and understand the stories of our veterans. We will talk about how veterans’ stories can give us insight into the traumas of war.

Wong’s first novel, “Homebase,” won a Washington State Governor’s Writers Award and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. His second novel, “American Knees,” was recently made into a film. Among Wong’s six other books is the landmark “Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers,” a collection largely credited as the first to showcase Asian-American literature. He was featured in the Bill Moyers documentary “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience.”

Wong is a professor of English at the University of Washington where, for the last 28 years, he has taught courses in fiction writing, screenwriting, Asian American literature, Chinese-American history, in addition to courses in travel writing at the UW campus in Rome, Italy.

KRL Wins National Award for Library Marketing Kitsap Regional Library has won national recognition for its marketing campaign for the 2013 One Book, One Community program.

KRL was informed last week that it is one of eight recipients nationally of the Award.

The John Cotton Dana Award honors outstanding effective strategic communication campaigns that show results – no matter what size or type of library. Winners of the John Cotton Dana Award receive a $10,000 cash award from the H.W. Wilson Foundation. Up to eight awards are presented annually, and the competition is open to of all sizes, types and budgets and to agencies and associations that promote library service.

The award is sponsored by the H.W. Wilson Foundation, EBSCO and the Library Leadership and Management Association, a division of the American Library Association.

This year, the John Cotton Dana Award judges reviewed 83 submissions and ultimately chose the eight winners, five public libraries and three university libraries. Kitsap Regional Library is the only library in the Pacific Northwest to win this award this year.

The award citation states: The staff at Kitsap Regional Library used technology and guerilla marketing techniques to connect their local community around the book "The Leisure Seeker." Books were placed in spots around town – on park benches, hanging from trees, in balloons in the town fountain – where people would stumble upon them unexpectedly. People were prompted to read the book and pass it along. The result was a community read that was fun, accessible and reached an audience that the library might not have captured otherwise. Most impressive was that staff was engaged and excited about the project, sparking curiosity, building an emotional connection with the library and connecting the larger community through reading.

In announcing the award to KRL staff, Library Director Jill Jean said, “This award will be presented to KRL Community Relations Staff at the American Library Association Conference in June. The KRL entry was based on the brilliant work done by this department for last year’s One Book One Community celebration of the book “The Leisure Seeker.”

KRL’s Community Relations staff consists of Jeannie Allen, Jeff Brody, David Frazier and Susan Rosapepe.

KRL was also honored with a 2014 LibraryAware Community Award, recognizing the library’s efforts to link its services with community goals and needs. That award, which comes with a $5,000 prize, will be presented at the May 12 meeting of the Kitsap County Commissioners.

Silverdale Library Faces Short Closure May 3 and May 5 KRL’s Silverdale Library will be closed on Saturday, May 3, and until 1 p.m. on Monday, May 5, to make needed sewer line repairs.

The book drop at the branch will be inaccessible while the work is being done, but all other KRL branch libraries will be open their normal hours on Saturday and Monday.

Books from the Silverdale Library that are due on Saturday but not returned until Monday will not accrue overdue fines.

Most Requested at KRL The most requested book in the KRL collection last week was “The Boys on the Boat” by Daniel Brown with 150 holds (tied with Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch”). The most requested e-book was “Divergent” by Veronica Roth, with 116 holds. The most requested DVD was “Gravity,” with 173 holds.

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