WSU Libraries are seeking student, faculty and staff volunteers to participate in one-hour focus groups for the redesign of the libraries’ website.

The focus groups will take place at 11 a.m. on Jan. 9, 3 p.m. on Jan. 10 and noon on Jan. 11 at the Holland and Terrell Libraries. All participants will receive $15 credited to their WSU account upon completion.

Please contact core services librarian Blake Galbreath (blake.galbreath@wsu.edu) by Jan. 7 to sign up.

To prevent another round of cuts to WSU Libraries’ journals subscriptions, WSU President Kirk Schulz and WSU Provost Dan Bernardo recently designated an additional $150,000 to the libraries’ budget.

This is the second consecutive year the president and provost have allocated additional money to the libraries’ journal fund, with $500,000 designated in 2017.

WSU librarian Trevor Bond has been selected by the Washington State Historical Society as the recipient of the 2018 Charles Gates Memorial Award for his article “Documenting Missionaries and Indians: The Archive of Myron Eells.”

The award recognizes “the most significant achievement among all articles published in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly.” He will be honored at the annual meeting of the Washington State Historical Society on Saturday, Sept. 22.

Retired WSU librarians Vicki Croft and Marilyn Von Seggern recently received honors from the Medical Library Association and the American Library Association.

Croft, former head of the WSU Animal Health Library, shared MLA’s Erich Meyerhoff Prize with Susanne K. Whitaker, retired veterinary librarian at Cornell University, for best unpublished essay on the history of medicine and the allied sciences written by a health sciences librarian.

A new exhibit in WSU’s Terrell Library this month highlights the collected books and other media of library employees when they’re not at work. Called “After Hours 5: Don’t Judge a Book by its Owner,” the exhibit runs through August in the atrium display case.

Started in 2014, the “After Hours” exhibits celebrate the creativity and uniqueness of WSU Libraries’ staff post-work pursuits.

Scholarly Communication Librarian Talea Anderson was recently awarded the Student Success Seed Grant to conduct her research on the Affordable Learning Project. The research surrounding this project was designed to make course materials more affordable for students and, therefore, to support their success in courses at WSU.

After 34 years of service to WSU, Joe Ford with Owen Science and Engineering Library will retire Friday, June 29. A reception will be held 2:30-4 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, in the Terrell Library atrium.

The library and archives paraprofessional 3 worked at various WSU units through the years before joining Owen Library in 2001, including Media Materials, Biomedical Communications, Student Publications and the Daily Evergreen.

In response to requests from ASWSU leadership, the Holland and Terrell Libraries will offer extended hours during the end of Summer Session. They will be open until 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, June 13, and Thursday, June 14.

Obituaries, especially ones from the early 1900s, have much to teach the living. WSU senior Liz Cairns knows because she scans newspaper obituaries from those decades for the Kimble Northwest History Database.

Working with obituaries might not seem like the best form of student employment, but Cairns says she loves reading them. “If it’s written down, it honors the person. It’s especially interesting when the person has lived a long time, to see all that they accomplished and how many lives they’ve touched.”

Leah Benedict will receive the 2018 WSU Libraries’ Excellence Award during a 10 a.m. reception Wednesday, May 16, in the Terrell Library Atrium.

Benedict is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of English. The award recognizes a non-library faculty or staff member who has shown consistent support for the WSU Libraries.