Author – Spokane County Library District

An End of Life Story: Considerations & Planning for Death

Posted in Explore and Discover, Prime Time on November 3, 2021 at 6:00 am

Most people don’t like to think about death. Often, we think of “setting one’s affairs in order” as a task that only belongs to the mature crowd. But life is fragile at every age. Car accidents happen, as do natural disasters. It’s not a bad idea to put a few instructions in writing even if death feels far off. An added benefit of explori […]

Hard-won Victories and Lessons Learned During the Pandemic

Posted in Explore and Discover on August 20, 2021 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino There is no sugarcoating how hard this pandemic has been for all of us, and for some, more than others. It is also true that the pandemic has forced us to think in new and creative ways. For us at the library, we’ve been focused on how the library can serve you. […]

Tags: lessons, librarian, life, work

What Do Forensic Psychology, Andre Agassi and Yoga Have in Common? Answer: Udemy!

Posted in Explore and Discover on May 27, 2021 at 4:30 am

BY DANA MANNINO Lifelong learners and anyone seeking to learn something new will find a fantastic variety of online classes offered through Udemy, the latest addition to our array of digital resources. Udemy is a collection of video classes you view online. You can start a class whenever you want and take as long as […]

What we buy (other than books)

Posted in Explore and Discover on January 6, 2021 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino The philosopher Erasmus once said: “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.” The Library District buys a lot of books for our 10 libraries (over 34,000 print books and over 10,000 eBooks in 2020 alone). With our budget for […]

The lifecycle of your ballot: Mail-in ballot processing & security

Posted in Explore and Discover on October 16, 2020 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino It’s election season! A steady stream of cars flows through the library parking lots as voters drop their ballots in white collection boxes. This year, we’ve received quite a few questions about what happens to a voter’s ballot, including: “Is it safe in the ballot box?” and “How are the signatures on […]

Learn a new language from home with our digital resources

Posted in Explore and Discover, News on April 29, 2020 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino Use of language learning apps is on the rise! Who would have guessed that being stuck at home would make so many people want to learn a new language? As a bilingual librarian, I am delighted. This means that many more people will be interested in celebrating this week’s library holiday, Día […]

Ask for a story: An idea for staying connected over the distance

Posted in Explore and Discover on April 8, 2020 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino During this time of social distancing, we’ve all been urged to check in with people—especially people from an older generation who have to shelter in place much more drastically. I hope that all of you have taken this to heart and called your loved ones. I’m a list maker as well as […]

Answering the question: “What does it take to be a librarian?”

Posted in Explore and Discover on January 29, 2020 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino As I have shared before, being a librarian is pretty awesome. So it’s no wonder that I am often asked, “What does it take to be a librarian?” Of course, I treat this as a serious reference question and immediately launch into a technical description of the degrees and experience that we […]

Library insider: Helping your child research for school papers and projects

Posted in Explore and Discover on November 13, 2019 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino I always know when it’s research paper season. The first clue is that my work calendar explodes. For my work as a librarian, I offer research workshops to area high schools that aren’t fortunate enough to have their own library. Somehow all the requests for workshops come in at once. The second […]

Things to do during a sedentary summer

Posted in Explore and Discover on July 24, 2019 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino The way I see it, there are two phases of summer: active summer and sedentary summer. For me, active summer occurs when temperatures reach 70–85 degrees. At those temps, I try to spend most of my time outside, preferably in the mountains or at a lake, in the garden will do as […]

Author: Dana Mannino