It's April!
Here's what's happening at the
Lopez Library!
Libraries are part of the Gift Economy.
-Denise Clark
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Contact: Laurie Orton
Director, San Juan Island Library
(360) 378-2798
lorton@sjlib.org
 
Ingrid Mattson
Director, Orcas Island Library
(360) 376-4985
imattson@orcaslibrary.org
 
Darren Hoerner
Director, Lopez Island Library
(360) 468-2265
darren@lopezlibrary.org
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27th, 2025
 
National IMLS Funding Cuts Have Impacts on Island Libraries
 
(Friday Harbor, WA) –March 27th, 2025 –
 
An executive order issued by the federal administration on March 14th calls for deep cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS is an independent federal agency that supports libraries and museums in all 50 states and U.S. territories through grantmaking, research, and policy development. It is the nation’s only federal agency that funds America’s libraries.
 
Though the bulk of funding for the San Juan Island, Orcas Island, and Lopez Island Libraries comes from the voter-approved property tax levies, the libraries do benefit from IMLS funding and will see some disruption of services if the budget is cut. The Washington State Library (WSL) published a document on March 18th that outlines how these cuts will affect Washington libraries. The current federal award of $3.9 million for the Grants to States program, if cut, will have the following impacts across Washington:
  • Access to eBooks and eAudiobooks will be reduced. WSL oversees the Washington Digital Library Consortium, which manages and helps fund the Washington Anytime Library, serving 40 Washington library districts, including our island libraries. The popular Libby app will have fewer titles and longer hold lines on available books. Worst-case scenarios include losing the Libby service for our patrons.
  • Loss of research databases and training. Federal funds cover half the cost of statewide database licenses and extensive training made available for library staff. The island libraries would have fewer databases available for public use, and staff would lose valuable skills training.
  • WSL supports technology upgrades for small and rural libraries like ours in Washington State. Lack of IMLS funding may mean our libraries have slower Internet access and pay for more expensive technology services.
  • End of Innovative Projects: Statewide programs like virtual reality headsets, tabletop gaming grants, State Discover Passes, and assistive devices for those with disabilities would disappear. The island libraries frequently utilize these grants to bring extra services to island residents, and our community would lose access to these innovative services.
 
It is important to note that IMLS funding supports many essential types of libraries across the state. Cuts to IMLS funding would seriously endanger prison, hospital, and tribal libraries and severely weaken the breadth of service offered by the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library.
 
As stated by the American Library Association (ALA), “As seedbeds of literacy and innovation, our nation’s 125,000 public, school, academic and special libraries deserve more, not less support. Libraries of all types translate 0.003% of the federal budget into programs and services used in more than 1.2 billion yearly in-person patron visits, and many more virtual visits.”
 
Those wishing to voice concerns over the federal administration’s executive order against IMLS funding can find suggestions at the EveryLibrary Institute, a non-profit corporation that supports library funding across the United States. Our island libraries thank the community for its continual support, and we will continue to work to provide quality services and resources to the community.
 
-END-
 

 

EARTH DAY EVENTS
Procession of the Species Costume Making Workshops
 
Everyone is welcome to come and participate in helping bring your vision of a more than human species to life through costuming and mask making! Bring your ideas and join us for these free, family friendly workshops in the Craft Corner of the Lopez Library (in the Sunroom).
 
The Procession of the Species will be on April 22 (Earth Day) at 5 pm starting at the Farmers Market green area.

Birds & Blooms: a Nature Hike at Iceberg Point  
Spend Earth Day wandering the rugged bluffs of Iceberg Point with Mindful Birding leader Beth St. George and Land Bank Preserve Steward Amanda Wedow. Bring your binoculars to ID far off flocks and enjoy beautiful spring wildflowers like Satinflower (Olsynium douglasii) and Great Camas (Camassia leichtlinii)!

AROUND THE LIBRARY & ON DISPLAY
Book Displays
Something for every age throughout the library!
 
Earth Month
  
 
Neuro & Physical Diversity
 
 
Poetry
 
 
Unicorns
  
 

ART and THE LIBRARY
 
To get involved in First Saturday Art Walks, please email Nikyta@lopezlibrary.org.
Everyone is welcome!

Art in the Library - Saturday, April 5th, 5-7pm
 
 
 A wonderful welcome back to Spring and to one another! 

BOOK CLUBS
Never Too Old:
Celebrating Youth Books
Wednesday, April 2nd @ 5pm
 
Author Jason Reynolds is the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He has written a diversity of books for tween and teen youth.
Literary Salon
Wed, April 9th @ 5pm

Literary Salon is a no-rules book club where you bring whatever you're reading to a round of interested listeners. You are welcome to come and be a listener, too.
 
Meets the second Wednesday of each month.

To sign up for any of our informative Book Club newsletters,  
CLICK HERE!
DID YOU KNOW?
Featuring a different section or material of the library each month.

 
YOUTH PROGRAMS

 

Roots & Wings: Listening Skills
 
"Children need two things: roots and wings"
 
...one of the skills your children can learn from birth is listening skills! We have been reciting a spring poem at our story times about not only all the beauty of spring sprouting, but "Me TOO!"
 
"Fields so green and skies so blue,
Spring has SPRUNG and now, ME TOO!!"
 
Visit our webpage for more details: https://lopezlibrary.org/roots-wings-listening-skills/
 

 Homeschool Meet-Up at the Library


APRIL PROGRAMS
Mindful Birding
 
 
Walks are limited to 6 participants, so please sign up early.
 
Contact: Beth@LopezLibrary.org
                                                         

Weaving Wednesdays - April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30
 
 
 


Join Claudia and Jane at Sock School, where experienced knitters can come together to create beautiful, cozy socks! Every Wednesday along with Needlecraft Night, we welcome you to bring your favorite sock yarn and knitting needles as we explore advanced techniques, share tips, and inspire each other with creative designs. Whether you're looking to perfect your heel-turning skills or experiment with intricate patterns, Sock School is the perfect place to enhance your knitting prowess while enjoying the camaraderie of fellow sock enthusiasts. Don't miss out on this opportunity to knit, learn, and connect!
 

Needlecraft Night - Wednesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 @ 5-7pm

 

Abby Jimenez : Seattle Arts & Lectures Virtual Series - Thursday, April 3 @ 7:30pm
 
Abby Jimenez, “full of fierce humor and fiercer heart,” (Casey McQuiston) is the bestselling author of seven wildly popular, laugh-out-loud, pull-at-your-heartstrings romantic novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Just for the Summer, The Friend Zone, The Happy Ever After Playlist, and the forthcoming Say You’ll Remember Me.
 
Pre-registration for this live streamed event is required.
 
REGISTER HERE by April 1.
 
This series is brought to the community through the support of Friends of the Lopez Island Library.
 

Bonnie Garmus : Seattle Arts & Lectures Virtual Series - Monday, April 7 @ 7:30pm
 
Join SAL for a conversation with Bonnie Garmus, author of one of the greatest literary phenomena in recent years! With over eight million copies sold, her novel Lessons in Chemistry has struck a chord with readers around the globe.
 
Meet protagonist Elizabeth Zott: “a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention” in 1960s California, whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show (The Washington Post). This novel is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel” (The New York Times Book Review) and has been named a best book of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek.
 
Pre-registration for this live streamed event is required.
 
REGISTER HERE by April 3.
 
This series is brought to the community through the support of Friends of the Lopez Island Library.

Play Writing Workshop: Tuesdays, April 8, 15, 22 & 29
 
Learn play writing with Artist in Residence Jack Tronsdal through theater and action. Focus on original work.  All are welcome!
 

Hanif Abdurraqib : Seattle Arts & Lectures Virtual Series - Wednesday, April 9 @ 7:30pm
 
Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball growing up in Columbus, Ohio, one which inspired the writing in his memoir, There’s Always This Year—a triumph, which is brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject of his keen focus—whether it’s basketball, or music, or performance—Hanif Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.
 
Q&A with Robert Lashley.
 
Pre-registration for this live streamed event is required.
 
REGISTER HERE by April 7.
 
This series is brought to the community through the support of Friends of the Lopez Island Library.

Unicorn Day at the Library : Saturday, April 12, 1-3pm

Calling all unicorns and unicorn lovers! Cupcakes, Costumes & Carnival Games!
 
If you would like to volunteer for this event, please email Nikyta@lopezlibrary.org.
 

Michael N. McGregor
 
Join us for an adventurous evening in Europe's beautiful landscapes as Michael shares his new book, The Last Grand Tour. Michael is a former tour guide and professor of creative writing who lives in Seattle and spends summers on Lopez Island.
 

Out There: A National Parks Story – Best of the Friday Harbor Film Fest screening
 Friday, April 18 @ 7pm
 
Join us for a special screening of Out There: A National Parks Story—an inspiring documentary that follows two friends on a 10,000-mile journey through America's national parks. Along the way, they capture the voices and stories of people who love, protect, and are transformed by these treasured landscapes.
 
Special thanks to our partner, the Friday Harbor Film Festival, for making it possible to bring this film to Lopez.

There will be popcorn at this FREE event!!!

An Airing of Quilts
 

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming by filling out this very short form here.
 

 
 

COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS
This section highlights a few events which are managed and hosted by community members and other organizations.
Samish History of Sx'Wálech (Lopez Island)
Tuesday, April 8, 5:30-7:30pm
 
 
Join Samish Tribal Chairman Tom Wooten online to learn about the culture and history of the Samish Indian Nation on Sx’wálech (Lopez Island). 
 
For the link to join, please visit www.samishtribe.nsn.us/community/events and click the "History Talk: Lopez Island" event for Tuesday, April 8.
 

 
 


 



 


 

 Lopez Locavores / Grow a Row presents
 
 
Seed TIOLI (seed swap) - extended into April!
 
@ Lopez Library
(across from the Front Desk)
 
Bring your surplus, viable vegetable, herb, and flower seeds
&
Bring envelopes to take seeds home
 
Any questions call Denise @ 360-298-6814

Contact:
360-468-2265
Librarian@LopezLibrary.org
http://lopezlibrary.org/
Subscribe to the Monthly Newsletter
BE WELL
Lopez Island Library
2225 Fisherman Bay Rd
Lopez Island, Washington 98261
360-468-2265
www.lopezlibrary.org