Orcas Island Library Closure
The Library is closed until further notice.
BOOK & MAGAZINE DONATIONS: Please to not leave book & magazine donations at the Library while it remains closed. Staff and members of the Friends of the Library will not be on the premises to gather donations. Thank you for your understanding.
Keep your books and movies! (Well ... not permanently.) All materials checked out [books, audio books, magazines, videos, interlibrary loans] have been renewed to April 30, 2020!
We have taken this difficult step out of concern for the health for Orcas Island residents. Evidence is compelling that limiting social contacts can help reduce the potential for the Coronavirus/COVID-19 to spread throughout our community.
We will continue to study this serious community issue with County health officials and others. If we can in any way restore services at some level, either before or after the end of March, we will share this welcome news as soon and as widely as possible.
We recognize the serious impact that this decision will have on all of us.
As we work through future options, please continue to contact us at 360-376-4985, or email Library Director Phil Heikkinen at pheikkinen@orcaslibrary.org. We will also post updates to our website at www.orcaslibrary.org.
Our website offers a variety of resources such as ebooks, e-audiobooks, a wide variety of databases, language learning, streaming movies and other alternatives, all available with your library card number and PIN. You can return any library materials as usual to our book drop locations in Deer Harbor, Olga, Orcas Landing, and the Library itself.
Phil Heikkinen, Library Director, on behalf of the Library Board and staff
TumbleBook Library
The TumbleBook Library is an online collection of electronic books accessible through the library’s website. Animation, sound, music and narration are added to existing picture books to produce an electronic book which you can read, or have read to you. The TumbleBook Library also includes chapter books in audio book and e-book formats, multi-cultural topics, foreign language and bilingual books, puzzles, and games.
Spelling, concentration, and fill-in-the blank games developed to reinforce young reader’s comprehension skills are also available. Additionally, the language drop down menu allows you to view the entire website in Spanish or French.
You can access the TumbleBook Library by clicking the image below:
Access TumbleBook Library
Pandemics in Literature
Jens Kruse offers course/reading group on "Pandemics in Literature"
I recently had offered and started teaching, to a group of about 17 people, a course called “How to Sell Your Soul: Literary manifestations of the Faustian Bargain from the 16th Century to the Present.” Then the library closed, social distancing rules went into effect, etc., and I had to suspend that course until further notice.
In our current circumstances I now hope to offer, by way of ZOOM, a course/reading group on “Pandemics in Literature". We would be reading texts like: Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year; Mary Shelley’s novel The Last Man; Poe's The Masque of the Red Death; Thomas Mann's Death in Venice; Jack London's The Scarlet Plague; Albert Camus’ The Plague; Saramago's Blindness.
We would be “meeting” once a week, probably on Thursdays from 11:00 to 12:30 or 1:00 (depending on how the conversation goes).
If you would be interested please let me know by emailing me at jkruse@wellesley.edu. If I decide to go ahead with this offering I would then send you further details on how we will proceed.
Seed Library
Got seeds?
Even while the library is closed, you can still check out seeds from the seed library. Please take a look at the seed library catalog and contact Katie Wilkins at kwilkins@orcaslibrary.org. She will happily make arrangements to get seeds to you. If you don't see what you need, check with Katie to see if she can get the seed for you through her partnerships with the Orcas Island Seed Bank and other seed saving friends. You shouldn't have to go without!
Seed Library Catalog [*.xlxs]
Washington Rural Heritage
Washington Rural Heritage is a collection of historic materials documenting the early culture, industry, and community life of Washington State. The collection is an ongoing project of small, rural libraries and partnering cultural institutions, guided by an initiative of the Washington State Library.
Visit the Orcas Island Heritage page here.
Read more
YouTube Channel
- Library Grand Re-Opening Celebration - Short Version [8:38]
- Library Grand Re-Opening Celebration - Long Version [43:48]
- Jens Kruse: "What can we learn from the Weimar Republic in Germany?"
All Library Events Cancelled Until Further Notice
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Photo: Mike Penney/HKP Architects