Together with KHQ/Q6 and WorkSource Spokane, the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council and Systems Transport are presenting the 2nd Annual KHQ/WorkSource Job Fair on Thursday, May 21, 2015 from 10am – 2pm, at the Spokane Convention Center. The inaugural event in April 2014 was a tremendous success thanks to generous support from dozens of volunteers, community based organizations, and local business, and attracted more than 70 employers and 2,500 jobseekers. This year’s event aims to welcome even more employers and jobseekers from across the Inland Northwest. Many jobs will be available to learn more about and potentially compete for – from transportation to health care; from manufacturing to finance; from utilities to IT and beyond – so be prepared with your résumé in hand and come dressed for success! If you need help with your résumé in advance, stop by either the Downtown or Shadle Library during our WorkSource times. A trained employment specialist is on-hand to help and advise you. Here are the times that you can find WorkSource at the Library:

• Tuesdays – 5 to 8 pm at the Shadle Library
• Wednesdays – 5 to 8 pm at the Downtown Library
• Saturdays – 1 to 6 pm at the Downtown Library

The Job Fair is free to attend for jobseekers; to learn about how to access complimentary parking, click here. Employers can register for the event here.

Spokane Public Library has six locations that you can visit in person but many active customers haven’t set foot in the library in months! Really, that’s okay with us because these customers access the library completely via the internet, borrowing books and downloading magazines and music from our website. They take courses from the library in the comfort of their own kitchen or livingroom (check out this video that illustrates just that) and reap the benefits of the library from wherever they are! Since SPL online is such an important part of our customer’s experience we are constantly working to improve that presence. In mid-May we’re rolling out a brand new website which, we believe, will be easier to navigate and, best of all, be responsive to viewing on phones and tablets. Feedback is always welcome and helps us serve customers better so be sure to let us know if you can’t find something or have a suggestion.

The beautiful spring weather has inspired dreams of daisies, purple cone flowers and butterfly bushes, so for the May Dewey article we’re digging into the 635s: Garden Crops. Don’t let the word crops scare you off, the books aren’t all about tilling the back 30 acres. We have plenty of books for all sorts of city gardeners. We also have a Seed Library (located at the Hillyard branch) so you can get planting right away.

Scanning through the stacks of the Downtown Library, it was kind of interesting to watch the progression of the titles. Here is a handful of titles in the early 635s: The New Low Maintenance Garden, The No-Work Garden, The Soul Garden. It’s as though authors are luring us into this blissful peace with ferns and honeysuckle. Soon the truth is revealed with titles like Backyard Battle Plan, Dead Snails Leave No Trails or the simple yet glaring (which practically screams at you in all caps) PESTS. We also find The Gardener’s Gripe Book, The Impatient Gardener and Beautiful Madness.

I am starting to rethink this whole gardening scheme, and am left to wonder if a row of lush hydrangeas can be worth my sanity. But then we roll into 635.9 (Ornamental Plants) and books like The Welcoming Garden and Garden Whimsy come back into play. Best yet, The Sweet Breathing of Plants. That’s not intimidating at all. But at second glance I see the rest of the title, The Sweet Breathing of Plants: Women Writing on the Green World. I think I’ll put down my trowel and gardening gloves and pick up that book instead.

For those of you who want to continue down the primrose path, pick up some of these books, or head to the Hillyard Branch for seeds. Also, keep your eye on the calendar for our Get in the Garden programs.

Our Dewey article this month recommends gardening books (whether you’re actually gardening or just thinking about gardening). That article made us think about flowers which are the impetus for many a lovely song. Now that we’re done with April Showers, here are five flower songs to get you in the mood for May Flowers.

Edelweiss, about a lovely white flower from the Sound of Music movie is certainly classic. Here’s an instrumental version to sing along with.

Lilac Wine was written in 1950 and covered by a number of artists. You can find multiple renditions on Freegal. Here’s one by Jeff Buckley.

Little Buttercup from HMS Pinafore is such a classic. Here’s a great version done by Jim Timmons in an album of reworked Gilbert and Sullivan songs. The original, operatic version is just as lovely and gives you the words to sing along to.

This whole album is all about flowers, in fact the album is called, “Flowers.” The various flowers are interpreted by the Japanese electronica/ambient musician Asuna, which, if you want to learn more about you can read this review by a DJ somewhere in the vast expanse of the Internet; he sums the album up well.

Remember, you can download five, free songs a week with your library card from Freegal. The library also has a ton of CDs that are available for check out.

One of my favorite flower songs is not on Freegal but you can find it on a compilation CD we have in the library. The song is Acony Bell by Gillian Welch and it will definitely make you smile.