Passport to Washington Libraries offers bookstore gift cards for library visits

Families traveling around Washington this summer will have a new reason to stop in at libraries along the way: the chance to win bookstore gift cards from the Washington Center for the Book.

Through A Passport to Washington Libraries, which will run from June 15 to Sept. 15, anyone visiting a Washington library can post a creative photo to a crowd-sourced state map to show the range of public libraries available across the state. Visitors who post photographs of at least five Washington libraries to sos.wa.gov/q/passport will be eligible to win bookstore gift cards of $50, $75, and $100.

“A Passport to Washington Libraries gives Washingtonians a great new reason to make library visits part of their summer travel plans,” said State Librarian Cindy Aden. “This will be a fun and engaging way for everyone to learn about the amazing resources we have in our libraries.”

In order to win prizes, participants must register at sos.wa.gov/q/register, and at least two of the library visits must be 50 miles or more from the visitor’s hometown.

This contest is sponsored by the Washington Center for the Book, which is a joint partnership of the Washington State Library and The Seattle Public Library and is the state affiliate for the Center for the Book at the U.S. Library of Congress. Full details can be found on the Washington Center for the Book’s website at http://www.washingtoncenterforthebook.org/passport/.

Washington’s Office of Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees, and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.