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Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index     Enter a Search...

About | Conditions of Use | Contributors | Copyright | Help on Searching | Linking to this Database | Other Resources | Privacy Statement | Requirements

About the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index

The Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index is a searchable database of more than 500 Clubs and Organizations in the Tacoma - Pierce County area.

Updated continuously, it is a cooperative project of the Tacoma Public Library and the Tacoma - Pierce County Chamber of Commerce.

Printed copies of the database are available for $20.00 -- call (253) 591-5666 for information. If your club or organization would like to be listed in this directory, please contact the Tacoma Public Library at (253) 591-5666 or email webref online reference.

Contributors

The Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index is the product of the Tacoma Public Library Reference and Technical Services Departments. The staff of the Reference Dept of the Tacoma Public Library, particularly Cheryl Giles, DeAnne Moore, Chris Pasco-Pranger, and Lara Weigand, have made a significant and continuing contribution to the quality and content of the Index. Charlene Hull of Technical Services has worked on the project since its inception in 1996, gathering updated information, doing careful data entry and keeping the database up to date and accurate. This index is the product of the dedication and hard work of all of these Tacoma Public Library staff.

Help on Searching

Search Methods Available:

Browse Club or Organization Name

Enter the beginning of the Organization name. An alphabetical list of Organizations in the database that start with those letters will appear in alphabetical order. If this search fails, try the "keyword" search of the Organization name.

Keyword search Club or Organization Name

This is a useful search for when you know some words from the Organization name, but not necessarily the exact name, or the exact spelling of the Organization name. The keyword search is truncated, so a search for "sum" will retrieve the Sumner Library and the Summit Library, and "tacoma" will retrieve everything from the AARP Tacoma Chapter to the YMCA of Tacoma. Useful for finding every organization with "art" in its name. Searching for art will also retrieve arts and artist as well as arthritis and heart Records will display in order by Organization name.

Notes keyword (slower search)

You can search the sometimes extensive descriptive notes of the record by using the "Notes keyword" search. This is the slowest search. Enter a word or words into the field. The description will be searched in a truncated keyword manner, with each word ANDed together. Useful when the name of the organization is unknown. For example, entering "bicycles" will retrieve groups devoted to bicycling.

Keyword topics

When a full record is displayed you can view a list of assigned subject headings and topical terms that describe that Organizations activities.

You can search any displayed topical keyword term by clicking on the link. This will generate a new search by that keyword topic, and a list of all Organizations will display that include that keyword topic.

Subjects

When a full record is displayed you can view a list of assigned subject headings and topical terms that describe that Organizations activities.

You can search any displayed subject term by clicking on the link. This will generate a new search by that subject, and a list of all Organizations will display that include that subject topic.

MUST contain ALL the items / CAN contain ANY of the items

Choose between whether searches "MUST contain ALL the terms" (Boolean AND) or "CAN contain ANY of the terms" (Boolean OR). In general you should not modify the default setting for boolean AND. In a boolean AND search, any record in this database must contain ALL the terms or settings you have included. For example, a search for "America" retrieves 51 ship names (as of July 2004). A search for "America" with "bark" in the Ship Type field means that any result must contain ship name keyword America AND ship type bark. This is more precise and returns the single ship record you are looking for.

If you select the boolean OR option then the results can contain ANY of the terms or settings you have included. With that setting the results are much more numerous, and would include for this example any record with a ship name including America (no matter what the ship type), plus ALL the records for any ship type "bark" (bark, bakentine, iron bark, etc.), no matter what the ship name was. This is a lot more results to look at -- 982 resulting records as of July 2004. The Library recommends leaving this setting at Boolean AND unless your search specifically requires it.

Display matches ONE at a time / Display matches 15 at a time

Searches can display one matching record at a time, or display them in groups of 15 at a time. The default is to display 15 at a time. This is much faster to browse through when you have more than one or two results, and does not slow down a small result very much. The Library recommends leaving this setting at 15 at a time.

Perform Search button

You can normally start a search by entering information in any of the search fields and then pressing the Enter key. To move from field to field use the <tab> key on your keyboard (normally toward the upper left of the keyboard in the third row down--this key may be labeled "Tab" or just "<- ->" or some variation). You can also fill in the various fields by clicking on the field and entering your search, then clicking on the [Perform Search] button.

Copyright

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or any other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Tacoma Public Library is not responsible for the improper or illegal use of any copies of materials from its collections. It is the user's responsibility to guard against the infringement of rights that may be held by others and for clearing reproduction rights and copyright restrictions. Tacoma Public Library does not claim to control the copyright for pictorial and textual materials in its collections. Library staff will provide any information available for specific items that it has available to the user in this regard if a specific request is made. The Library provides such information as a service to aid patrons in determining the appropriate use of an item, but that determination ultimately rests with the patron. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials from the Library's collections. Patrons are reminded that these materials are provided by the Tacoma Public Library for non-profit educational, personal or scholarly purposes and that transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright holders.

The Tacoma Public Library claims copyright to the database and index that comprises the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index web site, as well as all screen and page displays that comprise the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index web site. The full text of the specific article or reference, which may appear as part of this index or be supplied by the Library upon request, are copyrighted by the author, publisher, newspaper or source within which they originally appeared. Any commercial use or use beyond the legal bounds of Fair Use without the specific permission of the copyright holder is forbidden.

The Tacoma Public Library is eager to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified so that appropriate information may be provided in the future. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in an appropriate manner under such Act and other applicable intellectual property laws, including the removal or disabling of access to material claimed to be subject of infringing activity. Pursuant to 17 United States Code 512(c)(2) (Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998), the Tacoma Public Library is the designated agent for notice of alleged copyright infringement appearing on our Site. Direct any notices of infringement to:

Tacoma Public Library
Attn: NWR - Copyright Questions
1102 Tacoma Avenue South
Tacoma, WA 98402
Phone: 253-591-5654
Fax: 253-591-5470
Email: nwr@tacomapubliclibrary.org

To file a notice of infringment with us, you must fulfill the requirements specified in Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The text of this statute can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office Web Site,
http://lcWeb.loc.gov/copyright/.

Conditions of Use

The Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services are provided "as is," with no warranties whatsoever. Tacoma Public Library expressly disclaims to the fullest extent permitted by law all express, implied, and statutory warranties, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of proprietary rights. Tacoma Public Library disclaims any warranties regarding the security, reliability, timeliness, and performance of the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services. Tacoma Public Library disclaims any warranties for any information or advice obtained through the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services. Tacoma Public Library disclaims any warranties for services or goods received through or advertised on the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services or received through any links provided by the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services, as well as for any information or advice received through any links provided in the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services. You understand and agree that you download or otherwise obtain material or data through the use of the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index search services at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damages to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of such material or data. Some states or other jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusions may not apply to you. You may also have other rights that vary from state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Tacoma Public Library may modify or terminate services from time to time, for any reason, and without notice, without liability to any user or third party. The Library reserves the right to modify the Conditions of Use from time to time without notice. Please review all conditions of use from time to time so that you will be appraised of any changes. The Tacoma Public Library disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability or availability of information or materials displayed in the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index web site. The Library disclaims any responsibility for the deletion, failure to store, misdelivery, or untimely delivery of any information or materials. The Library disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from downloading or accessing any material on the Internet through the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index web site.

Other Resources

A number of web sites are available that may help answer your specific questions about Tacoma-Pierce County community organizations. Some web sites that have proven useful include:

  • Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce membership directory
  • South Sound club and nonprofit community organizations and community calendar at SouthSound.com maintained by the Tacoma News Tribune

    Other web sites related to specific Organizations can be identified via your favorite web search engine.

    Requirements

    The Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index web site requires a browser that supports cookies. Cookies are used to maintain your search progress. If your browser does not support cookies, or you choose to turn off cookies in your browser, the search functions of this index will not work.

    Linking to this Database

    You may link to our site for noncommercial purposes. Please do not link or shortcut to any other page than the base Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index page at "http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/commorg/" If you link or shortcut (favorites) to any other page there is a good chance that your link will not work the way you expect it to. The index page will continue to work even if the search pages are moved to other servers or locations on the Library web site. No other page is guaranteed to remain available at a specific web address.

    Do not frame or otherwise host any portion of the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index within any other web site without written permission in advance from the Tacoma Public Library. You may link to the search page and open it in a new browser window. You may not place any part of the Index or the content of any part of the Index within a frame, page, or portion of a page on any other web site without written permission in advance from the Tacoma Public Library.

    Any harvesting of information from this database, either manually or by automated means, for use in other web sites or any other products, is expressly forbidden. The Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index, graphic elements used in or on the web site, and the contents of this web site and database are copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Tacoma Public Library.

    Privacy Statement

    The Tacoma Public Library is committed to protecting the privacy of each Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index user.

    The Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index does not store any personal information about you or your use of this Index. The Library may require you to fill out a form and send it to the Library in order to purchase copies of the printed Index, or to share information about the database or your organization. This information may include your name, address, telephone number and/or e-mail address. E-mail addresses, names, telephone numbers and other information supplied about your organization will be displayed in the Index to all web users, as well as in the printed Index which is sold by the Library. Otherwise, we do not sell, share, or otherwise disclose any of your personal information you might supply to us to any third party, except as necessary to deliver products to you which you have specifically purchased. We will share your name and address, outside of information supplied by you as part of the description and contact information for your organization, only in order to allow us to supply products which you may order, and to mail those products to you. We will not make your personal e-mail address available to other parties, except where it is used by your organization as a contact choice. We will not make your telephone number available to other parties, except where it is used by your organization as a contact choice.

    The information from any order for the printed index is maintained by the Library as part of its standard financial record. Those materials are open to audit review. Personal information maintained by the Library may be subject to public disclosure pursuant to the Washington State public disclosure statute.

    Automatic Information. The Library collects and analyzes some information automatically whenever you use this web site. Examples of the information the Library collects includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; the computer and connection information such as operating system, platform, browser type and version; and the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) progression that you use to move around in this web site. This information is used in the aggregate for preparing usage reports, and so that the Library knows how this web site is used, and how it can be improved.

    Problems? Questions?. If you feel that this site is not following our stated policy, or if you have further questions about the Tacoma Public Library Tacoma Public Library Tacoma-Pierce County Community Information Index Privacy Statement please send e-mail to webfoot@tpl.lib.wa.us with the subject "Privacy Statement". Please include an e-mail address or other method for replying to your comments and questions.


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