A mix-up over logos sparked a 2,500-mile friendship between two libraries that share a name.

The Everett Public Library is launching the East to West Book Club with the public library in Everett, Massachusetts, connecting readers on opposite coasts for discussions of regional history. It's the first-ever partnership between the two library systems, the HeraldNet reported Monday, Aug. 24.

The first session is Saturday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m., when both groups will discuss "The Boys in the Boat," Daniel James Brown's bestselling account of the University of Washington's eight-oar rowing team winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book won the 2014 Washington State Book Award.

The second meeting is Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11 a.m., covering "Dark Tide," a nonfiction account of the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 that killed 21 people.

Both sessions are free. The Sept. 19 discussion is virtual; format details for the November meeting have not been announced. Registration is open at epls.org/signmeup.

The partnership started because the Massachusetts library kept getting confused for its Washington counterpart. Aubri Skaggs-Brads, a librarian in Everett, Massachusetts, said the mix-ups included phone calls from Washington residents, misdirected social media tags and even books meant for the Washington library arriving on her shelves.

"After one of our local papers mixed up our logos, I figured it was time to reach out and see if they would be interested in a collaboration," Skaggs-Brads told the HeraldNet.

What began as a plan for a shared social media post grew after the two staffs connected over video calls. Skaggs-Brads said "the ideas just kept coming."

Beyond the book discussions, both libraries plan to set up postcard stations where patrons can write to residents in the other Everett.

They've also created reading lists focused on their respective regions so readers can explore Pacific Northwest and New England history on their own.

Everett Public Library Director Abigail Cooley said no additional events beyond the two book club sessions are formally planned but expressed hope for future collaboration.

"Libraries are good at bringing people together, and this project lets us do that across an entire continent," Cooley said.

Everett, Massachusetts, a city of about 50,000 roughly four miles north of Boston, has been aware of its Washington namesake for years. The postcard stations at both libraries will give residents in each city a low-tech way to connect once the program launches.