A Woman’s Place is in the House (And Senate!)
“Knock Down the House,” a new Netflix documentary about four female challengers who ran for congress in 2018, won two audience awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
News & Opinion
New Podcast! Social Services at Hennepin County
We talk with Kate Coleman, Outreach Coordinator at the Hennepin County (MN) Library about the library’s social services offerings, outreach, and more. Resources for this Podcast: Hennepin County (MN) Library Finding Solutions to Homelessness at Hennepin County Library Peer Navigators Demystify Social Service System
New Podcast – REFORMA’s Children in Crisis Task Force
We talk with Oralia Garza de Cortés, Coordinator for REFORMA’s Children in Crisis and Patrick Sullivan, Emeritus Librarian at San Diego State University, about the organization’s efforts to provide books and storytime materials to children detained at the southern border. Resources for this Podcast: REFORMA’s Children In Crisis Project Website Librarians Respond to Humanitarian Crisis […]
It’s About Who Knows You
Networking: love it or hate it, it’s tough to ignore this facet of the modern career. Many experts tout the importance of making connections in order to further one’s career, but it can be difficult and overwhelming to get started.
Go For It! Advice From Library Directors
WHAT DO LIBRARY DIRECTORS DO? The answer to this question may seem self-evident, but it is actually a lot more complicated than it first appears.
The 24/7 Library
Revisiting the 24/7 library idea.
Superheroes Need Not Apply
But there are also other actions taken by my staff to help the public that I have yet seen taught in library schools. Sometimes staff members act as therapists, or substance abuse counselors. Or social workers. Or confidantes. Or interventionists. Or psychiatrists. Or tax consultants. Or coaches. Or childcare providers.
500 Year-Old Library Catalog Found in University Collection
What one could call “the holy grail of books” has been found in the Arnamagnæan Collection at the University of Copenhagen. “The Libro de los Epítomes manuscript, which is more than a foot thick, contains more than 2,000 pages and summaries from the library of Hernando Colón, the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus.
How to Attend a Conference
So yes, attending professional conferences is an excellent way to meet your peers, learn new techniques, and network, and these are all wonderful reasons to attend. The question is not really should you attend (of course you should!) but how?
Providing Healthcare Information Services in Small and Rural Libraries
by Jacqueline F. Rammer, Library Director, Lakeview Community LibraryRandom Lake, WI — jrammer@monarchlibraries.org As librarians working in rural and oftentimes small libraries, our days consist of so many things. From being the town warm-up center during a frigid snowstorm to hosting a never-ending number of bake sales, our plates are full. So, when it comes […]
PLA Leadership Development Programs Offer Lessons for a Lifetime
About the Authors MARY ANNE BOWMAN is Deputy Director, St. Mary’s County (MD) Library. RENEE DI PILATO is Deputy Director, Alexandria (VA) Library. KIMBERLY B. KNIGHT is Central Area Manager, Prince George’s County (MD) Memorial Library. DENISE LYONS is Deputy Director of Statewide Development, South Carolina State Library. DONNA WALKER is Executive Director, Jefferson County […]
A Fresh Approach to Job Rotation
Whose library practices job rotation? Anybody? Job rotation, or “the systematic movement of employees from one job to another,” is more common in corporate or academic settings than in public libraries. But a discussion at our library opened the door just enough for the idea to slip in while our branch managers were wrestling with issues of burnout and
job satisfaction.
The Mission-Informed Library–Internal Marketing to Improve the Organizational Climate in the Public Library
by Amy An, Instructional Services II Librarian at the Boca Raton (FL) Public Library. Contact Amy at aan@myboca.us. “We treat coworkers and other colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith, and advocate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions.”—American Library Association (ALA) Code of Ethics [1] Library […]
If You Want to Figure Out What America Is Go To a Library – An Interview with Jose Antonio Vargas
By BRENDAN DOWLING, Assistant Editor of PublicLibraries Online. Contact Brendan at brendowl@gmail.com.Brendan is currently reading The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas made headlines when he came out as an undocumented U.S. citizen in 2011. In his recent memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen (HarperCollins, 2018), he details […]
We Are All Welcome in Libraries – A Conversation with Eric Klinenberg
By BRENDAN DOWLING, freelance writer living in LosAngeles. Contact Brendan at brendowl@gmail.com.Brendan is currently reading Middlemarch byGeorge Eliot. Sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s Palaces for The People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life (2018) persuasively and forcefully argues that the strength ofcommunities is in direct proportion to the strength […]
