No matter what you may hear, reference isn’t dead. It sure looks a whole lot different than it did ten, twenty or fifty years ago but I assure you it is alive and well. Next to material circulation, I believe reference help is the most popular library service. If you don’t believe me it’s because […]
More than a quarter of workers and job-seekers have a second source of income. By teaching a tech side hustle, your library has an opportunity to quickly deliver value–and dollars–to your patrons!
A recent article from the University of Arizona Press titled “Public Libraries as Publishers: Critical Opportunity” provides a history of traditional self-publishing activities in libraries and shows how libraries can use self-publishing to foster community needs. I have a soft spot for self-publishing (I’m an indie author myself), and believe that libraries are missing out on an incredible opportunity. Our communities have so much hidden creative potential, but may lack the means to express it. Self-publishing services and local library recognition can help patrons find an outlet for their creativity. Most importantly, it puts locally created book content into the hands of other community members.
How do you store 2.5 million research materials while keeping them accessible? The New York Public Library’s answer is the recently opened Milstein Research Stacks, a two-level 55,600-square-foot underground storage space and a 950-foot railroad with 24 train cars that can cover 75 feet per minute.
World War I, the Great War, was a war of attrition fought across much of Europe. This war came to a virtual standstill due to mechanization and the introduction of the machine gun. No man’s land became a common term and trench warfare became a life for soldiers who were stuck in the muck and death of those trenches. Among all the carnage and destruction, however, books provided soldiers a sense of small relief and accompanied them when the trenches seemed so lonely.
It unfortunately is an old story that we have all heard before. Public libraries in Connecticut are faced with budget cuts. The question for them now becomes, “What do we do?” The goal is to provide the same level of service to your patrons in the community, but how do you do that without the same amount of resources? Libraries need to look at the bigger picture when this happens. The answer can’t just be, “We will lay someone off until we get more money.” It really won’t fix the situation, and may actually provide library directors with the idea that the library can survive with less staff, which may lead to eliminating the position altogether.
Public libraries have become community centers with a lot of services to offer. Whether big or small, they help customers satisfy everyday needs and interests. This article describes some services of the Cuyahoga (Ohio) County Public Library that are beyond the usual library operations.
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Libraries (CH-UHL) of Ohio are part of a small movement with big potential: Little Free Libraries (4). Little Free Libraries are small, dollhouse-like structures containing books for people to borrow or exchange. People can take a book and bring another book to replace it, or just return it. The Little Libraries are located on yards, tree lawns, and street corners. The project helps to promote reading and literacy among the community members. It is also another way of providing outreach services. I wanted to find out about the CH-UHL Little Free Libraries…
For many years, libraries have been primarily associated with books. What might be considered an extreme case of this is the Sacramento Public Library’s recent initiative to create a Library of Things.
When Library Director Gale Bacon began leading the Belgrade Community Library, the roof was leaking. Nine years later, BCL was selected by Library Journal and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as the Best Small Rural Library in the country. What can public librarians learn from her experience to improve their own libraries?
In October, 2014, the Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries released their report, Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries. The Dialogue is “a multi-stakeholder forum to explore and champion new thinking on U.S. public libraries.”
Because difficult stories of war are carried with veterans for a lifetime, many have chosen to memorialize their experiences on their bodies—experiences that are forever etched onto the bearer’s skin, heart and soul.
Youth services departments are tremendously undervalued in public libraries, and there are many things a successful children’s librarian needs to know.
Pew study shows millennials are significant library users.
This past summer we were in the midst of the how-are-we-going-to-fund our library discussion. It’s an age-old library question: how do we maintain our services, or (dare I suggest) how can we increase our services with a flat or reduced budget? The fear was real: do we reduce services at (or close) a branch or do we make drastic cuts at the main location?
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