Solutions and Services Archives | Page 4 of 4

Making Music in Your Library

By Phil Morehart | January 4, 2016

MusicFirst Student App Digital music education company MusicFirst has created an app that streamlines music education for students and teachers, using cloud-based solutions. The MusicFirst Student App allows students to continue their in-school music learning outside of the classroom. When connected to a school or library’s MusicFirst Online Classroom subscription, the app lets students view … Continue reading Making Music in Your Library →

Academic Tools

By Phil Morehart | October 30, 2015

Games to test college-level writing Toolwire develops, delivers, and supports immersive learning tools for online and blended learning courses. It’s a new name in game-based learning, but it is already earning accolades for the new directions it’s taking to enhance the educational gaming experience. Through customer feedback and user testing, Toolwire learned that a game’s … Continue reading Academic Tools →

Films offered by Digitalia Film Library (left, center) and India for Everyone (right).

Libraries Go to the Movies

By Phil Morehart | September 22, 2015

Digitalia Film Library The Digitalia Film Library, a division of Spanish-language e-content provider Digitalia Publishing, allows libraries to bring the world of cinema to their patrons. Digitalia offers contemporary and classic fiction and nonfiction films, documentary programming, animation, and television shows from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, France, Mexico, Spain, and the US that can be accessed … Continue reading Libraries Go to the Movies →

Digitizing History

By Phil Morehart | July 31, 2015

Cambridge goes online Cambridge Archive Editions (CAE), in partnership with East View Information Services, has digitized its collection of British archival documents from the 18th to the 20th century, including original print volumes and accompanying maps, and made them available as online editions via the East View ebook platform. Twenty-five years’ worth of accumulated CAE … Continue reading Digitizing History →

Apps for That

By Phil Morehart | June 22, 2015

Search Axis with Boopsie Boopsie, a mobile platform-as-a-service provider for more than 4,000 libraries worldwide, has joined forces with digital content, print book, and entertainment product distributor Baker & Taylor to simplify searching for and finding a library’s e-content. The Boopsie mobile app is now integrated with Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 digital media library. … Continue reading Apps for That →

RFID to the Rescue

By Phil Morehart | May 21, 2015

Smart returns The new Smart Bin from FE Technologies uses RFID technology to speed up the returns process for patrons and staffers. The bin uses a reading algorithm that can simultaneously receive multiple items, allowing patrons to drop several items into the bin at the same time. The Smart Bin has a capacity of approximately … Continue reading RFID to the Rescue →

Latest Library Links

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Maddie Hanna writes: “The Radnor school board voted April 22 to restore three books that were removed in February from Radnor (Pa.) High School’s library, after impassioned pleas from community members to reject censorship and support LGBTQ students. The board voted 6–0, with three members abstaining, to return Gender Queer, Fun Home, and Blankets to the high school library. The vote reversed decisions by an ad hoc committee appointed by the district’s superintendent that determined the books—all graphic novels, with some sexual depictions—were not age appropriate.”

Philadelphia Inquirer, Apr. 23; Patch.com, Mar. 7
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Jack Dura writes: “North Dakota’s Republican governor Kelly Armstrong on April 23 vetoed bills to further restrict sexual content in libraries and to create a private school voucher program, rejecting two measures that have seen widespread support by GOP governors in other states. The library bill would have expanded North Dakota’s 2023 prohibition on ‘explicit sexual material’ in public libraries to school districts, and require those entities to have policies for relocating such material ‘to an area in the library not easily accessible to minors.’” The Senate’s attempt to override the veto failed on April 25.

Associated Press, Apr. 23; KFYR-TV (Bismarck, N.D.), Apr. 26
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Since early April, numerous libraries and library organizations have received notices that their federal grant awards—such as those from the Institute of Museum and Library Services—have been terminated. ALA is responding to these politically motivated attacks on library funding with public advocacy and litigation. In addition, ALA has encouraged grantees who receive a termination notice to consider several suggestions.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, Apr. 22
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Anne Ford writes: “Adele Puccio, director of Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, comes by her wedding dress obsession honestly. ‘When I was a kid, my great-aunt was the buyer at [famous New York bridal boutique] Kleinfeld’s, so I used to go over and look at all the dresses,” she says. “Other people were buying Seventeen; I was buying Brides.’ Decades later, Puccio’s passion now manifests itself in a rotating collection of vintage and modern bridal gowns, which she stores in her library office and loans to any bride who asks.”

American Libraries column, Mar./Apr.
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Martha Meyer writes: “About three in five young adults worldwide report they are “worried” about climate change, but 55% of teachers don’t address the topic because they feel unprepared to do so. And when it comes to books that present climate information to preschool- and elementary-age kids, many titles end up exacerbating readers’ fears or engaging in greenwashing. Our mid-size Midwestern public library thought: Why not develop an award to honor excellent titles that buck this trend?”

American Libraries column, Mar./Apr.
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“Greening your library with limited resources and lukewarm buy-in might seem overwhelming. But sustainability is also about committing to small changes. Here’s a list of low-lift ideas that libraries of any type or size can start incorporating.” Libraries can develop zero-waste programming, start seed libraries, forge partnerships to reuse waste, host repair cafes, and much more.

American Libraries feature, Mar./Apr.
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Minyoung Kim writes: “In the summer of 2024, I spent eight weeks at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) for my first paper conservation internship. Under the guidance of Chief Conservator Babette Gehnrich—who has dedicated over 35 years to stewarding this remarkable collection—I had the privilege of engaging in various conservation projects. Through this internship, I came to appreciate how AAS’s vast collection, comprising over four million items, embodies American history not only through its texts and imagery but also through traces of use, repair, and past conservation efforts.”

Past is Present, Apr. 22

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