The collaborative, grassroots Community Book Gardens (CBG) initiative aims to transform deserts into landscapes where local storytelling flourishes by helping communities to create their own books. A panel of librarians and literacy advocates talked about the CBG model at “Community Book Gardens: Helping the Underrepresented Write and Publish Their Own Stories,” a June 29 session … Continue reading A Garden in the Desert
To come up with the funds for the vacation, you might take on a side hustle, redeem travel miles, or even sit through a timeshare presentation in exchange for covering part of the trip. For libraries, options exist beyond their tax revenue funding, including capital campaigns, public-private partnerships, new market tax credits, or mixed-usage agreements. … Continue reading Think Creatively
Over the past five years, DC Public Library (DCPL) has partnered with Playful City Lab, a game design initiative from American University (AU) in Washington, D.C. Together, we developed a project called Engaging Beyond Our Walls, which has yielded a budget-friendly platform and toolkit that facilitates storytelling through text messages and audio. Staffers at more … Continue reading Press 1 for Engagement
The pre-Prohibition-style lager they crafted together was called 1895, a nod to the founding year of Johnson City Public Library (JCPL), located just a few blocks from the brewery’s downtown taproom. Inspired by beers of the late 19th century, it features three flavors: coffee (for its connection to books), black currant (for a vintage flare), … Continue reading Brewing Connections
US Rep. Natalie M. Blais (D-Mass.), who grew up in nearby Derby Line, Vermont, calls the library her “entryway to other worlds growing up in a really small town.” The line on the floor delineating the border, she says, never seemed particularly important. “It just wasn’t something that we paid attention to,” Blais says. “Being … Continue reading Feds Curb Canadian Access to Library on the Border
Organize a swap. Sul Ross State University Library in Alpine, Texas, hosted a clothing exchange for students, while Bring Your Own Plant is a popular, low-cost event at Lancaster (Wis.) Public Library. Facilitate food security. Charleston County (S.C.) Public Library installed community fridges stocked with fresh produce at three of its branches, while Summers County … Continue reading 27 Sustainability Ideas to Implement Right Now
That’s when Garmon, then a civic engagement specialist at Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library, first thought, “We need a space to talk about the feelings related to climate change.” Garmon researched ways patrons in her own community could share their emotions about the environment and discovered the work being done by Sami Aaron, founder of … Continue reading Climate Connection
The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity By Netta Jenkins Jenkins, a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) executive, has worked with organizations of all sizes. Here she draws on her lived experiences and years of accumulated knowledge to suggest actionable ways that employees can improve their workplaces. The book shows readers how … Continue reading Improving Inclusivity
For nearly a decade, Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, and the Chicago office of the national nonprofit World Relief have worked together to offer free summer programming for families who are refugees or seeking asylum. In 2021, after the US military withdrew its final troops from Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Afghan families fled … Continue reading Makerspace and Sense of Place
During the pandemic, Christian County (Mo.) Library was looking to launch an ongoing service series that would bring staffers and patrons together outdoors. So it turned to some of the rural area’s oldest and most scenic spaces: cemeteries. In 2021, the library started its Uncovering History: Gravestone Cleaning program series. Participants meet monthly from May … Continue reading A Monumental Task
“It is an idea that there’s no place where I end and you begin,” explained Shola Richards, opening keynote speaker of the 2024 Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Columbus, Ohio, on April 3. Richards—author of professional development books Go Together: How the Concept of Ubuntu Will Change How We Work, Live, and Lead (Sterling … Continue reading How We Work
To fill in service gaps exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Warren County (Ky.) Public Library (WCPL) opened four satellite libraries. These one-room, full-service satellites, housed by community partners, are meant to support populations that would otherwise struggle to visit a full-size branch because of socioeconomic, transportation, or other barriers. Last year, WCPL debuted a satellite … Continue reading Meeting Neurodiverse Needs
