Sometimes collaboration is accidental. I’ve had lessons that just happened to coordinate with the curriculum. For instance, our library at West Magnet Elementary in Batesville, Arkansas, was able to give students a “virtual field trip” via live stream to see President Barack Obama answering questions at DC Public Library’s Anacostia branch. Our 4th graders were … Continue reading Partnerships Beyond Four Walls
As libraries face cloudy funding forecasts and stagnant budgets, innovation and creativity become driving forces to increase a community’s access to library materials, programs, and services. With uncertainty comes an opportunity to reinvent and find new ways to serve a growing population of patrons. Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library (GCPL) used that opportunity to partner … Continue reading A Self-Service Experiment
Probably not, but at the Salt Lake City Public Library, that’s exactly what you’ll encounter. “Having any of these within a flagship library is a unique arrangement,” says Andrew Shaw, the library’s communications manager. In addition, a café, a coffee shop, a public radio station, a writing center, and a library store occupy the first … Continue reading A Balancing Act
How many books have you collected so far? I’ve collected 7,000 books and donated them to six different cities since November 2015. How did you start the campaign? In my 5th-grade class, I saw that books like Where the Red Fern Grows, the Shiloh series, and Crash all weren’t featuring black girls, and those … Continue reading Newsmaker: Marley Dias
That’s a great story, true or not, with an even better punch line. It likely produced a few knowing nods and wry smiles just now, and it’s also quite effective with people unfamiliar with what actually goes on libraries. They think we sit around all day shushing people and reading Good Books, as opposed to, … Continue reading In the Trenches
“Expand your vision. Drop, for a moment, the restraints on your thinking imposed by budgets and other resource caps. Think boldly. Coalesce around a strong idea; then work backwards and figure out the steps to get there. In the midst of rapidly shifting demographics and at a time when we cannot remain static, what active … Continue reading Serving the Patrons of the Future
Preparing for a job interview can be nerve-racking. Looking your best often translates into feeling your best. But if you live in southwest Philadelphia, one of the city’s most economically depressed neighborhoods, where the poverty rate is a staggering 36% and unemployment is more than 16%—compared with national averages of 14.5% and 5%, respectively—then your … Continue reading Community Ties
Huber founded the management consulting firm of J. Huber and Associates in 1986, and Potter is library director and CEO of Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri. An excerpt from their book was published in the July/August issue of American Libraries. What made you want to write this book? HUBER: Libraries are under pressure to … Continue reading A Conversation with Authors John Huber and Steven Potter
After all those efforts, Jones’s friends at the West Virginia Library Commission asked her, in vain, to put up her feet for a while. But plenty of work remains. Rainelle Public Library lost almost everything but the roof and walls—all the books, along with custom-made oak bookcases installed last year courtesy of a grant, all … Continue reading West Virginia Libraries Pick Up the Pieces
The public–private partnership brings together internet service providers, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector to narrow the digital divide for families with school-aged children who live in HUD-assisted housing. It builds on the ConnectED initiative to connect 99% of K–12 students to high-speed internet in classrooms and libraries by 2018. In a July 14 media … Continue reading ConnectHome Marks One-Year Anniversary
“Teens wanted a space to talk about what was happening in their communities,” says Adewole Abioye, teen program director at the West Englewood branch who organized and facilitates the program. “The barbershop concept was used as a catalyst to get them talking.” The program debuted in December 2015 and is held the third Monday of … Continue reading Bookend: The Cutting Edge
The statistics are disturbing: San Diego is one of the 13 highest child sex trafficking areas in the nation, according to the FBI. And the city’s sex trafficking industry—estimated at $810 million—is the second largest underground economy after the drug trade. But San Diego Public Library (SDPL) Director Misty Jones and her staff want to … Continue reading Out of the Shadows
