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Spacesaver cantilever shelving units on casters at the Glendale branch of the Salt Lake City Public Library

Maximize Your Library’s Potential

December 3, 2024

Unmatched adaptability for programming and events Spacesaver’s Flexible Shelving units are engineered to adapt to your library’s changing needs. With adjustable shelves and a variety of configurations, these units can easily accommodate different types of materials—from odd-sized kids’ books to your ever-changing Library of Things collections and the necessary supplies in your makerspaces. Flexible Shelving’s … Continue reading Maximize Your Library’s Potential →

High offsite library shelving in vanishing perspective

High Bay Storage Solutions

November 4, 2024

Are you looking for a smart and efficient way to store your library’s growing collection of books, journals, and other materials? Do you want to optimize your offsite storage space and reduce operating costs? Spacesaver’s High-Bay Shelving Systems are the ultimate solution for offsite library storage. Spacesaver’s High-Bay Shelving Systems are designed to maximize vertical … Continue reading High Bay Storage Solutions →

Call Number Podcast: Check Out Your Library

September 26, 2024

In this bonus episode, sponsored by OverDrive, we learn more about Check Out Your Library and the campaign’s Fiction and Film Tour. American Libraries Managing Editor Terra Dankowski talks with Jen Leitman, chief marketing officer of OverDrive, about how the program is building public awareness and helping libraries fulfill their missions. For more information on … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Check Out Your Library →

Elevate Your Library Storage

September 25, 2024

Spacesaver’s High-Bay Shelving Systems are designed to maximize vertical space and minimize footprint. They can extend up to 35 feet high, allowing you to store more items in less floor area. These systems are also engineered to withstand the load and seismic requirements of your facility, ensuring the safety and security of your collection. High-Bay … Continue reading Elevate Your Library Storage →

Two library workers stand at a rounded desk in a modern-looking library

Dynamic Service Desks

By Paul White | September 10, 2024

Define the purpose of the service desks Start by pinpointing the core functions of your desks. Will they serve as a circulation counter, help pod, IT desk, welcome station, or perhaps a combination of these? Understanding their primary role will help you choose a desk design that seamlessly meets the demands of the day. Know … Continue reading Dynamic Service Desks →

Two people stand behind a transparent screen with charts and graphs, smiling

Unlock Your Potential with New Skills at No Cost

August 21, 2024

With any new venture, whether a new career path, a new job, or a new role, comes a need for new skills. Skill Forward, in partnership with Verizon and edX, is your go-to resource when it comes to new skills. With over 250 courses from leading institutions in areas such as artificial intelligence, business, communications, … Continue reading Unlock Your Potential with New Skills at No Cost →

Two children sit on the floor listening to audio while reading books

Transform Your Library into a Community Hub

August 21, 2024

Playaway Products, an innovator of the preloaded-library market, knows libraries play a vital role in communities. Originator of the acclaimed Wonderbook read-along and Playaway audiobook, Playaway Products offers more than 500 Spanish and bilingual stories to help meet the growing demand for Spanish-language content and language-learning materials. With no need for Wi-Fi or downloads, these … Continue reading Transform Your Library into a Community Hub →

Optimize Your Offsite Storage

August 12, 2024

Introducing Check Out Your Library!

August 2, 2024

Designed to encourage new and returning patrons to explore the amazing resources at your library, COYL is a multiyear program created to support and promote library services. With COYL, it’s never been easier to drive awareness and increase foot traffic using digital campaigns, events, social media, press and outreach, and more. We’re even hitting the … Continue reading Introducing Check Out Your Library! →

Two people look at figures on a transparent glass screen

Learn Skills for a New Career for Free with Skill Forward

July 16, 2024

Skill Forward, in partnership with Verizon and edX, is here to help answer that question. Skill Forward is designed to provide in-demand skills across a variety of industries, including business, communications, leadership, information technology, and artificial intelligence. With no prior work experience or college degree required, Skill Forward is a comprehensive and 100% free online … Continue reading Learn Skills for a New Career for Free with Skill Forward →

Lightening the Librarian’s Load

July 9, 2024

At OpenAthens, we’re all about connecting people to information. And we’re focused on supporting librarians, which is why the OpenAthens complete solution offers you a tool that provides your patrons with smooth access to high-quality digital content from trustworthy sources—regardless of where they start their search journey. It is a fully managed service that provides … Continue reading Lightening the Librarian’s Load →

Five Things Public Libraries Should Know about Open Access

1. OA helps combat social media misinformation and bias. Social media is the most popular news source for American millennials, with more than 43% of TikTok users reporting daily news consumption from that app alone. Thanks to social algorithms, information is easier to find than ever before, and it often comes with the bias and … Continue reading Five Things Public Libraries Should Know about Open Access →

Latest Library Links

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Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

Little Village (Dubuque, Iowa), Dec. 4
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Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
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Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
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Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

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