sponsored post Archives | Page 2 of 6 | American Libraries Magazine

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 →

High offsite library shelving in vanishing perspective

Optimize Your Offsite Storage

August 12, 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 Optimize Your Offsite Storage →

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 →

Spring into Summer with Crafts

June 20, 2024

Craft & Hobby is dedicated to empowering individuals to discover the joy of making, and we believe that libraries are the perfect platform to inspire and support patrons on their creative journeys. With our diverse range of classes and resources, your library can become a hub of creativity where patrons of all ages can come … Continue reading Spring into Summer with Crafts →

Transforming Teen Reading with Audiobooks

By Jill Grunenwald | June 18, 2024

Audiobooks can be the solution. By building out their young adult audiobook collections, libraries can encourage teens to engage with literature in a new way—using the device already in their pocket. Science supports audiobook benefits for teens Despite what some naysayers believe, choosing audiobooks over print books does not decrease comprehension. Neuroscientists at University of … Continue reading Transforming Teen Reading with Audiobooks →

Business colleagues having a conversation. They are discussing finance charts and graphs on a laptop computer. They are both young business people in an office. Could be an interview or consultant working with a client.

Free Online Courses to Level Up Your Skills

May 7, 2024

Unfortunately, many individuals have been unable to connect to these opportunities because of a lack of training, lack of resources, or the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to start. That’s where Skill Forward comes in. Skill Forward is a free online program, sponsored by Verizon and edX, that is offering employees a way to … Continue reading Free Online Courses to Level Up Your Skills →

Free In-Demand Skills to Help You Step into a New Career

April 17, 2024

Skill Forward addresses each of those challenges. Brought to you by Verizon and edX, Skill Forward is a 100% free program that offers tech and non-tech skills training and certifications in a variety of in-demand areas, including artificial intelligence, business, coding, communication, finance, information technology, and more. Participants can sign up with no prior work … Continue reading Free In-Demand Skills to Help You Step into a New Career →

A view from behind two people on a couch, watching a film on TV

Kanopy Meets Budget and Connectivity Needs for Rural Libraries

By Jill Grunenwald | March 22, 2024

This trend of libraries offering streaming video is not new: In the 2022 Library Journal Materials Survey, responses showed that while 97% of libraries still buy DVDs, the proportion of libraries’ materials budgets spent on them has fallen three percentage points since 2019. At the same time, the proportion spent on streaming electronic resources has … Continue reading Kanopy Meets Budget and Connectivity Needs for Rural Libraries →

Palm Harbor (Fla.) Library’s new music garden in action.

Libraries: The New Champions of Music-Making

By Jody Ashfield | March 13, 2024

Let’s firstly talk about fun! Libraries that feature outdoor musical instruments add an element of fun and are a significant asset to the community, fueling inspiration, generating energy, and engaging people in a new and exciting way. Libraries and music are both magnets for social connections, and many libraries have outdoor spaces that aren’t used … Continue reading Libraries: The New Champions of Music-Making →

Latest Library Links

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Angela Hursh writes: “Libraries have great stories to tell. But getting the media to listen isn’t always easy. Here are the top 10 practical tips that Leslie Marinelli, communications manager at Forsyth County (Ga.) Public Library; Ray Holley, communications manager at Sonoma County (Calif.) Library; and I shared [at a recent online panel] for getting your library into the news.”

Super Library Marketing, June 30
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Pranay Parab writes: “I’ve mostly been really happy with my M1 MacBook Air, which I’ve been using for nearly three years now. However, I regret not going for the variant with 16GB of RAM. The newer laptop still occasionally slows down when I open too many browser tabs. Luckily, I did some troubleshooting and fixed the problem, and I’m here to share what I’ve learned with you. So, if Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari or other browsers are slowing down on your computer, try some of these tips to nip that problem in the bud.”

Lifehacker, June 26
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Victoria Cox writes: “LaRue County (Ky.) Board of Education heard both criticism and praise last week when members were asked to remove 14 books from the high school library. Although the vote was split, the board ultimately refused to ban the books, citing the need to uphold the constitutional rights of students” by a 4–1 vote. Books the board considered include The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

LaRue County (Ky.) Herald News, June 25
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Jennifer A. Keach, Jenne M. Klotz, and Galen J. Talis write: “Library leaders at all levels are well-placed to create opportunities for joy in their organizations and to model how to do so with nuance and balance. Toward that end, we explored the multidisciplinary literature and compiled an annotated bibliography for leaders who wish to support joy within groups, organizational change agents who want to create equitable conditions for joy in the workplace, and readers seeking to develop their personal practice of joy. We provide a guide exploring five themes: defining joy, finding individual joy, work and organizational joy, empowering change with joy, and joy-adjacent emotions.”

Library Leadership and Management, June 30
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David Vickers Loertscher and Michelle Young write: “This tutorial introduces school librarians to the use of data visualization tools for documenting and communicating their impact on teaching and learning. By leveraging accessible platforms like Google Forms and Google Sheets, the authors demonstrate how librarians can build dashboards and real-time visual reports to showcase co-teaching, instructional collaboration, and student engagement. The tutorial features real-world examples, highlights common data sources already available to librarians, and argues that dynamic visual storytelling is a powerful alternative to traditional library statistics.”

Learning Hub, June 25
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Robin Camille Davis writes: “It wasn’t until seven years into my career as a user experience librarian that I realized I’d been accidentally excluding a sizable segment of users from my user research. Interviews, surveys, and usability studies favor people who are gifted at oral and written communication. What about people who are more gifted at visual communication? In the context of user research, this participatory design invites participants to design their own response to a given prompt.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, June 30
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Stories from communities nationwide come to life on ALA’s new Show Up for Our Libraries interactive site map. The stories illustrate the real-life consequences of potential funding cuts to rural, research, city, state, and university library programs and, in turn, to the hundreds of millions of library users across the country. Services such as summer reading programs, telehealth resources, interlibrary loan, and ebooks have all been affected. ALA collected the stories in conversation with patrons, library professionals, and advocates across the country to better understand the impact of federal funding cuts since the President’s executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 25

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