Articles

Mail-A-Book: Making the Personal Connection
Queens Library’s Mail-A-Book Service allows homebound customers to borrow library materials, including books and audiobooks, regular and large-print books, movies on DVD and music on CDs without leaving their homes, nursing homes, adult care centers, or assisted living facilities. Though Mail-A-Book serves all ages, its primary customer base consists of older adults.  READ MORE
Pennsylvania student selected Step Up to the Plate @ your library® grand-prize winner
Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Ann Bishop has a Baseball Hall of Fame connection - her neighbor is the widow of Hall of Famer and Chicago White Sox player Nellie Fox. But thanks to a trip to her school library, Bishop went to the Hall of Fame herself, as the winner of Step up to the Plate @ your library®.In early October, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith drew Bishop’s name as the grand-prize winner of the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program. Bishop’s name was randomly selected from eligible contestants who correctly answered a series of baseball trivia questions developed by the Hall of Fame’s library staff.  Entries were sent in from across the country and Puerto Rico. READ MORE
And Now, a Word from Our Spectrum Scholars
Libraries and I go back as far as I can remember. My mother’s family owned and operated a lending library out of their home in New Delhi, India, until recently. I grew up hearing about this library, and it seemed to me perfectly normal that you could live in a library. My mother and I practically did, as we visited our public library several times a week in our hometown in Canada.I first entered my school library at the age of eight, when I started volunteering there during recess (a great way to stay out of the cold Canadian winter weather). That experience changed my life and put me on the path that I am on now, twenty-three years later.I volunteered at that library for five years under Mrs. McGuigan, our school librarian, who would take her helpers out for a special lunch once a year. We all looked forward to it, and it made us feel special and part of something important, rather than simply the “geeky” library volunteers. READ MORE
Double Dutch: A Visit to Two New Libraries in Holland
My plans for last summer’s vacation were formulated with frugality in mind. More for less. How about a house exchange? I trolled European cities on Craigslist under house swapping and zeroed in on an intriguing offer in Amsterdam. Several emails later, we had a deal.Much later, I heard about the new public library in Delft. Two staff members from that library were making the rounds of libraries in the United States, touting the services and philosophy of their 21st century library. I missed their talk at ALA’s annual conference and never had time to research what all the fuss was about before I flew off to Holland.  READ MORE
Neil Gaiman announced as Honorary National Library Week Chair
If you follow Neil Gaiman on Twitter you know it’s no secret how he feels about libraries and librarians. It is with that admiration in mind, that the American Library Association’s (ALA) Campaign for America’s Libraries is thrilled to announce the 2009 Newbery Medal winning author of “The Graveyard Book” as the Honorary Chair of National Library Week 2010. READ MORE
Double the fun during ALA’s 2010 National Gaming Day
The theme for this year’s National Gaming Day turned out to be “double” – double the fun, double the success!On November 14, 2009, more than 1,365 libraries participated in ALA’s second annual National Gaming Day event, designed to promote the recreational and educational benefits of gaming in libraries. That’s more than double the number of libraries that participated last year (617)! READ MORE
The Heart of Maryland Libraries Quilt
At the MLA Conference, Karen Trennepohl, chair of the Quilt Project Committee, presented The Heart of Maryland Libraries quilt. Margaret Carty, MLA Executive Director, conceived the idea of a state quilt almost 2½ years ago. Karen thanked the leadership of 18 county library systems, two college/university libraries, three county school systems, the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the Department of Library and Development Services, the Maryland Association of School Librarians and the MLA leadership for their support of the project.  READ MORE
Successful Friends Groups
Since my start at Indian Prairie in the role of Assistant Director, I have served as the liaison to the library’s Friends group. The Friends of the Indian Prairie Public Library has been in existence since the library formed in 1996.  They meet the second Tuesday of each month at 1:30 p.m. and hold an annual meeting held on the second Tuesday in January, where election of officers takes place.  To join their Friends they have a membership form (PDF) and dues which range from $5 for an individual to $100 for lifetime membership.I have been regularly attending the monthly Friends meetings and assisting in their various fundraising projects since 2000.  I have also served as treasurer and acting secretary. This past May, the president of the Friends, who had served for 13 years, decided to step down from her leadership role and pursue other interests.  This left me to step up and serve as president.  It has been an interesting addition to my job duties. READ MORE
Mr. Chapman Goes to Washington
Danny Chapman of Lake Forest, Ill., is the proud winner of this year's National Library Legislative Day Student Theme Contest.The contest, which ran in late 2006, invited students from all over the country to submit ideas for the National Library Legislative Day theme and logo to be used on invitations, briefing materials and decorations. For his winning entry, "Check Out the Future," Chapman won a free trip to National Library Legislative Day, which takes place May 1, 2007, in Washington, D.C. He will be visiting Congress with a delegation from the Illinois Library Association. Chapman shares his thoughts for that day with ILoveLibraries.org: READ MORE
New Orleans
It's been 22 months since Hurricane Katrina, followed by Hurricane Rita two months later, devastated the Gulf Region. After the storms, libraries that were able to reopen did so as quickly as they could. Even with a staff of 19 (compared to the usual 216), the New Orleans Public Library was up and running as best it could right after the floodwaters receded.And libraries across the country were first responders to the initial crisis, providing essential services to displaced Gulf residents, providing books and storytimes at shelters and extending hours to help locate loved ones through the Internet and finding resources for assistance and support.So how are libraries in the region doing almost two years since hundreds of them across the region were destroyed or damaged? The Pascagoula Public Library in Mississippi officially reopened on April 16 with the theme "No Place Like Home", but most other libraries are still just beginning to rebuild. READ MORE

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