2008-2009 News Archive
Dec. 23: 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. Read more...
Dec. 23: 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...
Dec. 11: Double the Fun during ALA's National Gaming Day 2009
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...
Dec. 11: 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 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...
Nov. 26, 2009: Double Dutch: Two 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 wh at all the fuss was about before I flew off to Holland. Read more...
Nov. 26, 2009: And Now a Word from Our Spectrum Scholars
Established in 1997, the Spectrum Scholarship Program is ALA's national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the specific issue of under-representation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession while serving as a model for ways to bring attention to larger diversity issues in the future. Read more...
Nov. 13, 2009: 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®. Read more...
Nov. 13, 2009: 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...
Nov. 13, 2009: The Book Bike
Attending the Banned Books Read-Out on September 26, 2009, was Gabe Levinson, operator of the Book Bike. The concept is simple: Levinson travels around Chicago giving away books. Read more...
Oct. 30, 2009: From Ancient Societies to the Modern Day, the Library Endures
In this remarkable story, Stuart A.P. Murray traces the elaborate history of the library from its very beginnings in the ancient libraries of Babylon and Alexandria to some of the greatest contemporary institutions—the Royal Society of London, the Newberry Library, the Smithsonian, and many others. Illustrated with 130 rich color photos, readers can follow the fascinating progress of the institution we now know today as the library. A rich textual and visual resource, The Library will delight patrons and library staff alike. Read more...
Oct. 30, 2009: What's Out There for Lawyers Who Want a Different Career?
Non-practicing lawyers tend to fall into one of two categories.
Either they always wanted to be lawyers but found once they started that it wasn’t what they’d hope d for, or they never wanted to be lawyers but drifted into law school because they couldn’t think of anything else to do. Read more...
Oct. 30, 2009: The Teens' Top Ten
Each year, thousands of teens vote in the Young Adult Library Services Association's Teens' Top Ten, the only booklist created entirely by and for teens. In 2009, teens cast more than 11,000 votes, choosing the top ten teen books from a list of twenty-five finalists. Read more...
Oct. 16, 2009: Read Beyond Reality @ your library for Teen Read Week!
Teen Read Week starts on Oct. 18! Get ready to celebrate at your library from Oct. 18-24. Teen Read Week is an annual event sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association during the third week of October each year. The 2009 theme is Read Beyond Reality @ your library, so libraries across the United States will do something special to encouraging teens to read something out of this world — like sci-fi, fantasy, or virtual reality — just for the fun of it. Read more...
Oct. 16, 2009: ALTAFF Celebrates Fourth Annual National Friends of Libraries Week
The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) is coordinating the fourth annual National Friends of Libraries Week, October 18-24, 2009. The celebration offers a two-fold opportunity to celebrate. Friends groups can use the time to creatively promote their group in the community, to raise awareness, and to promote membership. The celebration also offers an excellent opportunity for the library staff and Board of Trustees to recognize the Friends for their help and support of the library. Read more...
Oct. 16, 2009: Hands-On Reading: The Pioneer Book Club
In 2007, the Rockbridge Regional Library began an association with Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Our goal was to create programs that encouraged children to read, while also getting them outdoors to enjoy nature. Bonnie Bernstein and Hannah Klein from Boxerwood helped us to create the Survival Book Club for fifth through eighth graders. Read more...
Oct. 2, 2009: Treasures Found by Seafaring Librarians
Ahoy! To manage an undergraduate library while sailing around the world, you will need your well-honed library skills and a bit of an adventurous spirit. In this article, the University of Virginia librarians who have belayed their traditional landlubbing librarian jobs and successfully navigated a semester at sea present their ideas on the value of embarking upon such an adventure. Studying on a ship while sailing the globe—that’s Semester at Sea. Read more...
Oct. 2, 2009: Banned Books Week
ach of the top 10 most challenged books were represented at the 2009 Banned Books Read Out, which kicked off Banned Books Week September 26 at Chicago's Bughouse Square (across the street from the Newberry Library.) Read more...
Oct. 2, 2009: IMLS Grant Will Help Libraries Help the Unemployed
Job seekers have packed libraries around the country during recent months, searching online job sites, building resumes, taking interview classes, and making use of a wide range of other employment services and resources. More help is on the way. Through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), WebJunction, the online learning community for library staff created by OCLC, a nonprofit library service and research organization; and the State Library of North Carolina (SLNC) have launched a one-year initiative to gather and share best practices for providing library-based employment services and programs to the unemployed. Read more...
Oct. 2, 2009: Nation’s libraries participate in inaugural Reader’s Digest Make It Matter Day
Libraries across the country will play an important role in celebrating the cause of reading during Make It Matter Day, sponsored by Reader’s Digest magazine. On Saturday, Oct. 3, more than 100 events will be held on this national volunteer day of reading, writing and learning in support of literacy and education. Libraries will join schools, Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCAs in taking part in the inaugural event. Read more...
Sept. 18, 2009: Banned Books Week: Should We Still Be Celebrating?
Every fall I lead groups of first-year students on tours of our university library. The goal is to show them the physical resources available for research while also highlighting some of our special collections. Shockingly, microfiche doesn’t capture their interest, but a stop in the Juvenile collection always gets their attention. Though I start by telling them of its value for supporting our children’s literature classes, I also mention our practice of purchasing controversial titles Read more...
Sept. 18, 2009: Librarian Wings It- Dances the "Chicken Dance" for Literacy
Librarian Susan Scatena challenged her summer readers: if they read 2500 books, she will dress as a chicken and do the chicken dance on the library steps! The children were so anxious to see the spectacle, 355 children read more than 5,800 books! Read more...
Sept. 18, 2009: Show Your Love for Libraries at the 9th Annual National Book Festival
If you happen to be in the Washington, D.C. area on Saturday, September 26, 2009 and love libraries, please be sure to stop by the American Library Association’s (ALA) booth at the 9th annual National Book Festival organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress. Read more...
Sept. 4, 2009: Media Spotlights Librarians with Unique Hobbies
Meet Beth Hollis and Tammi Sauer, two librarians whose hobbies are receiving much media attention: Author Tammi Sauer shows off the steps for her new dance, "The Librarian" and librarian/roller derby enthusiast Beth Hollis highlights moves of her own.
Aug. 21, 2009: September is Library Card Sign-Up Month
September is Library Card Sign-up Month–a time when the American Library Association and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. Read more...
Aug. 21, 2009: Baltimore Orioles Team Up with Maryland Libraries
The Maryland State Department of Education’s Division of Library Development and Services announced the Statewide Summer Reading Kick-Off on Saturday, May 30 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. This event marked the official opening of the 2009 Summer Reading Club themed, “Be Creative @ Your Library,” and has been celebrated in all Maryland public libraries. By registering for free at their local public library, children and teens from birth through high school participated in this program. Read more...
Aug. 21, 2009: The Women of the Oklahoma Legislature Oral History Project and Website
Between the years of 1907 and 2008 only 77 women have been elected to the Oklahoma Legislature. This oral history project explores and records the journeys of many of these women who have served or are currently serving in the Oklahoma Legislature. The website includes transcripts, audio excerpts, photographs and memorabilia collected as a result of interview efforts. Over the course of the project, photographs of all 77 women were located and are now included on the website. It is believed this is the first time a complete collection of photographs of all Oklahoma women legislators has existed in one location. Read more...
Aug. 7, 2009: Information Rx
National studies indicate that nearly half of all American adults have difficulty understanding and using health information. Patients with limited health literacy have a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency services. (1) Studies have also shown that patients with inadequate literacy have less health-related knowledge, receive less preventive care, have poorer control of their chronic illnesses, and are hospitalized more frequently than other patients. Read more...
Aug. 7, 2009: Carroll Academy Wins Sara Jaffarian Award
The library of the Carroll Academy for International Studies in Houston is the winner of the 2009 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming. The award is sponsored by the American Library Association Cultural Communities Fund and the National Endowment for the Humanities in cooperation with the American Association of School Librarians. It was presented in July at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago and consists of a $4,000 cash award, a plaque, and the promotion of the winner as a model program for other school libraries. Read more...
July 24, 2009: The Wednesday Night Readers: “A Most Improbable Book Club”
You may think a book club consists of a group of intelligent, intellectually curious adults discussing characterization, plot, motivation, and context. Project Read, San Francisco Public Library’s adult-literacy program, thinks so, too. Participating in a book club is exactly what the Wednesday Night Readers (WNR) do eleven times a year, even though some members of the group read at an elementary-school level. Read more...
July 24, 2009: Capturing Characters on Stage for the College and Community: An Interview with Playwright Rex Stephenson
Most people probably think of theatres and libraries as being worlds apart, but Ferrum College’s Sale Theatre and Stanley Library are next door to each other. Thanks to recent renovations on campus, only a few steps will take you from the library’s back door into the theatre, across an attractive patio that theatre-goers enjoy during summer plays. Read more...
July 24, 2009: AASL Announces Landmark Web sites for Teaching and Learning
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announces a new resource for school library media specialists and their teacher colleagues. The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning: Landmark Websites, a list honoring the top Internet sites for enhancing learning and curriculum development, is considered the "best of the best" by AASL. Read more...
July 10, 2009: ASLCA /KLAS/NOD Award goes to Libraries and Autism: We're All Connected
In April, the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), a division of the American Library Association, announced the 2009 winner of the ASCLA/KLAS/NOD award: “Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected,” a remarkable project developed by Margaret Kolaya, director of the Scotch Plains Public Library, and Daniel Weiss, director of the Fanwood Memorial Library, both in New Jersey. Read more...
July 10, 2009: Behind the Wheel of a Bookmobile
“Behind the Wheel of a Bookmobile” is a quixotic journey that will honor the place books have in our national consciousness. Authors Peter Laufer and Tom Corwin conceived this project. It began with the whimsical idea of buying a vintage bookmobile, stocking it with donated books from publishers, and driving it cross-country through small towns, with well-known authors taking turns at the wheel. Read more...
July 10, 2009: The Business of Building Hope in Salinas
They're twin sisters and for the past six months they have come faithfully twice a week to the literacy center at Salinas’s John Steinbeck Library. There they meet with their tutor, a retired school teacher. They bring their small children along—one baby is asleep in the car seat at her mother's feet, another plays with books and lounges in a bean bag chair, while several of their older kids play in the children's area. Read more...
June 26, 2009: United We Serve
Libraries across the counry will be taking part in United We Serve, a national effort launched by President Obama to engage more Americans in serving their communities this summer. Read more...
June 26, 2009: Employment Resources
Unfortunately, the following resources may become very important to our users given the economic climate. Government at all levels can provide assistance for the workforce. They look out for job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other economic measurements. Workers are guaranteed safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other support. Read more...
June 26: Get Connected to Health
When Lexington Park Library patrons in St. Mary’s County visit their library not only can they get homework help, book recommendations, movie entertainment, and computer instruction at their branch, they can even get relief from a sore throat. Thanks to “Get Connected to Health,” a mobile outr each service of St. Mary’s Hospital, uninsured, low income residents can receive primary medical care every Monday between 1 and 5 p.m. in the library parking lot. Read more...
June 12, 2009: State Library Inventorying WPA Art
Hollywood movies often show a band of heroes searching for priceless treasures believed lost, stolen, or mythical. Right now, the State Library is on its own quest for treasure, but this time the hoard may be in many different locations. From the early 1930s to the outbreak of World War II, the federal government invested substantial funds in back-to-work programs, including work projects in the arts. Read more...
June 12, 2009: Stars Shout It Out for New York Public Library
Join Bette Midler, Jeff Daniels, Barbara Walters, Tim Gunn, Amy Tan and more...speak out for your library and help fight cuts in resources. Add your own response video, and go to www.nypl.org to take action! Read more...
June 12, 2009: Raining Peace
Despite the cold and rain more than 180 students from Pioneer Middle School in Plymouth, MI descended upon the streets of New York City to spread their message of peace and promote the Pioneer Peace Project as planned on Friday, April 3, 2009. Read more...
Most of us have fond memories of our hometown public library, and some of us can recall stories of how a library or librarian touched our life in a profound and meaningful way. Here at I Love Libraries, we invite readers to share these stories. So far we have received many. Some are moving, some are inspirational, and some are quite funny. Larry Burns’ story is all three. Read more...
May 27, 2009: Can’t Afford a Prom Dress? Try the Local Library
As a result of a the 100 Dresses Program launched by YA Librarian Kari Smith, more than two dozen local girls from four high schools recently chose from gently used evening dresses in all shades and sizes, donated from women's clubs, college students, and other high school kids. Some even walked away with matching accessories to wear on their big night, which took place on April 25. Read more...
May 27, 2009: Libraries and Local Governments Team Up For Innovative Solutions
The library training people for call centers? The library as a test bed for solar energy? These are just two of the ten innovative programs that libraries and local governments have developed that utilize public libraries to address critical local needs and p rovide services that strengthen their communities. Read more...
May 15, 2009: Kenya Connections: For Two Connecticut Librarians, Kenya Means More Than a Safari
Can a electronic discussion list posting change your life? Audra Zimmermann thinks so. President and co-owner of the library consulting firm, The Donohue Group (DGI), Audra clearly remembers the day in May 2007 when she discovered a CLClist item about the American Friends of Kenya (AFK). The Norwich-based charity was looking for volunteers to work on library projects in that East Africa nation. Read more...
May 15, 2009: The Danville Public Library Spreads Literacy, Reading, and Opportunity to Ex-Offenders
Many ex-offenders feel that “the system” has little to offer them except a strong likelihood that they will return to prison. The high rate of recidivism among former offenders would seem to bear out this fear. However, the Danville Public Library (DPL) is doing all that it can to assist ex-offenders in reconnecting to their communities. Read more...
May 15, 2009: Step Up to the Plate @ your library Swings Into Action
The boys of summer are stepping up to the plate, so why not join them? The American Library Association and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum are getting into the swing of things by launching the fourth season of Step Up to the Plate @ your library. It could be your chance to win a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame! Read more...
May 1, 2009: Library Grows A Lush Imagination
Where was Ray Bradbury when the stock market came crashing down in 1929? Others, jobless by the millions, ate in soup kitchens and slept in cardboard jungles, and where was he? Ray Bradbury was on Mars. Read more...
May 1, 2009: Library student wins award from Maybelline, People
Educator and library student Jessica Fenster-Sparber was one of the ten honorees at the 2008 Maybelline New York Beauty of Education dinner, held at the historic New York Public Library in Manhattan. Read more...
April 17, 2009: Library community mourns passing of Judith Krug
Judith Fingeret Krug, 69, the long-time director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, who fought censorship on behalf of the nation’s libraries, died April 11 after a lengthy illness. Read more...
April 17, 2009: National Library Week
For more than 50 years, National Library Week has been a time to celebrate the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in schools, campuses and communities nationwide. Read more...
April 3, 2009: New York Library Lobby Day
The New York Library Association held their annual Library Lobby Day, which brought over 1,000 librarians, trustees and library patrons to Albany to ask the Legislature to restore the Governor’s proposed $18 million or 18 percent cut in Library Aid. Read more...
April 3, 2009: James Patterson named School Library Media Month Spokesperson
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has announced that James Patterson will be the spokesperson for School Library Media Month (SLMM). SLMM is AASL's annual celebration of school library media specialists and their programs and is celebrated the entire month of April. Read more...
April 3, 2009: Challenge at Beulah
On January 15, 2009, in a 4-3 split decision, the Beulah School Board removed the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt from the Beulah High School Library. Midnight had never been banned from any public library collection before. Read more...
March 20, 2009: National Library Week
For more than 50 years, National Library Week has been a time to celebrate the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in schools, campuses and communities nationwide. Read more...
March 20, 2009: Our Youngest Patrons
The youth services staff of Potomac Library in Prince William County, Virginia, does programming for children in our community in order to encourage use of the library as well as develop literacy and a lifelong love of reading in our patrons. We have performers, storytellers, science enrichment programs, crafts, and story hours. One popular story program at Potomac Library is entitled “Book Babies.” Read more...
March 6, 2009: Chesapeake Poetry Festival
For the last sixteen years, Russell Memorial Library has been the home of the Chesapeake Poetry Festival. The first festival, held in 1993, was the result of a casual conversation between Norfolk attorney C. Edward “Eddie” Russell Jr. and Chesapeake Public Library Director Margaret “Peggy” Stillman. The idea began when Russell was taking a class in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University taught by his longtime friend and Poet Laureate of Portsmouth Dave Smith. Read more...<
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March 6, 2009: Teen Tech Week, March 8-14
Teen Tech Week, the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual celebration of the many tech resources available to teens at the library, takes place March 8-14. More than 1,700 libraries across the country are holding special events and offering resources on tech for teens, including gaming nights, workshops on podcasting or photography, online homework help sessions and more. Read more...
February 20, 2009: Tell Woman's Day How Your Library Helped You in Tough Financial Times
These days, everyone is looking to save money. If the library is part of your personal financial recovery plan, Woman’s Day magazine wants to hear about it. From now until May 18, women aged 18 and up are invited to send in a story about how they have used the library helped them out of a tight financial crunch. Read more...
February 20, 2009: 2009 Youth Media Awards Calls
Before the Newbery, Caldecott, King, and ALA's other prestigious youth media awards were announced at the Midwinter Meeting in Denver, the selection committees crowded into tiny private rooms to call the honorees. This year, AL Focus was invited to capture some of those happy calls and reactions. Read more...
February 5, 2009: Best-Selling Author Sees Value in Libraries
New York Times Bestselling Author Christopher Paolini dreamed of the day he could place one of his books on the shelf in his local library. “When I was able to do that, it was a memorable day,” he says. “As an author, it’s one of the true pleasures for me to think that I’ve been able to contribute at least a few entries into the library system.” Read more...
January 26, 2009: American Library Association Announces Literary Award Winners
The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, videos and audiobooks for children and young adults - including the Caldecott, King, Newbery, Schneider Family and Printz awards - at its Midwinter Meeting in Denver. In addition, the ALA celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards and introduced a new award, the William C. Morris Award. It is also the first year that the Pura Belpré Award will be given annually. The following is a list of all ALA Youth Media Awards for 2009. Read more...
January 21, 2009: Rock For Reading 2008: A Concert For Literacy
Rock For Reading (R4R) surely lived up to its name November 22, 2008 at the Concert For Literacy. Not only did co-headliners Steve Earle and Tom Morello, also known as The Nightwatchman, storm the Vic Theatre in Chicago with some righteous rock, but more than $25,000 was raised for reading. Earle sang his songs of love and loss with characteristic emotional intensity, while Morello's anthemic "One Man Revolution," among other pointed num
bers, reminded the audience of the historic political event that had recently transpired. Read more...
January 21, 2009: A Look At Second Life
I love virtual libraries, the libraries that have sprouted up in three-dimensional virtual worlds such as Second Life, Active Worlds, Teen Second Life, and others. Like their bricks-and-mortar and web-based digital library cousins, virtual libraries offer information resources and services to patrons, but with some interesting twists. Read more...
January 12, 2009: Slow economy fuels surge in library visits
With the nation facing tough economic times, Americans are visiting their local public libraries more often and checking out items with greater frequency. Libraries across the United States report that more people are turning to libraries in record numbers to take advantage of the free resources available there. Read more...
January 12, 2009: En tu biblioteca campaign officially launches
“I can help you” are words that resonate with librarians and library users alike. However, it’s the words “yo te puedo ayudar” (“I can help you”) that are the focus of the En tu biblioteca Campaign. Read more...
December 22, 2008: Dark Horse Comics, Inc., Donates Complete Collection to Portland State University Library
Portland State University alumni Mike Richardson, founder and president of Dark Horse Comics, Inc., and Neil Hankerson, executive vice president, have donated copies of all publications generated by Dark Horse over the years to Portland State, and will continue to provide copies of all future items produced by the company. This generous gift will result in a complete collection of the Dark Horse corpus to be preserved in the Portland State University Library Special Collections. Read more...
December 10, 2008: Congratulations to the 2008 winners of the I Love My Librarian Award!
Ten librarians are recognized for service to their communities, schools and campuses as winners of the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. These ten librarians will receive $5,000 and be honored at an awards ceremony hosted by the New York Times at TheTimeCenter on December 9, 2008. Read more...
December 10, 2008: Chester County Librarian Aids Guatemala’s Readers
Frances Sack has visited libraries around the world. She’s browsed books in Canada, walked the stacks in Italy and Russia, and perused shelves in Colombia. This past February, the director of Paoli Library adde
d another country to her list: Guatemala. But this time Sack wasn’t just an observer of the country’s libraries; she worked as a volunteer. Read more...
November 26, 2008: I Got My Job Through ... the New York Public Library
That might well be the slogan of an ad campaign suited to an era when unemployment is rising and the U.S. is shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs a month. As a reminder that local libraries offer extensive job-search resources, here's how Barack Obama found his community organizing job in Chicago after he graduated from Columbia University. Read more...
November 26, 2008: The Peace Project: Todd Parr and Pioneer Middle School
As part of a yearlong service-learning project students from Pioneer Middle School in Plymouth, Michigan in collaboration with nationally renowned author Todd Parr, of The Peace Book, will be traveling to New York City on April 3, 2009 to promote peace. Read more...
November 12, 2008: 7 Ways Your Public Library Can Help You During a Bad Economy
MG Farrelly is a public librarian and has written a list of seven ways that your library can help you during a bad economy. Libraries are an excellent resource and they're pretty easy to use. Don't worry if you're not a big reader, there's lots more stuff to do at the library besides just checking out books. Read more...
November 12, 2008: Benefits of Early Literacy: Waukegan, Illinois, Libraries Make a Difference
"Eat with the spoon. Eat with the spoon." Four-year-old Katalyna Padilla forms the words slowly, straining to pronounce each syllable clearly. She and twin sister Katrina attend one of six EPIC preschools sponsored by Waukegan Public School District 60. EPIC stands for Early Childhood Partners In Collaboration, an organization that provides no-cost preschool to Waukegan kids ages 3-5. Last year, Katalyna, who speaks English as a second language, was diagnosed with a speech disability during her preschool screening. She immediately began speech therapy with specialists at EPIC. Read more...
October 29, 2008: Rethinking the E-Rate
The Education-Rate Program is the largest potential source of federal funding for libraries, with at least $2.25 billion available. But there are also a number of challenges associated with the program, and a number of myths about it that have hurt participation. This article helps to navigate those myths and challenges. Read more...
October 29, 2008: Wisconsin student selected as grand-prize winner of Step Up to the Plate @ you
r library
Last weekend, 11-year-old Oscar Youngquist of Racine, Wis. received a personalized tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. It was a once in a lifetime moment, and it was all made possible by a trip to the Racine Public Library. Read more...
October 29, 2008: New Orleans Public Library Nearly Three Years After Hurricane Katrina
The severity of Hurricane Katrina’s impact reverberated throughout the city of New Orleans. Submerged property and toppled trees and automobiles are a testament to its ferocity. Very few buildings or homes were spared its devastation and one institution, the once vibrant New Orleans Public Library System (NOPL), underwent the most horrid destruction. The twelve-branch system experienced damage to all of its buildings, some of them, particularly the Martin Luther King Branch in the Lower Ninth Ward and the Smith Regional Branch in the Lakefront area, sustained overwhelming torrents that completely destroyed the entrails of the buildings. Others suffered water and mold damage and a few were salvageable, but nothing really emerged physically intact. Read more...
October 21, 2008: Teens' Top Ten
The votes are in... and Stephenie Meyer again rises to the top of the Teens' Top Ten! More than 8,000 teens voiced their choice for their favorite books in the annual Teens' Top Ten poll during Teen Read Week, Oct. 12 - 18, with "Eclipse," the third book in Meyer's vampire series easily taking the first place. Read more...
October 15, 2008: National Friends of Libraries Week
Friends of Libraries groups now have their very own national week of celebration! Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) is coordinating the third annual National Friends of Libraries Week October 19 - 25, 2008. Read more...
October 14, 2008: Delectable Delights for Teen Read Week
"Some books are to be tasted, others are to be swallowed and some few are to be chewed and digested" Francis Bacon once said. The "monsterific" theme of 2008's Teen Read Week celebration as "Books with Bite," agrees with Mr. Bacon's suggestions as to how to devour books. Likewise, Teen read Week offers libraries the opportunity to give teens a taste of reading delights that will have them chomping at the bit for the next book. Read more...
October 2, 2008: Banned Books Week: I'd Like to Find *BLEEP*
A library patron needs some books. Famous, award-winning, acclaimed books. Seems simple enough. And yet... See Video...
October 2, 2008: Booklist Adult Readers' Forum: The Post-9/11 Novel
At the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 29, Booklist hosted a forum on the burgeoning genre of post-9/11 literature. Booklist Online Senior Editor Keir Graff (My Fello
w Americans) led the panel of distinguished authors, including Carolyn See (Golden Days), speaking about conflating personal and global catastrophe; Janette Turner Hospital (Due Preparations for the Plague), discussing her visit to Ground Zero and how it influenced her book; and Ellen Gilchrist (A Dangerous Age), talking about the yet-unwritten definitive 9/11 book. See video...
September 30, 2008: Celebrating Banned Books Week
Celebrate book banning? No Way! Why would you do that? The answer, of course, is that Banned Books Week celebrates the continued availability of books that some folks tried to ban, not their attempts to ban them. Banned Books Week celebrates books and the people and institutions that defend you right to read them. Read more...
September 17, 2008: Show your Love for Libraries with ALA at the 8th National Book Festival
If you happen to be in the Washington, D.C. area on September 27, 2008 and love libraries, please be sure to stop by the American Library Association’s (ALA) booth at the 8th annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress. Read more...
September 17, 2008: Pennsylvania State Librarian Testifies Before Congress
Mary Clare Zales appeared before the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities September 11, delivering a strong message on the significant role that libraries play in American communities in the 21st Century. Read more...
September 3, 2008: Tell Me a Patch: An Artistic Story Quilt Collaboration
In 2006, Hemphill Library in Greensboro, North Carolina, sponsored an eight week writing and illustration residency with teaching artist Susie Wilde and Peg Gignoux of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This is the inspiring tale of their creative Story Quilt. Read more...
September 3, 2008: Report: Public Libraries Offer More Online Services
A new study clearly finds that America’s public libraries are breaking through traditional brick-and-mortar walls to serve more people online and in person. America’s 16,543 public library buildings are leveraging technology to help children succeed in school and support lifelong learning. More than 83 percent now offer online homework resources, including live tutors and collections of reliable Web sources—up 15 percent in one year, according to “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2007-2008.” Read more...
August 20, 2008: Common Launches “The Corner” through the Common Ground Foundation
The Common Ground Foundation, created by hip hop artist, actor, and children’s author Common, dedicates itself to the empowerment and development of urban youth in the United States. In an effort to encourage and inspire youth to read, the Common Ground Foundation has launched The Corner, a national online book club. This interactive platform provides youth, ages 13-18, with an opportunity to learn about and discuss reading materials that are relevant to their lives. Read more...
August 20, 2008: A Library Changes a Town
The sleepy town of Lamar, South
Carolina was slowly dying. Businesses that had been there for generations were either moving away or just simply closing their doors. But in the late 1990’s roughly $800,000 in funds were raised through a variety of sources to build a new library, which opened its doors in 2003. The impact this library has had on the community is amazing. The downtown area that had empty buildings and fading paint work has been revitalized. Read more...
August 5, 2008: Love Libraries at Gen Con 2008
I Love Libraries will be exhibiting at the Gen Con gaming convention in Indianapolis. If you’re a gaming fan and are going to be at the show be sure to stop by and let us know how much you love your library at Booth #1430. We’ll have bookmarks, buttons, and a photo booth on hand for you to get a picture showing the world how much you love Gaming @ your library. Read more...
August 5, 2008: Encourage Young People to Have Fun and Learn at Museums and Libraries This Summer!
For over 100 years, one of the most popular means to keep young people engaged in reading—and enjoy it!—is the summer reading program. Not only are they fun, but summer reading programs (SRPs) are particularly important to a young person's continuing education. Read more...
July 22, 2008: People of the Book: Establishing a Parish Book Discussion Group
While the primary and most immediate purpose of all education need not be religious, learning, at its core, restores and revivifies us both spiritually and intellectually. The Saint Raphael Parish Book Discussion Group was born out of insights from a 2003 discussion of The Da Vinci Code. Read more...
July 22, 2008: The Digital Television Transition, Libraries, and You
Television as you know it is about to change. By law, on February 17, 2009, television stations nationwide must stop transmitting signals in analog format and begin transmitting in digital. That process has come to be known as the Digital Television (DTV) Transition and libraries are set to play a big role. Read more...
July 9, 2008: 25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians
As a librarian, you want to be able to share information with patrons and students in the easiest way possible, and social networking offers a great way to do just that. With social networking tools, you can create bookmark collections, share notices, and more. We've profiled 25 of the best here. Read more...
July 9, 2008: Art Installation Focuses On Public Libraries
Mixed media artist, Mindy Nierenberg, is one of five artists featured in “5 x 5,” the Tufts University Art Gallery Summer 2008 Exhibition. Her site-specific art installation, “Bibliotheca Publicus: An Endangered Species,” calls attention to the current and very serious issue of public library budget cuts, while also highlighting the importance of the public library to a democratic society and to the public that it serves. Read more...
June 25, 2008: Changing Lives Through Literature
Have you ever read a novel that has impacted your life in a profound and meaningful way, or made you feel as though you&rsqu
o;re not alone? Literature has the power to transform lives. This is the driving philosophy behind Changing Lives through Literature (CLTL,) an award-winning alternative sentencing program that has grown from one chapter in Massachusetts in the fall of 1991, to roughly 20 chapters across the United States and England today. Read more...
June 25, 2008: Two Million on the Wrong Side of the Digital Divide
The digital world is alien to the vast majority of men and women who have been serving time in U.S. prisons from before the eras of the PC and the coming of the Digital Age. Over two million people are incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails, of which sixty percent are minorities. Ninety-five percent of these people will be released at some time during their lives and become part of the migration of more than 600,000 ex-offenders returning from prisons and jails to American communities each year. Read more...
June 11, 2008: Oakland Public Library Makes Manga Magic
The Oakland (Calif.) Public Library recently held its 5th annual Making Manga Magic contest, asking teens to create their own Manga/Anime Characters. Six winners (one per age group) were announced at a reception on April 12. Read more...
June 11, 2008: A Glimpse into the Libraries of Central Africa
Author Barbara Conaty profiles library developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Malawi, and Zambia. Read more...
May 29, 2008: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Speaks Out For Libraries
September is Library Card Sign-up Month–a time when the American Library Association and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. This year, NBA legend and author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is this year's honorary Library Card Sign-up Month chair. Read more...
May 29, 2008: How READ Posters Get Made
ALA Graphics, which has produced READ posters featuring hundreds of international celebrities, including movie and TV stars, comedians, athletes, musicians, and innovators, explains how celebrities are selected–and persuaded to pose. Read more...
May 14, 2008: Get Through Tough Times @ your library
All this talk of recession and economic downturn is a bit scary isn't it? As a librarian, I look at what is occurring and begin to wonder how it will affect our budgets in coming years. But I couldn't help but think of all the ways libraries can help their communities and actually increase patronage during tough times through the "free" services we offer. Read more...
May 14, 2008: A Library Mission to Kyrgyzstan
Something weird and wonderful happened to me in October 2007. The U.S. State Department sent me to the Kyrgyz Republic in central Asia on a public library good will mission. This odyssey began in August 2007 when I found a message on my desk from the U.S. State Department offering me a speaking engagement in a central Asian republic. Read more...
April 30, 2008: Graphic Women
Dale Messick started the first enduring newspaper comic s
trip by a woman, Brenda Starr, in 1940, and Nicole Hollander (Sylvia), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), and Lynn Johnston (For Better or Worse) followed in her footsteps, only much later. Women creating graphic novels came still later. In fact, this core collection of books either made up of comic-book short stories and comic-book serials or created as books is an honor roll of pioneers. Read more...
April 15, 2008: Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day
April 17 is the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day, created by the Academy of American Poets to help us celebrate April as National Poetry Month. Poem in Your Pocket Day encourages us all to pick our most favorite poems and carry them with us to share with our family and friends. The Academy suggests several clever ways to take our poems along with us, including handwriting some lines on the back of our business cards, adding a poem to our e-mail footers, posting a poem on our blog or social networking page, and texting a poem to our friends. Read more...
April 12, 2008: Dora the Explorer Supports Family Literacy During Día Celebration
April 30th marks the 12th anniversary of the national El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day) celebration, also known as Día, and libraries across the country will host Día celebrations with family programs including bilingual story hours, book giveaways, and other literacy events. This year, through the generosity of Nickelodeon®, Dora the Explorer™ will support Día as its first ever spokescharacter. Dora can be found in libraries throughout the country posing for a special bilingual poster and bookmark that encourage children to “Celebrate Books!” (Celebremos los libros!). Read more...
April 12, 2008: Gaming @ your library Day: One Game, One Time, Many Players
Friday April 18th is “gaming @ your library Day”. As one part of that day, the Games and Gaming Members Initiative Group (MIG) and the ALA are encouraging people across the country to play the same board game at the same time: "Ticket to Ride", at 7PM Eastern/6PM Central/5PM Mountain/4PM Pacific. Designed by Alan R. Moon, and published by Days of Wonder, "Ticket to Ride" is an excellent example of the new generation of board games. Read more...
April 11, 2008: In Celebration of National Library Week
"One might hear this week how we celebrate libraries because they house national treasures—e.g., knowledge, history, creativity, and equal accessibility. But I celebrate libraries for very personal reasons," writes author and professor BJ Ward. Read his memories of libraries from his youth here...
April 4, 2008: Step Up to the Plate @ your library Swings Into Action
The boys of summer are stepping up to the plate, so why not join them? The American Library Association and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum are getting into the swing of things by launching the third season of Step Up to the Plate @ your library. It could be your chance to win a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame! Read more...
April 1, 2008: Small Change Makes a Big Difference
If Barker r
esidents are fond of their pennies, they had best lock them away and guard them carefully. Otherwise, a Pratt Elementary School pupil could very well snatch them up and deliver them to Barker Free Library, which is a bit squeezed for cash these days. When school started in September, Pratt pupils got together with their teachers and decided to collect as many pennies as they could during the school year to assist the library. Read more...
April 1, 2008: Deedy, Breslin Named Spokespeople for School Library Media Month
Award-winning author Carmen Agra Deedy and Oscar-nominated actor Abigail Breslin have been named national spokespeople for the 2008 School Library Media Month, celebrated in April. School Library Media Month is sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and celebrated by school library media centers around the country. Read more...
March 19, 2008: First Lady Laura Bush Discusses Post-White House Agenda
American Libraries Editor Leonard Kniffel visited the White House March 19 for an exclusive interview with First Lady Laura Bush. Mrs. Bush, a teacher and librarian and the first librarian to serve as First Lady, covers a host of topics, including the role she will play in the George W. Bush Presidential Library to be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, how her work as a librarian influenced has influenced her own initiatives, and why young people should consider librarianship as a career. Read more...
March 19, 2008: Welcoming Libraries: How Communities’ Favorite Public Institutions Are Settling New Immigrants
If you’re listening to the presidential debates, you know immigration continues to be a hot issue in America. Foreign-born residents now constitute nearly 13% of the American population, a rate not seen since 1910. A new report from the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) entitled “Welcome, Stranger: Public Libraries Build the Global Village” reports on trends for the spread of immigration into new cities, and the role public libraries play in welcoming and settling new residents. Read more...
March 19, 2008: Booklist Editors' Choice
Every year, the editors of Booklist magazine prepare a set of Editors' Choice lists. These lists contain dozens of great reads representative of the year's most outstanding books. Books included on these lists balance popular appeal with intellectual, literary, and aesthetic excellence. Read more...
March 4, 2008: Teen Tech Week 2008
It’s Teen Tech Week, the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual celebration of technology available to teens at the library. More than 1,500 libraries across the country are holding special events ranging from podcasting seminars to gaming nights–but for twenty libraries, Teen Tech Week is downright special this year. Read more...
March 2, 2008: Sunshine Week: Your Right To Know
Sunshine Week is an annual event that marks the importance of public access to government information. Access to information is one of the founding principles of librarianship, so it’s no surprise that libraries play a role during Sunshine Week. ALA will
participate in a national Sunshine Week dialogue and webcast March 19. Read more...
February 20, 2008: The Civil Rights Movement: Sites for Students and Researchers
The Supreme Court's Brown versus Board of Education decision turned 50 in 2004. Over the next several years, many of the perennially popular research topics of the Civil Rights Movement will celebrate equally momentous anniversaries. Media attention and scholarly interest increase with each significant anniversary. This article offers several excellent resources for students and researchers. Read more...
February 17, 2008: Booklist Editors Read For Fun 2007
American Libraries Associate Editor Dan Kraus talked to seven editor-reviewers for Booklist Magazine about the books they read in their spare time in 2007. Learn one editor's excuse for not reading Harry Potter, how another found cheer in "an intrusive and lying government, torture, and nuclear experiments," and the treasure a third found in Montana. See video...
February 14, 2008: It Took a Community to Build This Library
The Fort Washakie School in Wyoming was chosen as a winner of the 2007 Thompson Gale Giant Step Award because of its efforts to make the library not only a school affair, but a community one too. With no library on the Shoshone reservation the school serves, the school superintendent and board realized that students needed a place to do homework, and adults needed library access to pursue careers or interests. Read more...
February 6, 2008: Grassroots Group Grows School Library Support in Washington State
More than 100 people gathered in the rain at the state capitol steps in Olympia, Washington, February 1 to rally for school libraries (above), despite cold winds and a storm in the eastern half of the state that prevented many from attending, and which later caused Governor Christine Gregoire to declare a state of emergency for 15 counties. The rally and an all-day summit were the culmination of the work of a group of concerned Spokane mothers. Read more...
January 29, 2008: Grassroots Group Rally for SKILLs Act
Characterizing school library media specialists as “an endangered species,” Washington State Sen. Tracey J. Eide (D-Federal Way) introduced a bill January 22 that codifies through a per-pupil formula how many credentialed school library media specialists should be employed by each district and offers some $55 million to fund the initiative. Its aim of guaranteeing the presence in school libraries of certificated staff echoes the language of the federal SKILLs (Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries) Act, introduced in June 2007 as an unfunded amendment to the No Child Left Behind Act and scheduled for Senate committee review in February. Read more...
January 24, 2008: 65 Reasons to Love Your Library
The 65 Reasons to Love Your Library tool kit (PDF) was developed by the Texas Library Association Public Relations Committee, unde
r the leadership of Sue Haas, committee chair, 2003-2005. Texas libraries use it to develop local promotional campaigns. The elements of the 65 Reasons tool kit can be adapted to fit your library and your needs. Read more...
January 22, 2008: Serving the Vision Impaired
Recently, writes Central Washington University Catalog Librarian Mary Wise, I visited the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (http://www.wtbbl.org/) in Seattle, where the books talk. Library director Gloria Leonard filled me in on the history of this special library. It opened around 1906 at the Seattle Public Library, then located on Fourth Avenue. As the story goes, a library employee wanted to supply Braille materials to the entire state, and by 1907 about a hundred Braille-embossed books were circulating by mail. Read more...
January 14, 2008: American Library Association announces literary award winners
The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults—including the Caldecott, King, Newbery, Schneider Family and Printz awards—at its Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Read more...
January 8, 2008: Enterprising Alabama teen restocks Greensburg's library
Though Greensburg has been visited by scores of individuals with greater clout and name recognition since its utter destruction by the May 4 tornado, none have come to Kiowa County in recent months with a greater sense of purpose than did 17-year-old Christopher Skrzypczak last Friday. With his mother Sonja, two younger brothers and little sister, Skrzypczak traveled to Greensburg last week with a trailer full of books to help restock the town’s library. They left last Wednesday afternoon from their home in Enterprise, Alabama, site of an F-4 tornado last March 1 that killed eight of the teen’s fellow students as they huddled in a hallway just outside their classrooms. Read more...
January 8, 2008: ALA President Loriene Roy releases statement on PEW survey on library use
Loriene Roy, president of the American Library Association (ALA) released the following statement regarding the release of the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the University of Illinois’ "Information Searches That Solve Problems: How People Use the Internet, Government Agencies, and Libraries When They Need Help" survey. The survey was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal funding for U.S. museums and libraries. Read more...
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