From InfoDocket to MPR, the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) has been getting a lot of attention recently. And from the amount of work they’ve been doing its well warranted. Mostly, it’s due to their efforts to preserve materials that are in danger of disappearing. From Iraq to Timbuktu (Mali), HMML is working to preserve a wealth of original items.
In Mali, it’s Islamic religious texts. “By digitally preserving the manuscripts, HMML can provide a quality surrogate of the originals, and for the first time in the world’s history, give international researchers and scholars direct access to these rich collections.”
A Pew Report from April 9th, 2015 details how teens are using social media and technology. Facebook still remains the most popular social network with Instagram and Snapchat second and third. 92% of teens report going online daily, with 24% of teens going online “almost constantly.” Like most Pew reports, there’s a lot of data and text to read and interpret. Pressed for time? Check out the summary.
It’s National Library Week, from April 12-18, and this year’s theme is “Unlimited possibilities @ your library®.” National Library Week is a “time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries – school, public, academic and special – participate.”
What are you and your library doing for the week? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Locally, CSB/SJU is getting students to share the things they create at the library on Twitter.
The U of MN has a “Libraries from A to Z” campaign where they are highlighting staff and services with trivia contests through their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.
What’s a PirateBox/LibraryBox you ask? From Byrne: “The primary stated purpose… is to provide a way for people to access files without needing to communicate with an Internet or network server to get to those files.” So instead of swapping USB drives to move content from computer to computer, or being dependent on the internet or a network, you can use one of these Boxes!
Both of the Boxes take an inexpensive router, a USB flash drive, and a little know-how around the use of a Secure SHell (SSH) session to set up.
Byrne suggests using them to offer free or public-domain electronic books, or even “planted in your Makerspace, it could become a place where works-in-progress are stored.” Might we suggest using it to store all of your Pirates of the Caribbean fan fiction. Check out the LibraryBox video:
Recently on the ALSC Blog, Renee Grassi had a post about how the state of Illinois has kickstarted the conversation about Autism with Targeting Autism: A National Forum on Serving Library Patrons on the Spectrum. Held in March, the presentations contain a wealth of knowledge about this difficult subject. The topics include discussions about how to serve library patrons with autism spectrum disorders to how autism spectrum disorders can effect school library education.
Check out the whole blog post for a lot more resources or view the forum’s recorded content online now:
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/k24bpow, no license
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
