All posts by John

General, Public

Future of the public library: Millennials?!

Merrion SquareDid you know that 50% of millennials confirm having used a public library in the last year? How about the fact that millennials “are the most likely demographic to read books for pleasure, school, or work, and to utilize the library as a research source.” These are surprising facts about a generation that is stereotypically pictured holding their smart phone, texting.

Gretchen Kaser of Public Libraries Online thinks public libraries should be doing more to reach this demographic. “The more we attract millennials,” she says, “the more likely they will be to remain life-long library users and eventually instill this interest in their children.”

Looking for ideas? Kaser suggests a generation-specific book club or interesting lecture. She concludes wondering: “this age group may be the future of the public library.”

Where do you see millennials at your library? Are you focusing content, services, or programming on their generation? Why or why not?

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/k882v2j, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
General, School Media Specialist

TIES Technical Leadership Conference

TIESconference_TLCRegistration is now open for the 2015 TIES Technical Leadership Conference. The conference “is designed for school technology directors, coordinators, technical support staff, and others whose work bridges both technical support and instructional technology. Schools are encouraged to send staff teams who work in these areas.”

Taking place at the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud on February 12-13, this year’s conference is includes the “EdCamp” or “unconference” model where attendees suggest topics of interest. Register now!

General

Five library marketing trends for 2015

bustle...Library marketing has become a part of many library jobs. Whether it’s helping out with social media or working on a print publication, marketing is now a part of our jobs! Recently Tiffany McClary shared her thoughts on what 2015 holds in library marketing. “The trend toward providing useful, relevant content that people want to consume will continue,” she says. “[T]eams can take the information they share in the library—how to research a term paper, search for a job, find investors—and turn it into bite-sized tips for Twitter, blog posts, and ebooks.” The main ideas from the article are:

  • Mobile Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Visual Storytelling
  • Human Speak not Marketing Speak
  • People helping People

Do you have any other marketing ideas for 2015?

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/kh96ovf, licensed under CC BY 2.0
General, School Media Specialist

Minecraft: more than just a game

minecraft_landscape1By now we’ve all heard about Minecraft, or maybe we know a child that can only talk about “Creepers.” With its popularity, many educators are looking beyond the blocks to what Minecraft can do for education.

Programming

One obvious choice that Minecraft can be used for is with programming. With just a $35 Raspberry Pi, you can setup a Minecraft sandbox where students can learn the programming language Python. Using this helpful worksheet, programmers can learn how to teleport in the game or even drop blocks as they walk. Check out our post about the Raspberry Pi to learn more!

Minecraft Club

Finally, students are looking for a place to play Minecraft too! What better way to give everyone that option than to setup a Minecraft server at your school and then organize a Minecraft Club.

Digital Citizenship

Another thing educators are looking to Minecraft to teach is digital citizenship. Check out this video about how some teachers are using Minecraft to do just that:

General

Is a Raspberry Pi right for your library?

Raspi_Colour_R-207x250At only $35, a Raspberry Pi might be a tempting addition to your makerspace or library. But what can it really do and can you make it work for your users?

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that only needs a screen, keyboard, and mouse. It can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video and can be used to teach programming.

One of the big draws of the Raspberry Pi is to learn programming. It can be used to learn to program Ruby, Python, Scratch, and even setup your own web server. Besides teaching resources, the Raspberry Pi website even has an Education Newsletter you can receive via email. Need inspiration? Check out what others have done on their make page.

We know that Minecraft is extremely popular. Check out our post about using Raspberry Pi to program in the Minecraft world!

Finally, here’s a short video about the device and getting setup: