Tag Archives: Libraries

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Disaster Planning for Libraries

Disasters happen. Great River’s recent fire (St. Cloud) and flood (Belgrade) are scary reminders that all kinds of disasters can happen in libraries, and planning ahead for them can help make them less terrible.

Have you looked at your library’s disaster plan lately? Does your library even have a disaster plan? You can not assume your parent organization (school, college, city, corporation, or whoever) will include you, or that they will understand enough about what you are doing to include meaningful information. When disasters strike your library, you want to be ready with procedures that will quickly help you to cope.

Tsunami sign
This is one disaster we can avoid in Minnesota!

Think realistically about the kinds of disasters that might strike your library. In Minnesota, we do not need to worry about hurricanes; but tornadoes, power outages, and fires are all pretty likely. I have seen library policies dealing with bears in the parking lot and rattlesnakes in the stacks; if these are likely to occur in your library – set up a plan! Are you ready in case your library’s website falls victim to a ransomware demand for Bitcoin? (see Radiolab podcast: Darkrode) It is starting to be an issue for hospitals – libraries could be vulnerable without protection and backup. (Wired: Hospitals as targets).

As with so many things, we can just follow the procedures other libraries have created. If you look at your disaster plan (or the blank space where a plan should be), and see that it could use some updating, you have a few basic options:

  • call other libraries in your area to see what they are doing (we are great resources for each other!),
  • check in with your system to see what suggestions they have (see: this entry!),
  • look online at other libraries and their plans,
  • browse through plans for other types of organizations,
  • talk to your parent organization about their suggestions for updates, and ideas on how you will fit into their plans.

Here are a few resources you might look to as you prepare your own disaster planning:

This is definitely something we can work on together as a system. If you want some organized training, or a writing session where we all work together, or just someone to be a sounding board as you start your disaster plan work – let us know!

 

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Pokeman Go and Libraries

Gameplay_of_Pokemon_Go
By Sadie Hernandez [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The odds are pretty good that this past summer you witnessed (or participated in!) the craze of Pokemon Go. The free app took off with incredible popularity, and had people of all ages wandering their communities in search of Pokemon. (Personally, I’ve never played, but while visiting a friend, I heard all about Pokestops, the frustration of running out of Pokeballs, and the excitement of catching a water Pokemon). Luckily, while people were out and about in search of Pokemon, their quest often brought them to their local library!

In this blog post from ALSC, librarian Sarah Bean Thompson does a great job of explaining the logical partnership of libraries with Pokemon Go. The author shares how libraries can use the popularity of the game to get more people to come to the library, especially since so many libraries are already Pokestops. Her library offered a “life size game day” and featured activities like decorating Pokeballs and having players share on wall displays what Pokemons they have caught at the library. Library staff also used that time to promote their summer reading program.

Thompson has written another article that mentions several other libraries that have incorporated programs like “Pokemon Go Safaris” and activities like Pokemon trail walks, all taking place under adult supervision. Within this same article, she describes an additional advantage of the collaboration between Pokemon Go and libraries, which is the opportunity it offers to  families to learn about digital citizenship and online safety.

 

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Over a million free vintage prints

Rain 2Looking for some unique images to assist with presentations or displays? Or maybe just searching for some inspiration?

The British Library has a large, free collection on Flickr of vintage images from the 17th – 19th century, all of which are copyright-free and downloadable.

The images are of subjects including buildings, civilians, farming, shipping, and much more! If you are overwhelmed by the options, simply select “Highlights” to browse through a mixture.

Read the article here.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/qz9m8hz, licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

 

General, Public, Special

Public library creates memory lab

2010_4559410051_card_catalogWashington DC’s Martin Luther King Jr. Library opened their free, interactive Memory Lab this spring. Their goal is to help people digitize their personal media in a way that can stand up to constantly changing technology. Thanks to publicity from a local TV station, the Memory Lab has been a busy place.

Users are able to bring in VHS tapes, floppy discs, audio cassettes and photo negatives (in addition to other inaccessible media) and view the content, then share it through a thumb drive. The lab also has 3-D printing and an on-demand book printer available free of charge.

Sessions are reserved in three-hour segments, and users find instructions on the library website. If they need help processing their media, there is an archivist available to answer questions. However, users are generally left in private due to the personal nature of what they are viewing.

Another goal of the Memory Lab is to help people realize how quickly technologies change. They hope people will pay attention to the ways they document their memories, and how accessible those memories will be in the coming years.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/q63p7pu, licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

 

 

 

General, Public, School Media Specialist

New: The Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder

letters laura ingalls wilderFans new and old of the Little House on the Prairie series will be excited to learn there is another opportunity to delve into the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

William Anderson, a Wilder scholar, has collected over 400 letters from private collections and museums and published The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The letters were written by Wilder when she was between the ages of 27 and 89. She wrote them to friends, family, and also fans. In this article, you can read an excerpt from a letter to her daughter Rose where she offers a beautifully detailed description of Plum Creek.

In the letters, Wilder also touches on the importance of libraries. Upon having a library in Detroit named after her, she wrote to the community to emphasize the value of books, and how not everyone is lucky enough to have convenient access to a library!

Want more? You can find out more about Wilder’s life in her annotated autobiography, Pioneer Girl, published in 2014.