CHICAGO — Public libraries’ mission, skills, and position in their communities make them ideal facilitators of public access to local resources. In other words, the collection is all around, and libraries can help citizens discover historical, cultural, and natural riches that they might otherwise overlook. Providing smart planning and implementation advice, “The Collection All Around: Sharing Our Cities, Towns, and Natural Places,” published by ALA Editions, shows public libraries how to make the most of these outreach opportunities. Using ideas drawn from libraries from around the country, author Jeffrey T. Davis covers:
why this type of initiative is important, demonstrating how this model strengthens libraries with regard to community and institutional support;
programs for brokering public access to cultural venues via ticketing platforms;
using library event calendars to feature the programs and meetings of other city agencies, community organizations, and affiliated institutions;
the joint use of library cards as IDs, for banking, and as parking/transit passes;
ways that libraries can act as guides to local resources, including such examples of “pathfinding” as historical/cultural walking tours, navigating social services, and providing guidance on government benefits and civic involvement;
parklets, crosswalk murals, food truck roundups, and other programs for extending the public library beyond its walls;
initiatives for improving access and connections to natural surroundings such as nature-play environments, offsite StoryWalks, nature maps, and circulating outdoor gear and state parks passes; and
talking points for new and existing partner buy-in, planning advice for getting started and managing the launch, budgeting guidance, technology considerations, and other helpful tips. Continue reading The collection is all around→
“CHICAGO—ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions announces an exciting new workshop, Bikes in Libraries: A Practical Guide with Mana Tominaga and Emily Weak. This workshop will last 90 minutes and take place Wednesday, June 21, 2017, at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific
Bikes in Libraries: A Practical Guide Workshop
A 90-minute workshop, Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 2:30pm Eastern/1:30 Central/12:30 Mountain/11:30am Pacific
Whether you’re in a big city or a small town, chances are you are seeing more bike lanes on your streets and more helmets on heads. For libraries, there are clear benefits for getting involved in the biking world including making libraries friendlier to existing biking patrons and bringing in new patrons through programs and outreach.
In this workshop, Mana Tominaga and Emily Weak of the Oakland Public Library—both avid cyclists—will show you how bikes can enhance your library’s participation in your community’s vision for health and sustainability and help forge strong local connections. You’ll come away from this workshop with practical strategies to make your library more bike friendly and more bike focused.
From a library listserve – if you have any other suggestions can be posted to comments!
“A coworker of mine (who is not a programmer) wants to host a recurring D&D program for people to come and play on a drop-in basis. I have zero experience with this game, as I don’t play, and I’m curious to know if anyone else has hosted D&D programs on a recurring basis? Is it more efficient to host it often or more like once a month? I’m not sure how often to host this program, and I’m concerned because typically, recurring program series haven’t done well at our library.
Getting young kids involved in activities that involve reading is important to encourage their literacy skills. And when the kids can bring their favorite stuffed animals along, everyone can participate in the fun!
“Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.
Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.”
Libraries of all types celebrate this holiday. And if anyone wants to celebrate by bringing pie to CMLE HQ, we support that! Check out some of the strategies libraries use to celebrate: Continue reading Celebrate Pi Day!→
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
Getting young kids involved in activities that involve reading is important to encourage their literacy skills. And when the kids can bring their favorite stuffed animals along, everyone can participate in the fun!