Make sure you check out Library’s 3-D printer spits out all kinds of fun and learning over at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I’ve been talking with Saxonburg Area Library Director Erin Wincek about 3D printing over the past few months and I am in love with the things she’s doing for her community. I also love the support that her community and her board has for her passion: “We’re going to grab up these fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders and show them their future,” said Ms. Wincek, who thinks the printer could influence some of their career choices. Library board president […]
Monthly Archives: June 2013
12 posts
Everyone – just got clarification: Vote for Cassidy’s super cool video about the Little Free Library at Spider Lake by liking or pinning it on this page: http://pinterest.com/ltlfreelibrary/film-festival/ Please forgive the shameless plug but I am knocked out by Cassidy’s work on this video! He taught himself iMovie and engaged with the kids in our little neighborhood as actors! Please share the link above with friends and if they like the video, maybe they’ll vote too.
Summer Time Reading at The Little Free Library HOW COOL! A teen who lives next to us at the lake made a video for the Little Free Library Film Festival! Cassidy shot the video on his iPod Touch and used some of our pics from the building of the library. The video features the kids and neighbors who use our Little Free Library (and a shot at the campfire too!) I am really knocked out by his creativity! The video has been entered into the LFL Film Festival contest. http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/little-free-library-film-festival.html If you pin it or Like it on YouTube – […]
Yesterday morning (Tues 17th June 2013) I found myself at the Urbana Free Library, which is the focus of a lot of attention in library land at the moment. I count it as a professional privilege to have spent two hours with some of the most inspirational public library staff I have ever met. Here I offer a few observations and opinions based on my visit to the library. I’m travelling through the USA for the next two weeks on a VALA Travel Scholarship, investigating existing and planned projects where fibre-broadband rollouts affect libraries. The twin cities of Champaign and Urbana in Illinois […]
The Smile Politely blog has posted Freedom of Information Act documents related to the Urbana free Library weeding kerfuffle. http://www.smilepolitely.com/splog/foia_documents_from_ufl_staff/ A snippet: “She also reminded me that our mission was no longer lifelong learning.” I am having trouble processing such a statement. What will happen next? Also, see: http://www.smilepolitely.com/culture/voices_from_urbana_city_council/
Note: This post has been updated with Carol’s updated percentages! Please follow LIS professor Carol Tilley for more on what’s been weeded at The Urbana Free Library! https://twitter.com/CarolGSLIS Follow #bookgate too! Barbara Fister writes about the kerfuffle at Insider Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com//blogs/library-babel-fish/throwing-books-each-other
This blows my mind! http://www.smilepolitely.com/culture/do_you_ever_read_any_of_the_books_you_weed/ Both UFL staff and the public (who were alarmed at the rapidly emptying shelves) spoke out, but the weeding continued until a library board meeting (and Mayor Laurel Prussing) was called. JP Goguen, a university library employee, was at the meeting, recorded it, and sent the recording to me (the board normally does not record meetings). The conversation at this meeting is alarming. Urbana Free Library’s director, Deb Lissak, made a unilateral decision to weed books in the print collection by date alone. It seems that the Adult Services staff’s expertise and knowledge of the […]
Yesterday I was reading Breaking Up With Libraries by Nina McHale. I had a few thoughts. First and foremost, I was bummed that our profession was losing such an amazing and talented person. Nina has done amazing work for libraries and she will be sorely missed in this field. Secondly, this one passage of Nina’s hit me really hard: Also in the mix is my general frustration with library technology. We pay BILLIONS to ILS and other vendors each year, and for what? Substandard products with interfaces that a mother would kick to the curb. We throw cash at databases […]
Johnson County Library contracted the services of Mindmixer for their strategic plan in March of 2013 and by April 9, 2013; the www.jocolibraryconversation.com site was live and active with input from members of the community. The goal was to expand the number of Johnson County citizens the library would be able to engage with during the strategic planning process. By May 15, just a little over a month from the launch date, 1,213 people visited the library site and in addition to responding to the topic questions, they submitted 117 ideas for the library staff and the strategic planning committee […]
Instead of siphoning teens off into different rooms (and locking away noisy activities), the space is airy and completely open. The openness means, among other things, that it only takes one or two librarians to monitor the entire space. Rice says his team renovated the floor on the cheap, using paint and low-cost materials to fill the space. “Teens appreciate the rawness,” he says. “Rich materials might be a little bit of a turn-off.” The key, he says, is a space without much security, where kids feel free to just hang out. “It makes teens feel as if they have […]