Special Nametags for the Library, originally uploaded by branflakez. I love this nametag and wish it was my regular one! Note from Michael: By sharing Brandee’s interests via her tag, she’s potentially making connections with library users that would otherwise never be made. I wish it was her regular tag too!
Categories Engaging Library Users
183 posts
Three weeks have passed since the Portland Public Library reopened after a lengthy renovation (which I wrote about here). The addition of a teen area is a completely new idea for the community of Portland, Maine. At first, teens didn’t really understand that this was THEIR space. However, over the last week or so they’ve started to trickle in and discover the space. So what are they doing? They’re connecting with their friends on Facebook in our computer lab. They’re relaxing and tweeting on their IPads in our teen lounge. They’re using their netbooks anywhere they can find a spot. And don’t […]
Let me say this: change is extremely difficult. It’s also not a quick fix, but a process that may go on for many years. Change also has many hills and valleys and sometimes you can’t see the destination. In the end, however, change is totally worth all the ups and downs that come with it. Over the past few months, I’ve experienced a lot of change in my career as a librarian. I started off the year as the Teen Librarian at the Cape May County Library in Southern, NJ. In February, I accepted a position as the new Teen […]
Glimpses of the future of libraries in Finland: http://www.walkingpaper.org/2790 My colleague Aaron Schmidt reports from his time spent in helsinki working with the Gates Foundation at the 2010 Global Libraries Peer Learning Meeting. Take a look at this: “The libraries I saw have overcome their addiction to circulating content. Now they’re all about doing, making, publishing, working, and experiences revolving around content. People are still getting print books and CDs for the library, sure, but other stuff seems more important. Here’s a little report…” Later: “It is impossible for library patrons and staff to sit on opposite side of a […]
It’s easy for any library to have a social media presence these days. Translating that into success with serving a teen population? Well, that’s another thing… Be Yourself The discussion of personal and professional profiles always comes up. I didn’t want to have two profiles (done it before, hated it) so I had to make a decision: add teens to my own accounts or hide myself far, far away. I went with what some may consider to be the unpopular route. I added them to my own accounts. I feel like it has made a world of difference. I am […]
http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2010/02/23/redbox-rights-and-wrongs Brian Herzog writes: I had heard of libraries using both Redbox and Netflix, but never really gave it too much though. So I was kind of surprised at my response to my director: Maybe this is just a reaction based on the kind of day this has been, but I have mostly negative feelings about this. Based on https://tametheweb.com/2009/07/01/red-box-rentals-at-princeton-public-library/ is seems any money we get is minimal, and I’m always reluctant to give businesses a green light to target library patrons. If we did put one of these in, I sincerely hope it wouldn’t mean we’d be buying fewer […]
Murder in the Mysteries Aisle, originally uploaded by scampion. Steve Campion writes: All that’s left of this ill-fated mystery reader is the chalk outline in the library’s stacks. Actually it’s a tape outline, and it’s been drawing the public’s attention to the library’s mysteries section for several months. The librarian decided to try it after rearranging the shelves housing the fiction genres. A staff member created the outline with the help of a (living) high school student volunteer.
Entries for the third annual contest will be accepted for the public library sponsored “two-minute or shorter” my favorite book online contest from January 20 through Feb. 28. The contest is open to all, with prize awards available to young people entering kindergarten through high school (K – 12). Storytubes won the PLA Polaris Innovation in Technology John Iliff Award in 2009. Alan Harkness, Director of the Piedmont Regional Library System, chaired the PLA award jury. He said that the StoryTubes project was chosen for the prize because it “captured the essence of using technology in an innovative way […]
Aaron Schmidt has debuted a new column in Library Journal called “The User Experience.” http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6713142.html The opening is wonderful: The importance of user experience (UX) dawned on me one day when a patron asked to use the stapler kept in a drawer behind the reference desk. It wasn’t the first time anyone had asked to use the stapler—it wasn’t even the first time that day. Considering it a bit more, I realized that it happened all of the time. Suddenly, I couldn’t imagine what the stapler was doing in the drawer in the first place. I liberated the stapler from […]
Social Media, Libraries, and Web 2.0: How American Libraries are Using New Tools for Public Relations and to Attract new Users – Second Survey November 2009 View more documents from Curtis Rogers.