Great news teen librarians! Do you want to do something snazzy for Teen Tech Week this year? It’s a great way to offer programming for young people and introduce or offer access to technologies and media. Take a look at what the folks at the LibraryLoft did last year, the snazzy offerings at the Public Library of Brookline or the line up of HOT programs the Tulsa Library offered teens. According to the YALSA site, “the 2008 theme, Tune In @ Your Library, was chosen by teens from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds for its focus on music and sound. […]
Categories Engaging Library Users
156 posts
By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens In our experiences at a larger public library system and in a university setting (after numerous years in a medium-sized public library), respectively, we often have had access to resources that smaller libraries/systems do not. While that sets our frame of reference, we intend to give advice aimed at libraries of all sizes. No matter the dimensions of the institution, the building blocks of transparency allow a more honest, open flow of ideas, where staff and users are valued. The “To Do” list for transparency is simple but requires commitment from administrators and staff […]
From David Isaacson in Library Journal, 11/15/2007: The good news is there is much potential for improvement. Notably, in the more than two decades since Miller’s article was published, libraries have become more attractive places to meet people, both in person and in cyberspace, whether to do research or to interact socially. Unfortunately, the 1984 reference model endures in too many libraries today: librarians passively waiting at a desk for people to approach. We must experiment more with having reference librarians roam among users, actively asking if they can help them. Some libraries already have embraced this strategy with positive […]
At Internet Librarian 2007 Liz Lawley said, “You have to figure out what the problem is first before you come up with a solution.” She was referring to the use of Second Life as a method of social interaction with users; however her statement rings true for the general concept of Library 2.0. Energy focused on implementing new tools and programs is wasted if we don’t know what our users really want. Without knowing that, we create more work for ourselves with hit or miss initiatives. In the past two years much of the discussion of Library 2.0 has been […]
lining up to watch the dance off Originally uploaded by teens_libraryloft This pic is called “lining up to watch the dance off.” Click through to see more!
Brian Mathews offers this at Designing Better Libraries: There has been a lot of talk about libraries becoming more “user” centered, even back in 2000 I recall seeing user-centered or user-focused in several job postings. With the emergence of all the Web 2.0 magic, this term has become even more prominent. But are libraries really any different? Can patrons detect a difference? I think that those of us working in libraries have seen a change, but what about our users? Has any of our rhetoric translated into a noticeable change? Do they perceive us as being user-centered, or is it […]
Those South Carolina librarians just rock: http://librarytrax.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/teentrax/ Yesterday, we hosted our first teen services institute, TeenTrax. It was a blast! Patrick Jones, *the* teen services guru in my book, started the day with a great reality check. What do you call young adults in the library? By their names! It’s all about relationships, and you can’t have a relationship with someone if you don’t know their name. How true! Michele Gorman, the truly awesome Teen Services Manager at Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s ImaginOn, gave us some of the basics on doing Reference for teens, and followed up with practical approaches to creating programs […]
created by Rachel -LIS student Originally uploaded by [ iblee ] Steal this idea! Good work Rachel – LIS student.
David Lee King emailed and asked me for some quotes/thoughts on telling stories in the library for his forthcoming book — a chapter on Community-Focused Digital Experience. In looking back I didn’t realize that the “telling stories” theme had been running through my work. Here’s a few of my favorites. http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/72057594085037908/ From Ten Ways to Create buy-in from my 2006 Library Tech report: #3 Tell Stories I’ve talked about this a lot: one way for libraries to promote their value and relevance is to tell the library’s story every chance you get. Beyond daunting columns of statistics, users — and […]
ester trading card Originally uploaded by champaign_librarian The Champaign Public Library is using these trading cards to get to know our middle school clients. If the student collects 12 different cards, he or she wins a prize. http://www.flickr.com/photos/80464212@N00/sets/72157602100601598/