Don’t miss this great article by Toby Greenwalt: http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/02/embracing/ The Idea Box7 is a nine-by-thirteen-foot space located in the opening vestibule of OPPL’s main library building. Originally designed as a coffee shop, the space is now a constantly changing interactive environment for art and conversation. Unlike a digital media lab or a makerspace, however, the Idea Box is focused on single-serving experiences. One month might have patrons rearranging small LED lights to create constellations on the walls. Another month might have a visitor posing for a green-screen photo with an oversized library card, and choosing their favorite exotic location to have […]
Categories Engaging Library Users
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I’m very honored to be part of this years President’s Program Planning Task Force for YALSA. As part of this program, we’re announcing this years Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults program which you can find out about below. If you’re a teen program who’s doing awesome things, I highly suggest you think about being part of this program. There’s a lot of great teen programs out there right now being put on by hard working librarians and this is your chance to share them with everyone! From ALA.org: YALSA will select up to twenty-five innovative teen programs from all types of libraries […]
Zombie Prom and Face-melting metal at your local library! Enjoy Prom like you’ve never experienced it before. Bring a can of food and join us in your Zombie worst or survivor best for an epic night at the Sweetwater County Library. All donations will go to our local Food Bank. The evening will begin with our annual Zombie Walk in which we will lurch down to the main street of town to Centennial Park where we will play a game of Zombies vs Humans, flag football style. We will re-group at the library for the Zombie Prom. This year our […]
Right now is our busiest time of the year. Last week was especially crazy. I hosted an author event featuring our One Book author Tony Horwitz (http://www.morianevalley.edu/confederates), I chaired a department meeting, co-chaired a cataloing meeting in prep for RDA, attended a House of Delegates meeting for our union, met with our director of assessment about our annual assessment plan, and taught a couple of classes. But, out of all of this, the coolest thing I did all week happened at the reference desk. I was doing my normal reference shift, and a student came up to the desk. He […]
On a recent break from work at my library, I walked down to the local cafe to get my daily summer iced tea and lemonade. On my walk back to the library, I noticed a couple looking at a large map of Portland, ME. They looked like they were trying to find something but couldn’t figure out where to go. I stepped in and said, “Is there something I can help you find? I live downtown and I’m also a librarian. It’s part of my job to help people find what they need.” In the end, I helped the couple […]
Today, my blood started to boil as I sat through a presentation on my campus. The speaker actually did a good job. He was detailing information about a nation-wide survey called CCSSE (the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, http://www.ccsse.org/) in which our campus has participated for many years. Engagement is much more than a buzzword within community colleges. The higher education literature is very clear that the ways that students build personal and intellectual connections with a campus (the ways they engage) have a major impact on the success of that student. (See Unmasking the Effects of Student Engagement […]
Every year Pierce County Library System unveils a new Summer Reading Program. This year we’ve taken the teen program online (Teen Summer Challenge http://teensummerchallenge.org/) and challenged participants to explore their interests, their library, and their community through activities and masteries. Challengers can share their experiences, earn badges and achievements, interact with friends, claim their mastery of an activity group, earn library fine rebates, and share reviews of the books, music, movies, and places they love. Best of all, teens throughout out county library system can participate in the challenge together in one place! The program has been going for more than […]
Say Cheese, a photo by Lester Public Library on Flickr. Summer Reading on the Road to Mishicot, Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Last week, a poet was in my office. We had planned a poetry reading, but she was pitching me a new idea focusing on a book she was writing about her birth father. Before that, a geography faculty member was describing a lecture about how hedgehogs can be used to explain key concepts in geography. Before that, I was at our marketing department proofing publicity for our upcoming One Book series. Before that, I was in a meeting about training staff members to run our HD cameras. When I was in library school, no one told me that one of […]
Stephens, M. (2008). Taming technolust: Ten steps for planning in a 2.0 world. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 47, 4, 314-317. Note: This article was originally published in RUSQ and on the RUSQ Blog. Permission has been granted to share it here as well. I’ll be using it for a workshop next week at the 11th Southern African Online Information Meeting, Sandton, South Africa. Back in 2004 when I started writing and speaking about technology planning, I urged librarians to be mindful of letting a desire for flashy, sexy technology outweigh conscious, carefully planned implementations. Over the years, I’ve returned to […]