Public libraries are hubs for innovation and community engagement. Library workers must listen closely to community needs to design programs and services responsive to continuous changes in technology and fluctuations in funding. This free webinar showcases two examples of collaborative design events used in public libraries to generate ideas, build community, and solve problems.
What exactly is an embedded business librarian? An embedded business librarian is a library professional who is rooted in the business community; a librarian who is part of the business community instead of separate from it, who strives to be an equal partner and have an equal voice. Small business owners, professionals, and job seekers see the embedded business librarian as a peer, colleague, and fellow business community member instead of an outsider who solely represents the library. READ MORE: Embedded Business Librarianship | American Libraries Magazine
The New York Public Library is one of the largest public libraries in the world, with 18 million visitors yearly, a budget of nearly $300m, and 93 branches. It serves vastly diverse populations…
Library leaders knew that given the immense changes brought on by digital innovations, as well as shifts in the communities that the Library served, it would need to evolve. How to transform such a huge, iconic institution, wrapped in history, into a nimble player? How to provide hyper-local services tailored to the diverse needs of its patrons while also upholding a consistent and high standard of service?
In the spring of 2014, we proposed a radical approach: offer anyone on staff – over 2,500 individuals, many of them union members – the chance to shape the library through strategic conversations with senior leaders. READ MORE: How Employees Shaped Strategy at the New York Public Library | Harvard Business Review
Could this be a new chapter in the way we interact with one another? Shaheryar Malik has left stacks of books from his own library at popular destinations all over New York City. He doesn’t stick around to see if anyone takes one of his books, nor does he re-visit his stacks. Instead he leaves a bookmark with his email address printed on it inside each book, in the hopes that he’ll hear back from whomever decided to pick that book up. READ MORE: Mysterious Stacks Of Books In NYC Are Connecting Strangers From Around The World | HuffPo
Since its 2006 launch, Buzzfeed has become an Internet institution by recognizing and capitalizing on the insatiable life-cycle of viral media. The idea behind the website is relatively simple: bring together trending content (e.g., news, celebrity gossip, entertainment, quizzes) from around the web and organize it into a format that is short and eye-catching…
…Buzzfeed’s business model relies on shareability, something it has in common with today’s library, which is why library website designers have the opportunity to learn from Buzzfeed’s overwhelming success. Here are the top lessons library website designers can learn from Buzzfeed… READ MORE: 5 Lessons Library Websites Can Learn from Buzzfeed | Weave
At Pixable, we — like almost every digital property — are in the eyeball game. We are one of thousands of media companies competing for attention, and, in our case, we seek the attention of young, highly social readers with seemingly infinite interests. It goes without saying that attention grabbing begins with a catchy headline (in fact, we tested three headlines for this article alone), but the real challenge is this: After getting the audience’s attention, how do you keep it? READ: The Only Metric That Matters For Content Marketing | TechCrunch
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Some of us learn best in the classroom, and some of us … well, we don’t. But we still love to learn, to find out new things about the world and challenge our minds. We just need to find the right place to do it, and the right community to learn with. In this charming talk, author John Green shares the world of learning he found in online video. WATCH: John Green: The nerd’s guide to learning everything online | TED Talk | TED.com.
The gap between boys’ and girls’ respective reading abilities has been getting a lot of attention lately, but the trend itself is not new.
Girls have been better readers than boys for a long, long time, according to a report released Tuesday by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. The annual report analyzes three topics in contemporary education through the lens of up-to-date research. This year, the report looked at the effectiveness of the Common Core state standards, the relationship between student engagement and academic achievement, and the gender gap in reading.
READ MORE: Young Girls Are Much, Much Better Readers Than Boys, And Have Been For A Long Time | Huffington Post
Ellyssa Kroski of iLibrarian fame said farewell to the iLibrarian blog in late 2014. iLibrarian was one of my top resources for emerging technologies in libraries and information services. I will miss the iLibrarian posts but am excited about the new website she has launched called Cosplay, Comics, and Geek Culture in Libraries. I’ve participated in coding and medieval times events over the past few years and am surprised at how quickly these events are transitioning into the mainstream. With the increasing popularity and growth of these activities, CCGC in Libraries is sure to be a great resource for librarians and fans of cosplay, comics and geek culture.
Speaking of geek culture, I’ve been watching TNT’s The Librarians series and I guess I’m hooked. It’s silly and over the top but I enjoy the mix of science fiction, mystery and adventure. IMO each episode’s concept/theme is more interesting than the overarching storyline. Cassandra’s outfits are way too distracting though! The remaining 2 episodes of Season 1 air tonight, January 18, 2015, on the Space channel in Canada.
Via the CCGC in Libraries website.
Welcome everyone to Cosplay, Comics, and Geek Culture in Libraries! This is an exciting time for geeks of all kinds to be involved with libraries as today’s savvy libraries have begun to embrace new ways to engage library patrons such as fandom events, comic book and graphic novel collections, comic cons, cosplay events.
The intersection of these interests with libraries is a perfect match as libraries are striving to develop entertaining and educational new programs and services that will appeal to not only children but young adults as well as “kids at heart” of all ages. And these new programs and resources fit well with the interests of cosplayers who can utilize the equipment in library makerspaces such as 3D printers and sewing machines to create many of their props and costume pieces, as well as comics fans who can come to the library to read comics and graphic novel collections, video and board game enthusiasts who attend library gaming events, and geeks of all types who are drawn to “nerd nights”, Dr. Who marathons, and Harry Potter socials, etc.
I decided to start this blog, not only because I am a self-proclaimed geek, cosplayer, and comics reader and collector myself, but because this is a cutting-edge area of growth in libraries with significant appeal to today’s patrons. I think that there is much that we can do to expand and develop this type of programming and collection development. And I’m not alone. I’ve been joined by a talented group of international writers, librarians, information professionals, and library patrons to provide articles and inspiration to libraries seeking to incorporate cosplay, comics, and geek culture in their libraries!
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