Tag Archives: libraries

Librarian Quietly Saved $1 Million For Gift Back To Library | HuffPost

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Carol Sue Snowden, a librarian at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, was known by her peers for her modest lifestyle. She drove a used Chevrolet, lived in a condominium, and was happy to indulge in little other than her passion for books.

It was precisely because of this frugal lifestyle that she was able to accomplish something monumental: She’d saved over $1 million, donating all of it to libraries and reading programs she’d come to love.

Read the full story: Librarian Quietly Saved $1 Million For Gift Back To Library | HuffPost.

Power Tumbl’ng: Why Tumblr Is a Great Way to Reach Teen Patrons | The Digital Shift

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Should libraries and librarians use Tumblr? Is it wise to wade into this alluring sea of wacky photos, pop-culture commentary, and gifs—snippets of moving images—in order to virtually chat about best book lists, library events, title recommendations, and our favorite quotes?

Yes, and here’s why. The key to a useful social network is to strategically use communication tools, understand each network’s reach, and guarantee ease of use for all involved. Tumblr can be a successful way to connect to new and diverse audiences, provided you understand who you’ll be attracting to your site and how to use Tumblr to your advantage.

The post includes 8 tips for successful tumbling.

See the full story: Power Tumbl’ng: Why Tumblr Is a Great Way to Reach Teen Patrons | The Digital Shift.

Improving Your Library’s Mobile Services | Bohyun Kim

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Philly’s Free Library worth the trip for rare-book collection | readingeagle.com

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The literary wealth of more than 5,000 years is preserved at this museum-row library that is anything but ordinary.

via Philly’s Free Library worth the trip for rare-book collection | readingeagle.com.

Arlington library system starts ‘1,000 Books Before Kindergarten’ to urge a love of reading | The Washington Post

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Books are one of Chloe Leitmann-Morales’s favorite things. She sorts through the full shelf in her family’s Arlington County living room, pulling out her choices one after another, then settles comfortably on almost any nearby lap. She’s ready to listen and follow along as her father, mother or grandmother reads about Dora the Explorer, different kinds of bellies or the dog Blue, in both English and Spanish.

Chloe has “read” more than 1,000 books. She is 2 years old.

 

She is a poster child for the Arlington County Public Library system’s “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program, a months-old effort encouraging preschoolers to strengthen language skills, build their vocabularies and begin love affairs with stories and the printed word.

Read the full story: Arlington library system starts ‘1,000 Books Before Kindergarten’ to urge a love of reading | The Washington Post.

Hey Macmillan, Why Does My eBook Say That it Belongs to a Public Library? | The Digital Reader

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Hey Macmillan, Why Does My eBook Say That it Belongs to a Public Library? | The Digital Reader

Quotable: “This title is old enough that by the time Macmillan decided to sell the ebook there very likely no digital copy available. The only way to get an ebook was to either type the book into a computer or scan an old paper copy.”

Virginia county library system destroyed 250,000 of its own books | Yahoo! News Canada

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The Fairfax County Public Library system in Virginia reportedly destroyed 250,000 books as part of an effort to revamp its system and cut costs.

The Washington Post reports that the books were discarded as part of a plan to reduce costs and bring the county’s library system into the digital age.

But in the past, discarded books were donated to a group called Friends of the Library, which would then donate them or sell them to raise money for the libraries, which have faced steep budget cuts in recent years. This time, seven months went by with no books going to the group — and no explanation why.

See the full story: Virginia county library system destroyed 250,000 of its own books | The Sideshow | Yahoo! News Canada.

50 Library Stories You May Have Missed in August | Ellyssa Kroski – OEDB.org

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Librarians and news outlets have been busy this summer, providing plenty of news-worthy articles and blog posts of interest to libraries.  Here are 50 such stories that will get you caught up on the latest in the library world.

See the list of links: 50 Library Stories You May Have Missed in August  | Ellyssa Kroski – OEDB.org.

BiblioTech Digital Library Opens this Week | GoodEReader

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The BiblioTech library in Bexar County is doing something that no library in the US has ever done. Since last year, the organizers had a grand vision of an all digital library. Six hundred e-readers and over ten thousand eBooks will be available to loan out when the new library opens this week.

BiblioTech Library

via BiblioTech Digital Library Opens this Week | GoodEReader.

Start-Ups Take Library Jobs | Reinventing Libraries | Library Journal

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Three years ago, I wrote here that “libraries are so valuable that they attract voracious new competition with every technological advance” (see “Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition,” LJ 8/10, p. 22–23). At the time, I was thinking about Google, Apple, Amazon, and Wikipedia as the gluttonous innovators aiming to be hired for the jobs that libraries had been doing. I imagined Facebook and Twitter to be the sort of competitors most likely to be attracted by the flame of library value. But it’s the new guys that surprise you. To review the last three years of change in the library world, I’d like to focus on some of the start-ups that have newly occupied digital niches in the reading ecosystem. It’s these competitors that libraries will need to understand and integrate with to remain relevant.

The full story: Start-Ups Take Library Jobs | Reinventing Libraries | Library Journal.

The article reviews competitors GoodReads, Wattpad, Readmill, SIPX and Zola Books.