Tag Archives: public libraries

Browse More Than 1,000 Original Sketches Of Mid-Century Fashion | Co.Design

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Browse More Than 1,000 Original Sketches Of Mid-Century Fashion | Co.Design | business + design

Image Credit: The New York Public Library Digital Collections: Art and Picture Collection

In 1957, three New York designers Walter Teitelbaum, Leo Boren, and Howard Steel founded a company called Creators Studio that produced fashion design concepts. With the tagline “Not yesterday’s but tomorrow’s fashions today,” they’d draw up original garments based upon notable fashion trends, and design manufacturers would receive these sketches on a subscription basis.

Walter Teitelbaum gifted the New York Public Library with 1,067 of these drawings of women’s and children’s ready-to-wear fashions from 1957 to 1969, and the collection has been digitized for you to explore online.

READ MORE: Browse More Than 1,000 Original Sketches Of Mid-Century Fashion | Co.Design | business + design.

Big-Hearted Book Lovers Across Brazil Donate 5,000 Books To Fulfill Girl’s Library Dream | HuffPo #books #libraries

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Big-Hearted Book Lovers Across Brazil Donate 5,000 Books To Fulfill Girl's Library Dream

Image Credit: Biblioteca da Mell on Facebook

“One book is worth 100 books in my heart.”

“Books have three qualities: having them, exchanging them, and their smell. You can journey through literature, and be in Mexico, or anywhere else, while sitting still.”

These are quotes from a little girl named Ana Mell Araújo Rocha Silva — better known by her nickname, Mell. At just seven years old, she dreams of opening a public library in her city of Mata Grande, a small municipality in the state of Alagoas, Brazil, with a population of just over 25,000. READ MORE: Big-Hearted Book Lovers Across Brazil Donate 5,000 Books To Fulfill Girl’s Library Dream | HuffPo Brazil

This Beijing Subway Now Has A Library Of Free E-Books For Passengers | Co.Exist

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On the subway in Beijing, as in most cities with underground Wi-Fi connections, commuters usually spend their rides mindlessly staring at their phones, scrolling through emails or playing games. But now riders on one metro line have another option: With a scan of a QR code inside the train car, they can access a library of free e-books.

The books are curated by the National Library of China (NLC), which hopes to help make people more likely to read in everyday life. Working with subway operator Beijing MTR, the library launched the new “M Subway Library” in January.

READ MORE: This Beijing Subway Now Has A Library Of Free E-Books For Passengers | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.

What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians And Algorithms To The Test | Co.Exist

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What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians And Algorithms To The Test | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Snips

When I received the Brooklyn Public Library’s recent email newsletter promoting a new service called BookMatch, I was both delighted and dismayed.

On the one hand, it was a great idea. All I had to do was fill out a short web form letting the librarians know a bit about what I wanted to read and what I liked to read, and one promised to write back with five personalized recommendations tailored to my interests and tastes. On the other, the fact I was so delighted was exactly what was dismaying.

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Clearly, the librarians believe that human tastes and discretion are still relevant, even as automated algorithms are influencing an increasing portion of the media we consume, whether in the form of news, books, music, or movies. But are a book expert’s personalized suggestions really better than what I might get from Amazon, a site that hasn’t employed a human editor for its home page in 14 years? It’s very possible my positive feelings about the BookMatch program are sprung from mere sentimentality.

READ MORE: What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians And Algorithms To The Test | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Nearly 100 percent of libraries offer tech training and STEM programs, study finds | DistrictDispatch

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According to a new study from the American Library Association ALA, nearly 100 percent of America’s public libraries offer workforce development training programs, online job resources, and technology skills training. Combined with maker spaces, coding classes, and programs dedicated to entrepreneurship and small business development, libraries are equipping U.S. communities with the resources and skills needed to succeed in today’s – and tomorrow’s – global marketplace.

READ: Nearly 100 percent of libraries offer tech training and STEM programs, study finds | DistrictDispatch

Pew Research Internet Project [Quiz] » Library User Quiz

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What kind of library user are you? Are you a “Library Lover”? An “Information Omnivore”? Or are you totally “Off the Grid”? Take our library engagement quiz to learn how your library habits and attitudes stack up against the general population.

TAKE THE QUIZ » Pew Internet Library User Quiz.

Why Librarians Save Lives | Epic Reads

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Librarians are some of Mike Martin‘s favorite people ever. Why? Many reasons, but here’s the main one: THEY ARE FRAKKIN SUPERHEROES.This video, which was recorded at the Public Library Association 2014 conference, features interviews with some truly wonderful people including John Green’s “fairy godmother,” Ilene Cooper. It has a couple surprises at the end, too….via Why Librarians Save Lives | Blog | Epic Reads

Watch A Drone Make A Masterpiece Of The New York Public Library | Co.Design

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The New York Public Library is a stunning piece of architecture. Its Rose Reading Room has 51-foot ceilings and measures the length of a football field (that’s more than a Manhattan block), yet it has no columns, making it one of the largest open interiors in the world.

If you’re Nate Bolt–Facebook design researcher, amateur filmmaker, and friend of the NYPL’s skunkworks team–you get invited to fly a drone through the space. Bolt shot the video you see here using an ultralight setup–a DJI Phantom quadcopter drone loaded with a GoPro and aniPhone. That’s roughly $1,500 in equipment weighing just a bit over two pounds. It allowed Bolt to film with a god-like perspective as the camera floats over shoulders and through doorways to explore the nuance of such grand architecture.

Read more: Watch A Drone Make A Masterpiece Of The New York Public Library | Co.Design | business + design.

A Mountain Range of Shelves Turns This Kids’ Library Into a Playground | Gizmodo

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Learning to read is a massive adventure in itself, but discovering the library—a magical place where the stories are plentiful and the books are free—is downright mind-blowing. In an effort to match the fun between the pages, the Mexican branding studio Anagrama transformed the interior of a local heritage site into Niños Conarte, a geometric mountain range of literature.

See all the pics: A Mountain Range of Shelves Turns This Kids’ Library Into a Playground | Gizmodo.

DPLA Awarded $1 Million Grant From Gates Foundation to Train Public Librarians | LJ INFOdocket

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The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) announced today that it has received a $990,195 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build upon its network of library professionals and organizations to pilot a national-scale training system for public librarians. Under the grant, the DPLA will collaborate with its service “hubs”—regional digital library partners located in states and regions in the United States—to build curricular resources and implement hands-on training programs that develop digital skills and capacity within the staffs of public libraries.

Read: DPLA Awarded $1 Million Grant From Gates Foundation to Train Public Librarians | LJ INFOdocket.