Blogs

Library-led tours can be a highly engaging — and surprising — addition to your programming lineup.

The 2019 ALA Annual Conference was held in Washington D.C. from June 20 to 25. This year, we set out with the intention of sharing some of our favorite takeaways from the conference for our July blog post — and the program ideas they've inspired now that we're back home.

Between the two of us we have over 45 years of teaching experience. (Yes, we are stunned by that, too!) From the beginning, our library programming has taught students to responsibly and critically select and evaluate their resources. It’s the very foundation of media and information literacy and a critical skill for students to master in their K-12 education. 

Do you need an adult program that is easy, inexpensive, educational and lots of fun? Try Culture Nights. The premise is simple: local residents native to other countries are invited to speak about their home country, share some of their culture, and serve samples of authentic food. 

Recently, the New York Public Library launched a new pilot series in select library branches across three boroughs. Community Conversations encourages open dialogue where everyone’s voice can be heard. 

When you, as a resident, participate in Community Conversations, you can expect to:

Nonprofits are everywhere. Wherever you are located, it's likely that there are numerous nonprofit organizations at work in your community that you've never even heard of. In 2009, the Hayward (Calif.) Public Library merged with another city department and took on the city's community grants program. They found that in this city of 150,000 there are over 2,000 nonprofit organizations! 

As librarians, we are continually challenged and tasked with creating programming that teach multiple literacies — including information literacy, digital literacy, news literacy and media literacy — in fun, engaging and interactive ways. 

Together, Area Agencies on Aging and Councils on Aging constitute the public infrastructure designed to support America’s older adults. As such, they are natural partners for public libraries seeking to develop programs that lead communities “on the path to healthy aging,” as the ALA Health Literacy Toolkit puts it.

In September, I had the opportunity to attend both the annual Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) and the biennial Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) conferences. For me, the major take-away from both events is that libraries can help each other develop programs that address food insecurity.

The Cooperative Extension System, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, exists to “encourage healthful lifestyles” by providing “non-formal education and learning activities to people throughout the country.” It emerged hand-in-hand with the land-grant university system and, over time, evolved from a focus on agricultural education in rural areas (4-H is part of the extension system) to a broader focus on health and food in both urban and rural parts of the country.