TED talks — Technology, Education, Design — are an international phenomenon where speakers share big ideas in short, inspiring speeches. TEDxYDL (Ypsilanti District Library) is an independently organized event in the spirit of TED talks. The audience hears from local speakers on a variety of topics around the theme "Invent. Create. Change."
To celebrate National Library Week, tween, teen, and adult patrons can create their own mini-libraries at home and then add them to the full display.
ALA's Public Programs Office is seeking four librarian advisors to take part in an effort to create and widely disseminate a programming guide, based on Library of Congress digital collections, that will help library workers nationwide lead informal education programs about the U.S. women’s suffrage movement.Â
Submissions are requested by November 3, 2021.
Igiugig Village ("iggy-AH-gig") has a population of 70. Located in southwestern Alaska on the south bank of the mouth of the Kvichak River and Lake Iliamna, its population consists primarily of Yup’ik Alaska Natives. As a tiny and remote community of people who live close to the land, villagers rely on salmon as the main food source and have a passion for sustainability and clean energy.
Did you celebrate Book Bike Week (August 2 – 6, 2021)? The weeklong celebration featured book bikes at libraries across the world and showcased the work of librarians pedaling books around town.
ALA invites library workers to apply for round 3 of the Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Focus on Small and Rural Libraries grant.
Organizing a public outpouring of library love isn't just good for our egos; it can be a smart way to market your library, advocate for funding and much more. So for National Library Lover’s Month (February), the Erie County Public Library contacted publishing houses and authors and had them write love letters to libraries.
Short on time and money, we found a quick and inexpensive way to celebrate National Poetry Month: offering patrons a poem to take home every day in the month of April.
We created a large display table with books, DVDs and other materials for all ages, and we displayed free signs from the Poetry Foundation. We also created a sign that read, “Don’t forget to get your poem a day!”Â
In last month's post, "8 Ways to Save Money on Programming in a Tiny Library (Part 1)," I offered four strategies that have helped me stretch my small programming budget to its limits. I talked about looking to friends and family for free programming; tapping resources in your community; partnering with other organizations; and turning your own passions into programs.
Art Lab is a recurring program focusing on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), with a focus on art. It is held at 7 p.m. every Monday. The first and third Mondays of the month are planned lessons, and the second and fourth Mondays are open draw sessions for students to relax and meet other artists.
The information below focuses on the Art Lab lesson: Electric Painting, in which the students made an interactive sound device using paint.
Our teen volunteers painted and decorated the library’s old, discarded phones to be used as a display during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month (September).Â
It’s been a hard week for many Americans, as Tuesday’s election amplified divisions within communities and flamed feelings of isolation, anger and fear among much of the population. As the dust settles, libraries across the country are coming up with ways, large and small, to make all people feel safe and welcome, regardless of who they are or which candidates they supported. Here are some of those ways.
Now is the perfect time to start planning some fun holiday library programs for teens. 2015 was the inaugural year of the Holidaze Crafts for Teens program at my library, where teens made their own holiday gifts to give to family and friends. It was a great success. Â
The Oakland Public Library (OPL) Toy Lending Library began in 2014 as a pilot funded by a Pacific Library Partnership Innovations & Technology grant. The program involved more than 30 sets of toys at each of the four pilot locations: the main library, Elmhurst, César Chávez and West Oakland library branches. Since then, the collection has expanded to the Melrose and Rockridge branches as well, for a total of six sites.
Teens and tweens are invited to the library during its closed hours to play team laser tag. They are divided into two teams and take turns using laser phasers (purchased from Amazon) to play the game.
Art Lab is a recurring program focusing on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), with a focus on art. It is held at 7 p.m. every Monday. The first and third Mondays of the month are planned lessons, and the second and fourth Mondays are open draw sessions for students to relax and meet other artists.
The information below focuses on our first Art Lab lesson: Japanese Bookbinding, in which the students made their own sketchbooks to take home.
About five years ago, I created a program called Haunted Library. Our Teen Advisory Group (TAG) really looked forward to this program every year. They absolutely loved planning this event, making up different themes each year and going all out from the beginning of the school year until Halloween. It was so awesome because they were fully invested.Â
Our goal with this edit-a-thon series was to increase the number of new editors working within Wikipedia, as well as improve entries to the four neighborhoods in Lowell. This meant increasing citations, correcting information, expanding content and editing the readability of identified entries.
Summer is here. It’s time to spread out the beach towels, lather on the sunscreen and prepare for summer programming.
Summer reading programs combat the period between school years when reading skills decline and educational growth made during the year diminishes. But summer reading isn’t the only way to keep kids’ minds in motion when school is out. These seven programs think “outside the book” to expand “summer reading” into “summer learning.”
Since 2010, Skokie Public Library has partnered with a number of local organizations and libraries on an initiative called Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township, an a
