It’s December, and that means Santa Claus is coming to our library.
At Mid-Continent Public Library, Kimberly Howard has collected more than a half dozen Santas over the past 16 years. “Finding Santas isn’t always easy,” said Howard, assistant manager in MCPL’s Community Programming Department.
The Tom Green County Library System began a tabletop gaming program three years ago to build community and provide a fun activity for all ages. Out of that program grew the West Texas Table Top Convention (WT3C), an annual library-sponsored event intent on celebrating not only tabletop games, but all aspects of geek culture.
As part of our research in this phase of the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA), we developed and administered a survey designed to give library workers an opportunity to talk about their experiences in partnering with community organizations.
At its heart, the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA) explores the impact of public programs on the people served by libraries.
Libraries of all types are taking on new roles and responsibilities. Through robust programming agendas, they’re at the center of community-building efforts all across the US. As they do this important work, libraries are increasingly forging partnerships with different groups and institutions within the communities they serve. Working with schools, churches, healthcare providers, and a variety of other organizations, they’re creating joint programming to directly address people’s needs.
ALA issued a report, “Skills for 21st-Century Librarians: Learning Objectives for Library Programming,” marking the association's next steps toward the creation of a programming curriculum for library workers and students.
ALA seeks feedback from the library field on “Skills for 21st-Century Librarians: Learning Objectives for Library Programming,” a document marking the Association’s next steps toward the creation of a programming curriculum for library workers and students.
As we approach May still in quarantine, we wanted to share how our library programming is continuing to roll along in the midst of the pandemic. We have learned some amazing things about ourselves, our library programming and what our school community needs.
In this blog post, we’ll talk about some of the lessons learned, how our programming is holding up, and what we see as necessary as we continue in this brave new normal.
Meservey, Iowa, is a tiny, rural town of just 240 people. We have a church, a bar, a post office … and my little library. There isn’t much to do in town as far as entertainment goes, so the library tends to serve as a community hub — we are one of the only local sources of free events and programming.
Planning public programs is a skill that’s more and more important to library work, and we wanted to know: is that reflected in the curriculum? As part of our comprehensive review of the library programming landscape, we explored requirements in library degree programs across the US.
“My event planning, volunteering for 16 years doing cultural events for my school district, and my theater/musician training helped a lot.”
“These are basic life skills learned by parents (e.g. doing homework in grade school, planning a birthday party, etc.).”
“Working in a very high-scale restaurant as a server and working in a public museum on the visitor services side of things helped me gain skills in good customer services and event planning.”
You’ve spent months planning and putting in the hard work to ensure you’re delivering a quality program for your community. Don’t stop there! Adding a few steps to your to-do list will increase your program's reach and impact.
During this two-year (2017-18) professional development project, library professionals will have access to free training in community leadership techniques like coalition-building and dialogue facilitation. Offerings will include free web-based and in-person workshops specially designed for three library types:
This introductory webinar will provide an overview of LTC: Models for Change. Participants will:
ALA's Public Programs Office invites libraries to apply for the Great Stories Club, a reading and discussion program for underserved teens featuring books under the theme “Nature vs. Nurture: Origins of Teen Violence and Suicide.” The project is supported with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
