Great Idea to Promote Reading

What a great idea to promote books and reading! The Seattle Public Library system will be hiding 1,000 books around town for young people to find, read, and re-hide for other young people.  The Theme for its annual Summer Reading Program is Century 22: Read the Future. Little Brother is one of the Young Adult books that will be hidden.

Unusual Libraries:Tent , Phone Booth, Jail

Who knew that  Occupy Boston had a tent library?  No due date; no library fines. And, who knew that Occupy Wall Street and other "Occupy" venues had libraries?  This is called taking the library to the people. Interestingly,  Boston is the home of the United States' first major public library



People’s History of the United States  by Howard Zinn (2003) is the most requested book by the Occupiers. According to the product description, this book is telling the history from the points of view of America's women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers.

After reading about the tent library, I recalled a story about an old, bright red, London telephone booth that had been converted into a library. This gives new meaning to the word "recycling".  The library is filled with a collection of over 100 books, DVDs, and CDs.

Here is another unusual library; this one is in the Caribbean. I used to visit frequently this octagonal-shaped public library and museum located in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a former jail built in the 18th century. Do you know of any other unusual libraries?

Storyteller Martha Donaldson

It's October, Halloween month. Storyteller Martha Donaldson will be returning to the Okefenokee Regional library on Lee Avenue, courtesy of the Friends of the Library, to tell the story of the "Pea Patch Murders" that took placein Waresboro in 1930. Here is your chance to hear it if you missed it the last time. It will be Thursday, October 27th at 7:00pm.  I had fun listening to this fascinating story three years ago at this venue.

Thing 7 of CPD 23 Things

Thing 7 is again about networking but it differs from Thing 6 in that it is specifically about face to face networking and professional organizations.  As a new librarian, I was a member of the Jamaica Library Association (JLA) and a paying member of the American Association of School Libraries.    

I had an active role in the Executive of the JLA now known as the Library and Information Association of Jamaica and went to conferences and meetings all over the island. My job encouraged active involvement.  When I lived in the Bahamas, I attended an ACURIL annual conference.  I think that was in 2000.  Several librarians that I knew from Jamaica attended that conference.  Membership in ACURIL is open to Caribbean libraries, archives, organizations, and individuals.  It started in the 1960s and is affiliated with IFLA.  The most recent conference was held this year in Tampa, Fl in May/June.  Disaster Preparedness, Response and Research was the theme.

Here in the USA I eagerly joined the American Library Association and went to a conference in Atlanta.  Networking and keeping up with new trends are very important.  However, the economy has directly affected my ability to continue face to face networking.  I have had to reduce expenses and unfortunately face to face meetings has been cut from my budget. It is costly to travel from a rural community to meetings in a big city and to pay annual membership fees.

The last library conference I attended was Georgia COMO held at Jekyll Island in 2007 and I blogged about a very interesting presentation on Chick Lit by Claire Matturo.  I see on the web that Georgia COMO will be held in Athens, Georgia this year.

My library subscribes to only one professional journal now,  The Library Journal , and I make the time to read the hard copy and I also receive their free e-newsletter.  I also check out the free online classes and participate to learn as much as I can.  My job also requires that I join professional ListServs such as the Galileo ListServ.


  

Choosing a book for a Child

My niece turned 5 last week and I am just getting around to mailing a gift. I have been credited for helping to turn my 20 year old god -daughter into an avid reader by giving her gifts of interesting books when she was a child. My "reputation" was at stake. I had to find the perfect book for my 5 year old. I looked at the I Spy series online and they seemed like fun, especially I Spy Fantasy. The series was recommended to me by a mother with young children. In I Spy, the children get to hear or read a nice rhyme and look for hidden items in pictures. I looked at Wild About Books and Library Lion at the Waycross College library.

I liked the story in Library Lion aboaut a helpful lion and it included a demonstration of when to suspend the library rules. I didn't like how the librarian in Library Lion looked; too stereotypical. Also, it is an old story because there was a card catalog cabinet in the drawing. I could not decide on a book. I wondered if I should not just buy an item of clothing or a DVD instead.

In the meantime the days were flying by and I had to get this birthday gift into the mail right away. I decided on Library Lion this morning. Gosh, it's hard to choose a kid's book.


What kind of book was I looking for? I wanted a large book, a colorful book, a book with a good story, a book with a positive images, and a book that is age appropriate with easy words that a beginning reader could learn easily.

Free Books Online for Literature Studetns

What a great link for students of literature! Check it out here. Moby Dick is available but there are also books by Agatha Christie; so the target audience is actually wider than just literature students.

Waycross College Library pics

Waycross College's renovated library. The college logo at the entrance and on the main doors are covered up. The big reveal will be March 23. There are just so many things to consider when designing or renovating a library. These are just a few elements other than cost:

• Lighting – natural light, energy efficient lighting, security lighting, glare reduction
• Space that facilitates social networking and collaboration as well as privacy and independent study
• Specialty spaces: group study rooms; student and faculty lounges; commons area with vending machines/a setting for special programs – book club meetings, book events, art exhibitions; storage spaces
• Acoustics – location of noisy equipment e.g. photocopy machines, carpeted areas for noise reduction
• Temperature control for collection preservation, for comfort
• Indoor air quality –ventilation
• Furniture – size, shape, color, quantity
• Placement of furniture
• Shelving: expandable, height, depth, quantity
• Ambience - plants, color of carpet, artwork, color of wallpaper/walls