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The need to bring the real and the academic worlds together underscores the importance of the work that YALSA has done related to the future of library services for and with teens. In January 2014, YALSA released The Future of Library Services for and with Teens: A Call to Action (PDF file). The report is the culmination of a project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and spearheaded by YALSA’s National Forum on Libraries and Teens....
American Libraries feature |
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Linda W. Braun writes: “I recently attended a meeting of community-based organizations that provide college preparedness support to youth and families. It was the first time I went to one of their meetings. During the two or so hours, I hardly spoke. That didn’t mean I wasn’t engaged or informed about the topics discussed; that wasn’t the case at all. But I went into the meeting room thinking, ‘I really need to hear what people are saying in order to figure out what the library’s role should be in this area.’”...
American Libraries column, May |
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Public libraries that provided a quiet refuge from civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore are about to receive a small bounty from Silicon Valley. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his wife, philanthropist and educator Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, have teamed up with Hewlett-Packard to donate nearly $170,000 worth of computers, printers, and other equipment. The couple says they were moved by the “individual acts of heroism” of library staffers....
USA Today, May 20
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The seed library operating out of the Duluth (Minn.) Public Library is back in business the way it fully intended to be when it first started. On May 19, both the Minnesota House and Senate passed omnibus agriculture policy bills containing identical language that would allow seed libraries to operate without fear of legal reprisal. In 2014, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture flagged the program, citing it for dealing in seeds without a license....
KQDS-TV, Duluth, Minn., May 20; Duluth News Tribune, May 15
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Kathy Kaldenberg writes: “A year ago I told my supervisor, Matt Townsley, that I planned to retire at the end of the 2015 school year. During the last 12 months, I’ve had time to reflect on my 37-year career and my 12 years at Solon (Iowa) Community School District, my first and only experience in a school library setting. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from my administration, staff, colleagues, and even our local media, but maybe surprisingly, I’ve thought a lot more about what I didn’t do than what I did do.”...
SCSD Media Services: Making Connections, Apr. 20
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Susy Moorhead writes: “Sometimes you just need a break from the hubbub of Annual Conference, and somewhere outside is often a perfect fit. Here are my suggestions for some places to go right around the Moscone Center when you need to take a walk outdoors or get some fresh air between programs, for lunch, or before or after your day.”...
YALSA Blog, May 22 |
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Christopher Harris writes: “To help frame my understanding of the discussion about patron privacy, I wanted to spend a bit more time considering the idea of three spheres of data: patron data, library data, and the potential intersection of patron and library data. For librarians, patron data remains sacrosanct; it will only be collected, stored, and evaluated following a specific opt-in process. Library data, however, is available for ethical and responsible use within the library with no patron approval.”...
Medium, May 21 |
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Eric Griffith writes: “After almost a decade, Google Drive has come a long way. Anyone with a Google account gets instant access to the tools. Businesses, schools, and nonprofits have the option of using Google Apps, a version of Google Drive with all the storage and tools, plus integration of Gmail, Calendar, and Sites under their own domain name. It pays to know more than just the basics, so that’s why we’ve put together these 30 tips for you on how to get the most out of Google Drive.”...
PC Magazine, May 20 |
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Chris Stobing writes: “Making movies on your smartphone has always been simple, but more often than not you can expect that the quality will suffer because of shaky images, out-of-focus lenses, and poor sound quality. Now all that can change with the help of some unique hardware and cleverly designed software that make it easier than ever to create studio-quality movies with nothing more than the iPhone in your pocket.”...
How-To Geek, May 21 |
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Sarah Seltzer writes: “Potboilers, fantasy lands, murders, noir triumphs, supernatural creatures, and the twisted and dark imaginations that devise them are not a male-only literary province. Since Mary Shelley imagined Frankenstein, women have been creating genre fiction alongside men, playing with vampires, dragons, detectives, unreliable narrators, and denizens of outer space. So pack some of these classic genre novels by women in your canvas tote and enjoy reading them this summer.”...
Flavorwire, Apr. 28, May 21 |
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OldNYC provides an alternative way of browsing the New York Public Library’s incredible “Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s–1970s” collection. Its goal is to help you discover the history behind the places New Yorkers see every day. The images all come from the library’s Milstein Collection. The majority of the images are the work of Percy Loomis Sperr. The OldNYC site was geocoded and built by Dan Vanderkam....
OldNYC |
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Even the local library isn’t safe any more thanks to the new multistory fright feature Volumes of Blood, which is currently making the festival rounds. Watch the trailer (2:19). Five tales of dread are interwoven when a sociology student gathers several of his friends on Halloween night at the local library to help him create a new urban legend with deadly consequences. Filmed at Daviess County (Ky.) Public Library....
Fangoria, May 18; YouTube, Apr. 2, May 7 |
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Rednecks have had Jeff Foxworthy calling them out and identifying them for years. It’s time librarians had their moment in the sun. If you can relate to any of these activities, you might be a librarian. If you can relate to any of them and you aren’t a librarian, maybe you should be. You might be a librarian if . . . it’s your fault the internet is slow....
MakingItHappen.us, May 20 |
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