Highgate Public Library starts a photo campaign!

Check out the Highgate Public Library on Facebook for a new photo campaign, “Oh, the places you can read.” Here’s the announcement:

Highgate Public Library
Calling all readers! After seeing a display inspired by one of our Highgate teacher’s, we have decided to carry the idea over to the public library. We now need your help to bring this idea to life. The caption will be “Oh, the places you can read!”…a spin off of a Seuss book “Oh, the places you’ll go!”. Please send, email or drop off a picture of a unique place you or your child read, or just a photo of you reading. Our goal is to include as many community members (past/present) and patrons as possible. Please help us by spreading this far and wide!

Banned Books Week 2012

Banned Books Week is coming up fast, September 30 to October 6. There is still time to buy some DANGER/CAUTION tape and pull a quick program together. The Hartland Public Library is holding a Banned Books storytime in the evening for all ages– And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson will be one of the featured titles.

The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is hosting Alan Gilbert, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Gilbert will present a discussion of Privacy in the Digital Age on Wednesday, September 12 at 7 PM in Athenaeum Hall.

The Joslin Memorial Library in Waitsfield is holding a “Banned Book Coffee Klatsch” September 29th at 2. They are inviting people of all ages to come in and read from and discuss banned books, or to pick from some on hand. With coffee!

David Clark at the Ilsley Library, in cooperation with ACLU-VT, has mailed free BBW posters to Greensboro Free Library, Fairfax Community Library, People’s Academy (Morrisville), Warren School Library, Thetford Academy, U-32 School Library, Burr and Burton Academy (Manchester), Putney School Library, St. Johnsbury School District, and Concord School. Libraries, schools and booksellers are wonderful partners for this celebration.

For the official scoop, visit ALA. Lots of good ideas there– host YouTube videos from the Virtual Read Out on the library webpage?

Easy Dad Program

It’s great when you find an easy program aimed at dads and their kids. Brooks Memorial Library is having success with the Dads Day Derby. They collect the cardboard tubes and duct tape ahead of time and purchase small plastic cars. This program really does run itself– though the staff build a prototype ahead.

When families turn up, each gets a supply of tubes and tape. All activity is self-directed, making the racetrack and then shooting the toy car down. Two hours– and plenty of fun. Note: Brooks Memorial serves Brattleboro, which is big enough so pre-registering families works for them. A smaller library could probably skip this step.

Library Card Sign-Up Month

September is coming fast, and the Martha Canfield Library in Arlington has planned many programs to tie in with the national library card signup month. The month begins with a reception for area select boards and moves on through a host of Vermont authors and book panels. Area residents can hear Sue Halpern, Bill McKibben, Frankie Bailey, Linda Furiya, Reeve Lindbergh and poet laureate Sydney Lea. Four programs feature the Internet– social networks, LibraryThing, Facebook, and Linked In. Three more highlight area history: Arlington & the Revolutionary War, Collecting Sandgate Memories, and stories from the Memoir Group.

Two years ago Brooks Memorial Library joined forces with area bookstores in their “Smartest Card” promotion. Card holders could get a 15% discount by showing their library card during September. The campaign also featured local card holders:

“The library is your ticket for liberating the mind” (Marie, Brattleboro)

“Here’s my library card, the most important card in my wallet next to my license,” (overheard at the main desk.)

“You can’t imagine what a gift this library card is!” (Jenny in Whitingham).

ALA has plenty of information to tie local events to the national campaign. Check out audio public service announcements, a Flickr slide show, letter to the editor and more at the ALA Library Card link. This year’s spokesperson is Super Bowl champion Troy Polamalu.

Use Computer Workshops from the Web

Mary Metcalf at the Greensboro Free Library used the My PC workshops from Microsoft for a ten week series. Big benefit: the program is free, tested, and friendly. Well, free except for the staff commitment. Mary figured about three hours a week to hold the one hour programs.

Greensboro has a room which seats 49 and has good wi-fi access. She put out tables and seating, asked patrons to bring their own laptops. Are there adults who have laptops and need training? You bet! Of course, offering library computers or a lab extends the benefit to people without laptops. If the library is too small, consider the local school’s facility.

Here’s more from the My PC website, a list of what does the My PC Series offers.

Access to a complete, comprehensive, and free set of delivery materials for each of the My PC courses and workshops, including instructor guide, a set of PowerPoint slides, student handouts, and a collection of course files needed to deliver each course or workshop.
Access to free materials to support instructors in evaluating the curriculum, learning the software, and preparing to teach, including white papers, and software resource kits.
A full suite of marketing materials and guidance to help attract students, such as customizable flyers, catalog ads in a variety of sizes, and e-mail templates.

Greensboro Free does a good job on publicizing programs with press releases to area papers, posters up 3-4 weeks before the program, website, Facebook and Twitter releases, and lots of word of mouth as people check out their books. The audience in Greensboro was a committed group of 8 who stuck with the program.

Encourage Job Seekers

Some Best Practice suggestions for job seekers seen at Brooks Memorial Library recently:

Post a link or software app for building resumes (Resume Builder, seen in the screenshot above)

Offer Skype sessions and training for face to face videoconferencing for interviews.

Tell people they can apply for longer computer sessions in order to fill out job applications, take online tests

Offer one to one tutorials to teach two basic job application skills: how to get a free email account and how to fill out an online job application

1 Summer, 1 Town, 800 Books!!

Librarian Kimberly Mathewson wanted an ambitious goal for last year’s summer reading. She dug deep and came up with a number– 800.  That’s the population of the town– and all summer long, she encouraged her readers to sign on.

Here’s the original post on the Middletown Springs Public Library website:

This is the goal. Can library patrons in this town read 800 books this summer? I think so.
As you read, keep track of the number of books you finish. Stop in the library periodically to add your number to our chart.
Are you reading to a child this summer? Those books count. Both you and the child can sign up. The books count once towards our total.
At the end of the summer, we will have a celebration of all the reading that was done in 1 Summer by 1 Town….
Join us.

Happy ending: the town met the goal!