LIFE in the Library: Events to Build Community


Book Description

This is a must read for all librarians, museum docents, and community organizers who plan events for adults. LIFE in the Library shows how to develop a weekly multifaceted event for grownups. Kids have all the fun. It's time for the adult community to come alive every week to something new, educational, and fun.




Transforming Libraries, Building Communities


Book Description

This book is for those moving their library beyond places to find information. Written by practicing public librarians and an academic librarian with an interest in public libraries, the book focuses on how public libraries can become more community centered and, by doing so, how they can transform both themselves and their communities. The authors argue that focusing on building community through innovative and responsive services and programs will be the best way for the public library to reposition itself in the years to come.




Libraries and Sustainability


Book Description

Library workers at all types of organizations, as well as LIS students learning about this newest Core Value of Librarianship, will find this book an easy-to-digest introduction to what staff at a range of libraries have accomplished in incorporating sustainability into their decision making and professional practices. In addition, a discussion about the role of economics and sustainability will challenge readers to stretch in new ways to positively impact their communities. As a core value of librarianship, sustainability is not an end point but a mindset, a lens through which operational and outreach decisions can be made. And it extends beyond an awareness of the roles that libraries can play in educating and advocating for a sustainable future. As the programs and practices in this resource demonstrate, sustainability can also encompass engaging with communities in discussions about resilience, regeneration, and social justice. Inspiring yet assuredly pragmatic, the many topics explored in this book edited by members of ALA's Sustainability Round Table and ALA’s Special Task Force on Sustainability include a discussion of why sustainability matters to libraries and their user communities; real-life examples of sustainability programming, transformative community partnerships, collective responses for climate resilience, and green building practices; lessons learned and recommendations from library workers who have been active in putting sustainability into practice; the intersection of sustainability with the work of equity, diversity, and inclusion; suggestions regarding the revision of library and information science curriculum in light of the practical need to build community resilience; an examination of how libraries’ efforts to support Doughnut Economics can bolster the United Nations' work on the Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to address the global impacts of climate change; and potential collaborators for future sustainability-related initiatives.




Libraries and Sustainability


Book Description

Library workers at all types of organizations, as well as LIS students learning about this newest Core Value of Librarianship, will find this book an easy-to-digest introduction to what staff at a range of libraries have accomplished in incorporating sustainability into their decision making and professional practices. In addition, a discussion about the role of economics and sustainability will challenge readers to stretch in new ways to positively impact their communities. As a core value of librarianship, sustainability is not an end point but a mindset, a lens through which operational and outreach decisions can be made. And it extends beyond an awareness of the roles that libraries can play in educating and advocating for a sustainable future. As the programs and practices in this resource demonstrate, sustainability can also encompass engaging with communities in discussions about resilience, regeneration, and social justice. Inspiring yet assuredly pragmatic, the many topics explored in this book edited by members of ALA's Sustainability Round Table and ALA’s Special Task Force on Sustainability include a discussion of why sustainability matters to libraries and their user communities; real-life examples of sustainability programming, transformative community partnerships, collective responses for climate resilience, and green building practices; lessons learned and recommendations from library workers who have been active in putting sustainability into practice; the intersection of sustainability with the work of equity, diversity, and inclusion; suggestions regarding the revision of library and information science curriculum in light of the practical need to build community resilience; an examination of how libraries’ efforts to support Doughnut Economics can bolster the United Nations' work on the Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to address the global impacts of climate change; and potential collaborators for future sustainability-related initiatives.




Joint Libraries


Book Description

The joint-use college/public library can be an ideal solution to serving patrons while managing overextended resources, and this illuminating book scrutinizes successes and failures of the joint-use model.




Library Service and Learning


Book Description

Service and community-based learning is one of several high-impact educational practices identified by George Kuh and the Association of American Colleges & Universities, and is increasingly seen as a vital part of the undergraduate experience. Classroom work is shifting to include more activities that are relevant to future careers, include action, and develop agency in students. Colleges and universities are actively promoting this work by including it in strategic plans, creating high impact practice-themed faculty development programs and initiatives, and offering grant funding to support their development. Divided into three comprehensive sections--Library and Information Literacy Credit-Bearing Courses or Sponsors of Undergraduate Community-Based Research; Library Support for Courses with Applied Service-Based Projects in the Disciplines; and Library as Location for Student-Led Educational Outreach Events and Projects--Library Service and Learning is a collection of case studies written by librarians, university faculty, and students who have successfully employed service-based or experiential learning experiences for students in higher education. Chapters include classes or programs that have been taught by or developed in collaboration with librarians and examine information literacy-related outcomes, utilize library resources, and/or take place in library facilities. Each chapter describes activities, motivations, curriculum materials, and outcomes, and appendices include assignments, rubrics, and other materials that enable you to replicate and adapt the activity to your own needs. Today's students want to work in groups, apply what they learn to real-life problems, and work in environments that are relevant and participatory. The active teaching techniques in Library Service and Learning help build community, are relevant to students' current lives and future career goals, and allow them to work together to solve real problems and shape their own successful and empowering learning.




Real-Life Marketing and Promotion Strategies in College Libraries


Book Description

Practical advice on how to promote your library and how to better understand and serve library users Real-Life Marketing and Promotion Strategies in College Libraries is a “how-to” guide to marketing and promotional activities that will raise your library’s visibility in the face of increased competition from other information providers. Academic librarians draw on their own experiences with real-life examples of what works (and what doesn’t) when developing, implementing, and evaluating on-campus marketing initiatives. You’ll learn how to use surveys, focus groups, advertising, target audiences, community outreach, and public relations to learn more about the needs of your library’s users, how to make improvements to meet those needs, and how to communicate those improvements to students and faculty. Academic librarians just getting started or well into their careers will benefit from the book’s practical approach to using marketing and promotional techniques that are effective and affordable. Each article of Real-Life Marketing and Promotion Strategies in College Libraries includes tables, figures, and appendices that provide tangible examples of marketing and promotional activities that really work. The book also includes a bibliography of effective marketing resources that’s kept up-to-date through an accompanying Web site. Real-Life Marketing and Promotion Strategies in College Libraries shows you how to: incorporate the results of LibQUAL+ and student focus groups into your short- and long-range planning use posters, displays, brochures, newspaper ads, and giveaways in your public relations campaigns get the word out to the community about your library and its services use the right media to match your message with your audience increase awareness of your library’s virtual reference services use postcards to promote your services collaborate with students to develop an advertising campaign implement a marketing action plan stage large-scale special events and programs and a whole lot more! Real-Life Marketing and Promotion Strategies in College Libraries is an essential professional resource for practicing academic librarians and library directors at colleges and universities.




Planning and Promoting Events in Health Sciences Libraries


Book Description

Library programming can increase patron awareness of and engagement with library resources and services. However, creative programming and promotion is what really draws people in, especially as libraries evolve and become more virtual. How can librarians reach their unique user groups when those users never have to step foot in the library? Planning and Promoting Events in Health Sciences Libraries: Success Stories and Best Practices presents a simple blueprint for planning and promoting library events and programs written with medical librarians in mind. Whether you work in an academic or hospital setting, this book is full of useful suggestions and tips for taking the stress and confusion out of the library programming and event planning process. Drawing upon the wisdom and experience of health sciences librarians from across the country, this book will: Walk readers through the stages of library programming and promotion Act as a how-to for health sciences librarians looking to create successful outreach events Highlight how other health sciences libraries just like yours have successfully created programs for their users, even those with little to no programming budget Encourage readers to think creatively about their own programming and events Planning and Promoting Events in Health Sciences Libraries: Success Stories and Best Practices will show you that you don’t need a degree in marketing in order to create successful outreach events. Health sciences librarians can take what they already know about their patrons and their own libraries and apply that knowledge to every planning process with the help of the practical strategies found in this guide.




Building Community Engagement and Outreach in Libraries


Book Description

An important addition to the research on how libraries can work with their communities to provide critical services and resources. Providing valuable insights about the diverse ways that outreach can be accomplished within and through communities, this volume serves as a significant resource for library managers, staff and their partners.




Small Libraries, Big Impact


Book Description

This valuable book shows how to get your community behind your library by making it an essential part of community life and demonstrating its benefit to all members of the community. Evolving technologies and the changing social landscape have put pressure on public libraries to shift their service values and methods in order to maintain funding opportunities. The challenge is substantial: library managers today must adopt a new mindset in order to perform a broad spectrum of activities and attract new users who are not traditional library patrons. Small Libraries, Big Impact: How to Better Serve Your Community in the Digital Age helps readers to meet the challenge of serving diverse users via a community-centered library. Based on an intensive review of literature on serving library users in smaller libraries as well as the author's own research findings gained from interviewing 55 library directors, this book provides conceptual and practical tools for serving 21st-century users, gaining wider community support, programming dynamic events, and planning rewarding technology learning. Beyond supplying actionable advice, the book will also review relevant concepts and theoretical frameworks, such as community outreach and partnership, social justice and social inclusion, technology and social transition, cultural diversity and the digital divide, entrepreneurship, outreach, best practices for marketing libraries, and library space design.