Programming Librarian

From the Library

A Journey through a Goldmine: PBS.org Resources for Programming Librarians
Unless you’ve been living in a mine shaft, you know PBS creates excellent early literacy television shows. Between the Lions and Word World make reading fun for emergent and beginning readers.

All Together Now: One Book, One Community Programs
This fall, the Chicago Public Library (CPL) celebrates the tenth anniversary of one of its most popular programs, One Book, One Chicago. I have been with CPL working on this program for just over four years, and have learned more than I could ever share in one article.

Attracting the Older Adult Audience: Norfolk Public Library’s Meet, Learn & Discover Series
The Norfolk (Va.) Public Library (NPL) Meet, Learn & Discover (MLD) Series, which won the Virginia Public Library Director’s Association Award in 2010 for Outstanding Program for Seniors, targets an audience of adults who are “50 and better” with a series of programs that offer participants the opportunity to come together once a month to hear an informative presentation and to socialize with others

Audience Building and Diversity
The first step in diversifying the audiences for your library’s cultural programs is deciding who (or is it whom?) you want to come. A “general” strategy is almost sure to fail—e.g., deciding to try to attract more young people, more Latinos, and more men with the same program is going to be tough.

Author Events Made Easy
Ah, author events at the library. Is there anything more fun? Author events can also be perplexing, frustrating, and sometimes hair-raising, but mostly when I think of author events I’m primed for a good time—both for myself and my patrons.

Boost Survey Results with Carefully Crafted Questions
The act of planning programs is a big job with a lot to consider. Where will you have your program? How big is the space? Do you need to limit guests; will you need to have them register ahead of time? Will weather or parking spaces be factors?

Coffee and Crochet Hooks: Crafting an Adult Hand Skills Program
Arts ’n crafts have long been a staple library program, but are typically aimed at children. However, crafting for adults has recently re-emerged as a popular hobby. The Greenpoint branch of the >Brooklyn Public Library has spent the last year experimenting with a monthly program called Greenpoint Hand Skills aimed at bringing in this community of crafters.

Collaboration @ Your School Library
Though I work in an independent school that embraces its library, I did not think it would hurt to make a stronger case for the value of our library; therefore, I decided to host a wide variety of events throughout the year. From documentary film day to organic garden building, I wanted to go beyond the author visit and offer my students thought-provoking and interesting activities. Along the way I learned a few important lessons.

Copyright Tips for Programming Librarians: Public Performance Rights
Many librarians like to include film or DVD screenings in their library programs. Can you do this without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder?

Copyright Tips for Programming Librarians: Storytimes
Librarians generally don’t ask if storytelling is an infringement of copyright. Don’t worry—it isn’t, but have you ever considered why?

Copyright Tips for Programming Librarians: Using Images in Programming Materials
Everyone can be a novice graphic artist using computer technologies to capture appealing designs, images, and photos found on the Internet for use in presentations, Web sites, and promotional materials. Some may pause and wonder, “Is this a copyright problem?”

Engage Your Community
About twelve years ago, the City of Virginia Beach began to investigate why its public hearings and other meetings with residents were so confrontational and what they could do differently.

Enriching Library Programs by Increasing Accessibility: A Primer from NLS
NLS is our shorthand for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped: it’s a mouthful, I agree, but rich in history and tradition, once you get past the clunky syllables and, some say, obsolescent vocabulary.

Evaluation of Cultural Programs
There’s a lot of buzz about evaluation these days. Are programs effective? Do they make the library, and by extension, the community, a better place? Do they accomplish what we intend and/or do they sometimes have other, maybe even better, unintended consequences?

Film Programming That’s Off the Wall
The first step in diversifying the audiences for your library’s cultural programs is deciding who (or is it whom?) you want to come. A “general” strategy is almost sure to fail—e.g., deciding to try to attract more young people, more Latinos, and more men with the same program is going to be tough.

Getting the Word Out: A Crash Course in Program Marketing
What a way to end your first day on a new job! Jamie Lattimer, Coordinator of Cataloging Services at Urbana University’s Swedenborg Memorial Library, cautiously pointed to a stack of three ring notebooks and said “those tell you about a Ben Franklin project that we are supposed to do in August.” August? That was only six months away.

Hosting a Traveling Exhibition: Tricks and Tips
Never be afraid to try; the following are some suggestions for hosting a successful exhibit.

Libraries and Democratic Life: Promoting Civic Engagement
I’m writing from outside the library world to talk about something powerful that can happen inside the library. I work with the Project on Civic Reflection, a national organization that helps get reflective discussion going in order to build community and deepen people’s understanding of their fellow community members and themselves.

Marketing and PR for Cultural Programs
Publicizing your program is just as important as planning the content. Ideally, you’ll want to make this part of your library’s overall marketing communications plan to maximize results. In the crowded media marketplace these days, both high-tech and high-touch are needed for success.

Meeting Needs and Making a Difference
We’ve all been there. You plan a great program, and only a handful of people show up—or no one does. Maybe something that has always done well in the past mysteriously fails to draw an audience. Maybe you start something new specifically because someone asked for it—and still it doesn’t get off the ground.

Multiculturalism Happens: Targeting Multicultural Literacy in Libraries
Children’s librarians try hard. They buy the best books, attend the best workshops and conferences, plan and deliver the best story times, read the best and latest professional literature, incorporate best practices. But they may only see a child for thirty to forty-five minutes per week or less.

Navigating the World of Publishers for Author Programs
Ah, author events at the library. Is there anything more fun? Author events can also be perplexing, frustrating, and sometimes hair-raising, but mostly when I think of author events I’m primed for a good time—both for myself and my patrons.

No Library Is an Island: Community Collaborations
Gone are the days when the library stood in splendid isolation. Libraries partner with all kinds of organizations to deliver programs and produce audiences ... more libraries than ever are reporting that successful collaborations are central to their planning and no longer an afterthought.

Overcoming Challenges: Civil War Programming in a Rural Library
While the Civil War was all about conflict, as programming librarians we’re all on the same side now—facing the challenge of getting more patrons into our libraries to enjoy the diverse, quality programming we offer. Rural libraries, though, may face a few additional challenges in programming.

Reaching Teens Subversively through Passive Programming
Looking for a way to implement programming at your library, but strapped for cash, staff, or time? Want an easy—and maybe even subversive—way to reach teens? Passive programming is the answer. Passive programming engages teens in the library without requiring much from staff in terms of supervision. It can be applied by those of all experience and comfort levels, making it an ideal solution for those who aren’t necessarily teen experts or when staff is simply spread too thin.

Repackage, Rebrand, Relaunch: Making Old Programs Look like New
How can we attract new faces to our regularly scheduled programs? It is all about the packaging! When product manufacturers experience stagnating sales, what do they do? They redesign their packaging! For libraries, the time to start changing the package (without necessarily altering the content) is when we want to reach new audiences or offer something new.

Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation
February 1861. Abraham Lincoln has been elected as the sixteenth President of the United States. Seven states have seceded from the Union. Representatives from the seceding states gather in Montgomery, Alabama, where they frame and adopt a constitution for their new government. Jefferson Davis is elected President of the Confederacy. Within the next two months, Lincoln will be inaugurated.

The Rural Library as the Focal Point of Learning and Culture
Rural libraries have a special role to play in the communities they serve. In fact, the smaller the community, the bigger looms the library—although there are admittedly some pretty tiny libraries out there. It’s not so much the size of the collection, or number of staff members, or even how many hours a week the library is open. A library has a unique relationship with the people it serves.

Your Business Is Our Business: How to Start a “Start Your Own Business” Program in Your Town
Looking for a way to implement programming at your library, but strapped for cash, staff, or time? Want an easy—and maybe even subversive—way to reach teens? Passive programming is the answer. Passive programming engages teens in the library without requiring much from staff in terms of supervision. It can be applied by those of all experience and comfort levels, making it an ideal solution for those who aren’t necessarily teen experts or when staff is simply spread too thin.

From the Blog

Adventure, Danger, Lit, and Science
The newly renovated Barney Branch of the Farmington (Conn.) Libraries is hosting the Director’s College, a series of programs designed to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of adult patrons.

Anniversaries in 2011
At our very productive Midwinter meetings, the ALA Public Programs Office’s Public and Cultural Programs Advisory Committee discussed putting together a list of 2011 anniversaries and events that librarians could use to plan programming around. I offered to work on this, and the result is this calendar of important dates that could lend themselves to author programs, film programs, panel discussions, and much more.

Are the Programs Your Library Offers the Programs Your Community Wants?
I suspect I’m not the only one who came across the “Murder by Numbers” post on the Agnostic, Maybe blog. For those who haven’t, the blogger, Andy W., described how perturbed he was by some graphics that were being floated online to encourage support for libraries during National Library Week.

Are You a Programming Librarian and an ALA Member? Let Your Voice Be Heard!
Although the Public Programs Office is a wonderful resource, there is currently no formal space in the ALA structure for members to contribute to the world of library public programming. The members of the Public and Cultural Programming Advisory Committee want to establish a new ALA Member Interest Group.

Are you a Programming Librarian?
“Are you a Programming Librarian?” served as an introduction to Programming Librarian, and it’s a resource I’m happy to see as the events and programming coordinator for my library. The session also offered a panel of presenters who shared their knowledge of the programming process and experiences with struggles so common for do-it-all librarians and staff.

Are you a Programming Librarian?
Interested in creating and coordinating programs for your community fueled by creativity, connections, and shoe-string budgets? Attend “Are you a Programming Librarian?” at the ALA Annual Conference on Sunday, June 27, 1:30–3:30 p.m., at the Washington Convention Center, Room 209 A/B, to hear from librarians like you.

Arts Programming in a Public Library, Part I
I will start this piece with a confession: I am not a librarian. Ah ah ah … please don’t put down the magazine or shut off your computer just yet. I was hired to be the programmer for the East Meadow Public Library (EMPL) because I am not a librarian. My background is in the professional performing arts and academia.

Arts Programming in a Public Library, Part II
In my second interview with John Franzen, he sat me down and said, “You’re hired. Want the job?” I, ever articulate, said, “Ummm. Yeah?” I had a feeling there was more to come. He gave me a number of mandates. One of the items on his list (which was quite long) was to improve the programming.

Arts Programming in a Public Library, Part III
At a recent conference for a grant I was fortunate enough to receive, a librarian came up to me and asked me to describe my job. I told him that the closest I could come would be to say that I was an artistic director. If you follow that train of thought, directors create events.

Authors @ your library
The past week saw another great thread in the Public Programs Office’s Public Programs Forum electronic discussion list, this time started by Marie Slaby, Urbana Regional Library, Frederick, Maryland. She wrote, “I’m looking for recommendations of famous living authors you’ve seen or hosted in your communities and would appeal to a broad audience. If money were no object, whom would you choose? Who not only gets them in the door, but also wows them once inside?”

Check Out This Award-winning Reading Program for Students
Panagiotis Stathopoulos’s project, “Found in Translation: Reading, Writing, Critical Thinking, and Metaphrasis,” is the 2013 recipient of the American Association of School Librarians” (AASL) Innovative Reading Grant.

Civic Engagement @ your library
The ALA Public Programs Office asked librarians to share their stories of civic engagement at the local library, specifically surrounding the 2008 presidential election season. As always, librarians came through for us, sharing stories as well as images and PR materials.

Cooking Up a Contest
Editor’s note: Tie this contest in with your cooking programs, or use it to inspire new programming. One commenter on the contest’s website mentioned that her library was hosting a recipe tasting to determine which recipe should be submitted—a great idea!

Create Some Buzz at Your Library
Before we were afraid that swarms of killer bees were coming; now we’re afraid that the rise in colony collapse disorder will wipe bees out. Perhaps as a result, backyard beekeeping has become a popular hobby, and, as usual, libraries are on top of the trend.

Creating a Global Village
As the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) notes, “In the United States, foreign-born residents now constitute more than 12.4% of the population, a higher figure than at any time since 1910. ... The integration of these millions of new residents into the fabric of American life is a major undertaking.” In order to address this increasingly important issue, ULC created “Welcome, Stranger: Public Libraries Build the Global Village” (PDF) along with an accompanying toolkit (PDF) to help libraries.

Creative Aging at Wells Memorial Library
On an autumn morning in the Adirondacks, participants gathered for the third session of a Creative Aging drawing class, chatting and surveying a large drawing hanging in nonfiction. Teaching artist Grace Potthast assembled the class.

Exploring Literature and Film
You love to read and watch movies. Why not combine your passion for both with a PBS Masterpiece Book & Film Club in your library? Gather like-minded patrons to talk about books, film adaptations, costumes, actors, and more.

Express Yourself!
I am always on the lookout for easy marketing/outreach activities that take little effort and staff time to pull together, especially since my library is small with few staff. In November 2011, as I was reading messages on an email discussion list one day, someone mentioned using an Expression Wall.

Featured Library: Birmingham Public Library
This month we’re highlighting Birmingham (Ala.) Public Library’s upcoming Eat Drink Read Write Festival. Designed to “feed the mind, body, and soul,” the festival will bring “food, culinary arts, and literature to the table in a format that will help foster community.”

Featured Library: Dexter District Library
Now that summer reading programs have wrapped up, I found myself wondering how libraries were welcoming fall. I discovered Dexter (Mich.) District Library’s September line-up, which offers an impressive variety of programs for kids, families, and adults.

Feeding (into) the Frenzy
On March 17, the Des Plaines (Ill.) Public Library held its first after-hours teen program. The “74th Hunger Games” was the culmination of more than a year of planning by the youth services department head, the teen librarian, the web services librarian, and the youth services assistant.

Financial Planning @ your library
According to a recent poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, saving money was the third most popular New Year’s resolution. Libraries are trying to make this goal easier to reach.

Finding the History of Your Home
I live in a rehabbed condo in a building that’s about one hundred years old, and I’ve often wondered about who had lived there in the past, what the inside of the building looked like when it was first built, and how the building has changed over the years. If my home was in Fullterton, California, I likely would have been able to find much of that out.

Free Marketing Toolkit for Rural Libraries Available
A newly updated version of the popular “Small but Powerful Guide to Winning Big Support for Your Rural Library” is now available from the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services as a free print or digital edition.

Globalization Trends in Library Programming
The ALA Public Programs Office wants to hear from programming librarians about the types of issues, activities, and themes that are currently engaging communities. We welcome your input in the form of submissions to this blog, tips about great programming resources, responses to opinion surveys, and ideas for national program offerings.

Go for the Gold @ your library
You don’t have to travel to Vancouver to participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics. There are several ways to enjoy the Olympics @ your library. Hosting your own Olympic Games @ your library can be a fun way to promote your library’s existing gaming program.

Go Wild At Your Library
I know two things about the wildlife in my neighborhood: my dog loves to chase it, and, given the chance, it will destroy much of my container garden. I suspect there’s more to animals in the city, however. Here are some programs I discovered on urban wildlife from libraries across the country.

Good Question: Requiring Registration
Library programming is not only about the big picture, it’s also about the small details. For example, Nann Blaine Hilyard, director of the Zion-Benton (Ill.) Public Library, recently asked the following good question on the Public Programs discussion list...

Harry Potter @ your library
Movie posters for the second installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows remind fans that “it all ends,” but a visit to the local library might yield some different thoughts.

Having a Doggone Good Time with the World’s Largest Dog
I’ll be up front and admit that I chose to blog about Kalamazoo (Mich.) Public Library’s recent program Doggone Fun! not just because it looks like it was a fun program for children or because it featured dogs as the topic.

Hoppy Hour at the Library: A Homebrew 101 Workshop
This April, we turned our Conference Room into a brewery. The community of Darien, Connecticut, is full of “lifelong learners”: those with the strong desire to tinker, dabble, and dip their toes into all kinds of experiences. With this conviction in mind, I organized a Homebrew 101 workshop right here at Darien Library.

How Does Your Garden Programming Grow?
This year I decided I was going to get serious about my garden. Admittedly, my garden is a bunch of containers on a patio, and I knew I was going to plant mostly vegetables this time, so it wouldn’t be terribly complex. Or so I thought, until I started my research. A quick check on my public library’s programs found a number that I would be interested in, but didn’t turn up anything on gardening. I started to wonder what other libraries were doing.

Incubate Art at Your Library
Are you looking for creative ideas for arts-based programming, or wondering how your library can better support the arts and artists in your community? Do you have great arts programming at your library that you want to share? The Library as Incubator Project is here to help!

Library 101
I recently came across the Library 101 project, which was developed to help librarians make it through and succeed during the social and technological change we are seeing today. In addition to providing tips, the site featured essays by librarians on what they see changing in libraries, and what we need to be doing to ensure we remain relevant as technology and society evolve. A few of these essays provide some food for thought for programmers, as well.

Library Programming Policy Statements
An interesting thread started in the Public Programs Office’s Public Programs Forum electronic discussion list this week with a request for examples of public library adult programming policy statements.

Lifelong Learning @ your library
Libraries are synonymous with lifelong learning. In today’s tough economy, the spotlight shines on the services libraries offer to job seekers, but libraries remain a place of lifelong learning for all, including library staff.

Maximizing the Impact of Programming
Stories take many forms, far beyond just text or pictures. This means libraries are more than merely a book lender or an internet provider. Libraries are at the forefront when it comes to providing enriching educational and cultural programs that aim to inform, enhance, and instruct their surrounding communities.

Meet with a Consultant for Free at the ALA Annual Conference
The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) and the Public Library Association (PLA) are teaming up to offer “Consultants Give Back” at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference—an opportunity for libraries to receive free, thirty-minute consultation sessions from professional library consultants.

My Programming Wish List
Recently I found myself pondering what programs I wish I could attend at my local branch. If money and potential audience (and possible legal issues) weren’t a consideration, here’s the short list of what I would want to see.

NASA’s Rover Curiosity to Land On Mars in Early August: Invite Your Community to Get Involved at Your Library!
On August 5/6 the biggest, heaviest, most advanced robot ever sent to another planet will land on Mars! The Mars Rover, “Curiosity,” with its onboard Mars Science Laboratory, will spend two years on our near neighbor, helping us to determine if Mars has—or ever had—places suitable for life.

New for December at EDSITEment
EDSITEment showcases a new lesson, “Boycotting the Baubles from Britain” in December. This lesson looks at the changes in British policies and the colonists’ resistance through the topics of tea, clothing, and other British goods.

New for January at EDSITEment
This month, EDSITEment celebrates the moral vision of Martin Luther King and offers new lessons on the role of the NAACP in American history, politics, and culture.

New for November at EDSITEment
November is Native American Heritage Month, and EDSITEment is celebrating by featuring the recent five-part PBS series We Shall Remain, which was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Not Your Typical Talk at Hennepin County Library
In December 2011, Hennepin County (Minn.) Library (HCL) offered two unique programs: the “Talk & Taste” series and “An Interview with Scott Sigler, Paperless Author.”

Only Fifty-Nine Days Until Talk Like a Pirate Day
As Dave Barry once wrote, “Every now and then, some visionary individuals come along with a concept that is so original and so revolutionary that your immediate reaction is: ‘Those individuals should be on medication.’” Now, I have no knowledge regarding the mental or physical status of International Talk Like a Pirate Day’s founders, but I do know pirates* are a great way to inject some fun into your library programming.

Patrons Get Sew Excited at Denver Public Library Branches
With limited budget dollars all around, Denver (Colo.) Public Library’s Fresh City Life My Branch adult programming tries to get the most out of what we have, whether partnering with local organizations or utilizing the talents of our own staff. We also try to look ahead and invest in equipment that can be used for years to come.

Pinning Your Way to Fabulous Programming
If you’re a fan of arts and craft or recipe websites (or just spend ridiculous amounts of time wandering aimlessly around the internet, like myself), odds are that you’ve heard about Pinterest. If not, then you should definitely go explore. Be forewarned, though—you may look up hours later to find that the entire afternoon has inexplicably passed you by.

Plan Your El día de los niños/El día de los libros
To better serve the growing population of libraries offering events for El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), also known as día, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) released a new día website. The completely redesigned site includes a día resource guide for public and school librarians, giving them everything they need to produce a Día event at their library.

Planting a Seed in Your Community
Some of you may remember my blog post on gardening from last year. Let’s just say my first serious attempt at vegetable growing was a learning experience, and I’m currently hard at work on this year’s garden. In order to refresh my gardening memory (and hopefully improve this year’s crop), I did a little online research and was thrilled to stumble upon Richmond (Calif.) Public Library’s seed-lending library.

Programming and Censorship
This will be a short blog post, but one that I’m hoping will spark a lot of discussion in the comments. Some of you may have read about the controversy with Library and Archives Canada and their scheduled, then canceled, then rescheduled screening of Iranium.

Programming Librarian’s Top Ten Lists for 2011
Lists are an end-of-year staple, so it’s time Programming Librarian offered some of its own. I decided to compile the year’s top ten most-read feature articles and blog posts, fully expecting most (if not all) of them to be from 2011.

Programming So Good It's Criminal
I'll best remember this summer for two things: the heat, and my steady diet of crime novels. As usual, my new interest in the genre led me to wonder how libraries were incorporating crime into their programming. Also as usual, I wasn't disappointed. Crime scene investigation is alive and well in our libraries.

Programs That Pack the Place
If you’ve ever wondered how to fill your library’s rooms during programs, there was no better place to be than the 2010 ALA Annual Conference for “Programs That Pack the Place: A How-to for Libraries of All Shapes and Sizes.”

Science Programming 101: Presenting Excellent Science Programs in Your Library
Does your library have access to paper plates and colorful crepe paper? If so, you have the necessary tools for children to create a wind vane to observe how our outdoor environment is constantly changing. At Sunday afternoon’s Science Programming 101 session in New Orleans, attendees participated in hands-on activities to investigate aspects of wind, clouds, and rain, and began to see how local weather relates to broader Earth systems.

Share Your National Library Week Programming Ideas
Share your programming ideas and join in the discussion at ALA Connect’s new National Library Week community. The mission of the National Library Week community is to create an open discussion space for ALA members to communicate their ideas and develop new ways to celebrate and promote National Library Week in all types of libraries.

Shopping for Authors
Booking authors for programs is trickier than ordering their books because you’re looking for a good reader, besides a good read. You may occasionally decide to book a less than great speaker that thrills your audience with their very presence, but you at least want to know what you’re getting into if at all possible.

Smart Cookies
Some co-workers and I were talking about our favorite cookie recipes earlier this week, and discussed setting up a cookie swap for the holidays. It should come as no surprise to you, however, that libraries are way ahead of us.

Sources for Inspiration
Explore the rich variety of topics, images, and materials featured in Library and Archival Exhibitions. With more than 3,000 searchable links, you’re bound to find something that can serve as a source of inspiration when planning your programs.

Spring Has Sprung @ your library
Whether spring means a thorough house cleaning, preparing a home garden or simply enjoying the season, librarians are planning programs that suit library users’ preferred springtime activities.

Sprinkle, Mold, Blend, Create: Cooking Programs for Teens
There is no question that free food brings teenagers to library programs. Whether it’s a book discussion with free pizza, a teen movie night with buttered popcorn, or chips and pretzels on a gaming night, free food is enough incentive for teens to show up, hang out, and slowly make their way toward the Doritos.

Study Reinforces Importance of Children’s Programming
A new study shows that the majority of parents highly value one resource for their children: libraries. Ninety-four percent say libraries are important for their children, according to new report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

Summer Activity Series for Teens
In addition to the usual summer reading program, the Pasadena (Calif.) Public Library is hosting a series of special teen activities throughout July and August. The Try It @ Your Library Teen Camps will cover a variety of topics.

Tax Season @ your library
In tough economic times, libraries help people save money in a variety of ways. This year, many libraries across the country are doing just that by working to provide library users not only with the tools to file their taxes, but resources and experts that can help them get the most out of their refund.

The September Project
A recent comment on Programming Librarian Facebook page recently caught my eye. Sandy Whipple wrote that she “would love to see more libraries, both public and academic, hosting programs and events as participants in The September Project.” Sandy, I can't promise that this blog post will increase participation, but but it definitely seems a program worth sharing for those who are unfamiliar with it.

Too Much of a Good Thing
The good news? Your library programs are so successful that people have to line up for them. The bad news? Your library programs are so successful that people have to line up for them. Offering programs that are extremely well-attended by patrons seems like the ideal, but a recent article on New Canaan Public Library’s overcrowding issue showed me that there’s a downside to success as well.

Two Good Questions
Today the ALA Public Programs Office received not one, but two good questions in its mailbox, both from public librarians, the first in North Dakota and the second in Texas.

Two of a Kind
This is one of those too-good-to-be-true things. If you think it would be impossible to book one of you favorite authors for a reading at your library, what would you think if it became possible to get not only one, but two?

Use It, Love It, or Need It: Help Your Patrons Declutter
One of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions is getting organized! In January 2011 we decided to help our patrons get the year off to a good start by bringing in a professional organizer to conduct a program about how to get and stay organized … we called it “Organizing 101.”