Crossover Appeal: Books that Work for Teens and Adults

This program was sponsored by the AAP Children's Library Marketing Committees.  It featured a moderator and a panel composed of four YA authors:

-Matthew Quick (Every Exquisite Thing)
-Robin Talley (Lies We Tell Ourselves)
-Marissa Meyer (Heartless)
-Paul Rudnick (It's All Your Fault)

The moderator, Tina Jordan, noted that a recent survey showed that 55% of YA readers are actually adults - and why this is the case. Although the children's book industry is a relatively new market, it has grown quickly to become worth millions of dollars worldwide, with authors such as JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer becoming favorite authors.

It used to be shameful for adults to read books written for teenagers, never mind admitting that publicly, but nowadays it has become quite common.  Some reasons why:

-escapist appeal - distracts adults from the real world
-the books are exciting and engaging
-full of passion and drama
-discusses important themes of love, friendship and identity

This is the note on which they left us: adults are just people too, and we are entitled to read and like YA as much as anyone!

Gressco does children's

I've only ever known Gressco as the the media locking case folks. But, they also do children's furniture and panel games. Could be some fun stuff for the 2nd floor, or on some of our blank spaces (where ever those might be).
http://www.gresscoltd.com/products/by-manufacturer/the-children-s-furniture-co.html

Dragons in the Library: Tabletop Gaming and the Public Library


This was another fascinating and fun program and a great way to end the conference, presented by two Librarians from Fresno County Public Library. I'm not a gamer, especially RPG, but this was still really interesting. This coming weekend FCPL is presenting their annual 2 day gaming con, BookWrym! In 2014 186 people attended over two days. In 2015, 320 attended. They have many many tables and many DMs (Dungeon Masters). People register in advance and there is a number of different games, not just D&D, but most are still RPG. I could see us doing a program like this as a Cultural Arts Night with games in Teen, Non-Fiction, and Children's. Can't you just see a group playing Bean Farm? Or Codenames? (I feel much cooler just knowing what these are now)
April 30th is tabletop gaming day. Just saying...
The idea behind alternative programming like this is to bring non-traditional library users to programs. Studies show "those people" are coming to the library. But, they do not attend programs. So, new programs=new users. Also, these alternative programs help to build a community, beyond books.
Other programs beyond gaming are:
Santa Clara offers fitness classes
coloring books for adults (I think we're already looking into this)
trivia nights (hello, San Jose!)
Denver offers "Overdue" Beer, Books, and Bands Together at Last (would Risk Management go for that?)
How to: caching in on the Pinterest and How-to crowd.

From one great iconic nerd:
http://wilwheaton.net/2011/01/librarians-are-awesome/

Building Digitally Inclusive Libraries

This program was fascinating. Don would have loved it, I am sure. There were three speakers, the first being Kelvin Watson, Chief Innovation & Technology Director of the Queens (N.Y.) Public Library.  Queens has developed a virtual library of digital access that keeps people using their tools, even after they leave the library and extends the library beyond its traditional walls. They have 5,000 (!!!) tablets that they loan for 1 month, with an option for 3 months of renewals. When they log in they are taken to the Queens Library Interface which has buffet browsing curated to the needs of the patron. Patrons are able to view training videos, browse events, make donations, and essentially access everything they would via the library website, but now through the tablet. The https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SofOEsh3BNUinternet is accessible, though they make it difficult, and it is filtered. There is less than 10% loss of these devices and 25% of them are loaned in conjunction with a mobile hot spot.
The next two presenters spoke on the same topic, the Library Whitespace Initiative, one of them working as the national team to implement, and the other from the Manhattan (Kansas) Public Library that is using the program. From what I am able to understand, long range wireless data communications is made possible using the free public spectrum that opened ups when TVs went digital. Essentially, wifi travels in the space between the TV signals (the whitespace). There are no towers, no wires, no carriers, no permissions, no monthly fees. Rather, this is like your local network, but over a wide area outside of your library. Like your TV, the waves can travel over small hills, through trees and buildings. There is more access in rural areas where the space between signals is greater. Think of our local stations. There are lots of them in LA, the Bay Area, and other major metropolitan areas. But, a town in Kansas most likely only gets the Topeka affiliate of NBC, ABC, etc. So, they have more "room" for this access.
Check out this youtube video to learn more:

Inside the 2015 New Landmark Libraries

Inside the 2015 New Landmark Libraries (program sponsored by Library Journal)

I wanted to attend this program to hear about the most innovative, recently opened new library buildings or major renovations.  A little background: the New Landmark Libraries honors public libraries completed between 2010 and 2014.  Below are the winners, selected from more than 80 entries by a panel of judges from the field led by project coordinator Emily Puckett Rodgers, School of Information Entrepreneurship Program Manager at the Univ. of Michigan.  

The presenters are showing a powerpoint that breaks down the current trends, along with an example of a library the exemplifies it:

Trend:  Libraries as Placemakers – Jasper Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Trend:  Creative Culture Catalysts – Madison Central Library, Wisconsin

Trend:  Aspirational and Accessible – Vancouver Community Library, Washington

Trend:  Libraries Breathe and Grow – Bayview Linda Brooks-Barton Branch, San Francisco Public Library

Trend:  Transparent and Light-filled – Pico Branch, Santa Monica Library

Trend:  Connected to the Environment – St. Helena Branch Library, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

Trend:  Boundless – Lawrence Public Library, Kansas

Mega-Trend: Green, LEED certified – Mitchell Park Library, Palo Alto, CA

Mega-Trend: Sustainable – Cedar Rapids Public Library, Iowa

All in all, this was very interesting, and definitely something I am going to read more about.  For complete profiles, trends and more, refer to the September 15, 2015 issue of Library Journal and Library By Design!

The Visible Library: exposing collections through linked data

Denver Public Library, Anythink Libraries, Edmonton Public Library and Worthington Ohio Libraries are embarking on a new way to get their holdings out front on the Web. They are using a service called Zepheria which converts MARC records into something called a Bibframe, which allows the item record to show up in web searches. This program was more techy than I could comprehend but from what I understood, this is something very new and when someone questioned the cost of the conversion, the panelists were very vague so I suspect this is pricey.
Worthington Public Library's pilot project in 2015 - 102,170 records genererated 500,000 Bibframe resources and by July 2015 335,000 MARC records produced 1,600,000 Bibframe records.
Each library seemed thrilled with the conversion but the impact remains to be seen.

I did a little test and typed in Google "Harry Potter book Denver" and the library's catalog link was #6.  I did the same for Harry Potter book Rancho Cucamonga" and the top result was Barnes and Noble..

Lights, Camera, Advocacy: Digital Storytelling for Your Library

This program was presented by staff from TechSoup (a nonprofit that offers technology solutions) and Kixal (a training and instructional design firm).  I was curious to see what they had to say since I worked on the California of the Past digital storytelling grant team.   Basically, they discussed how to use digital storytelling to increase public support for your library.


They offered the following digital storytelling tips:
1.  Do storymining - ask questions that illustrate impact
2.  Show a transformation
3.  Have a hero
4.  Know your story's paradigm - make it a story of self, us or now
5.  Pull Apart stories
6.  Put it on paper
7   Surprise yourself




Ways to get organized before making your video:
1. Collect, organize, script
2. Use a storyboard
3. Make a production schedule
4. Log your shots
5.  Use an equipment checklist (camera, mic, tripod, lights)




In closing, they mentioned that TechSoup holds an annual challenge which helps nonprofits learn how to increase their storytelling skills for fundraising and advocacy purposes.  This year's challenge is called Storymakers 2016 - they also have a contest in which they give away $7,000 in cash prizes and a new camera.  For more information, check the TechSoup website at http://meet.techsoup.org/