Libraries Help Keep Brains Healthy
By Nancy Davis
Ever think of your library as a brain health center? For the baby boomer generation, it is.
Word on the Blog
The Latest Thoughts from Ivy Library Consultants
Good ideas bubble up at the strangest times...too bad we can't blog in the shower!
Brick and Mortar Booksellers “Occupy” Amazon
By Katie Speace
If Amazon didn't stir up enough anger among small businesses with its recent endorsement of the online sales tax bill, the Internet superstore unofficially declared war on brick and mortar retailers over the weekend.
The Library as Art Space
By Catherine Alloway
A small wall area or empty space can be turned into a large-impact community resource that guarantees more visitors and revenues to your library. A few pointers:
The New York Times Reports Parents Prefer Print
By Katie Speace
We reflected this morning on the popularity of e-readers as gifts for children and teens this holiday season as well as the growing availability of e-books at libraries. But a Sunday article in The New York Times has since caught our attention, reporting that a significant number of parents, many who use e-readers themselves, have drawn a line for their young children—they insist on sticking to hard copies.
All I want for Christmas is… a Kindle?
By Barbara A. Genco
The iPad, the new Amazon Fire and the new NOOK Color tablets are all the rage for technophiles with dollars to spare. They run lively kid-friendly Apps, are full color, have responsive touch screens and are WiFi enabled. Educators love them and tout their adoption as tools for enhancing the learning for kids with ADD, Autism spectrum and more. Some parents have embraced them as more ‘educational’ replacements for the now familiar DVD-player-in-the-SUV strategy for long trips “over the river and through the woods.”
Salute the Super Pages: Treasuring Teen Team Members
By Catherine Alloway
Teen and young adult library pages can help provide an extraordinary customer service experience for visitors.
Libraries Essential for Disaster Response
By Michelle Stricker
Since our run-in with Hurricane Irene in August, the New Jersey State Library is pursuing FEMA certification for our branch libraries to serve as community Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs). We are currently exploring a partnership with the Atlantic County Library System to create New Jersey’s first library DRC as a model that can be replicated in libraries statewide.
All Hail the Library Card
By Pam Fitzgerald
We’ve said it over and over again: public libraries may be under pressure to keep up with technology, but the digital age has only brought more traffic through their doors.
Spare Change and Big Bellies
By Catherine Alloway
Here’s an easy way to get donations at your library. The “big belly banks”, available from a variety of sources online, are a fun way for library visitors to donate their spare change.
Calling All Libraries! (Well, Rural Ones)
By Katie Speace
Imagine an organization 100 percent devoted to providing children’s educational resources to rural libraries. Actually, no need to imagine. The Libri Foundation does just that.
I asked the reference librarian, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
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