Balancing My Productivity Expectations with the Reality of My Meetings

Blue weaving opf poplar trees on white fabric

What’s on my to-do list this week? Post 2 (no, 3) art exhibits to the website. Edit and post a new Local History story on the League of Women Voters, from our Center for Local History (CLH). Cover a cool author event. Edit and post new staff picks. Get The Lit Up Ball – our […]

#OhBoyTolstoy – Or, We Made a Podcast

Caricature portrait of Leo Tolstoy

This Summer I, and 3 librarian colleagues from the Arlington Public Library, set off on a multi-layered, virtual book club project called “The Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy!“ The librarians’ goal, along with the 200+ people who registered to join us, was to read “War and Peace.” My goal was to successfully run a […]

Why Tweets on Your Library Twitter Account Need Context

As libraries, we tweet about so many different things: books, craft programs, website features, author events, maker workshops, and much more. In fact, my library’s twitter account uses the description, “Library, Literary & Local stuff” to warn folks about the breadth of our tweets. But while our followers expect tweets about a wide variety of […]

Internet Librarian 2015 – Sessions Sneak Peek

In 2 weeks I head to the Internet Librarian conference in Monterrey CA, so I’ve been getting my slides ready. This will be my first IL conference and I’m excited to meet West Coast folks who don’t travel East to Computers in Libraries – especial if you want to talk about libraries and social media […]

Computers in Libraries 2015 – Panel Discussion

The annual Computers in Libraries conference starts next Monday in Washington DC, and on Tuesday I’m leading a panel discussion on “Social Media & Community Engagement.” The description is: “A strong online community can help strengthen a library’s in-person community and contribute to community resilience in times of stress. But how do you develop this? […]

Short Video on Design Thinking

I didn’t do the production on this, but I did write the script and created a lot of the graphics. As a follow up, the Washington Post recently wrote an article about the programs that have come out of this Design Thinking process.

To Join ALA, or not to Join ALA?

This post is the result of a response to a comment my friend John – who is not a member of ALA – wrote on my post from last April, Should We create a National Library Association?, asking whether American Libraries need a public advocacy group, dedicated to raising public awareness of the importance of […]

Funding a New Mexico Public Library

Last week, my mother’s cousin sent this report about the very tiny El Rito Library, in New Mexico – where public library funding is precarious.  She’s originally from Ohio, where public libraries have greater  financial support from the state. What strikes me most about my aunt’s letter is that the public library’s annual budget is […]

250 British Libraries scheduled to close

Catherine Bennett in the Observer, in regards to 250 British libraries scheduled for closure: “By the time experts have established that, where the alleviation of ignorance, illiteracy, isolation, helplessness, unemployment, infirmity, boredom, neglect and poverty are concerned, libraries do, after all, offer something culturally irreplaceable, they will be gone.” Well this just sucks.