February 16, 2013

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Fresh Paint: A New Building, a New Team, a New Me

By on January 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
11613freshchanges

My father is a Marine, so by the time I was eight I was quite adept at packing up my things. I vividly remember when we moved to Beaufort, SC. It was 1996, and it was the first time I ever took advantage of a move. Instead of trashing my old clothes and childish toys, I fixed up parts of my personality that needed improvement and tried out some new traits. I asked people to call me “Al”, giving the role of tomboy a spin. I also spoke up a little more and put myself in more social situations. I used this experience to invent a whole new me.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Librarians & Media Specialists, Professional Reading, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Fresh Paint: Teen Volunteers—Priceless

By on December 18, 2012 1 Comment
Gum Spring Library

Volunteers are a critical component of the public library organization. At my branch, nearly 20 percent of the shelving is completed by adult and teen volunteers. Each month teens log an average of 125 volunteer hours, which is comparable to having an additional staff member. We have volunteers at work nearly every open hour during the summer, and on evenings and weekends during the school year. Their dedication is tireless. Their value? Priceless.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Sandy & Libraries: Photos of Libraries in the Storm’s Aftermath

By on October 31, 2012 1 Comment
People charging up phones at library

Sandy blasted through the East Coast from October 28-29 leaving its record-breaking mark. Despite major damage, libraries have risen to the challenge of serving their communities, offering internet access, electrical power, and even storytime.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Featured, Industry News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Fresh Paint: Works Well with Others

By on September 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
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The public library is an information center providing resources that the community needs and wants. To know exactly what the community needs and wants the library relies on comment cards, conducts online surveys, and closely follows local issues and trends. But what if there are no customers to poll, no users for librarians to have a discussion with? This is exactly the situation that my library system is currently facing, because we are building a library where there has never been one (for many, many miles) and therefore there are no statistics, surveys, or discussions to base our collection, preliminary programming, or resource needs.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Buildings & Design, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Coming Soon: Fresh Paint!

By April Layne Pavis, Loudon County (VA) Public Library on September 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
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There’s a new column coming to SLJTeen – Fresh Paint: Notes from a Public Library. We’ll hear from April Pavis, teen services librarian, as she prepares to move into the eighth library branch in Loudoun County, Virginia, the Gum Spring Library which will deliver 40,000 square feet of space for materials, programs, education, and entertainment to an area of the county that has never had a library.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Industry News, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Baltimore Schools Receive $5 Million Library Upgrades

By on August 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
baltimore

Hundreds of K-8 students in Baltimore, MD, will return this fall to 12 new school libraries equipped with Nooks, computers, and even a reading spot for mom and dad, thanks to a $5 million, four-year grant from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Librarians & Media Specialists, Students, Technology Tagged With: , ,

NYC Pols Urge State to Ban Sex Offenders from Library Children’s Rooms

By Meredith Schwartz on July 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
NYPL's 42 Street Children's Center.

New York Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens have asked the New York state legislature to pass a law barring sex offenders from children’s reading rooms in libraries.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Legislation, Public Libraries Tagged With: ,

Chicago Building Its First Joint High School/Public Library from the Ground Up

By on June 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
chicago-hs-pl

Chicago’s taking the partnership between public and school libraries to the next level—it’s building its first public library as part of a school.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Public Libraries, Schools & Districts Tagged With:

Reading Challenge Nets WI School a $100K Library Makeover

By on May 14, 2012 Leave a Comment

Elementary schools in Racine, WI, were offered a tough challenge: read one million books during the 2011/2012 school year and win a $100,000 school library makeover.

Filed Under: Awards & Contests, Books & Media, Buildings & Design, Programs & Programming, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , , ,