Public Libraries

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has awarded the Round Rock Public Library System a grant of $49,500 to build Innovation Station, an after-school maker space and program that aims to engage middle schoolers in project-based science, technology, engineering, mathematics, art and design activities. The grant is part of a total $1.6 million in awards that TSLAC is distributing in fiscal 2014 to Texas library programs.

The Detroit Public Library (DPL), Forgotten Harvest, and the Chrysler Foundation have partnered to provide free nutritious snacks to school-aged children who attend after school reading programs at 20 DPL branches throughout the city. The snack packs—typically fruit, a drink, and a nutritious item such as yogurt—also are available to children on days when Detroit Public Schools are closed and during special DPL-sponsored programs.

Nearly 10,000 students at 20 local schools now have access to the Indianapolis Public Library's collection of nearly two million items as part of the library's growing Shared System, an inter-library collaboration that provides online circulation services and joint access to the catalogs and collections of member institutions.

Beloit (WI) Public Library is celebrating September's Library Card Sign-Up Month with a campaign that showcases staff members and patrons. Head of Adult Services Tina Kakuske helmed the project, which features eight downloadable posters and bookmarks that highlight the community's needs and interests.

Imagine a day in your library devoted to the basics of coding in Python and sending a roomful of teens home with computers they can keep. Now imagine doing this for about $30! It’s completely possible, because it happened at Southwest Regional Library, a regional branch of the Durham County Library system in Durham, North Carolina.

Can a public library serve both school children and its other patrons at the same time? That question is being put to the test in Chicago this week as the Back of the Yards Library—a public branch meant to serve as a school library for the 9–12 grade students attending the new Back of the Yards High School next door—opens its doors.

The Queens Library branch in Cambria Heights, NY, celebrated the start of work on its new 4,000-square-foot Teen Center with a ceremonial wall-breaking last week. The library hopes to open the space—which will include a Cyber Center, a lounge and gaming area, a sound recording booth, a meeting room, and a reading room—by next spring.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez, who last month warned that 22 of the county’s 49 public libraries could be shut down this fall due to deep budget cuts, announced that his administration now expects to shutter only four, according to the Miami Herald.

Nearly 50 children’s and teen librarians met last week at Darien Library (CT) for the fifth annual KidLibCamp, a free “unconference” in which the discussion topics, panels, and workshops are voted on by the participants. Attendees explored best practices in 12 interactive breakout sessions with several common takeaways: that innovative programming can be achieved at little start-up cost; librarians need to better market existing programs to their patrons; and partnering with schools and communities is critical to the future of our libraries.