Public Libraries

The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading today unveiled a new report on the role of museums and libraries in early learning, and issued a call to action for policymakers, schools, funders, and parents to include these institutions in comprehensive early learning strategies.

Later this week, kid lit fans in New York will finally be able to view “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” a fascinating new exhibit at the New York Public Library curated by children’s book historian Leonard S. Marcus. Marcus was given access to the library’s vast collection of artifacts, from which he culled 250 items—including the copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that belonged to Alice Liddell, the girl for whom Lewis Carroll wrote the book.

You’re in a room with 65 teen volunteers waiting to be trained on the Summer Reading Program. You thought of the perfect icebreaker for the group: “What is your favorite memory of the summer reading program?” Crickets... And then it hits you. They don’t have any favorite memories of a summer reading program. They don’t even know what a summer reading program is, save the fact that it’s a volunteer opportunity. Why? Because they’ve never participated in a Summer Reading Program (SRP).

Things are wet in NYC these days.  We’ve been experiencing a great deal of rainfall this past spring, a fact that gives me a strange sense of comfort.  I can’t help but think this might be my first year here in town where all the fountains are on in all the parks this summer.  I [...]

The White House’s announcement last week of the ConnectEd initiative, President Obama’s urging of the FCC to overhaul the E-Rate program, is only the first step in what must be a larger, committed effort to fully fund technology in our nation’s schools and libraries, the International Society for Technology in Education says.

The White House’s announcement Thursday that it is urging the FCC to overhaul E-Rate—the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries—is an important and nearly unprecedented step forward in closing the digital divide, the American Library Association tells SLJ.

Morning, fellow plebes!  And isn’t the weather just fine and dandy these last few days?  It has been in New York anyway.  Which is to say, it feels like we briefly stole San Francisco’s temperatures for our own use this week.  Giving it back is going to be awful.  To take my mind off that, [...]

NYC Councilmembers and other library supporters gathered on the steps of City Hall to protest proposed cuts to library funding. Warren St. John and Jo S. Kittinger were both presented with Christopher Awards on May 23.

More than a dozen New York City Council members, the presidents of New York’s three library systems, and several hundred librarians, library staff, supporters, advocates, and children from nearby schools rallied on the steps of city hall to protest $106 million in proposed funding cuts. Council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Vincent J. Gentile also pledged to introduce legislation that would create a baseline of stable funding for the city’s public library services.