Info, links and musings from a (non-librarian) Library supporter.
LibrarianInBlack has a nice list of Podcasting Resources for Staff. She says, “Feel free to use and modify these materials for your own staff, as long as attribution is given to me and San Mateo County Library for the original materials. Consider it our contribution to the greater good :)”
Library customers run the gamut from the nostalgia-prone (I remember when) to the ones who think that the only reason to go to a library is for the free Internet access. However, something a lot of people ask (in the many different levels of customers) is why do we allow kids/teens to use the library to play?
An article in the Boston Globe addresses this issue.
[snip]
In an effort to lure teens and build a base of lifelong patrons, libraries are leaving behind their humdrum ways and getting the party started, stocking up on everything from video-game collections to radio edits of Ludacris CDs. Branches in Santa Clara, Calif., and Sewickley, Pa., are hosting Dance Dance Revolution video game tournaments, and in Charlotte, N.C., there’s a blue screen studio where teens can produce their own cartoons, claymation, and live action films. And, oh yeah, they still have books.
Until about 15 years ago, most libraries were divided into the adult and children’s sections, and teens had to make do with a shelf of Lois Duncan and Robert Cormier paperbacks. Over the last decade, though, libraries have begun to set aside separate budgets for adolescents, and now we’ve reached the point where the majority of libraries have carved out a place for teens to hang out. And they are — in droves.
[snip]
Sources:
Austin building eco-friendly library
– reported by the Austin Business Journal
[snip]
The library’s new permanent home will feature modular stay-in-place concrete forms, “Turf Cell” alternative paving systems, porous pavement areas and an underground “rain tank” sedimentation basin.
“With this library’s new building, it will bring recognition to the neighborhood as both a family-friendly gathering place and an architectural landmark,” says John Gillum, the facilities planning manager of the Austin Public Library Department.
[snip]