What happens when you create an Innovation Lab at your library where people can explore, learn new technology and share their knowledge? Everybody wants in! Learn how Chad Mairn from the Seminole Community Library designed a Maker Boot Camp just for kids to connect them to coding, robotics, circuitry and more.
You’re never at a loss for ways you could increase your library services to better serve your students and your community. Unfortunately, you don’t always have the funds to pursue your vision, but knowing how to write a winning grant application can help. Successful grant writer and educator Mary Bangert provides six tips for writing effective grants and getting the funds you need to support your mission.
You have so many ideas about new ways to serve your community, but how will you fund them? Library expert Cathy Hakala-Ausperk answers your questions about grants and gets you started on the road to funding success!
Engaging college students is about much more than providing academic services. Learn how taking student outreach to a personal level can open new doors at your library.
Offering outreach services like bedside storytimes and volunteer training is an extremely rewarding way to support hospitalized children and their families. Gather tips and advice for reaching out to hospital staff, launching a partnership and designing your programs.
Are you on the hunt for new ways to serve your community’s diverse population? Learn how Adult Services Manager Trinity Lescallett finds books and activities to engage adults with disabilities in her library, and gain resources for your own programs.
Join Mover and Shaker Erica Freudenberger as she shares her experience of embracing community engagement to create a democratic, community-led organization and revitalize a library and community.
Looking for simple, inexpensive passive programming? These effective, engaging and fun ideas are easy to implement and won’t break your budget!
Find ways to promote compassionate making with makerspace projects that connect students to their school, the community, the world and the environment.
After writing grants, garnering the support of the college foundation and finding community partners, St. Petersburg College’s Innovation Lab was born.
Support (and opposition) for your library can come from some interesting places in your community — and it’s all about relationship-building. Start developing long-term relationships that can result in positive support for your library campaigns.
Inspire kids to get involved and help others in their community with fun volunteering activities for your summer reading program.
Renovated and expanded in 2015, the Schreiner Memorial Library (WI) was smartly designed to serve the community’s current and future needs. See why it was named Library of the Year from the Wisconsin Library Association in 2016.
Libraries are known for offering equitable access to their services. To ensure that everyone, including the LGBTQ+ community, feels welcome in your library, follow Jessica Jupitus’s 10 tips for creating a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Measuring the impact of programs and services is a challenge, but it can be done. Learn how a library partnership and data sharing can get you started.
Read how the Gail Borden Public Library won the 2016 Upstart Library Innovation Award for taking traditional library summer reading programs in an exciting new direction.
There has been a significant leap in adult programming and outreach. Read about 5 ways that libraries are pushing the envelope and leading the way in their communities.
Join the conversation! Madison Public Library staff reflect on the organization’s recent successes and plans for future community outreach programs and service.
Reading aloud every day can have a big impact on a child’s future success. Join Read Aloud 15 MINUTES and share this literacy program with your community.
A feeling of solidarity resounded at ALA 2016 with attendees focusing on new ways to serve those in need and the community at large. Read the recap.
America Recycles Day is the perfect time to start a global collaboration project that gives schools and libraries authentic opportunities to learn and make connections beyond their walls.
What happened at PLA 2016 doesn’t have to stay at PLA. Read highlights, listen in on conversations with librarians and more.
By collaborating with Reach Out and Read clinics to improve early literacy from birth, your library can have a greater impact on the lives of the children in your community.
Read the inspiring story about how an Illinois library used creative community engagement strategies to make a statement about autism awareness.
Your library’s summer reading program has been helping kids stem the summer slide and fostering a love of reading for years. If you’re looking for ways to shake things up and enhance the learning opportunities for your program, look no further!
Check out a webinar that shares how 2 prominent libraries got to know their communities and started offering impactful adult programs.
In the U.S. 39% of the population are over age 50, yet 70% of library services are for children. Learn what’s important to adults and how to engage them beyond books to improve their health and enhance their lives.
Read how one determined library director uses creative programming and partnerships to build community at her library.
A novel partnership between a community foundation and 28 county public libraries has yielded fantastic results. Discover how their joint efforts to enrich collections, build a programming endowment and create new collaborative opportunities can be applied to your library!
