Hey Boo Books: Resource Thursday: Fontspace

heyboobooks:

Frequently when I’m making book displays or fliers for my library, I find myself in need of some more interesting font choices than my Microsoft programs can give me. When this happens, I usually go to my favorite free font source on the web, Fontspace.

Fontspace has tons of free downloadable…

I’ve been browsing this resource some this morning, and it’s worth passing on.

So, more than anything, libraries need to develop as learning agencies, informal learning agencies that help build a sense of identity and community. We want people to engage their imaginations or their information or ideas. We want to become a place where people discuss and debate issues as well as find resources that are going to help them build knowledge and contribute to their communities.

Ken Haycock, on Building Community Assets. So many gems here. This is your must-read of the day! (via librarylinknj)

I liked this bit: 

“One trend that I would like to see change,” says Haycock, “is that I don’t think we should be offering book clubs in libraries so much as we should be offering to train people in the community who want to have a book club: Here’s how you set it up, here’s how it works. Have a couple of people talk about their successful examples of book clubs. Tell us your demographic and we’ll give you some titles that seem to be popular with that group and some trigger questions for these books. That way, as a librarian, you’re spreading your influence. You’re demonstrating your expertise.

Our library has a “books to go” program - where we take books that we have purchased with Friends of the Library money for our monthly book club and we put them out for local book clubs to utilize after that particular book’s meeting has passed. The copies are numbered and we have a folder of discussion questions prepared that we usually cull from the publisher’s site, other book club sites or from our own databases as well as a “Books to go” bag that a book club organizer can check out for their group. The books are signed out - so there is an informal check out period - we usually just ask that the books be returned within a “reasonable” amount of time - which for book clubs we consider to be about two months - before we start making phone calls to check up on the stragglers. 

(via pandamans)

I love the Books to Go bag idea. At my old library (in the same consortium), we had a lot of trouble ordering copies of books from the catalog for a nun who ran a book club in a local retirement community. This sounds like an admirable work around, and a way to get more use out of books that otherwise might be used only once.

(via pandamans)

Source: librarylinknj

pandamans: twonickels: The Somerville Public Library, in a partnership with the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, launched the “Awesome Box” project at all three SPL branches in early February. This endeavor will allow patrons to give fellow users suggestions on what book/CD/DVD they found to be “awesome.” “Somerville is the first public library to get on board with the ‘Awesome Box’ project,” says Maria Carpenter, Somerville’s library director. “We are always looking for dynamic, innovative and creative approaches to library service, and this was certainly one of those.” Here’s how it will work: When a patron particularly enjoys an item, he or she will return the book into the “Awesome Box,” which will be clearly labeled with appropriate signage. Then, a library staff member will scan the book twice – once, checking the book in as usual, then another time to list that item on the “awesome” page. (via Massachusetts: Somerville Public Library Partners With Harvard Library Lab, Becomes First Public Library to Make “Awesome Box” Available | LJ INFOdocket) this is going in my STOLEN IDEA box. right next to blind date with a book. This definitely looks like something worth pitching at my library. Potential problem, though: you’d have to make everyone on staff aware of the box so they could find popular items when they went to pull holds.
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pandamans:

twonickels:

The Somerville Public Library, in a partnership with the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, launched the “Awesome Box” project at all three SPL branches in early February. This endeavor will allow patrons to give fellow users suggestions on what book/CD/DVD they found to be “awesome.” “Somerville is the first public library to get on board with the ‘Awesome Box’ project,” says Maria Carpenter, Somerville’s library director. “We are always looking for dynamic, innovative and creative approaches to library service, and this was certainly one of those.” Here’s how it will work: When a patron particularly enjoys an item, he or she will return the book into the “Awesome Box,” which will be clearly labeled with appropriate signage. Then, a library staff member will scan the book twice – once, checking the book in as usual, then another time to list that item on the “awesome” page. (via Massachusetts: Somerville Public Library Partners With Harvard Library Lab, Becomes First Public Library to Make “Awesome Box” Available | LJ INFOdocket)

this is going in my STOLEN IDEA box. right next to blind date with a book.

This definitely looks like something worth pitching at my library. Potential problem, though: you’d have to make everyone on staff aware of the box so they could find popular items when they went to pull holds.

Source: infodocket.com

thelifeguardlibrarian: Amnesty bringing in fine haul for library If you’re in Chicago and you (or your friends or family or STUDENTS) have past fines to CPL, get to the library this week and get amnesty! Accidentally discovered the Amnesty mode on Evergreen last week and made a few patrons really happy before we figured out how to revert to the normal mode.
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thelifeguardlibrarian:

Amnesty bringing in fine haul for library

If you’re in Chicago and you (or your friends or family or STUDENTS) have past fines to CPL, get to the library this week and get amnesty!

Accidentally discovered the Amnesty mode on Evergreen last week and made a few patrons really happy before we figured out how to revert to the normal mode.

(via libraryjournal)

Source: chicagotribune.com