To establish a Center for the Future of Libraries. CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) has been awarded a Librarians for the 21st Century Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to establish a Center for the Future of Libraries.
The goal of the project will be to provide library planners and community leaders with information resources and tools that will help them better understand the trends reshaping their libraries and communities and help them incorporate foresight into their planning processes. A Bookless Library Opens in San Antonio. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff isn’t the man you’d imagine as the visionary for the nation’s first all-digital public library.
The former San Antonio mayor doesn’t own an e-reader (“I refuse to read the e-book!” He says) and for years has collected first editions of modern novels (in print, mind you). Back in the 1990s, Wolff helped spearhead San Antonio’s 240,000 square-foot, six-story, $50 million central public library, a building the city is now struggling to figure out what to do with. Today, Wolff says he would’ve avoided building such a large facility. “Who would’ve thought 20 years ago we’d be where we are today?”
(MORE: New Digital Library Launches: Internet + Ancient Library of Alexandria) On Saturday, Bexar County Digital Library – a $2.4 million, 4,000-square-foot space, also known as BiblioTech and located on the south side of San Antonio – opens to the public. This isn’t the first time a public library has attempted to go bookless. A Librarian's Guide to Makerspaces: 16 Resources. "There were more than 135 million adult makers, more than half of the total adult population in America, in 2015.
" What is a makerspace? You’ve no doubt been hearing that word more than a few times over the past several years. Makerspaces, also called hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs, are collaborative spaces where people gather to get creative with DIY projects, invent new ones, and share ideas. The Library's Future Is Not an Open Book. Do Schools Need Libraries? Libraries and librarians are on the chopping block in some districts in Maryland.
This is personal for me. I love libraries. What Harry Truman Learned in the Library. After I posted this morning about libraries, I received the following from Will Fitzhugh, who is publisher of The Concord Review.
The Concord Review has been publishing exemplary history papers by high school students for many years. You never know what students will get interested in, what they will pursue on their own, what passion they will develop. David McCullough, Truman New York: Touchstone, 1992, p. 58 He grew dutifully, conspicuously studious, spending long afternoons in the town library, watched over by a white plaster bust of Ben Franklin. “I don’t know anybody in the world ever read as much or as constantly as he did,” remembered Ethel Noland. History became a passion, as he worked his way through a shelf of standard works on ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. His list of heroes advanced. Few boys in town ever went to high school. Like this: Like Loading... Libraries 'have had their day', says Horrible Histories author.
Horrible historian ...
Terry Deary (above) says libraries are damaging the book industry. Composite: Sarah Lee/Alamy Libraries "have been around too long" and are "no longer relevant", according to Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, an apparently lone literary voice to believe that libraries have "had their day". Deary, a bestselling author who was also the seventh most-borrowed children's writer from UK libraries last year, was speaking as his local council in Sunderland became the latest authority to look into the possibility of closing branches to save money. But unlike other authors up and down the country, who have come together to protest the closures of their local branches, Deary was clear that libraries have had their day. But despite the negative reaction to his comments, the Horrible Histories author is adamant that the public attitude around libraries "has to change". Bookshops are closing down, he said, "because someone is giving away the product they are trying to sell.
In the Digital Age, What Becomes of the Library? Nashville’s Main Public Library, located in a stately building in the heart of downtown, has a children’s section filled with comfortable sitting areas, oversized art, and a state-of-the-art theater for puppet shows and interactive story time.
On a recent afternoon, children of varying ages were sitting or lying on the carpet, reading alongside rows of books lined on two-tiered shelves perfectly sized for little hands. Two grade-school children sat at a row of computers, playing a learning game, while parents and caregivers checked out books via computer. A line of parents and children waited to speak with one of the two librarians on duty. Something about the scene seemed touchingly retrograde: minus the computers and modern furniture, this could have easily been a library scene from 1980 or 2013. Libraries In Crisis: Pictures, Videos, Breaking News.