The 2010 Teen Read Week theme “Books with Beat” can be interpreted in many ways. Programs, displays and contests could focus on poetry, audiobooks, the beat generation, street lit, books about music, and more.
How is your library celebrating Teen Read Week?
The blog,” Speak Quietly: Ramblings about libraries, writing and everything in between”, written by Scott Douglas had a very interesting entry on ways to reach our community members.   Here are some of his thoughts and supporting data  (combined with some of mine) regarding ways to reach people through technology. More and more people are using hand held devices to access information. How do we reach parts of our population who want information to come to them, rather than having them come into our physical spaces?
His discussion touches upon texting reference questions, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Podcasting, iphone applications, Meebo.Â
What do you think? Which of these tools are you using now or would considering using in the near future?
It is no secret that library use in our region continues to rise. At the same time, many libraries (and SALS) are seeing cuts in local and state aid. Library staff and boards are faced with very difficult decisions. What are the best uses for limited funds? What services are most important to our individual communities?   What will get our patrons to return, use our resources and be an advocate for us?
Getting started is difficult but here are some suggestions when starting this process. Explore current library services – what is the circulation by format?  Is the collection budget appropriate for the use? Is money still allocated to collection types that are not being used or needed?