Rotary Club and Calgary police promote early literacy in schools | March 19, 2017

Library alliances | Community outreach | Literacy programs

by Ryan Rumbolt

Former Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson (L) and Sgt. Travis Juska read to kids from Ranchlands Elementary School at the Central Library in downtown Calgary, Alta. on Wednesday October 1, 2014. The two took part in a celebration of the award winning "It's a Crime Not to Read" program where officers read to kids sparking their love for reading. Stuart Dryden/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency

Members of the Rotary Club are promoting literacy by raising funds for the It’s a Crime Not to Read program.

Started in 2002 by the Rotary Club of Calgary East with Calgary Public Libraries and the Calgary Police Service, the program sends police officers to visit elementary schools to read books with youngsters once a month.

Dan Goldberg, fundraising director for Rotary Club of Calgary East, said the program promotes early literacy, develops reading skills and builds self-esteem in Calgary kids while strengthening community ties with police. It’s a Crime Not to Read is currently running in 21 Calgary schools with Grade 1 and Grade 2 students.

“This program helps to decrease barriers and gets the police building relationships,” Goldberg said. “I think it’s amazing that (police officers) volunteer their time to do this, because without them this couldn’t happen.”

Const. Henry Bekkering has been volunteering his time to It’s a Crime Not to Read for three years and said reading with the kids at St. Damien school in Forest Lawn helps “humanize” police officers and has had a “trickle-down effect” in the community. Read more...

Library Friday: NOPL’s Pop-up Library | February 24, 2017

Library outreach | Mobile libraries | Library services

by Kayla Del Biondo

In the Library and Information Science program here at SU, we spend a lot of time discussing the importance of outreach. We brainstorm strategies we can employ to attract patrons to the library, and we ask ourselves questions like, how can a librarian organize and market innovative programs, services, and collections that are bound to draw in community members?

Excitingly, here in Syracuse, the conversation around outreach at public libraries seems to be switching gears … literally. For this month’s Library Friday, I visited the Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL) at Brewerton to learn about their “Pop-Up Library” on wheels, and their mission to take outreach outside the library. I had the pleasure of interviewing branch manager, Nancy Boisseau, as well as outreach librarian (and recent iSchool alum), Jennifer Tolley, to learn more about this project, from inception to completion.

Whose idea was it to create the Pop-Up library, and how did the idea evolve into action? Read more...

The Wonderful World of Non-Traditional Library Collections: Spotlight on Seeds! | January 25, 20017

Library collections | Library services | Library of Things

By Chezlani

You probably know by now that libraries worldwide are lending out so much more than books and media. To highlight just a few:

• The Sacramento Public “Library of Things” loans out sewing machines, musical instruments, and video games, items which were chosen by patron vote.
• Ann Arbor District Library offers everything from art prints (redecorate every couple months!) to telescopes (you know you want to look at the moon!) to die-cutting kits (indulge your scrapbook fantasy…)
• Specialty cake pans have also become a popular collection for many public libraries. Because let’s be honest, how many times will you make a Dora the Explorer cake in your life? Personally, I’m drawing a line at ONCE.

• And of course, who could forget the venerated Berkeley Tool Library, part of the city’s public library system since 1979? Their experience proves that yes, patrons WILL return the tools, and WILL take good care of them.

Read more...