Homeless Teens and Libraries

Resources mentioned:

• True Colors Fund, aimed at LGBT teens
• National Safe Place
• Project RISE in Akron, funded through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act-Education for Homeless Children and Youth Programs

From VOYA February 2013

Harvard Library Test Kitchen

Harvard's Graduate School of Design offers the seminar Library Test Kitchen:

Part class, part funded research, we're fabricating library futures.

We're an Advanced Seminar in the Harvard Graduate School of Design. We have a working budget, a defined client, and a desire for impact. And we want to have fun while we're at it.

Our goal is real-world impact inside and outside the walls of Harvard. We make things that contribute to the library discourse. We collaborate with the Harvard Library, and academic and public libraries from across the U.S.

Knowledge, public space, the internet, education, these are massive contemporary forces libraries bear. We see libraries as an untapped creative domain for architects, designers -- folks of all kinds -- to dig into. Their program is the convergence of knowledge, space, community, and relationships. 

November-December 2012, they have a pop-up Labrary with installations open to the public to explore and discuss library opportunities and futures.

...I want one, too.

Effective Library Management

1. Be a mensch (Josh credits his father in Minnesota with teaching him this)
2. 
   

• Care… at least a little 
• Don’t lie (you may not always be able to convey the entire truth, but do not lie)
• Don’t be a coward (you don’t have to be stalwartly brave—just don’t be a coward)

-Not Dead Yet, LJ

1001 Books Before Kindergarten

"Literacy is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child, and learning the skills needed for reading and writing begins at infancy into childhood.

...
1,001 Books Before Kindergarten is a reading program for families with children from birth through age 5. It was designed to get parents actively involved in reading to their children from birth and help foster a lifelong love of reading as children gain pre-literacy skills.
...
At registration, families receive information about the program and the Library, the children's collection and recommended reads, early literacy skills and early literacy practices, and a book log for the first 100 titles recorded in 1,001 Books Before Kindergarten.
After each set of 100 books are read and logged, parents and children return to the Youth Services Desk to pick up a prize and pages for the next 100 books and receive additional information about upcoming events.
When 1,001 books are reached, each child will get a graduation ceremony, a book, and his or her picture on the Library's wall of stars.
...
1,001 books read over the years makes reading together a special time and becomes part of a daily routine.  Every time a parent reads a book to a child, it counts in this program, and there will be favorite books children will want to hear over and over again. It is truly about having fun and enjoying the adventure along the way!"

Could be cool to see if Evanced or another online reading program tracker could help keep track of the 100(s of) books.

-From the RAILS press release about Algonquin's new program. 

Scavenger Hunt with Friends

Teen Tech Week idea from YALSA YALS Winter 2013

For tweens/teens, for adults, or for whoever wants to participate? Just in the library or all around town... lots of options! Maybe have the list of items on a bookmark or the website for those who want to participate and don't have a smart phone.

App mentioned by YALSA: http://scavengerhuntwithfriends.com/

(also fun for staff aka "trial run")

Library Quote

If you think your local library shouldn’t be funded because you haven’t used it in a while, think of it this way: Would you want the government to close your local hospital because you’ve been healthy for a while?

—U.K. researcher John Kirriemuir, “Are U.K. Public Libraries Expensive to Run?” in Use Libraries and Learn Stuff, Oct. 31, 2010. 

Blog, etc. Roll

Technology

• Mashable
• ReadWriteWeb
• NextWeb
• Good.is
• @MindShiftKQED
• @GigaOM
• @pewinternet

Youth Culture

• VOYA Best Blogs and Sites for Youth Advocates

(a work in progress)

UX: Less Clutter, More Useful

Why and how libraries should have less clutter: websites, collections, entrances, brochures/newsletters/etc., programs, signs (unless you have the opposite problem and NO signage...), website.

The question is: how to subtly pass this article and message on to the people who create and manage the clutter?

The User Experience, LJ 11.13.12

New life motto:

"No whining on the yacht."

-from Connie Schultz's book editor, about not sharing all the attacks against her husband after he won the race for the U.S. Senate. shared 10.21.12 in Printers Row

Language is important...

...and indicates understanding.

"Some people do different things or need different things from the average person. (Or the imaginary average person.) Other people have to decide how they feel about that difference.
...
However, usually a minority group's right to option one is supported or denied on the grounds of whether they can help being different or not. If you want someone to be responsible for your bad behavior toward them, you argue that they are being different on purpose.
...
Therefore you can kind of tell what side someone's on just by how they talk about someone who is different.

Medical and mainstream culture descriptions of autism are steeped in option two language. They are very superficial descriptions of things Autistic people do, with the implication that Autistic people do these things simply because they like them, or for no reason at all.

1. "Autistic people stim" not "Autistic people stim BECAUSE" or "Autistic people have motor/sensory stuff going on that causes them to move like this or be soothed by doing this."

2. "Autistic people avoid eye contact" not "It scares Autistic people to look at other people's eyes."

..."

And more examples/explanation on the blog post behavior vs. ability

Stop Stealing Dreams - Seth Godin

Seth Godin's TED talk on "What is school for?"

Includes a little history on the development of public education (purpose: to train people to follow directions and work in factories), how current schooling focuses on training/processing rather than educating or thinking, desire to do art vs. work, and 8 important ideas. Lots of great quotes/one-liners!

For Those Who Want to Lead, Read - HBR

"But deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders and can catalyze insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness."

"And history is littered not only with great leaders who were avid readers and writers (remember, Winston Churchill won his Nobel prize in Literature, not Peace), but with business leaders who believed that deep, broad reading cultivated in them the knowledge, habits, and talents to improve their organizations."

-from John Coleman, Harvard Business Review blog

Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage

Best thing ever.

Communicate with Infographics

"People don’t like to read. They don’t read signs, they don’t read fliers and they don’t read all that web copy. ... But I’ve learned that to communicate a message less is more.

So I wanted to share with you this trend, Infographics: using visual power to tell your story."

from LJ's Bubble Room blog: "Telling Your Story with Visual Power"

Stephen Fry is Fantastic!

"Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators."
-Stephen Fry