The PLA Blog | Official Blog of the Public Library Association
Notice Anything at ALA11 Conference?
[Click on link to listen to lunch time jazz music at New Orleans Convention Center at ALA11 while you read this post.] My conference experience ended Monday afternoon after 3 days of thought provoking sessions and what were to me mind blowing exhibits brimming over with possiblities. Over all I had the feeling that good changes were happening [...]
Librarians helping the Autism Community
Hi All: I wanted to report to everyone on this blog about another really great session I went to this morning which related to another previous session I attended, but this one went into depth on the subject of autism and how librarians can help families with children with autism. I was very impressed with [...]
RDA Change: It Don’t Come Easy
Change don’t come easy, especially in the very structured and detailed work of creating catalog records. At “Vendor Plans for Implementing RDA” six brave souls on the panel took on the complicated subject of how their companies are attempting to implement RDA. Curiously they were at different stages of the process. Some were still struggling [...]
Day 3: Klatch-tastic
The YALSA Coffee Klatch was a fantastic opportunity for youth literature supporters to chat with the authors whose worlds we send teens to explore. Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why emceed the event, welcoming the attendees and introducing the authors. Then, the authors sat down at tables with 5-7 YALSA members/supporters for 3-4 minute [...]
The point and future of libraries: access to content
The point of libraries is to provide access to content. Regardless of format. More and more content is in electronic form. The difficulties of providing access to electronic content increasingly frustrates both library users and librarians. Existing pricing models, licensing agreements, and clunky access methods don’t fill libraries needs or help the library achieve it’s mission of providing access [...]
Libraries in the Cloud
At a Library Board meeting some months ago I was asked by a board member if we had considered moving our library technology to the “cloud” with the inference that we would not need the level of funding we were requesting for hardware, software, networking equipment, electrical, etc. Caught off guard I went blank for [...]
ALA Emerging Leaders Class of 2011 – Project K – Staff Development Day Resource Wiki
Hi All: I wanted to let everyone know about the project myself and my team mates put together to help librarians from all types of libraries plan and organize their next Staff Development Days. I am an Emerging Leader (or I suppose I should say “Emerged Leader” as I have graduated with my peers) and [...]
ALA Conference 2011 – How Audiobooks have been successfully used to engage readers
Hi All: For my second post to the PLA Blog, I wanted to discuss yet another very good session I went to this morning. It was on Audiobooks. It was a panelist format where three knowledgable librarians did a Q&A where either the host of the session asked the questions or audience members posed the [...]
ALA Conference 2011 – Behavioral Issues in the Library: How do We Respond?
Hi All: I am at AlA right now and wanted to share with you a really good session I went to this morning. It was the Behavioral issues in the Library. It turned out to be different but better than I thought it would be. It was not so much about “behaviors” as it was [...]
Program: Download This
Posted by Meg King-Sloan (Reporting from the Internet Cafe) Libraries have come a long way in how they provide downloadable materials to their patrons. So many people are getting e-readers (for themselves or as gifts), and they expect their libraries to have titles for them to download. Here are some suggestions to try to meet these demands: Libraries should [...]
