On Libraries and New Media, powered by Library Journal and School Library Journal
Over the past year , the Fayetteville Free Library (FFL) has enjoyed the successful rollout of its Fabulous Laboratory (Fab Lab), a Maker space that resulted from the library’s commitment to community engagement and innovation. During this time, the library’s staff have been honored to speak about the Fab Lab and to explain not only its success but also the variety of challenges and assumptions that most libraries will face when developing a similar space.
Over the past 40 years, public libraries have followed popular culture through the ever-more-abstract artifacts of the digital age, offering music and video in every format, public computers for Internet access, online branches, and downloadable content. Now, some libraries are following Maker culture back to things we can hold in our hands.
For libraries, Tumblr is a free marketing tool—and depending on how much effort you want to put into crafting code or purchasing a theme, your Tumblr blog can look as professional as a your library’s website.
There are some specific steps you can take to attract an engaged readership (i.e. followers). It can be a slow first few months as you accumulate an audience and discover where you fit into the community, but the investment is worth it. Here’s a few guidelines to consider.
Library DVD borrowing has fallen sharply during the past year, and library users are rapidly migrating toward streaming services for both music and movies, according to the July 2012 edition of LJ’s Patron Profiles, which examines trends in Media Consumption and Library Use. DVDs are the top format for films loaned by libraries, and 27 percent of respondents said that libraries remain their primary source for movies—down from 36 percent in the first Patron Profiles survey, conducted less than a year ago. “A strong indicator of the changing media landscape is the rise of streaming and disc-by-mail services—both currently dominated by Netflix,” the report states.
The Seattle Public Library (SPL) has partnered with the University of Washington’s acclaimed KEXP radio (90.3 FM) to offer access to KEXP’s collection of approximately 3,200 live, in-studio performances recorded at the station. The recordings—including performances from up-and coming local groups, as well as nationally popular acts such as Arcade Fire, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Norah Jones, and the Black Keys—can now be discovered and streamed via SPL’s online public access catalog.
Transmedia isn’t just a new buzzword that belongs to academics or high-priced media consultants. It’s an approach to storytelling that boasts a range of potential curricular applications that applies to literacy and the content areas.
Readings by award-winning authors Walter Dean Myers, Jon Scieszka, Charles R. Smith, and J. Patrick Lewis.
The nonprofit Reading With Pictures (RWP), helmed by the ebullient Josh Elder, has partnered with digital comics distributor iVerse Media to set up ComicsPlus: Library Edition, a new service allows libraries to circulate a wide selection of digital comics with both user-friendly and library friendly features.
Joyce Valenza’s tips on using the latest tools to help conference presenters and educators better use the video resource.
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