April 19, 2024

Meet the Tabletarians | Mobile Services

In March 2011, the Boise Public Library (BPL), ID, used $3,300 in Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant funding to purchase four iPad 2 tablets and all of the trimmings. As it turned out, BPL may have been a couple of years ahead of its time. This conversation is now coming full circle. Technological advances continue to make tablets lighter, faster, and more affordable. Vendors have recently launched interfaces that make it possible to use a staff tablet to perform tasks ranging from weeding books to signing up new cardholders. Also, applying lessons learned about these devices during the past five years, many libraries are rebooting or enhancing the way tablets are integrated into roving reference, off-site programs, and other workflows.

Lynda.com to Offer At-Home Access for Library Users

Lynda.com this month has soft launched lyndaLibrary, a subscription model for libraries that offers patrons unlimited offsite access to the company’s complete collection of online training resources.

Q&A: Recorded Books VP Matt Walker

On October 16, Library Journal and School Library Journal will host “The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries.” Our fourth annual online event has itself been reinvented in a new format, offering program tracks focused around community, instruction, and getting beyond the container to new content. Recorded Books is a gold sponsor of the event, and LJ reached out to Matt Walker, vice president of Recorded Books, in the second of a series of interviews addressing how the ongoing digital shift is transforming the libraries of today and tomorrow.

Scenes from ISTE 2012

A slideshow of images from the International Society for Technology in Education conference held in San Diego, CA, June 24-27.