According to branch librarian Thaddeus Krupo ¹, the New York program was inspired by the Riverside Library’s proximity to two high schools, after the staff noted the number of students coming to the library before their first job interviews. The two high schools across the street from the Riverside Library are the Fiorello H. Laguardia High School of The Performing Arts (the school of Fame! well, fame) and the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus (itself made up of seven high schools including the Urban Assembly School For Media Studies. New York City’s inner-city youth face a lot of competition, both within school and with entering the job market. The Grow Up Work Fashion Library is an invaluable resource for giving young people every chance to thrive in the city that never sleeps or wherever life may take them.

Reference

1. Crain’s New York Business. “New York Public Library Helps Cardholders Dress for the Job They Want.” Accessed August 16, 2018.

Further Reading

Lee, Michelle. New York Public Library. 6 Aug. 2018.

Charles H. Revson Foundation.

McGrath, Lauren. This Philly Library Lends Out Ties to Members on the Job Hunt. Phillymag. 16 May 2016.

The post New York Public Library: Serving Looks and Books           first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Fedelers weren’t the only ones who didn’t have to pay attention to their library’s closing hours. Superintendent Patrick Thornberry and his family lived in the New York Society Library, a private Upper East Side library on 79th St. near Madison Avenue. While they weren’t directly attached to a park like the Fedelers, their apartment came with a penthouse-level garden and was only one block from Central Park. And if they saw something they liked while thumbing through an art book, they might be able to find it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also one block away. The Thornberrys must have thought they had a good deal and lived in the library for twenty-two years.^[2]

It goes without saying that, at both these libraries, the superintendents’ and their families had access to the stacks twenty-four hours a day, so finding a book wouldn’t have been a problem. But lest we fantasize too much about these unbelievable apartments and their unique amenities, let’s remember that there were downsides. If you’re in a garage band and really need the practice, this probably isn’t the ideal living environment. In fact, John Fedeler, Jr. explained in a New York Times article that “singing and stomping were strictly forbidden in his home until all library staff had gone home for the evening.”^[3] Getting shushed by a librarian in your own home would be just too much to bear!

Sadly, neither apartment currently has residents, not even via Airbnb. The New York Society Library’s apartment is used for closed stacks,^[4] while the Schwarzman’s apartment was divided up for many uses after it was no longer tenable. The kitchen became a mimeograph room, the switchboard moved into one of the bedrooms, and other rooms became bathrooms or smoking rooms.^[5]

Looking for your own library home?

Despite the current dearth of apartments hidden behind rare book rooms, if living in a library sounds like your dream come true (and assuming your band is on hiatus between tours), it needn’t be completely dashed. You could move into an apartment building built along with a library, like at the Delridge Branch of the Seattle Public Library. According to their website, “The new building was developed in partnership with the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association. The branch anchors the first floor of a three-story building that includes 19 apartments on the top two floors.”^[6]

There’s a similar operation in San Francisco’s Glen Park Neighborhood, where the Glen Park Marketplace contains the Glen Park Branch of the San Francisco Public Library system, a grocery store, and fifteen residential condominiums in one building.^[7]

Library complexes are popping up all over. The University Dale Apartment complex in St. Paul, Minn., “consists of 92 apartment homes and six brown stone townhomes at the intersection of Dale Street and Aurora Avenue in St. Paul, above the Rondo Community Outreach Library.”^[8] No small library, Rondo has impressive community amenities like a homework center, electronic classrooms, and meeting rooms. It also houses two special collections, the Black Culture and History  and Immigrant and Refugee Battered Women’s Task Force collections. ^[9]

More than a place to live

If these complexes represent a growing trend, it’s not just that cities are trying new ways to mix space. These buildings tacitly operate as public/private partnerships and represent libraries’ continued importance. Libraries are first and foremost community services and must be in the communities they serve. A library couldn’t possibly get closer than by being physically attached to the housing of residents. These buildings, not just through their location but through their very architecture, say, “We are part of your community. You are part of us.” In an era when many library services have been transferred online, there may be no stronger statement a library can make.

As awesome as the Fedeler’s and Thronberry’s apartments were, they were still restricted to library superintendents and their families. In many ways those apartments were cut off from their community. Public apartments or condos built along with libraries have the opportunity to be more. So if living in a library suits you, know that you have options, and if there’s not a development like this in your area, hopefully the trend will continue.

References

[1] Cate Etherington, “Life Behind the Stacks: The Secret Apartments of New York Libraries,” 6SqFt, July 3, 2016.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Meyer Berger, “Engineer To Quit Old Library Home,” New York Times, June 20, 1949.

[4] Cate Etherington, “Life Behind the Stacks: The Secret Apartments of New York Libraries.”

[5] Meyer Berger, “Engineer To Quit Old Library Home.”

[6] “About the Delridge Branch,” Seattle Public Library, accessed July 29, 2016.

[7] “Glen Park Marketplace at 2815 Diamond Street,” San Francisco Modern Residential Real Estate, accessed July 29, 2016.

[8] “University Dale Apartments in St. Paul MN,” Real Estate Equities Living, July 29, 2016.

[9] “Rondo,” St. Paul Public Library, accessed July 29, 2016.

The post Living in the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

On the following Friday, the New York Public Library hosted its annual anti-prom for LGBTQ students, an informal, fun time for students ages twelve to eighteen in the New York City area. “Anti-Prom provides an alternative, safe space for all teens who may not feel welcome at official school programs or dances because of their sexuality, gender presentation, the way they dress, or any other reason.”^[1] The library has been hosting this event since 2004, and the number of attendees has been steadily growing since its debuted attendance of a hundred. Admission is always free, and a DJ provides music. By the end of the night, non-gender-specific King and Queen of the anti-prom are chosen. Some of the guest masters of ceremony over the years has been Simon Doonan, Creative Ambassador-at-Large of the New York City-based clothing store Barneys, and Jimmy Van Bramer, an openly gay councilman from Queens.

The theme this year is based on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Some of the themes from the past were:

• Fairy Tale (2015)
• Punk Rock (2014)
• Masquarade [sic] (2013)
• Monster (2012)
• Super Hero (2011)

Clearly, this year had a different tone to it based on the Orlando shootings that occurred five days prior. Some people felt the need to show up simply to show solidarity in the face of this horrific occurrence. Others penned “love letters” to their counterparts at the Orlando Public Library. The letter writing was a way for the students—many of which identify as LGBTQ—to cope with what had ensued. The letters were sent to the teen center down at the Orlando library in Florida. A total of fifty-one letters were sent, many of which used the rainbow colors the Pride Flag to show solidarity. Orlando Youth Programs Coordinator Erin Topolesky said she began to tear up moments after opening the letters: “She looked forward to sharing the letters with her teens and was looking for the right time to touch on such a sensitive subject.”^[2] Topolesky plans on having the letters archived across the street from the library, at the Orange County Regional History Center, in addition to many other items of sympathy and condolence that have been sent to the city since tragedy struck.^[3]

References

[1] “Anti-Prom 2016: Secret Garden Prom,” New York Public Library, June 17, 2016.

[2] Erin Topolesky, “New York Teens Send ‘Love Letters’ to their Orlando Counterparts” by Arielle Landau, New York Public Library, July 05, 2016.

[3] Ibid.

The post Anti-Prom Held at New York Public Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Children from low income communities use an average of thirty million words less than their affluent counterparts and experience a “drought in heard words” by age three, putting them at a huge language disadvantage long before they even enter school.[1] Early language development is vital to early literacy skills. Verbal interaction with a baby can have a huge positive effect on language development. Whether a parent or caregiver talks, sings, or reads, “neural connections of all kinds are strengthened with the baby’s rapidly growing brain.”[2] New and improved storytimes are addressing these needs.

Library storytimes traditionally focused entirely on children—now, they focus on family literacy and modelling strategies that parents can use to develop early literacy skills. Today’s storytimes emphasize education as much as entertainment and offer suggestions for re-enforcing key concepts and skills at home. Sara Feldman, president of the American Library Association, said, “Such early-literacy efforts are part of a larger transformation libraries are undergoing to become active learning centers for their communities—offering services like classes in English as a second language, computer skills, and career counseling”.[3]

The Public Library Association (PLA) and Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) concluded that a dual approach, early literacy and parent/caregiver education, would provide maximum benefits: “If the primary adults in a child’s life can learn more about the importance of early literacy and how to nurture pre-reading skills at home, the effect of library efforts can be multiplied many times.”[4] So, it’s no wonder that parents of the under-five set are competing for the limited number of seats at storytime at their public libraries. If, as current research suggests, there is a “word gap” between low income families and middle/higher income families, then New York City’s five borough ‘s public libraries, The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library, are certainly trying to fill in that gap.

The New York Public Library just added forty-five children’s librarians to support storytime and designated twenty of its eighty-eight neighborhood branches as “enhanced literacy sites”—they will offer storytime as often as four times a week and distribute fifteen thousand “family literacy kits” that include a book and storytime schedules. In Queens, forty-one library branches are adding weekend story times to meet the demand. In Manhattan, the 67th Street branch holds storytime outdoors during the summer when it can have as many as two hundred people. And in Brooklyn, some branches distribute tickets to storytime because of space and popularity. Unlike other New York events, the libraries have yet to see storytime scalpers. City-wide, storytime attendance rose to 510,367 people in fiscal year 2015, up nearly 28 percent from 399,751 in fiscal 2013.

Other efforts in this arena include:

• ALSC has launched Babies Need Words Every Day: Talk, Read, Sing, Play, which provides shareable resources for parents to bridge the thirty million word gap. Eight visually appealing posters (available in English and Spanish) deliver simple, effective rhymes, games, and other suggestions for parents to communicate with their babies. ALSC also provides a recommended list of books.
• United for Libraries sponsors Books for Babies, a national literacy program that provides parents of newborns with a kit containing a board book for baby and baby’s first library card. Most importantly, the kits (in English or Spanish) emphasize the important role parents play in a baby’s early language development and reading tips and information from nationally-recognized educational organizations.
• The PLA/ALSC initiative, Every Child Ready to Read @ your library (ECRR) was published in 2004 and has updated and expanded to a second edition in (2011). Teaching parents and other caregivers how to support the early literacy development of their children is the basis of Every Child Ready to Read @your library^®.[5]

“It is clear that reading and being exposed to books early in life are critical factors in student success,” Anthony W. Marx, president of The New York Public Library, said. “The library is playing an increasingly important role in strengthening early literacy in this city, expanding efforts to bring reading to children and their families through quality, free story times, curated literacy programs, after-school programs and more.”[6]

References:

[1] Maya Shankar. “Empowering Our Children by Bridging the Word Gap,” The White House [Blog], June 25, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[2] Ibid

[3] Winnie Hu. “Long Line At the Public Library,” The New York Times, November 1, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[4] Every Child Ready to Read @ your library: Read, Think Grow. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[5] Every Child Ready to Read @ your library: Read, Think Grow. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[6] Winnie Hu. “Long Line At the Public Library,” The New York Times, November 1, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

Resources:

Order/download free ALSC posters.

ALSC’s talking points for librarians

Books for Babies kit contents

Order a Books for Babies kit.

Order Every Child Ready to Read tool kits, manuals, brochures, PowerPoint presentations, and posters.

The post The Hottest Show In Town: Storytime @ your library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Some relevant questions crop up concerning readers’ advisory (RA). What sources did librarians use before the internet and search engines dominated the landscape? Can an algorithm and clever computer code recommend books more efficiently than us cutting edge librarians? What does it say that even the New York Public Library is using Bookish as their featured recommendation engine? Public librarians would be wise to position themselves as human recommendation engines by keeping current with reading trends, and using online search tools to remain relevant for RA and to keep patrons coming back.

As a librarian who primarily reads non-fiction and can be a bit too busy for some current bestselling 400-plus page books (I’m looking at you Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, and R.I.P. Tom Clancy). I admit to having some difficulty assisting certain patrons at times. Recently an elderly patron asked me for something uplifting to read and she related to me that her son had just passed away. She became rather emotional in telling me that she did not want to read anything dark, violent, or too realistic, but since those genres are very prevalent, it was time to put on my RA thinking cap. Fortunately our library system subscribes to NoveList Plus and I was able to locate several books for her to check out based on her past reads. However, would Bookish, or other online search options, be able to provide the human aspect for a search like librarians can?

I spent a lot of time in the 90s and the early 2000s record shopping and looking for great music to listen to. My friends and I spent a lot of time driving around and we were not big fans of radio. CMJ magazine was very popular as the internet had not grown enough yet to really compete with print magazines. CMJ had a cool feature at the end of each band blurb that they called “Recommended If You Like.” While not always accurate, this feature led me to a lot of new music that I had not yet discovered. This was the precursor to Bookish, whatshouldireadnext.com, and other similar book recommendation services. The bands that made the biggest impression on me though, where those that record store clerks recommended to me, or that I would listen to at the listening stations after having found out about them from a friend or an article. “Recommended If You Like” did not replace the clerks, or completely simplify my search, but worked as part of a discovery system. We librarians need to make sure that we are part of our customer’s discovery system, to enhance their search experience, and as an opportunity to highlight all we do as librarians.

The post Your Role in Reader’s Advisory first appeared on Public Libraries Online.