Innovation

As an increasing number of patrons seek not only new jobs but new career paths, public libraries are upping their own skill sets with creative solutions.

On August 5, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, American Library Association, Association of Science and Technology Centers, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Alliance of Museums, and Network of the National Library of Medicine announced the launch of Communities for Immunity, a partnership that will help support libraries and museums in their work to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence across the United States.

Libraries of Stevens County (LOSC), WA, was honored to create a community program called Trail Tales in partnership with two other rural library districts in Northeast Washington. LOSC, North Central Washington Libraries, and Pend Oreille County Library District joined with the Colville National Forest and Upper Columbia Children’s Forest to create a reading experience to be enjoyed in the great outdoors.

When we talk about web usability, we are talking directly about our patron’s experiences in a library’s digital space, so rethinking how we do this work through the lens of antiracism is important.

 LJ ’s first readers’ advisory (RA) survey in eight years found that RA is a growing practice, but librarians want more training and tools to do it better, particularly in genres they don’t read for pleasure. Can crowdsourcing help RA keep up?

Library gardens help address food insecurity, ease environmental impact, provide stress relief, and serve as pandemic-safe space for community connection.

“New digital technologies are bringing changes that are much more rapid and comprehensive than in the past to the way we live, work, and interact with one another. The idea that the recent advancement in digital technologies has reached qualitatively distinct stage of digital revolution is becoming more widely accepted,” explained Bohyun Kim, chief technology officer and professor for the University of Rhode Island Libraries, Kingston, during the "New Technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: AI, IoT, Robotics, and Beyond” on demand presentation at the American Library Association's 2021 Annual Conference.

Libraries have been reinventing themselves for well over a decade, as the emergence of smartphones and ubiquitous connectivity has put access to information into nearly everyone’s hands. No longer just repositories of information, libraries have morphed into full-service community centers that aim to meet a wide variety of civic and social needs.

Rhody Radio, a collaborative podcast project of several Rhode Island libraries, has become a popular long-term programming outlet. The twice-weekly podcast, produced by library staff and community members, captures conversations, lectures, book reviews, and performances by Rhode Islanders; it is available 24/7 on rhodyradio.org and platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.