What Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and Libraries Have in Common

No one would argue that among two of America’s most beloved institutions are the late Fred Rogers (1928–2003) and libraries (1849--∞). Furthermore, what I realized when I watched Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Morgan Neville’s lovely documentary last night was that the reasons the two are such icons in American culture are not at all different. Kindness, curiosity, acceptance, learning, and understanding are all elements found both in Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and the best libraries. Not to mention that both places have someone who gives young people the attention and respect they so deserve.

9 Ways You Can Halt the “Summer Slide”

Yay, summer! Swimming, lazy days, lots of time outdoors, and, for teachers and parents, the dreaded “summer slide.” The tendency for students to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the school year, the summer slide is all too real. With schools closed and sunny weather activities, things like reading and math take a backseat for a few months. Libraries are powerful resources to help halt the summer slide. They provide young people with access to books, digital tools, programming, workshops, challenges, tech tools and more. Here are nine ways libraries help halt the summer slide.

EveryLibrary Interviews Ryan Dowd, Homeless Advocate

Ryan Dowd’s name has been popping up a lot in library circles lately. It might be due to the growing popularity of his course on serving the homeless population, or his outstanding new book The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness: An Empathy-Driven Approach to Solving Problems, Preventing Conflict, and Serving Everyone (ALA Editions, 2018), or simply because the topic of homelessness in our cities is one that affects nearly everyone. As the Executive Director of Hesed House, a large homeless shelter in Aurora, IL, Mr. Dowd has been at the forefront of the struggle to assist the homeless for over two decades. EveryLibrary appreciates that he took time out of his schedule to answer questions posed to him by EveryLibrary Medium Magazine Contributing Editor, Oleg Kagan  

9 Great Reasons to Office at the Library While on Vacation (Even When You Don’t Want To)

So you’re going on vacation. But you may need to steal away to check your email, take a call, or get some work done. Don’t beat yourself up too much — it happens. Instead, head to the local library where you can get some heads-down work done and get back to the vacation as soon as possible. Here are nine reasons to work at the library while on vacation, even if you’d rather be poolside.

Eleven Reasons Why Librarians Rock

Whether they are doing storytime, teaching classes about social media privacy, or discovering new books to add to their collections, librarians always work overtime — and wear many different hats — to bring the magic that they do day in and day out to their communities. In short, librarians rock. Here is just a handful of reasons how and why:

Libraries: an Extension of Your Start-up

Businesses at every stage — from ideation to launch to scale — can benefit from the resources at the public library and the expertise of librarians. Libraries give companies access to data, market research, testing and opportunities to scale. Librarians also have an extensive knowledge base to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.  

Ready Card Holder One

Virtual Reality — or VR for short — is everywhere these days, from Hollywood with Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster hit movie Ready Player Oneto your local public library. That’s right - one of the best places to learn about virtual reality, augmented reality and everything in between is the library, where introducing new technologies to the community is becoming as popular as summer reading and storytime.

Cue Up SYNC for Free Teen Audiobooks

For the ninth year, AudioFile Magazine is sponsoring an audiobook program that offers anyone aged 13+ the opportunity to download and keep a generous virtual shelf’s-worth of audiobooks. AudiobookSYNC is a summertime program designed to provide teens with plenty of varied opportunities to read with their ears. This year, the program runs from April 26 through July 25, with each of those 13 weeks bringing a new pair of free audiobooks to download and keep.

How to Get the Summer You Want

Summer is right around the corner and your local library is gearing up with summertime offerings for kids, grownups and everyone in-between. Whether you plan to be on the road visiting other library systems or sticking close to your home branch, libraries may be just the thing to keep the kids busy and your mind fed. Here are 12 of our favorite summertime library offerings….

5 Ways Libraries help US Veterans

Military veterans are among the bravest and most selfless people in our country. They have put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. One of these freedoms is our freedom to access information. Often this information is accessed through libraries. Libraries have been a major facet of the American experience since Benjamin Franklin founded the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731. At EveryLibrary, we believe it is only right that they have access to libraries when they return home. Here are the top five things, that a library can do for our veterans.