Greetings and happy spring! Arrowhead Library System (ALS) has a long-standing commitment to maintaining a collection of current publication titles of interest to librarians, library staff and library trustees. The collection is housed at the ALS Headquarters in Mountain Iron, but all titles can be requested via the online catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from an ALS library) or via the statewide MnLINK catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from Duluth Public Library). If you have questions about borrowing titles from the ALS Professional Collection, feel free to call ALS staff! Here are the latest additions to the ALS collection:
Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library’s Future in an Uncertain World
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich
ALA Editions, 2018
021.2 ALD 2018
How we talk about what we do is just as important as what we do, and in communicating the value of libraries to our society what our profession needs is confidence, determination, and the will to succeed. In this inspiring and pragmatic new book, Aldrich shows that the first step towards a sustainable library is sustainable thinking: a determined yet realistic attitude that will help your library spot opportunities for institutional advancement, advocate for and safeguard operating funds, and generate intense loyalty from the communities you serve. Nothing less than a compass to help chart the course of your library’s future, this book
- begins with a situation report that examines the myriad societal disruptions that are impacting libraries and discusses why resiliency is a key component of sustainability;
- defines how sustainable thinking encompasses not just the environment but economics and social equity as well;
- provides strategies for supporting the core values of librarianship by following the Three Es of Sustainable Libraries;
- lays out a host of tactics to build intense loyalty to your library from the inside out, including ways to foster an organizational culture of sustainable thinking through policy changes and purposeful leadership;
- guides you in communicating effectively with the community, thereby ensuring that your advocacy connects with the maximum number of residents, opinion leaders, and decision makers;
- demonstrates how to use construction and renovation projects as unique opportunities for positive changes; and
- offers worksheets, discussion questions, checklists, additional resources, and many other useful tools that will help you put sustainable thinking into action.
This book will show you how to harness sustainable thinking to move forward with confidence into the unknown.
The Librarian’s Nitty-Gritty Guide to Content Marketing
Laura Solomon
ALA Editions, 2016
021.7 SOL 2016
What is content marketing? Simply put, it’s the most effective way to increase your value to customers. When you deliver content that library users find useful and relevant, you give a compelling answer to their question, “What’s in it for me?” Author of the best-selling book The Librarian’s Nitty-Gritty Guide to Social Media, Solomon speaks directly to public relations personnel, web librarians, and other staff responsible for the library’s online presence. Filled with nuts-and-bolts advice on how to increase the library’s value to its users, her guide:
- defines the essential characteristics of effective content marketing;
- explores methods of audience assessment;
- demonstrates how to optimize content for sharing;
- explains the elements of an editorial calendar for sustainable content, and shows how to create once and re-purpose many times;
- describes meaningful metrics for the library context;
- points out 5 common mistakes and how to avoid them;
- provides a template for creating personas; and
- includes first-hand accounts from library marketers.
Making content marketing concepts bite-sized and easily digestible, this guide shows libraries how to market effectively by focusing on what library users find useful and relevant.
Cultivating Engaged Staff: Better Management for Better Libraries
Margaret Zelman Law
Libraries Unlimited, 2017
023 LAW 2017
Specifically written about the library work environment, this book offers strategies for creating and maintaining a positive and supportive LIS environment that will engage all types of staff, resulting in increased performance.
- Provides specific instruction to help librarians implement a popular, proven-effective management technique
- Shows library managers how to increase performance and productivity at any level of management through research-based methods
- Presents reflective questions to encourage thinking about one’s impact in the workplace
63 Ready-to-Use Maker Projects
Edited by Ellyssa Kroski
ALA Editions, 2018
025.5 KRO 2018
This new compilation from editor and maker Kroski spotlights a multitude of creative projects that you can tailor for your own library. Librarians and makers from across the country present projects as fun as an upcycled fashion show, as practical as Bluetooth speakers, and as mischievous as a catapult. Included are projects for artists, sewers, videographers, coders, and engineers. The handy reference format will help you quickly identify the estimated costs, materials, and equipment; and because several projects don’t even require a dedicated makerspace, every library can join in. Inside you’ll find how-to guidance for projects like
- a foam rocket launcher;
- stop-motion animation with 3D print characters;
- found-object robots;
- glowing ghost marionettes;
- Arduino eTextiles;
- magnetic slime;
- yarn painting;
- fidget flannels;
- an LED brooch; and
- cardboard sculpture.
With takeaways like origami tea lights or a t-shirt tote bag, your patrons will be sure to remember how much fun your library can be.
Transforming Summer Programs at Your Library: Outreach and Outcomes in Action
Natalie Cole and Virginia A. Walter
ALA Editions, 2018
028.9 COL 2018
Changes in public libraries, the communities they serve, children’s lives, and educational research all demonstrate that traditional summer reading programs need to be reimagined. Working groups of librarians, in partnership with the California Library Association and the California State Library, have done just that, creating and implementing outcomes- and outreach-based summer reading programs that speak directly to diverse and changing communities. Drawing on case studies from several different libraries, this book shows how other libraries can transform their own summer programs. Offering a vision of change in action, the authors
- begin with an historical overview of summer programming in public libraries and a review of the research and conditions that have prompted recent changes in summer programs;
- discuss the principles, strategies, and evaluation framework that California librarians have created to transform their institutions;
- review a statewide campaign, Summer Matters, that is working to provide equitable summer learning opportunities for all children in California; and
- take an in-depth look at Lunch at the Library, a public library summer meal project, which brings underserved families to the library while providing learning opportunities for children, volunteer opportunities for teens, and resources for adults.
Public library staff and educators will feel inspired and empowered by the positive examples put forth in this book.
Leveraging Wikipedia: Connecting Communities of Knowledge
Edited by Merrilee Proffitt
ALA Editions, 2018
030 PRO 2018
The vision statement of the Wikimedia Foundation states, “Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.” Libraries need not see Wikipedia as competition; rather, failing to leverage its omnipresence in the online world constitutes a missed opportunity. As a senior program officer at OCLC, Proffitt has encouraged collaboration between Wikipedia and cultural heritage institutions, leading to increased visibility and user engagement at participating organizations. Here, she brings onboard a raft of contributors from the worlds of academia, archives, libraries, and members of the volunteer Wikipedia community who together point towards connecting these various communities of knowledge. This book will inspire libraries to get involved in the Wikipedia community through programs and activities such as
- hosting editathons;
- contributing content and helping to bridge important gaps in Wikipedia;
- ensuring that library content is connected through the world’s biggest encyclopedia;
- working with the Wikipedia education community; and
- engaging with Wikipedians as allies in a quest to expand access to knowledge.
Speaking directly to librarians, this book shows how libraries can partner with Wikipedia to improve content quality while simultaneously ensuring that library services and collections are more visible on the open web.
