Engaging students and teachers in middle school media center programs is often challenging. By the time students enter middle school, they often feel that they are "too old" for media center activities. The challenge for media specialists is to find meaningful ways to make lifelong readers out of kids who would rather do anything but read. A good…

Since its establishment in 1839 to serve the branches of state government, the Illinois State Library has undergone an evolution in the methods, resources and services provided. Over the years, the State Library's sphere of service has expanded to meet the information needs of the public through a statewide network of libraries and regional…

Under the auspices of the International Reading Association, an evaluation was conducted of Rural Education and Development (READ) program of creating community libraries in Nepal. READ set out to address the high rates of illiteracy and poverty in Nepal through the development of these libraries. To examine READ's approach, a team of…

Co-author of the popular titles "Booktalking Bonanza" and "The Early Literacy Kit", Betsy Diamant-Cohen brings together 18 examples of successful outreach partnerships that children's librarians and administrators can adapt to their own situations. Contributors from the U.S and Canada explain how they partnered with schools,…

Reports on programs of, by, and for Native Americans in Iowa and Nebraska. (PF)

The Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury, Connecticut received a state grant in 1976 to provide increased accessibility to their services through a books-by-mail program. In 1975, 9,750 catalogs listing the books-by-mail collection were mailed to local households. Newspaper publicity requested that households that received the catalogs share them…

A discussion of public interactions which arise in four major areas of archival activity: acquisition, reference, interinstitutional cooperation, and outreach. (Author/JAB)

Reviews the history of the bookmobile operations of Seattle's King County Library System, noting the events that forced the development of the bookmobile into a "Traveling Library Center," and describes the success of this new service. (JD)

In the summer of 2006, the New York City-based Spanish-language newspaper "La Prensa" ran a series of articles on the surprisingly stressful life of the young Latina in America. The series brought to light grim statistics uncovered in the academic community that had largely escaped the mainstream. Namely, young Latinas--ages 12-17--are more likely…

Fewer employees, shorter hours, diminished collection budgets, reduced programs and services--all at a time of record library usage. In this book, library expert Carol Smallwood demonstrates that despite the obvious downsides, the necessity of doing business differently can be positive, leading to partnering, sharing, and innovating. This…

A study of library services to hospitalized patients since 1971 in the greater Providence, Rhode Island, area. (LS)

Describes three aspects of the South Carolina State Library efforts to serve the poor. (PF)

An innovative program for senior citizens, available through Wisconsin public libraries, furnishes multi-media kits designed to bring back memories of county fairs, train rides, and other familiar experiences. (JAB)

Argues that public libraries should abandon their outreach programs which seek to attract nonusers to the library, and instead concentrate their resources on that 10 percent of the population who do use the library. (LLS)

Advocates reexamining reference services and outreach programs, and relating them more closely. Argues that archival records are underutilized and that archivists should proactively reach out to researchers and encourage research use. Discusses researcher services; measuring and reporting on researcher use; electronic records; and creating…