Miss Kathleen
At the Libraries: Your Weekly Round-Up
by Miss Kathleen - July 30, 2010 - 1:04 PM

Every week, Miss Kathleen provides links to a variety of library-related items. If there’s something fun going on in your local library, leave us a comment!

Libraries are the hot new thing, at least according to that arbiter of popular culture, NPR. I’ve always thought a TV show set in a public library, a la The Office, would be hilarious! And cupcakes are definitely over.
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I mean, come on, look what an impact reading has on Tracy Morgan!
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Best headline ever: Boys trail girls in reading; can fart jokes help? If you’ve ever met a boy between the ages of 4 and 12, you’ve got to know that the answer is yes! We cannot keep good old Captain Underpants on the shelf at my library, they are so popular!
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Smories is one of the cutest web projects I’ve seen in a while — stories written for kids, read by kids. They specialize in unpublished writers so maybe you’ll be seeing the first works of the next Dr. Seuss or Mo Willems someday! Here’s one: How Granpa Lost His Teeth. Now you just have to know, don’t you?
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Remember when we talked about libraries in malls? That garnered a lot of attention, and here’s another report declaring them “wildly successful.” Read all about it. Thanks, Sara!
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Did you guys see the big news from last week, that Amazon sold more Kindle books than hardcovers? Cah-razee! But did you see the spoof? Kindles can be such bullies.
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But seriously, guys. Speaking of ebooks, my library is going to start offering them in a few weeks. I’m very curious to see what the response will be like. Some public libraries are going further and actually scanning their own collections for digital archives. Is this the future of books?
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Delaware makes it official: Summer Reading Programs are not only awesome, but they also increase kids’ test scores and school participation the following year. And if Delaware says it, you know it’s got to be true. Go libraries!
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Libraries can also help by keeping kids off of the streets in the summertime. Parents dropping off kids can be a tricky issue for libraries, but this article explores the good side. And, look, call me hardhearted, but I would never do this: “In one case, the librarian keeps bread, peanut butter and jelly on hand so he can share his lunch with children who say they are hungry.” Would you?

See you all next week! As always hit me with suggestions via email or in the comments below!

Email Miss Kathleen to let her know what your library is up to—atthelibraries@gmail.com. See previous installments of At the Libraries here.

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Comments (8)

  1. There was (is?) an Australian Office-style show set in a library. I think it was called The Librarians or something equally imaginative. Fairly meh for the most part although it had the odd funny moment.

    Unaccompanied children… another reason I’m glad I’ve never had to work in a public library!

    posted by Gwan on 7-30-2010 at 1:08 pm

  2. My local library has Kindles, Nooks and Sony Readers available for checkout, and has for some time now.

    posted by Eriq Jaffe on 7-30-2010 at 2:04 pm

  3. “And, look, call me hardhearted, but I would never do this: “In one case, the librarian keeps bread, peanut butter and jelly on hand so he can share his lunch with children who say they are hungry.” Would you?”

    Truth is that feeding kids without a parent’s permission is risky. Next thing you know, Junior’s swelling up like a balloon because he’s allergic to an ingredient in the bread or something and you’ve got a lawsuit on your hands.

    posted by Yo on 7-30-2010 at 2:22 pm

  4. hughey louey and dewey decimal system.

    posted by dirk alan on 7-30-2010 at 9:24 pm

  5. My (sorta pathetic) library (on an AF base in Northern Japan) just got two big shelves FULL of new audio books. I was really excited until I looked inside the first oddly shaped case. Instead of C.D.s, the box has a little digital player you plug headphones into. This is smart for a lot of reasons. You can’t scratch the C.D.s, and you can’t “steal” the content. But it STINKS for me, since I mostly want audio books for road trips and to listen to on my i-Pod while I clean the kitchen and make dinner. (Don’t want to wear headphones around the house!)
    Aargh!!! My boys really wanted to listen to “The Lightning Thief” in the car!!!

    posted by Emily on 7-31-2010 at 8:00 pm

  6. @Emily–
    If you can plug headphones in in, you can get an auxiliary cable that goes into the headphone jack, and the other end can be plugged into a car stereo or set of portable speakers.

    posted by Mary on 7-31-2010 at 9:38 pm

  7. Have you read the web-based comic “Unshelved”? It’s not only funny but, even taking into account naked Ned and Buddy the book beaver, it rings true. Trust me, five-plus years working in a public library has made me less skeptical of the extent and variety of human behavior.

    I think a tv sitcom based on “Unshelved” might actually work.

    posted by Evelina on 8-2-2010 at 12:38 pm

  8. I love Unshelved! If they can make a sitcom out of Sh*t My Dad Says, surely they can do Unshelved.

    Yo, you are right about that — especially peanut butter! You can’t even bring PB to some schools around here because of those allergies.

    posted by Miss Kathleen on 8-4-2010 at 10:39 am

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