Social Library, Volume 60
With a fresh edition of the Social Library, we're pleased to share inspiration from libraries who are engaging with their communities via social media. Learn how Reading Buddies pairs teens with younger readers for year-round literacy enrichment, how one library provides readers' advisory on Facebook, and how other libraries are connecting patrons to books, other resources and programs. If you'd like to see your library featured in the Social Library series, please let us know via [email protected] or find us on Facebook.
- We learned from Colorado's Lafayette Public Library about their fantastic Reading Buddies program this week. "Reading Buddies is a free, award-winning reading enrichment program that pairs rising 1st–3rd graders with volunteers in 7th–12th grades. Buddies meet once a week to read together one-on-one, play literacy games and do group activities. At the end of the term, the Buddies present a group project to their families. Reading Buddies has three terms: Fall, Winter/Spring and Summer. The summer session includes a Writing Buddies program for rising 4th–7th graders." For additional details about this wonderful model, see the program brochure (pdf).
- We enjoyed the photo posted by Calgary Public Library in Canada, with their thanks to friends at the Plano Public Library System who returned a DVD by snail mail after it was returned to a library 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) away!
- Vancouver Public Library in Canada introduced us to First Line Friday, or #FirstLineFriday. A number of book-related pages and people, including author Ken Follett, use the hashtag on Fridays to ask folks to guess the book title based on a first line quote. What a fun and easy way to invite engagement on your library's Facebook page.
- Sno-Isle Libraries in Washington caught our eye with a notable post about June being Bathroom Reading Month. In the blog post, they take the opportunity to suggest books in genres particularly suited for quick and interruptible reads including trivia, world records, "believe it or not" books, jokes and riddles, cartoon collections, short humorous essays, one-minute mysteries, "flash fiction," haiku and daily meditations. We especially liked the invitation for folks to share their own favorite bathroom books and car trip books in a comment to the post.
- And with another wonderful example of Facebook engagement, the Denver Public Library provides personalized readers' advisory with Three-For-All. The invitation reads: "Need some ideas on what to read, watch or listen to? How about finding the perfect read for your best friend, mom or brother? It's time for Three-For-All where you give us the names or titles of three books, movies (or TV shows) or bands you enjoy, and we'll give you three more!" Librarians are standing by at 2:00 p.m. once a month for this reading recommendation extravaganza.
Thanks to all of this week's featured libraries for such outstanding service to your communities! And thank you too, to the many libraries who sent us information about their library gardens and seed libraries. We've added a number of additional examples to the article, Growing Library Garden Programs.