Social Library, Volume 69
Jennifer Peterson
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11 October 2016
With this edition of the Social Library, we're featuring Facebook posts from libraries who are enriching their communities with fun events, informative workshops, audio heritage walks, library card awareness and tools for facilitating difficult discussions with teens. We enjoy highlighting the great work of these libraries and hope you find inspiration for your own great work. 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.
- Lewisville Public Library in Texas hosted Star Wars Reads Day on Saturday with come-and-go activities throughout the day and costumed characters for a meet-and-greet and photos. And the community stepped up by wearing their own Star Wars costumes. Star Wars Reads provide resources for libraries to use each October, during Star Wars Reads month.
- South Dublin Libraries in Ireland shared a link to their South Dublin Heritage Walks page, which provides access to a series of audio heritage walks centered on the villages of South Dublin County. Visitors are invited to access the walks via their mobile device, and free public Wi-Fi is available in each village so they can enjoy the audio tours without using data. And indeed, "these walks aren't just good exercise – they're a fascinating history lesson!" Is there history in your community that could be showcased in a heritage walk?
- Wicklow County Council Library Service, also in Ireland, is hosting a series of "workshops on reducing food waste and becoming a smarter planner/shopper/chef, saving up to €60 per month ($67) as a result!" The series will help attendees explore how much food we waste (estimated to be 30% of the food we buy), then how to plan, shop, store and cook to reduce unnecessary waste. The workshops are in association with Wicklow County Council and Stop Food Waste, Ireland's program to reduce food waste and promote home composting.
- Brooks Memorial Library in Vermont is hosting a four-month discussion series surrounding answers to difficult questions for parents, teachers and caregivers of older youth and teens. The first workshop in the series, Consent and Health Boundaries, will be facilitated by the Youth Advocate for the local Women's Freedom Center and will cover consent and how to talk about and teach older youth about consent. What are healthy boundaries? What messages do you send about consent? Other workshops in this series include Social Media, Sexism and Sexting; Healthy Relationships, Warning Signs and Teen Dating Violence; and What to Wear: A Discussion on School Dress Codes. Is there someone in your community who could facilitate workshops for your community on these important topics?
- And Show Low Public Library in Arizona joined many around the country in celebrating National Library Card Sign-up Month. We especially enjoyed reviewing all the #nationallibrarycardsignupmonth posts and hope to see many more libraries participating next September. Bucks County Free Library in Pennsylvania knows it's not too early to prepare, as we saw with their new YouTube video.
Thanks to all of this week's featured libraries for such outstanding service to your communities!