alternatives to videocats: the beryl collection at the tulsa city-county library

Oklahoma is a relatively new state -- which is an advantage in that its history (after statehood, anyway) is well documented in photographs. The Tulsa City-County Library is home to the Beryl Collection of historical photographs of Oklahoma.

To start browsing, go to the Tulsa City-County Library website and type "beryl collection" into the Search box on the broad red stripe near the top of the page. Or type "beryl" + any Oklahoma history topic of your choosing. For example,"beryl will rogers" yields 54 pictures of the famous humorist.

alternatives to videocats: the lincoln collection at the allen county library

Most people are aware that both Kentucky and Illinois claim Abraham Lincoln, but he also lived for awhile in Indiana. The Allen County Public Library of Ft. Wayne has a collection of photographs, letters and other documents.

https://acpl-cms.wise.oclc.org/research/lincoln-collection

alternatives to videocats

Has confinement given you too much time on your hands? Looking for a rabbit hole to dive into? Go to the library -- via your computer. Many public libraries have interesting collections that anyone can access online. In the days to come, I'll be putting up links to some fun and informative ones I've found.

summer reading program 2016

This year's Summer Reading Program is turning out to be a big, popular success. Last year's experiment in online-only registration kinda fizzled, but this summer, from the beginning, the enthusiasm of previous years is back in full force -- and then some. 

 

Some possible reasons for the upsurge: 

• Paper sign-up sheets and reading logs. This option hit people's happy buttons in several ways. The forms are simple -- just put pen to paper and write, no signing in,  no passwords, no clicking around. They work even for people who are generally uncomfortable with computers, and with their colorful format they seem less like a form-filling chore (at one time doing it online might have seemed like play, but now there are too many online business forms for that view). And then there is the ever-important aspect of human contact. A human librarian takes your filled-in list of books -- an acknowledgement of your achievement -- maybe even notices the titles you've read, and hands you your prize. For a moment, the reader is center stage. 


• Pre-registration. Especially useful in a large city with more than one school district, and therefore more than one ending date for the school year. There was a bit of confusion because this just applied to the online registration option, with the program "officially" beginning later, but it did ease the hectic crowding of the opening day. 


• Having the adult program concurrent with the children's and teens'. This proved to be a real boost for the Adult Reading Program, usually held in midwinter. It benefited from the high publicity of the kids' programs, and in many families summer reading became a multi-generational activity. 

summer reading

'Tis that time of year again -- the summer reading program for children and teens has begun. This year the children's librarians have issued a challenge to the rest of the staff: match the kids by reading 20 children's books over the summer. The idea, of course, is to increase everyone's familiarity with the juvenile collection. This is gonna be fun ...

winter reading program

The Adult Winter Reading Program at my public library is drawing to a close. The core of it is to read eight books from January through March. Officially, anything and everything goes, but I usually restrict myself to counting only YA-length or longer, non-how-to books that I haven't read before.

Here's a rough analysis of what I read:
Traditional paper fiction from the library -- 2
Traditional paper nonfiction from the library -- 2
Traditional paper fiction from my own collection -- 1
Traditional paper nonfiction from my own collection -- 2
Ebooks (fiction) from the library -- 0
Ebooks (nonfiction) from the library -- 0
Ebooks (fiction, free (all hail Project Gutenberg!) ) from my own collection -- 1
Ebooks (nonfiction) from my own collection -- 0

What didn't show up:
several comic books (purchased), some from the library, some my own
a traditional paper fiction book of my own, an old favorite I re-read
a traditional paper nonfiction book of my own I'm in the middle of reading
4 traditional paper language books I'm in the middle of using
3 language books and 2 language audiobooks, borrowed electronically from the library
a fiction ebook (purchased), an old favorite I'm re-reading
2 non-fiction ebooks (free) I'm in the middle of reading

What does this show that would be of use to libraries? Merely that, as of 2013, some digital-immigrant readers are feeding their habit from a variety of sources, public and private, print and electronic.

winter reading program

Well, the library's experiment with a different kind of winter reading program is winding down. Not that it had very far to wind.

Previously, it had been similar to the children's reading program -- list the books you've read on a paper form, and turn it in for a prize. In the case of adults, this meant about half a dozen books over two or three months, in return for a mug, or some reading-related item with the library's logo.

This year, registration was online only, and the physical prizes have been replaced by a "chance to connect with other readers ... to talk about books you love!"

This ain't gonna work. For one thing, even adults like getting rewards. Not just a "good feeling" of accomplishment, but real rewards, like physical stuff. But the physicality goes beyond that. There is the physical act of writing down the title of each book as you finish it, then physically handing the filled-out physical piece of paper to a physical librarian -- and maybe exchanging a casual comment about the books as you do so. This world of tangible books and paper and ink and librarians is comfortable, especially to older people and quiet people -- the kinds of people who are most likely to participate in reading programs. In fact, many of these people are downright uncomfortable with computers. And even for those who don't mind them, the coziness factor is missing.

I suppose a completely virtual program could be geared toward a different kind of reader -- younger, busier, at home online. But to appeal to that crowd it would have to be exciting and fast-paced. It would've been good to have a web page for the program, with a lot of glitz and glamor, and interactive cool stuff. More importantly, it would need an immersive, ongoing conversation, where participants could "show off" to friends and meet interesting new people. The Facebook discussion just didn't have enough people to sustain it. Maybe a link on the library's website directly to the discussion would've helped.

a bit of halloween fun

Mischief and mayhem -- a Renaissance lady, a witch, a wizard, a cyberpunk, a Star-bellied Sneetch, and the Cat in the Hat -- the little-known alter egos of some of the Tulsa City-County Library's usually mild-mannered staff.