Skip to main content

PLA - Day 4

Sorry it took so long to get the shortest day of the conference for me up here. Because of when my flight left, I only had time to go to the first session of the conference's last day, which was really worth it. The packed program was all about serving patrons in their 20s and 30s. Essentially the advice broke down in two ways: 1) make sure you're marketing your current adult programs in ways that don't scare off younger adults 2) find out what younger adults in your community are interested in and develop appropriate programming, even if that means hosting after hours events where alcohol is served. You may have to think outside the box a little bit in order to create events and that will attract patrons you aren't used to seeing in the library.

This presentation reinforced a feeling I'd been having even before PLA. I thought it was unique to our community, but apparently not. Libraries are generally great at serving their youngest and oldest patrons, but teens and quarter-life adults seem to get left out of libraries' focus. I think it needed to be said that younger adults are their own distinct group of patrons and need to be targeted just as much as preschoolers, children, tweens, teens, and seniors.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2015 Reading Resolutions

Last year was the first year that I decided to do reading challenges beyond the basic "read x books" and I loved it. I read more books in 2014 than I ever have before, so I'm going to stick with it for 2015. First up is the challenge I created all on my own. When I was a precocious youngster, I was obsessed with reading "the best" books. Now I've learned the importance of reading things you enjoy, but I've read a lot of classics and tend to enjoy them, so I spent way to much time compiling various "best of" lists and made one master list of best novels. For 2015, I plan to read 50 of the 100 best (that I haven't already read). Below is the list, with the ones I read linked to my Goodreads review. Progress: 10 of 50 Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart Aligheri Dante The Divine Comedy Anonymous One Thousand and One Nights Atwood, Margaret The Handmaid's Tale Austen, Jane Emma Austen, Jane Persuasion Baldwin, James Go Tell It O...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Day In the Life of an Electronic Resources Coordinator

Ever since I started my current job I've been trying to write a post to sum up the unique niche in which I find myself, but I think maybe my day last Friday, might be better (and maybe more entertaining) than anything I've tried to write up to this point.  Just consider it a flashback to the old #librarydayinthelife. The quick outline of my job: I manage (pay for) all the electronic resources that the reference department subscribes to (I have a counterpart in childrens, but when in doubt, our department usually pays for it), but I'm also a regular run-of-the-mill reference librarian with regular desk shifts, print collection development responsibilities (000s), and I manage our department's (mostly) high school student assistants who help patrons with the public internet computers, do a little shelving, and help everyone in the department with odd jobs. 8AM - department meeting During August the library board doesn't meet, so we decided to fill the time we ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flagging Enthusiasm For Banned Books Week

How could I almost forget to blog about Banned Books Week ? After National Library Week, it's probably the biggest holiday in Libraryland. I love Banned Books Week because it gives me a chance to talk about books I love because, let's face  it, some of the best books are the ones that cause controversy. As I used to do on my old book blog, here are the top 10 most challenged books from the last year according to the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom and the two I've actually gotten around to reading are in bold : And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit Crank by Ellen Hopkins Reasons: drugs...
Post a Comment
Read more