2019-06-28 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 3, Issue 8

Featured Story

Short Reads and Book Challenges

A short read is a format (book, article online, etc.) that takes advantage of limited opportunities to read. It helps encourage reading among those who are pressed for time, reluctant to read, or distracted by technology.

Institutions, such as schools and libraries are finding ways to make learning a priority for some.

This world map shows the hours spent reading per person per week by country.

Institutions are working on extending reading times is by hosting reading challenges. Here is a Master List of 2019 Reading Challenges: http://www.girlxoxo.com/the-master-list-of-2019-reading-challenges/

Idaho also offers many different types of reading challenges. The Boise School District is hosting an Extreme Book Challenge for the school year. Idaho Falls Public Library offers an Extreme Book Challenge. Meridian Public Library just started Extreme Book Nerd Challenge.

These challenges are ways to flip short reads in a fun way. It is great that the public libraries and school libraries are getting involved. It promotes reading, trying out new genres of text, and opening up patrons to new literature.

Have fun and read!

– Eric Hovey, Ada Community Libraries

Fail Forward

We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.

Class to Club

Having a 3D printing class for several years at our main branch has been a great success. Then our smaller branch wanted in on the fun. My fellow technerds and I traveled almost an hour one way to teach the class at our smaller branch, just to have no one show up. It happened again and again – it was frustrating, to say the least. We couldn’t understand why they wanted a 3D printing class when no one showed up for it. Was it a lack of interest? Advertisement? When we asked the librarians of the small branch, they said told us that yes people were interested. Later, looking at the demographics of our smaller branch, it became evident that the community wasn’t interested in a class format, but they were still interested in the topic. Many were kids that just got out of school and had been learning all day and they just wanted to do something fun. Others were retired adults that thought they couldn’t learn anything new. I suggested we hold a 3D Printing Club where patrons could drop in, learn something new, whether they thought they could or not, or just work on their designs. We got a better response from the community to the club than we did with the class. Some were only interested in design, others were interested in designing and printing, and then there were those that wanted our expertise to help them finish a project they had been working on for months. We even had a patron that was so excited about 3D printing that he got his own printer to prototype some of his designs. The club was a fantastic great answer to our class dilemma but it was even more amazing that it really garnered the spirit of our mission as a library and engaged more of our community.

– Vanessa Thiele, East Bonner County Library District

Crush Corner

Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!

Book Review

I have to share the funny story of how I came upon a must- read for anyone interested in the future of libraries. At my library one of my projects is sorting patron requests and distributing them to our various collection specialists. Back in November 2018 I saw a number of requests for a book entitled The Library Book by Susan Orlean. Only I knew was that is was a non-fiction book with an intriguing title. I decided to put myself on hold for the book and give it a try. It was a fascinating journey to take with Susan Orlean as she used her research quest of the Los Angeles Central Library fire back in April 1986 as a lense to look critically at the role of libraries today and how they have remained relevant in an ever- changing world. My favorite part was at the end when she describes how people in remote areas of the world will use whatever means are available to them, including donkeys, boats, elephants, and much more, in order to make the resources they have available, including books, newspapers, fax machines, and Wifi hotspots, to as many people as they can. I would encourage anyone who is interested in the future of libraries to read this book.

– Jackie Wood, Marshall Public Library

SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org

SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-00-18-0013-18). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.