Just a reminder that both Davenport library locations (Main and Fairmount) will be closed today in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Both buildings will reopen at their regularly scheduled time tomorrow, Tuesday September 2.
Have a great holiday!
Category: Library news
Now Out of Print – Booktalking
written by Angela
Oh, how technology changes everything – sometimes for the (much) better!
I started my library career in 1997 at DPL’s Reference Desk. One of the tasks I was assigned was to create a reader’s advisory newsletter. I started Booktalking, a bi-monthly print newsletter which featured reading lists, anecdotes, and book/author information. I still have copies of the newsletter back to 2001 – don’t know where I saved the older archives, probably on a (gasp!) floppy disc, but at least it was the smaller disc, not the record-album-looking one from War Games. If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can read back-issues of Booktalking on the Library’s website, but only back to 2006. Probably because I recycled old articles and added a new twist.
Most of my reading tastes are still the same – love chick lit by Marian Keyes; love laughing at Carl Hiaasen. But there is a much better way to get this information to the public in a timely and interactive manner. Blogging! (And when I re-read this entry in 5… scratch that … 2 years, I’ll be like, “Blogging – that’s so archaic. It’s all about the microchips in the brain now, man. Read my mind…”). Sadly, we don’t have that technology in Iowa yet, so we blog. And the Reference Department has created a dandy blog that captures the essence of my original newsletter, Booktalking.
So, Booktalking as a publication is gone, but in its place is something beautiful, magical really – “Info Café.” Read it daily (you’re reading it now, in case you didn’t know). I’d tell you to bookmark it, but that’s sort of last year, too. RSS feed it, baby. Don’t know how? Call the Reference Desk – no, wait, who has time to make phone calls anymore? You can chat with them live on the “inter-galactic web” (internet).
Wake me up when technology stays the same for more than day. Until then, read books. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Bix Weekend is Here!
The annual celebration of the music of Bix Beiderbecke is in full swing today and tomorrow. Be sure to get out there and participate, whether you’re running or walking in the nationally renowned Bix 7 road race or enjoying music of some of the world’s finest musicians at the Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival.
Just a reminder, because of the congestion in downtown Davenport today, the Main library will be closed. The Fairmount Street library will be open 9:30am-5:30pm. Both buildings will be open their regular hours on Monday.
Have a great weekend!
Bix Porch Party at the Davenport Library
Help us kick off the Bix Festival on Thursday, July 24, at 11:30 AM, at the 21st Annual “Bix Porch Party,” a block-party featuring live jazz music from Don Estes and The Prairie Ramblers, located in front of the Davenport Public Library Main Street location (321 Main Street). This free event is for people of all-ages. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets as we block off Main Street for a fun-filled free afternoon of music, popcorn, lemonade, and party favors! Hot dogs will sold at bargain prices as a fundraiser for the Teen Volunteer Council. Stop in the Library afterwards and visit the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center to learn more about Bix and to see the display of Bix Jazz Festival posters. It’s never too soon to start having fun!
Memorial Day – Library Closed
Just a reminder that the Davenport Public Library will be closed today in observance of Memorial Day. Both buildings will reopen tomorrow at their regularly scheduled time.
Enjoy your holiday!
Wi-Fi at the Library
Both Davenport library buildings – Main and Fairmount Street – offer free internet access via our wireless network. All you need is your library card number and a laptop.
Don’t have a library card yet? Stop by the Customer Service desk and sign up for one today.
Don’t have a laptop? Sorry, can’t help you with that one! But we do have PCs with internet access available in both buildings. Internet surfing for everyone!
One Million Dollars, hoo hoo hoo hah hah hah!
Say it with fiendish glee like Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers trilogy for maximum comedic effect…
For a cool million bucks, you can have Minneapolis’s automated book-sorting system. Adapted from the travel and postal industries, an employee beeps in the item at the beginning of the belt and the system allows it to travel a prescribed distance before a pneumatic arm pops out and flicks it into one of 40 specific bins. Course, with 25 branches and a cathedral like the downtown building, a nifty doohickey like this comes in handy.
Can you fathom there are library systems larger than Davenport, Iowa’s? I Know! They must have a real savvy HR person at the San Francisco Public library system to keep tabs on their 800 employees. One of the cool things from attending the Public Library Association’s conference last week was the opportunity to see how these mega-systems keep things running smoothly.
Enjoy the additional shots of reflecting downtown skyscrapers, the five-floor Jetsons-esque view from the Minneapolis Public Library entrance, and the world’s most gigantic cherry from the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
When Librarians Attack
Put just under 10,000 librarians in a convention center and you’ve got yourself some highly classified and neatly-arranged pandemonium. That was the case last week in Minneapolis at the Public Library Association convention.
It’s an opportunity to learn techniques from professionals who fight the good fight in larger operations and different states. We attended meetings such as “Working with Difficult Patrons” and (for our upcoming Eastern Avenue branch) “Libraries as Greenbuildings”.
There are hundreds of vendors (like the party people from Bowker above) vying for the library’s attention, specializing in the items we check out to you folks, as well as the technology we use behind the scenes. One of these vendors brought in renowned mystery novelist C.J. Box to talk in their booth (in the picture on the right).
In addition to learning about the awesome reverse discrimination in men’s restroom lines at a library convention, I learned these folks aren’t too shy with the free snacks and tschotkes.
Next time, some cool Minneapolis Public Library hardware and views of the Twin Cities.
Davenport Library to Expand
Today it was announced that the Davenport Public Library will expand by adding two floors to the top of the existing Main Library building at 321 Main Street. These additional stories will allow for expansion of the library’s book collection as well as room for a full-service restaurant with banquet facilities, a therapeutic massage center (free massages for Davenport card holders) and a dog training facility. “We are excited to be able to offer expanded services to the citizens of Davenport” exclaimed LaWanda Roudebush, director of the Davenport Public Library. “Our goal is to make the library the best it can be and I believe we are doing just that.”
Construction is slated to begin in early 2009 with completion projected for late 2010.
April Fool! There are no plans to add floors to the Main Library building. However, the good news is, the Davenport Library is expanding with planning of the Eastern Avenue branch library in the final stages and groundbreaking expected sometime in 2009.
Know a teen that would like to see their shorts on the big screen?
The really big screen!
We’re having a film festival for teens of the Quad Cities. For full details, call the Davenport Public Library at 563-326-7893. But a bit of information now might help. The Quad-City area Public Libraries have put out a call for entries for our first ever YouTube film fest. We would like teens to create a 3 to 5 minute film that they post to a special account on YouTube.com and turn in to us.
To make this even more fun, the Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre® have invited us to have a Red Carpet Event to showcase the winners. Prizes will be awarded for movies selected by the librarians and by audience choice.
So join us for the event on Thursday, March 13 at 7:00 PM as area teens present their YouTube movie on the giant IMAX® screen.
No registration is required for the free screening on the 13th, but teens must register their entries by March 8th. Entry forms are at both the Main and Fairmount libraries, or any local public library. More information is also online at www.davenportlibrary.com.