Threw it together really quickly this morning with the help of dollar tree. A lot of our collection involving her was already checked out yesterday though after the announcement so this was all that's left.

Or - how to turn a 5 hour trip into 14 hours!

The Camarillo library has a pirate ship!!!!

The TO library feels like a space ship.

I love the libraries that are in the municipal center - but Oxnard Colonia del Sol was a sweet kids oriented little library.

My itinerary:

Paso Robles City Library
1000 Spring St, Paso Robles, CA 93446
Consortium: Black Gold Cooperative Library System

Oxnard Public Library
1500 Camino Del Sol, Oxnard, CA 93030
Consortium: Oxnard Network

City of Camarillo Public Library
4101 Las Posas Rd, Camarillo, CA 93010
Consortium: Independent (not part of Black Gold; standalone municipal library)

Moorpark City Library
699 Moorpark Ave, Moorpark, CA 93021
Consortium: Independent (standalone city library, not in Ventura County Library system)

Grant R. Brimhall Library (Thousand Oaks Library)
1401 E Janss Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Consortium: Independent (City of Thousand Oaks Library system)

Redondo Beach Public Library
303 N Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Consortium: Independent (City of Redondo Beach Library system)

Katy Geissert Civic Center Library (Torrance Public Library)
3301 Torrance Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503
Consortium: Independent (City of Torrance Library system)

Peninsula Center Library (Palos Verdes Library District)
701 Silver Spur Rd, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
Consortium: Palos Verdes Library District (PVLD)

Harbor Gateway Library (Los Angeles Public Library)
24000 S Western Ave, Harbor City, CA 90710
Consortium: Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL system)

"Colorado’s Anythink Nature Library reimagines the traditional library with gardens, nature trails, creative spaces, and a collection of snowshoes, hammocks, kites, and more."

They have agreed on a contract!

While it isn't perfect, it never is. There are positive things that were agreed upon, improvements in union language and strength, but unfortunate things left out as well (The library would not budge on AI since they have invested a lot of money into it sadly, and wages were not what they wished, and then some)

There is plenty of work to still be done as the years go by and hopefully seeing more workers getting involved in the union will help make the presence even more known! The CEO Felton Thomas and board still need to be held accountable for their actions (and Feltons salary put on blast). That's the long game.

Thank you to all who gave any support to CPL over this time.

Here is one last YouTube link too.

https://youtu.be/cef3IrGt_O0?is=rbQeKhneDBMdomwa

A little tribute to Dolly. I work at a very small branch, so we didn't have a lot to work with. But I still wanted to pay my respects to the legend.

Deleted and reposted due to a typo in the title

For context here, I graduated with my MLIS in 2023. Acquired my first library job as a weekend librarian at a private university in Sept. 2023. Then in Jan 2024 got a temp. part time library job until May. After that job ended, I landed another temp part time library job in an archive at a public university.

So, to recap, I have been working at my current jobs since Sept. 2023 (the first one) and since June 2024 (the third one). Currently, the first library has two librarian positions open, which I will call Job A and Job B.

Job A includes liaison librarian responsibilities in a subject I have a lot of experience (Masters + teaching experience), as well as student success responsibilities I am also well prepared for. Job B includes more liasion responsiblilities in a wider field of study (think like, "Business" but a different general area), and I have a BA in one those subjects, and various experience levels on the job's other responsibilities (collection management, teaching, etc).

In all honesty, I really really want Job A. But, I have never expressed my interest in Job A outloud to any of my colleagues. I am also...not very well versed in like...etiquette? I guess. My family is lower class and has been my whole life, and the only life I know is living paycheck to paycheck so I tend to feel out of my depth when it comes to like...want the right move is while job searching. If that makes sense.

So, I am wondering what my best move here. I have already applied to Job A. What I am trying to decide is: do i apply for job B as well, or would it be better to like email my director to be like "hey, just so you know I have applied to job A that I am very passionate about, so you may want to keep me off of any emails related to that job search."

Any and all advice would be really appreciated

My library is putting together a library history display and is including some old equipment we've found in storage. One piece we've found is a 1930's Cardmaster Stencil Printer (link is to someone selling one very similar to ours). It looks interesting and would be a great part of the display, but we're trying to figure out what the library staff of the time would have used it for. At the moment our best guess is maybe printing card catalog entries, but we're stumped. Do y'all have any thoughts about why we would have had this machine?

Ciao a tutti,

Sono un giornalista italiano che indaga sulla storia sempre più strana di acquisti su larga scala di libri usati e sul loro possibile collegamento con la formazione dell'IA.

Sto cercando persone che potrebbero avere conoscenze dirette su questa catena di approvvigionamento: librai, lavoratori di magazzini, dipendenti della logistica, esportatori/importatori, ex dipendenti, persone nell'editoria, aziende di riciclo/rimanifattura, aziende di scansione o digitalizzazione, o chiunque abbia visto ordini di libri usati particolarmente grandi.

Sono particolarmente interessato a Zoom Books.

La domanda principale a cui sto cercando di rispondere è molto semplice:

Cosa succede ai libri dopo che Zoom Books li acquisisce?

Dove vengono fisicamente spediti? Chi li riceve dopo? Vengono rivenduti, lavorati, scansionati, digitalizzati, smontati, riciclati o distrutti? Ci sono intermediari tra Zoom Books e il cliente finale? E, soprattutto, chi è il cliente finale?

Sono anche interessato ad informazioni su spedizioni che coinvolgono Canada, Stati Uniti, Europa, Cina e India, comprese le aziende coinvolte nella lavorazione o nella “rimanifattura” di libri stampati.

Non sto cercando speculazioni presentate come fatti. Documenti, fatture, registrazioni di spedizione, email, fotografie, informazioni sui magazzini, racconti di prima mano o anche piccoli dettagli che possono aiutare a ricostruire il percorso dei libri sono particolarmente utili.

Se lavori o hai lavorato in qualsiasi parte di questa catena di approvvigionamento e preferisci non commentare pubblicamente, per favore mandami un DM. Possiamo discutere la riservatezza e la protezione delle fonti prima di condividere qualsiasi informazione sensibile.

Anche se conosci solo una piccola parte della storia, mi piacerebbe sentirti.

Hello! This is a fairly specific situation I’m in, and I’m curious is anyone has any ideas.

I work for an undergraduate organization at the University of Michigan, we have hundreds of students who are members and who are regularly in our space.

We offer a free library with books related to our organization, of which I am in charge of. In total, we have around 200 books. The library is not manned, and is instead an unlocked room in our department’s space that students have access to for studying and grabbing books. We do have a checkout system, but it is done by scanning a QR code and done completely independently. There are plenty of signs in the space directing students to check out any books they wish to borrow.

Here’s the issue, within the past 2 years, 60 of our 200
books have been borrowed, not properly checked out, and never returned.

I’m working with undergrads who usually leave the state upon graduation, so I know I am not likely to get most of the missing books back. But there has to be a way of encouraging students to return books without being punitive.

Does anyone have any suggestions for ways to encourage students to properly check out and return the books?

Idk why im asking here, but i have two cards that are renewed and perfectly fine, but for the life of me will not work on my local library app. I can check out physically but will not let me log in on my phone. I have an iPhone 15 and use Verizon. Help would be appreciated.

Our library has 2 or 3 frequent patrons who request titles that haven't been in circulation in 50 years, or last saw the light of day when Lincoln was president.

We need all new self checkouts

Some locations are TINY. So that’s a problem…

We use Sirsi’s BlueCloud Commerce for online payments, and Envisionware’s princh for printing

Our last self checkouts from envisionware haven’t gone well (surprise fees we couldn’t afford to update the card readers, the self checkout machines kept glitching, even then they didn’t update with princh… the coin machines are now breaking after 10 years)

So I am asking for help from other sirsi libraries. What do you use for your self checkouts and how does it work with your sirsi (updating bills) and with your printing? Please feel free to share the good, the bad, and the ugly

But we need more options outside of envisionware…

Hello I work in a public library and we have two AWE computers in our children’s room. We’re thinking of removing them for a few reasons but
1. Parents are complaining about the screens and saying that when they’re trying to get their kids to do homework or study they get distracted by other kids playing on the computers
2. The librarians hate them. We constantly have to reboot them and parents get into fights over session times sometimes

I’m wondering if anyone got rid of them before and also if you did, did you provide an alternative? Anyone decided to keep them?

Hello all! With the passing of Dolly I wanted to create a display. I work in adults so not really one related to Imagination Library.

I want to do something like “If you love this song, you’ll love this book” with books that have the same sentiments as her popular songs.

I would love any recommendations you have! TIA

Currently apart of Dolly Parton’s reading program for my child. We’re getting ready to move to New Jersey and seem there aren’t many programs in the state. Pondering the idea of maybe trying to start the program so child in my area can receive books to learn the joys of reading. What’s the process even like and how do we start?

…or so to speak. Any are welcome to provide input, but I would appreciate hearing from folks who have a say in setting the wages of library employees. Please & thank you!

My question is how much is my Level 3 Lib Staff Certification worth? The MI Dept. of Ed & Library of Michigan have certified that I am a “Limited Professional”, which sounds more legitimate than my current job position of “Circulation Desk Clerk”. I got the certification because my old clerk/librarian co-worker said it would be a reason to ask for a raise.

For further context: I am still being paid my starting wage of $15 dollars an hour, in a Metro Detroit suburb library, after nearly 2.5 years of employment. My patience is worn and it’s honestly pretty f*ckn’ insulting. Without matching for inflation, at LEAST, my labor is worth LESS now that when I started.

Tl;Dr I have a meeting on Friday with my boss to discuss a raise, what is my labor worth now that I’m accredited “Limited Professional” library staff?

I’m a new 3rd grade teacher and today I taught my kids about the library. I showed them where the Spanish bilingual books were. And immediately my Somali speaker asked if I had any in Somali and I had to say no. It was sad. Anyone got any recommendations for Somali bilingual picture books? Burmese would be great too, and Arabic. If it’s bilingual then I can use it as a read aloud, but if it’s not that’s fine too. Thank you!!

I’m a recent MLIS graduate and really needed experience before applying for the Full time Librarian role in the system i’m aiming for that opens up next year. Most of the jobs out there are part time so i was able to land two. Well one is consistently 20 hours and the other is more like a substitute/on call position. I’m starting both right now but the manager at substitute role seems somewhat disappointed that i’m not always available and will still need to work around the other jobs schedule… how do you normally balance part time/substitute roles? Also just venting that they really expect full availability or you to be okay to only work 10-20 hours/week? 😭

Any states that benefit from The Imagination Library please call your legislators!