Category: Programs & Events

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“Adulting” 101: 50+ Program Ideas for Libraries

What are “Traditional” Library Programs?

Not that long ago I wrote about #DataRescueDavis, a library program that I helped with at the UC Davis Peter J. Shields Library. I also recapped my participation in my weekly journal for my class instructor; in it, I asked “what are “traditional” library programs anyway? Do academic libraries have a “typical” set of events that they’d usually participate in, and I’m just not aware of them?” Can I come up with any unique or useful program ideas?

My professor commented:

Somehow, I don’t believe that ‘traditional’ programming for libraries exists any longer – in any type of library.

Program Ideas for Every Library

Here’s a case in point: one librarian on the ALA Think Tank group on Facebook posted about ideas for some “Adulting 101” workshops at her career college library. These workshops could work just as well at a public library, a school library (especially high school!), an academic library at a university, and perhaps even some special libraries!

Rather than comb through the comments, here are the ideas in a handy list for you to think about, adapt, and use at your library! I’ve sorted them by general categoryĀ and added some helpful notes. Continue reading ““Adulting” 101: 50+ Program Ideas for Libraries”

Posted on - 1 Comment on Save That Data! Unexpected Adventures in Academic Library Programming

Save That Data! Unexpected Adventures in Academic Library Programming

Library programming: just what is it that librarians do all day? - Girl with glasses looking over an open book in her hands
PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay

Library Programs a.k.a. Events For You and Me

What exactly is library programming? Well, to answer that question, you might first ask yourself, just what is it that librarians do all day? There’s a myth that librarians just sit around and read books all day, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Librarians tend to be people whoĀ love books, Ā but that doesn’t mean they get paid to read them!

One thing that librarians have to do is organize events. In information scienceĀ parlance this is called “library programming.” It’s one thing to expect there to be programs of some sort at your local public library branch, e.g. craft events, story time for babies and toddlers, orĀ special speaker events, but what about at academic libraries?

Library Programming at UC Davis: What is #DataRescueDavis?

I recently had the privilege of participating in one such libraryĀ program at the UC Davis Peter J. Shields Library. The event, #DataRescueDavis, took place on February 2nd. It is part of the national Data Refuge project thatĀ the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities (PPEH) Lab organized and is part of the End of TermĀ Web Archiving project.

You can read more about the #DataRescueDavis eventĀ in this Sacramento Bee article.Ā  I want to talk about what led up to the event, and how the skills used at the event couldĀ translate later on down the line, duringĀ otherĀ programs at an academic library or similar institution. Continue reading “Save That Data! Unexpected Adventures in Academic Library Programming”

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