A number of independent and non-profit organizations have emerged in recent years with the goal of helping people (students and adults) educate and express themselves — especially in areas where traditional education (in the U.S.) has left gaps such as coding, problem solving/innovation, and the arts. Public libraries are just the ones to harness the power of these independently funded and administered initiatives and organize access to them in a way that people of all ages can benefit.
Category Archives: Arts
Illustrating Life One Panel At A Time
Whether they are comic strips, fotonovelas, comic books or graphic novels, the sequential art format possesses a certain universality that transcends language and culture. Their dialogues, everyday situations, adventures and characters provide students ways to enjoy and place themselves in the story, while constructing meaning, learning vocabulary and following ideas through text and images.
By Sujei Lugo
Texas Libraries Roundup
Texas is known for many things: our State Fair with a seemingly infinite variety of fried foods; famous and infamous politicians; the Alamo; cowboys, rodeos, tumbleweeds, and any other assortment of ideas conjured up by images of the south. Just as in many other states, budget cuts to Texas libraries have also become a well-known reality. Yet, in spite of reduced funds and staffing, libraries and librarians in Texas continue to…
By Claire Sewell
Continuing to Learn, Create, and Have Fun
Today’s older adults are younger than ever. They are obliterating tired stereotypes about aging, leaving them by the side of the road as they don their cycling gear, run their marathons, travel to new locales and continue to work (for various reasons) past the usual retirement age. Lifetime Arts, Inc. has had this figured out for the better part of the last decade. They understand that active participation in the arts is key to positive aging, and that libraries are natural hosts for this kind of programming.
By Shannon K. McDonough (VIDEO)
Two Photos
“What is always amazing to me is the fact that nothing is ever posed when I go to NY, these are just normal people living their lives in this magical landscape.”
Photography by Lorena Levesque Gregor
Two Poems
Written pages have no goals.
They sit, at ease, and converse among themselves.
Blank pages are still idealistic–
they cry out for change,
organize small, badly-planned page-revolutions
that always fall apart before the coup.
Written pages sneer at blank pages.
Yet at night when they’re alone,
written pages get worried looks on their faces
and confess nothing.
An excerpt from “Pages,” by Norah Esty
The Library Effect 