A Librarian's Summer of Reading pep talk

Here in the city of Denver the Summer of Reading program gets underway today and I wanted to pause for a moment before the craziness starts (besides the increased numbers of folks at the branch and the adjustments made to schedules, one of our prizes is a ticket to Elitch Gardens and this can cause people to line up outside the library on the day we start distributing them).

With all that going on it's easy to lose sight of the reason for a summer reading program in the first place- to help combat the summer slide, to foster a love of reading etc etc so I have been searching for some vids, blogs and so forth that can be a source of hope and encouragement for librarians young and old for the inevitable low points this summer.

I love TED talks and I keep telling myself that I need to watch one of them a day and in some cases watch some every day in order to fully gleam what the talker is trying to convey. Check out these talks that accurately convey the importance of libraries- one of them talks about why books are like secret doors.

I love feel good stories about the library helping people. I follow this blog on tumblr and this story made me swell with pride. Sometimes it takes someone from a different country to help us see what we have here in North America.

A library without books?!?!  Yes! It has 3-d printers and powerful pcs and free access!  This is the future of libraries right here. The Denver Public Library's idealab already provides a space space for kids and teens.

Libraries are fun places to work most of the time but this town takes it a step further. I have always wanted a red car but I guess I may have to settle for a red library cart.  It sure beats the dull beige all our carts are painted.

Have a great summer!!