The Weekly Blurb

It seems simple enough: you get to the right age, you go to school a teacher coaches you through phonics, or memorization, or whatever method happens to be in fashion at the time, and by the time you graduate you are a fully literate person. Except, that doesn’t always happen. Take my younger sister for example. When she started school, some bright young thing with a freshly polished ed. Degree began teaching at our school. She promoted (pushed) a wonderful new method of teaching re... More...

                                                            Partnerships! Partnerships! Partnerships! Know Your Community Developing partnerships to support library programming has been getting ... More...

Get Facts Fast: Ready Reference. Just when it looks like providing reference is going the way of the dodo due to lack of use, I see an sudden influx of questions coming through Ask A Question, the online reference service sponsored by The Alberta Library (TAL). Before the time of online reference services, there was the humble librarian: eager and willing to answer all your inscrutable questions (or perhaps not so eager and willing, hence the prune-faced stereotype). That’s all b... More...

The Return of the Blurb Just as the major TV networks are busy resurrecting your favorite television series from hiatus, so we at Northern Lights are brushing the dust of the Blurb and starting to create new “episodes.” We are returning to the series on Library Service Responses, the 18 item list of “what a library does for, or offers to the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs” (Nelson, 46). This issue will be a brief re-cap of what we&... More...

Sharing is a good thing. From the time we enter kindergarten, we are evaluated on how well we play with others and how well we share. The meaning is simple: allowing others to enjoy something that we own or have created. In the world of fine arts, the bigger and broader the audience we share with, the better; think blockbuster movies, best-sellers and Twitter followers measured in the millions. When we create something, and are proud of the accomplishment, we naturally want others to kn... More...

Express Creativity: Create Content Those who have heard me give the training on Strategic Planning for Results may remember hearing me refer to this Library Service Response as the “dangerous one.” The reason for this is because Expressing Creativity: Create and Share Content can be one of the biggest money drains on often already limited financial resources. Also, which activities a library chooses to host may not actually meet the needs it was intended to due to lack of info... More...

When I first came out to Elk Point, I began a conversation about the town: “I presume there are elk in Elk Point.” When I received a negative response I was a little confounded, but continued: “Is there at least a point?” I was informed that an early settler to the area liked the spot as it reminded him of where he had come from, and so named it after his hometown. I liked that idea. Moving to a small town where everyone knows everyone else, it becomes important ... More...