Welcome to Library of the Month, the place to draw special attention to great libraries!
WebJunction has always published stories and conversations that put the spotlight on our Members Libraries, but with the new tools for member contributions, it's easier than ever for anyone in our community to nominate others, or publish our own stories, right here on the site.
This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking for ways to tell the world about a fabulous library as it meets the needs and expectations of their community. Your spotlight could pair the work of a staffer with a patron's experience of how the library has impacted their lives. Or use the Spotlights to toot your own horn.
We're also interested in libraries that have made innovative and creative use of WebJunction to make libraries great. We've heard of libraries using a WebJunction Spotlight to promote great work in library newsletters, annual reports, funding campaigns, local news sources and on websites.
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Blackfalds (AB) Public Library: Highway to Wi-Fi (March
How a little library in Alberta created a world-beating wireless system for patrons and road warriors.
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Milton (ON) Public Library: Especially for Teens
Outside Toronto, a small library makes room on its Web page for some very important patrons.
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BC's Lillooet Public Library: Relationships Across the Divide (Ju
One library in a remote area of British Columbia has found new and creative ways to reach out to its patrons--even those at a distance.
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Mission Branch Builds Community Through Storytime
Children's Manager Rachel MacNeilly of the San Francisco Public Library's Mission Branch has developed innovative children's programming to develop loyal library users.
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Harper College Library Dives Into Web 2.0 to Reach Students
The Harper College Library motto "Our Mission is Your Success" has prompted the library to find a number of creative and innovative ways to reach their students.
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"Don't take no for an answer!": Polk County (June 2003)
In this article, we take a peek at a library director and staff who, despite some serious obstacles, developed and increased strong support for public access computing.
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Carvers Bay (SC) Branch Library: Gaming the Way to Literacy (August 2006)
If you thought gaming in libraries is only for the big-city systems, take a look at this library next to a corn field in rural South Carolina.
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Building a Virtual Workforce: NW Iowa Library Services Consulting Service
Northwest Iowa Library Service's new approach to providing library management training and consulting to member libraries with their Special Project Consulting Service.
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Project LIFT: Serving Teen Parents and Their Families
Pima County (AZ) Public Library uses thoughtful, hands-on projects to reach out to teen parents through Project L.I.F.T. (Literacy Involves Families Together).
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Just-in-Time, Just-in-Place: Iowa Staff Learn Online
After hearing the buzz about how the Southwest Iowa Library Service Area is using Live Space for online staff training, WebJunction asked SWILSA Administrator Karen Burns to share about their Computerside Chats and RACE (Random Acts of Continuing Education).
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Pike County Library Takes Big Steps Toward Sustainability
Here is a rural library that identified the changes it needed to make to keep up with the growth of its community and expanding patron needs, drew up a plan, gathered advocates, and secured the necessary funds.
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Seattle Public Library's new South Park branch embraces its community
A multicultural neighborhood with a rich history but more recently faced with crime and poverty provided interesting challenges and opportunities for community involvement in the planning process for South Park Library.
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Perry (OK) Carnegie Library: Planning for Gold
At this small Oklahoma library, technology planning is the key to the future--and TechAtlas helps unlock the door.
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Allen County Public Library: Thoughtful Innovations with space, staff and
Allen County Public Library: This Northeast Indiana library uses thoughtful innovations to maximize space, staff and potential of emerging technologies.
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Looking for a few good libraries ...
WebJunction wants to feature the remarkable things your library is doing.
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Jay Johnson (KS) Library: Trading Spaces
In Western Kansas, a tiny library gets a bit of breathing room through creative remodeling.
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Cornelius Public Library: Seeing the Forest...Tree by Tree (September 2003)
By responsively building programs and relationships, an Oregon library uses grass roots strategies to reach out to its Latino community. WebJunction member Mary Williams (member name: maryw) reports.
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Orange County (FL) Library System: The Real Magic Kingdom
A coordinated pan-library-system effort is bringing library services--and awareness--to Orlando's Spanish-speaking community.
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Kinyaa'áanii Charlie Benally (AZ) Library: Fire at the Cente
Located at the physical center of the college, this library works like fire to draw the whole community to its warmth and to elicit knowledge sharing and storytelling.
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Goodwin Public Library (Farmington, NH): Pride of the Yankees (October 2004)
A dynamic director and a handful of Gates Foundation computers have been enough to re-energize a New England town's library--and its whole community.
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Northwest Regional Library (SD): The Magic Bookmobile (November 2006)
In a sparsely populated corner of South Dakota, the enthusiastic support of the residents and the energetic spark of some key players have expanded library services for all.
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Algiers Regional Library: Riding the Aftermath of Katrina (October 200
More than a year after Hurricane Katrina struck, the New Orleans Public Library system is a long way from "business as usual." The Algiers Regional Branch tells part of the story.
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Red Feather Lakes (CO) Community Library: Buddhists and Boy Scouts (Nov 2004)
A small community library just grows and grows, thanks to energetic advocacy and a committment to grant funding.
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Pelican Rapids (MN) Public Library: A Multicultural Learning Center
A small community in rural Minnesota welcomes the influx of immigrants.
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Mt. Lebanon (PA) Public Library (and friends): Presti-Digitization
A group of Allegheny County (PA) libraries gets together to share the wealth and build on their communities' sense of history.
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Erie County (PA) PL: on board with the Underground Railroad Bicyc
Get ready to roll: this story stretches across geography and history.
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Lumpkin Public Library: hangin' out at the library (June 2006)
The once-closed doors of this library are now open again and ready to meet new challenges.
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White Pine County Library: Not Such a Lonesome Road (October 2003)
Contributor Charity Cooper (WJ member name: charityc) takes us to Ely Nevada to explore how this isolated community finds creative ways to fund its local library.
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Whitman County Library: The Little Library That Could (March 2004)
The Whitman County (WA) Library has pulled out of the station and is building up a head of steam.
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Stevens County (WA) Rural Library District: Stayin' Alive, Online
Think rural America is no place for a library to build an online community? A library system in a remote corner of Washington might just prove you wrong.
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Winnebago Public Library (NE): Little Library on the Prairie
The Winnebago Public Library/ Little Priest Tribal College Library is a log cabin on the outside and a shining, technology-rich pride of the community on the inside.
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Cobleigh Public Library: Phish and PAKRATS (December 2004)
In northern Vermont, a committed group of parents helps get a bookmobile on the road.
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Portable Power to the People: The Vineland Laptop Lending Program (August 2003)
Maybe checking out laptop computers to library patrons is a crazy idea. But the staff of New Jersey's Vineland Public Library thought about it -- and said, 'Why not?'
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How One City Got Information Literacy Brewing (November 2003)
A mobile computer training program is bringing an empowering awareness of the information landscape to Seattle neighborhoods.
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Bozeman Public Library: Mr. Patron Goes to Washington (April 2004)
When the Bozeman Public Library won an IMLS award, it wasn't just the top brass who travelled to Washington DC to accept it.
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Thinking Big: Richmond Public Library's Web Site (December 2003)
Library Web sites can be ordinary, okay, acceptable--or they can be visionary, inspiring, and brilliantly successful. The Richmond (BC) Public Library's site is emphatically in the latter camp.
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Cozard Memorial Library: Trust-Busting
How a small-town library in South Dakota broadened its base of support beyond its original benefactor.
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Puskarich Public Library: Perfect Partnerships (January 2004)
A library in rural southeastern Ohio has developed a broad range of relationships that forms a web of mutual support and good will.
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San Carlos Public Library: The Power of Two and a Half (February 2004)
With a small handful of staff and a big board booster, an effective and valued library is blooming in the Arizona desert at San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.
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Sioux Rapids (IA) Memorial Library: A Community Effort (May 2004
From dancing canines to circulating cake pans, here's one small-town library that knows how to keep things interesting.
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Miami-Dade County (FL) Public Library System: Self-Service Spanish (June 2004)
If you're a big-city library with a large Hispanic population in need of a Spanish OPAC, where do you turn? Sometimes there's nothing like doing it yourself.
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Santa Clara Pueblo (NM) Community Library: Weaving a Web of Support
With financial and moral support from a lot of friends, the Santa Clara Pueblo (NM) Community Library helps knit a Native American community together.
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Polson (MT) City Library: Safe and Sound
What it takes to successfully implement technology in a small library: a determined library director teaming up with a top-notch consultant.
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Silas Bronson Library (Waterbury, CT): A Work in Progress
Large and successful programs don't always have a secure future. Our Library of the Month for August is an important story about a Connecticut library that has overcome big obstacles--but is not out of the woods yet.
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The Carnegie Library (Ballinger, TX): The Minister and the Tycoon (September 2004)
How a 19th-century steel baron and a 21st-century man of the cloth got together and made a great library.
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St. Joseph County (IN) Public Library: How Do You Spell "Blog"? (
For the St. Joseph County (IN) Public Library, "blog" spells "outreach to patrons". Learn how they've put the hippest new communication tool to good practical use.
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Boone County (KY) Public Library: Thinking Big (April 2005)
You don't have to be a prehistoric elephant to get stuck on Boone County, Kentucky--a visit to the lively local library should do the trick.
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Municipal Public Library N° 209 (Puqueldon, Chile)
A small Chilean island may be two ferry rides away from the mainland, but its library brings Internet access--and the world--to its doorstep.
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Stowe (VT) Free Library: Hot Spot in a Cold Place
This Vermont library's need to bring reference services closer to patrons has resulted in more flexible access for everyone.
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Howard County (MD) Library: Open Source-erers
Howard County (MD) Library has mastered the wonders of LuMix and other arcane mysteries of open source computing for patrons.
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Mathews (VA) Memorial Library: Big Hug
A library in the Tidewater region gives its community--and advanced technology-- a warm embrace.
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The Aztec (NM) Library: Little Green Funders
The town of Aztec, NM, may have had UFO visitors. They certainly have a library that knows how to make the most of local history.
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La Biblioteca Pública N° 209 (Puqueldon, Chile)
Una pequeña isla chilena puede estar a dos viajes en ferry del continente, pero el mundo llega al pueblo a través de la conexión a Internet de la biblioteca pública.
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Cozard Memorial Library: Trust-Busting (January 2005)
How a small-town library in South Dakota broadened its base of support beyond its original benefactor.
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Goodwin Public Library (Farmington, NH): Pride of the Yankees (October 2004)
A dynamic director and a handful of Gates Foundation computers have been enough to re-energize a New England town's library--and its whole community.
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The Carnegie Library (Ballinger, TX): The Minister and the Tycoon (Sept 2004)
How a 19th-century steel baron and a 21st-century man of the cloth got together and made a great library.
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Silas Bronson Library (Waterbury, CT): A Work in Progress (August 2004)
Large and successful programs don't always have a secure future. Our Library of the Month for August is an important story about a Connecticut library that has overcome big obstacles--but is not out of the woods yet.
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