Participants in the Southern Ontario Library System (SOLS) - Advancing Public Library Leadership (APLL) Institute, joined their colleagues in our webinar to open up the conversation about the skills required to lead a library building project.

The APLL Institute "is designed to expand and advance the leadership capacity of public library CEOs and managers."   The "certificate program takes approximately two years to complete, with participating library staff undergoing independent course work in 12 key areas, complemented by highly interactive classroom sessions."

You may contact us for more information about this webinar.

Want to follow a truly worthwhile site for news about exciting ways libraries are helping their communities?  Try following  'Library as Incubator Project' on Twitter @IArtLibraries.

They are so creative in finding the news about libraries that they search for.  All the stories make me smile - imagine, getting the word out about how librarians support local communities through promotion of the arts!  Take a look at this article.

Are Canadian Libraries keeping up with what our society needs better than those in the US?

Listen to this lively debate on CBC Radio  [The Read on Libraries, May 30, 2012 Radio > Q "What will the evolution of libraries be? The great debate on whether books will become obsolete.] about the re-imagining of the 'LIBRARY' centered on but not limited to the new changes to the NYP Library on 5th.

Do we need more social space?

What is the original purpose of a library?

What will come from making the library open to people who would not normally come into a library?

Does opening the library up to the social network increase membership?

What is 'Cultural Architecture'?

World Environment Day turns 40.  Happy Birthday. 

Using the Piictu application, you can take environmentally themed photos and instantly post them to an interactive stream of other images taken by people around the world.  The app is available for iOS.(Download the app here.) If you are already on Piictu, follow WorldEnvironmentDay and join in the fun.

Is there a difference in how much a child understands and retains a story depending on the format of the book they share?  You may be surprised by recent findings, or maybe not. [CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE]

Researchers at the A Cooney Center  [ CLICK TO LINK],QuickReport by Cynthia Chiong, Jinny Ree, Lori Takeuchi, and Ingrid Erickson have completed a study to find out using "three book formats: print books, basic e-books, and enhanced e-books." investigating three issues:

1.  Parent-Child Conversation

2.  Story Comprehension and

3.  Engagement

FINDINGS: CLICK THIS LINK TO OPEN Report

1.  The enhanced e-book was less effective than the print and basic e-book in supporting the benefits of co-reading because it prompted more non-content related interactions. When adults prompt children with questions pertaining to the text, label objects, and encourage them to discuss the book contents in terms of their own experiences and curiosities, this elicits increased verbalization by the child and can lead to improved vocabulary and overall language development.

2.  Features of the enhanced e-book may have affected children’s story recall because both parents and children focused their attention on non-content, more than story-related, issues.

3.  The print books were more advantageous for literacy building co-reading, (BUT)...the e-books, particularly the enhanced e-book, were more advantageous for engaging children and prompting physical interaction.

The study leads to recommendations:

1.  For designers: Exercise caution when adding features to enhanced e-books, especially when those features do not directly relate to the story. E-book enhancements should also be designed in a way that allows parents to access and control settings to customize the co-reading experience with their children. 

AND
2.  For parents and educators: Parents and preschool teachers should choose print or basic e-books to read with children if they want to prioritize literacy-building experiences over ones intended “just for fun.” Some of the extra features of enhanced e-books may distract adults and children alike from the story, affecting the nature of conversation and the amount of detail children recall. However, given that appeal is an essential building block for early literacy development, enhanced e-books may be valued for their ability to prompt less motivated young readers toward engagement when they might otherwise avoid text altogether.