There aren’t many empty seats at the South County Regional Library in Estero, Florida. The library recently reported a significant increase in traffic during the summer months.

More than 2.8 million people have visited the 13-branch Lee County Library System this year with South County Regional Library boasting record numbers this summer. [Read more…]

Are you associated with or working in a library? If so, you might want to prepare for an influx of bids from self-published authors asking you to stock their work. Just this week, the Book Expo America kicked off in New York City, with thousands of books, library, writing, and reading enthusiasts gathered to a plethora of various talks and events. Within the conference, however, sat uPublishU, a sub-conference whose talks focused entirely on the self-publishing market and what authors could do to expand the reach of their self-published books. One speaker, Ian Singer – the vice president of Library Journal – urged authors to do themselves a favor and get their work into the hands of librarians, and by extension onto the public library shelves of America. [Read more…]

Most people go to the library expecting a quiet, relaxing area in which to conduct work or research, or to read a new or favorite book in. It makes sense, presumably, as these types of activities are exactly what libraries are setup for. Unfortunately for half a dozen people in Spring Valley, NY, however, Tuesday evening was anything but relaxing. [Read more…]

Love ’em or hate ’em, Coldplay is a name with worldwide renown in the music world, and now they’ve got an interesting connection to libraries across the world as well. In publicity moves to garner buzz for their upcoming tour dates and sixth studio album, titled ‘Ghost Stories,’ the band has looked to libraries around the world to hide memorabilia for fans. Spread across local libraries in nine different countries, the band has hidden their singer’s handwritten lyrics for each of the album’s tracks. They’re hidden in books and collections about ghosts, of course. [Read more…]

“Lives change @ your Library” is the official theme for this year’s National Library Week. To kick off the event, on Monday, April 14, the American Library Association (ALA) released its “2014 State of America’s Libraries Report.” The 79-page report covers all things “library,” including politics, technology, laws, and even architecture. [Read more…]