While schools all over the nation are being reformed, it’s often easy to forget that libraries have been a great source of public learning for centuries. The Los Angeles Public Library doesn’t want us to forget this either, as they announced last week that they’ll be offering accredited high school diplomas to high school dropouts. John Szabo is the man behind this initiative, and it’s clear that he’s not satisfied with the current level of education for adults. There will also be assistance for immigrants seeking citizenship in the United States, and Szabo hopes to provide more than just these services in the future. [Read more…]

For the most part, libraries are a free service that many local residents enjoy, yet sometimes, overdue library books can result in fines, warrants or even jail time! People usually return a book before it’s overdue to prevent increasing fines. Sometimes, however, certain events in life can get in the way of returning a library item on time. [Read more…]

Over 25 years ago, Cindy Pritzker created the Chicago Public Library Foundation to help raise funds for libraries in the city. It is a highly recognized fundraising partner of the Chicago Public Libraries. This foundation supports several different areas of public libraries including technology, programming, innovation and collection development. [Read more…]

While library cards aren’t as complex to acquire as a passport or a new birth certificate, there are enough measures in place to ensure an applicant is a resident of that specific town (and that the applicant in question does in fact exist). Stealing from a library is nothing new, but a St. Paul, Minnesota woman went to the extent of creating 24 children and registering them for library cards so that she could have access to the library’s DVD and video game collection. [Read more…]