Library of the Future Blog

Read for Later - "I didn't realize it would expand as far as it has"

This week’s headline quotes Sarah Kamya, whose Little Free Diverse Libraries project places books about Black history, Black culture, and books that celebrate African American children into Little Free Libraries. In just a few months, she's raised more than $16,000 and purchased more than 1,400 diverse books for Little Free Libraries in all 50 states.

Read for Later - “There's a potential for a big shift right now”

This week’s headline quotes Alexandr Wang, the co-founder and CEO of Scale AI, a startup that helps people train computer vision. Wang says that Scale could hire up to 10 gap-year interns from the growing number of students struggling with the return to colleges and universities during the pandemic.

Read for Later - “The face of New York City storefronts, they will not be forever changed, but they will be changed for the foreseeable future.”

This week’s headline quotes Andrea Dillon, the owner of Busy Bodies day care center in Brooklyn, which opened in 2016 but closed in April, one of many small businesses in New York City that was forced to close due to the pandemic.

Read for Later - “If you’re in there and you’re doing your big shop and go, ‘Oh, we’re bored, and we need a book or a puzzle,’ there it is.”

This week’s headline quotes Suzanne Herz, publisher of Vintage/Anchor Books, on the growing role of big-box retailers in book sales during the pandemic. (The New York Times "How to sell books in 2020: Put them near the toilet paper")

Read for Later - “This is a reckoning for all of us for how we live and how we plan to live. Returning to normal is not the goal.”

This week’s headline quotes Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti from a press call for the Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, a group of dozens of leaders of major cities pursuing a “green and just recovery” from the pandemic.

Read for Later - "The economic fallout from the pandemic does not appear on track for the quick V-shaped recovery that many had originally hoped for"

This week’s headline quotes one of the key take-aways from online rental platform Apartment List’s July 2020 National Rent Report as rental numbers continue to decline across the country – the platform’s

Read for Later - "It's literally a learning environment where there's full wraparound support."

This week’s headline quotes Guillermo Martinez, Austin Community College's associate vice president for student engagement and analytics, about that system’s investment in ACCelerator labs.

Read for Later - “Most importantly, teens need to know that it is OK to ask for help.”

This week’s headline quotes Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of the National 4-H Council, which was a partner on a recent Harris Poll survey that found that 7 out of 10 teenagers report struggling with their mental health in some way during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read for Later - “I’m hoping that we get our students that are already readers and students who are thinking it’s going to be really excellent to get books delivered by drone”

This week’s headline quotes Kelly Passek, a middle school librarian in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Read for Later - "People are looking for shorter forms of learning during this time"

This week’s headline quotes Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, on learners’ growing interest in micro-credentials as they seek new educational paths to get back into the workforce. (Wired "More students are ‘stacking’ credentials en route to a degree")

Read for Later – “Take proactive and preventative measures in the fight against racism”

This week’s headline quotes The Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s recent statement condemning increased violence and racism towards Black Americans and people of color.

Read for Later - “It’s frustrating; you just can’t make any plans.”

This week's headline quotes Illinois resident Dan Dhooghe on the difficulties of planning his family vacation to neighboring Wisconsin – the difficulties of planning a vacation during a public health crisis could pose significant challenges for resort towns and tourist destinations. (CityLab "For resort towns, this could be a cruel summer")

Read for Later - “It’s a gorgeous ghost town”

This week’s headline quotes author and journalist John U. Bacon, a graduate of the University of Michigan and a lifelong resident of Ann Arbor, one of several college towns projecting financial losses as a result of pandemic-related closures and stay at home orders.

Read for Later - “It’s great for public health, it’s great for voting rights, it’s gonna be great for participation”

This week’s headline quotes California Secretary of State Alex Padilla on the executive order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom providing mail-in ballots for California’s 20 million registered voters for the upcoming November election.

Read for Later – “People reserve deliberation and conscious decision-making for novel situations and for when new problems arise in old situations”

This week’s headline quotes John Thøgersen's 2012 paper, "The importance of timing for breaking commuters’ car driving habits," and while the paper was cited this week as part of a consideration for the future of city streets and car culture, it’s summation is applicable to so many things happe