Blogs

A 2009 Literacy Americorps volunteer has been blogging about the Americorps experience. In selecting a volunteer location, blogger lindseynuzzo was particularly impressed by two locations: the Ed Venture Charter School and the Boynton Beach City Library.

Lindseynuzzo writes,

I was immediately impressed by Boynton Beach Library as soon as I walked in the door. As an avid reader, I love libraries. Being surrounded by such a vast array of books on all topics and of all styles never gets old to me and always makes me wish I had nothing better to do than sit in a comfortable, well-lit room for the rest of my life, reading until I conquered every book ... This library was amazing. It was two stories and had recently been renovated.

More importantly, the blogger was inspired by the potential volunteer role at BBCL, which would include tutoring kids and community outreach/PR. What is your library doing to engage and inspire volunteers?

The Palm Beach County Library Association will be holding a quarterly meeting on Wednesday, September 23rd at the Lake Worth campus of the Palm Beach Community College (PBCC). The meeting will take place in the Duncan Theater. Networking will take place at 2pm and the meeting will begin at 2:30pm. The presentation is on the PBCC Pilot Kindle Project, and will be given by Brian Kelley.

Local news station WPTV recently reported on happenings at the North Palm Beach public library.

• NPBPL formed a partnership with Florida's Ask A Librarian program, which allows Floridians to chat with a librarian from their home computer.
• The NPBPL staff is now ready to help patrons learn about and use the Florida Electronic Library, a great resource available to all Floridians with a library card.
• The Village Historian, who has an office at the North Palm Beach public library, is seeking photos, memorabilia, and stories for the library's collection.

What happened at your library this summer? Tell us about it!

Boca Raton is still searching for a site for its new library. In 2003, voters approved $9.8 million in bonds to pay for the library.

One site under consideration was the former Museum of Cartoon Art in downtown Boca Raton. Supporters of this site hoped that a library would help rejuvenate Boca's downtown area. However, the Sun Sentinel reports that the owners of the cartoon museum do not want to lease to the city; they prefer to find a tenant who can pay higher rent.

This development drops the number of proposed sites to 3: the Causeway Lumber site, downtown Sanborn Square, or a remodel/expansion of the current library on Boca Raton Blvd.

Previous related posts:

• July 9, 2009: Location for new Boca library still being debated
• June 14,2009: City of Boca Raton Still Looking for Site for Downtown Library
• April 27, 2009: Push for a new library in downtown Boca

Broward County's Main library, on Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale, has been closed because of a failed sprinkler test that flooded the library's upper floors. According to the Sun Sentinel, the county's other 35 libraries are also affected, as their checkout and catalog functions are tied to the Main library's computer system.

The Sun Sentinel reports,

Library Director Bob Cannon said a sprinkler test early Friday morning went badly awry and sent a large amount of water cascading through the building. Water rolled through the seventh floor and spread to other floors by gushing down the atrium in the building.

It is not known how extensive the damage is, or when the library will reopen.

Congrats to the Hagen Ranch Road Branch library on its recent celebration of its first year in business! The Sun Sentinel reported on the success the library has experienced during its first year, under library director and PBCLA board member, Karen Spano. Way to go!