Step inside a library and you expect to check out novels, mysteries and maybe a DVD or two. But at the New York Public Library, you can leave with a briefcase, tie and handbag.
Michelle Lee, a young adult librarian, was helping individuals work on resumes, cover letters and job applications when she noticed that many of them also needed access to professional interview attire.
“Some teens were surprised by the idea that they had to wear professional attire,” Lee told NationSwell.
So she proposed an idea for a ‘fashion library’ and started NYPL’s Grow Up program, where cardholders — who owe less than $15 in fines — can check out professional accessories, like ties and bags, at the Riverside Library branch.
NYPL isn’t alone in its efforts to provide sartorial support to job seekers. A handful of other libraries, like the Queens Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia, have launched similar programs for cardholders to check out professional attire. Watch to learn more.
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The Latest Upgrade in Workplace Benefits, a Surprising Group Takes on Fake News and More
Employers Are Finally Starting to Deal With Death and Dying, Bloomberg
Now that many businesses have established (or even expanded) childcare leave policies, some are giving their employees the space to cope with life’s sorrows as well. Forward-thinking companies like Facebook now offer extended paid time off for workers caring for relatives with long-term illnesses or grieving the loss of a loved one. As one advocate said, “This expands the concept of what it is whole people need.”
Librarians Take Up Arms Against Fake News, The Seattle Times
As hyper-biased and made-up news proliferates, young people are even more vulnerable than adults to misinformation. To help students sort through the noise, librarians and other educators launched “digital life” courses that train kids to think critically and fact-check the articles they read.
Wall Street Diversifies Itself, The Atlantic
While most executive roles in the financial industry are still held by white men, there’s a subset of investment trading that attracts more diverse leaders. Without the “100-year history of what the people in charge look like,” women and people of color found success in the new frontier of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which emerged in the early ’90s. Insiders anticipate the rest of Wall Street will follow suit, as increased diversity has proven to improve returns.
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Street Books: This Library on Wheels Brings Great Reads to People Living Outside
For the past five years, Laura Moulton has spent her days in underserved areas of Portland, Ore., lending books to people living on the fringes of society.
Those living outside or in temporary shelters are usually barred from borrowing books from regular libraries because they lack the required documentation (such as identification or a home address) to get a library card. Additionally, their everyday lives often make it hard for them to return books in good conditions and on time, triggering hefty fines and dissuading them from the practice, Moulton, an artist and writing professor, explains.
In 2011, she launched Street Books, a bike-powered, mobile library to ensure the homeless community has access to literature.
“Being recognized and spoken to on the street and offered a book for someone who has really been struggling can be a really powerful thing,” Moulton says. “Books have the power to have us feel empathy and have us experience the thrill of a journey of someone else”.
So far, Street Books have served more than 5,000 patrons, many of which have become regulars.
Discover more about Street Books and its patrons by watching the video above.
The Robots That Are Rebooting Public Libraries
Nancy and Vincent are the latest additions to the Westport, Conn. library staff, but they aren’t stamping return dates in books.
Instead, they’re speaking 19 languages and teaching children about the coding and computer programming that goes into designing and building robots like them.
Alex Gianni is the library’s new digital-experience manager and in a recent demonstration, showed off the pair’s soccer and tai chi skills.
“Equipped with two cameras, four microphones, motion sensors and sonar to detect walls,” these NAO Evolution robots (created by Aldebaran, a French firm) are much more advanced than the cheaper and more popular Finch machines incorporated into the Chicago Public Library system earlier this year. “They look like Sharper Image playthings, but they’re insanely complicated,” says Giannini.
According the library’s executive director, Maxine Bleiweis, “Robotics is the next disruptive technology coming into our lives, and we felt it was important to make it accessible to people so they could learn about it.”
Findings from the Pew Research Center agree with her. In a report from 2013, “81 percent of Americans say public libraries provide services they would have a hard time finding elsewhere.”
Ms. Bleiweis is all about the big picture. Three years ago, her library was one of the first to feature 3-D printing and to create a “maker space,” where patrons are invited to have fun and experiment with new technologies. “From an economic-development perspective and job- and career-development perspective, it’s so important,” says Bleiweis.
Bill Derry, the library’s assistant director for innovation, says that it’s planning a series of events to familiarize the community with the robots, plus hold programming competitions. “Our goal is to push it as far as we can and shed light on people who are thinking, experimenting and producing to inspire them to go even farther.”
Gianni finishes the thought: “I don’t know what the coolest functionality is going to be…Someone coming in off the street is probably going to teach us that.”
These Eighth Graders Wanted a Library. So They’re Building One Themselves
Don’t tell the eighth-graders at Realm Charter School in Berkeley, Calif., that they can’t do something. They’ll end up proving you wrong. As part of an in-school design and building class called Studio H, this gang of 108 13-year-olds is creating a library for their three-year-old school. X-Space, as the students are calling it, is a project that grew from a question their teacher Ms. Nini (Hallie Chen) posed to them: What do you want from your school? “One of the students said they want to find their inner self. One said they want to understand how microphones work,” Chen said in the project’s Kickstarter video. “Overwhelmingly, they all wanted a place to read, relax, focus, learn and explore.” And where’s a better place to do that than in a library?
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The class got together to conceptualize and design every part of the X-Space — from bookmarks to book bags to stamps and, of course, book shelves. That’s where their concept took on a life of its own. The students, inspired by the algebraic concept of solving for X as an unknown, designed what they call STAX, a shelving system made from stacked, wooden X’s. The students’ plan is not just to build an extensive shelving system out of these X’s — which are crafted from 13-ply finished plywood using CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) technology, which was borrowed from Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, whose factory is nearby — but to use these same materials for tables, benches and stools, as well. The students estimate that they’ll need about 250 to 275 STAX for their design, and are raising money to help fund the project. They’re even offering STAX as rewards. For these students, X can be anything. “We designed this thing that not only solves something for us, but can be good for other people, too,” Valeria, a Studio H student, said.
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Studio H was first launched in rural Bertie County, NC. In this class, students apply what they’ve learned in their core subjects to design and build “socially transformative” projects. Previously, Studio H students have built a farmers market pavilion, a pop-up park, laser-etched skateboards and more. In the program, the students learn how to shape their environment. They see their ideas come to fruition. And most importantly, they can design and build something special for other kids to enjoy. “The first semester was just skill building,” Emily Pilloton, who founded Studio H, told Fast Co.Exist about Realm Charter School’s project. “Then we asked them, OK, now let’s look around us at our school community and let’s ask what do we need, but also what do we want? What are the things that we feel passionate about and we can physically build?” They wanted a place to explore. “I thought that was really a poignant way to put it,” Pilloton said. “A library is not just a room filled with books.”
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