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New Holiday Traditions

Yellowstone Lake - Nature is rejuvenating
Wishing you calm and happiness this season

Holidays are more than just dates on the calendar; they are an embodiment of culture, values, and cherished memories. As societies become increasingly diverse, the opportunity to integrate new holiday traditions into celebrations such as Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah arise. Embracing these traditions not only promotes inclusivity but also enhances the richness of these festive seasons. Here’s how to thoughtfully integrate new holiday customs into these celebrations.

Embrace the Spirit

Begin by embracing the spirit of curiosity and openness. Learn about the diverse cultures and traditions that are relevant to the holiday you are celebrating. Understand the historical significance, rituals, and values associated with each tradition. This knowledge lays the foundation for meaningful connections.

Blend Culinary Delights

One of the most enjoyable aspects of holidays is the food. Incorporate dishes and recipes from various cultures into your holiday feasts. Whether it’s adding a Kwanzaa-inspired dish to your Christmas dinner. Or you can include a Hanukkah specialty during Boxing Day. Culinary fusion can be a wonderful way to honor multiple traditions.

Share Stories

Holidays are an ideal time to share stories and teachings from different cultures. Incorporate storytelling sessions where each family member or guest shares a tale from their heritage or a tradition. This not only educates everyone about new customs but also fosters a sense of unity.

Meaningful Gifts

When exchanging gifts, consider selecting items that hold significance in the traditions you’re integrating. This could be a book about the principles of Kwanzaa, a symbolic ornament from Hanukkah, or a handmade decoration that represents a cherished Christmas custom.

Volunteer and Give Back

Many holiday traditions emphasize the importance of giving back to the community. Integrate this value by participating in volunteer activities. These should align with the principles of the holidays you’re celebrating. This not only integrates new customs but also embodies the true spirit of the festive season.

Encourage Dialogue

Create an open space for discussions about the new traditions you’re integrating. Encourage family members and friends to share their thoughts, feelings, and questions. This fosters a sense of inclusivity and promotes a learning environment.

Respect and Sensitivity

Above all, approach the integration of new holiday traditions with respect and sensitivity. Ensure that the customs you’re adopting are authentically represented and celebrated. Avoid cultural assumptions by engaging in thorough research and consultation with members of the respective cultures.

Finally, integrating new traditions into celebrations like Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah is a way to honor diversity and foster understanding. By embracing a spirit of exploration, culinary fusion, and respectful engagement, you can create festive season for everyone.

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Social Media in Libraries

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Customers inside a busy library with engaged employees

Marketing with social media has become a crucial tool for public libraries. Libraries need to connect with their communities and promote their services. However, managing a social media presence for a public library can be challenging. It’s important to follow best practices to ensure that your efforts are effective for your customers. Here are three best practices for social media in a public library.

Develop A Marketing Strategy

The first step in creating a successful social media presence for a public library is to develop a marketing strategy. Identifying your target audience, determining the types of content that will be most relevant, and creating a posting schedule. Consider the type of information and services your library offers. What events do you host currently, and what does the community you serve want when creating engaging content?

Engage with your audience

Social media is not a one-way street, it’s important to engage with your audience. Respond to comments and messages daily. You also need to actively seek out opportunities to connect with your community and add new followers. Encourage your followers to share their thoughts, ask for feedback and listen to what they have to say.

Be Consistent and Authentic

Consistency is key when it comes to social media. Make sure to post regularly and maintain a consistent tone across all platforms. Additionally, be authentic and transparent when communicating with your audience. Share the library’s mission and values, and let them know what makes your library unique. Be aware of trolls and make sure to have a “social media policy” in place to deal with misinformation.

In addition to these best practices, it’s also important to ensure that your library’s social media accounts are properly set up and managed. This means keeping your library’s contact information up to date, monitoring your accounts for inappropriate content, and ensuring account security.

Also, take the time to review your analytics and measure the performance of your social media posts. This will help you understand what works and what doesn’t and adjust your strategy accordingly. Social media coordinator is a good role for professional development in public libraries for your staff.

Social media is an effective tool for public libraries to connect with their communities and promote their services. By developing a marketing strategy, engaging and being consistent with posts, you can create an online presence for your library. Remember, social media is an ongoing effort, so be ready to adapt and evolve as the platforms and audiences change.

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Librarian & Entrepreneurship

Why Your Library Is an Essential Part of Your Town

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A library isn’t just a collection of books: it’s the beating heart of a city’s community. There are many reasons why libraries are the place where communities come together.

Building up Neighborhoods

If you think that libraries are obsolete with the Internet, think again. Libraries are all about giving free access to books, the Internet, culture, and community to those who need it most. For disadvantaged neighborhoods, libraries are critical.

Installing one there can help revitalize a neighborhood’s economy as it can act as a central retail and communication hub for commercial and communal events. Its free services can also be invaluable for helping lower-income children get the educational resources they need to succeed. With academic success can come greater economic opportunity, and it all starts at your local library.

Preserving Community Histories

A people without their history is a people who are lost. American history’s darkest chapters include attempts to eliminate certain people’s histories as a form of cultural ethnic cleansing. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that these histories live on. They are repositories of historical records and cultural artifacts, and many libraries host cultural events all year round.

Social Programs and Relief 

Libraries are often selected as areas where social programs and relief efforts take place. If a hurricane, earthquake, or other natural disaster hits a community, libraries are commonly used as centralized hubs for distributing aid and housing those affected.

Decorative Buildings

The best libraries are about form as much as function. Statues, marble, long columns, rich wooden reading rooms — we all need beauty in our lives, and libraries can bring a much-needed sense of aestheticism to a community.

Immigrant Assistance

For new arrivals to America, libraries can be one of the first friendly places in which they feel comfortable. Libraries offer English-speaking classes along with other foreign language courses, information on citizenship, government information, and more.

They may not seem like much to outsiders, but to those in the community for whom they mean everything, libraries are one of the most important buildings in the area and should be treated as such by their city planners.

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Librarian & Entrepreneurship

What Does Library Leadership Look Like?

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In most cases, leadership will look the same no matter what industry you find yourself in. However, there are some slight differences between varying fields. For instance, some leaders may have to take more hands-on roles than others. In the library industry especially, leadership is a sought-after skill in many candidates and existing employees. What exactly does library leadership look like, though? 

Commitment to Their Work

Despite what some people may believe about libraries, the daily life of a library leader is often very busy. What keeps these leaders going each day is their commitment to their work, no matter how tiring it can become. Any leader should have a special dedication to their work, but library leaders especially need to stay dedicated to their work. As the world becomes more digital, it is more important than ever for these individuals to reimagine how their establishment can continue being the cornerstone of their community.

Innovative Techniques

There is a reason libraries continue to exist among the digital world. The internet has been in existence for quite some time now and may have tempted many individuals to discontinue their use of libraries. However, libraries are still standing strong amongst this competition, and this is largely due to the innovative leadership qualities of their management teams. Wanting to keep the magic of libraries alive, library leaders have had to creatively seek out ways to spark interest in what they offer while also keeping up with digital trends. Because of the innovative techniques poured out by library leaders, libraries have found a way to compete with new technologies while also keeping their timeless appeal for the oldies at heart.

Community Involvement

One of the biggest ways that library leadership stands out from other types of business leaders is their community involvement. Libraries have always been an integral part of their communities. They’ve been a place for parents to spend time with their children, for students to grab research materials, for at-risk youth to find a safe space, and so much more. Libraries have always hosted incredible learning opportunities and community outreach programs. While many other business leaders consider becoming involved in the community in small ways, library leadership constantly requires a steady involvement with the community. This intentional approach is what is sought out in many library leaders and employees in order to maintain the library’s ability to empower others and change lives.

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Librarian & Entrepreneurship

Making Your Library a Great Public Space

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There is a terrible tendency of those outside the field of library service and studies to consider the field increasingly obsolete in the age of the Internet. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. There are still many things that you can do to make sure that your library is and remains a great public space.

Community Assistance

The best libraries offer more than books. They are central nodes within the areas they serve, places where communities become “communities.” This can include everything from child care to income tax advice to university courses. Some even offer child care services. What after-school place for kids could be safer than a library?

Communication Assistance

Books represent a way of communicating with the past, and libraries allow myriad communication opportunities here in the present. Libraries can offer old TV and radio programs, and some have their own stations. In addition, some libraries offer translation programs, which can be invaluable if you need to have things translated for official purposes. They sometimes also offer foreign language and ESL classes.

Archived Info

History lives on in libraries. Old books, maps, periodicals, and other resources are ready to be examined for all your academic and cultural needs. What’s more, libraries often host cultural events, storytime for kids, traditional festivals, and much more.

Retail Hubs

Libraries are neutral and noncontroversial areas, which makes them perfect for people of different trades and walks of life to share the space and sell their wares. They are especially good for book or art markets and can also be a good place for farmers’ markets.

In addition, libraries offer WiFi, and for people who don’t have easy access to that themselves, this can be one of the few opportunities that they have to connect. This is another reason why they can be a good retail hub, allowing sellers to connect to free and fast Internet to facilitate sales.

Far from being obsolete, libraries at their best remain centers of learning and togetherness that can be the beating communal heart and intellectual and cultural lifeblood of a community.