2025
Girls play baseball at this Montreal park. The city wants to turn it into a library www.cbc.ca/player/pl… The City of Montreal plans to turn one of the baseball fields in the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough into a library. Parents and coaches say that will make it harder for young players, especially girls, to practise the sport.
Journal Article: “Shaping Public Library Legitimacy: Case Analysis of the New York Public Library” www.infodocket.com/2025/08/0… The aim of this case study was to empirically elucidate the core elements underpinning the legitimacy of twenty-first-century public libraries, with a particular focus on the New York Public Library (NYPL). We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 24 NYPL annual reports spanning the period from 2000 to 2023 to investigate the ways in which legitimacy is expressed at NYPL and explore the interrelationships among the dimensions of library legitimacy. A coding framework, grounded in the established legitimacy dimensions from Yamagishi, Koizumi, and Larsen’s (2024) research, was utilized alongside a periodization approach to assess how these dimensions interact during key historical events. We examined the NYPL’s reported practices through the lens of five primary dimensions of legitimacy. Analyzing how these practices are reported in annual reports revealed how these dimensions interact and evolve in response to significant societal challenges, including the 9/11 attacks, the global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The research findings highlight the critical role of both internal factors (such as librarianship) and external influences (such as economic conditions) in sustaining the overall legitimacy of public libraries. This case study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the complex and dynamic nature of legitimacy in public libraries and demonstrates how these institutions can adapt to and reflect broader societal changes. The findings hold important implications for the development and management of public libraries on a global scale.
How a public library’s summer game took over a Michigan city www.npr.org/2025/08/0…
Age-friendly recognition for Clara library staff [Ireland] www.offalyindependent.ie/2025/08/0…
Lycoming County Library System [PA] to participate in National Night Out.
“The Lycoming County Library System will bring its outreach vehicle to Fairlawn Community Church for the county’s National Night Out event on Aug. 5.
The event, hosted by the Lycoming Regional Police Department, is a community gathering in which neighbors can get to know each other and their local law enforcement officers in a casual environment.” www.northcentralpa.com/community…
Celebrate Disability Pride Year-Round through Collection Development.
This Disability Pride Month marks the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, the fact that I spend most of my time in school libraries (open every month except July) and that my blog falls at the end of the month is good reason to celebrate Disability Pride year-round through collection development. www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2025…
I just love what the Milwaukee Public Library is doing on Instagram to promote it’s collections. www.instagram.com/reel/DMso…
Where the Wild Children’s Museums Are St. Louis’ City Museum helped pioneer the idea of dangerous-looking interactive experiences for kids and their families. Now other institutions have followed suit. www.bloomberg.com/news/feat… I was always an advocate for this type of play, so-called “Big Body Play” (https://search.library.uvic.ca/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9926254793807291&context=L&vid=01VIC_INST:01UVIC&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LibraryCatalog&lang=en#:~:text=%22Big%20body%20play%22%2D%2Dthe,play%20for%20young%20(read%20more)
Want Safer Neighborhoods? Invest in Libraries When library funding goes up, crime tends to go down medium.com/everylibr…
Seed Libraries Sprout Across OC voiceofoc.org/2025/07/s…
Toronto Public Library Workers Union has released a new video called The Work, " a short film about library workers, the difficulties they face and the communities they serve, at a time when libraries have become so much more than buildings full of books." youtu.be/GVLTnsXfb…
Fieldnotes: What is the Difference Between Placekeeping and Placemaking? | STEPS Public Art: stepspublicart.org/fieldnote…
From ArchDaily:
Swimmable Cities International Movement Advocates for the Right to Swim in Urban Waterways www.archdaily.com/1032074/s…
The Urbanist podcast also featured this topic monocle.com/radio/sho…