Singles are people too!

In some churches, there's a joke regarding children who come for their children, that you have about 12 years to get them hooked. In the past, libraries were places for the elite, and children were not served at all. Now, though, I think that the same joke could be used in some public libraries. We bring them in with story hours and craft projects, and hope they'll stay when their tastes move from chapter books to novels and how-to manuals.

Library Hotline (from Dec. 8, 2008, but we won't talk about how behind I am on my reading) highlighted a new campaign of the Chicago Public Library, geared towards single people aged 25-35 with no children:

Centered around the phrase, "Not What You Think," followed by the tag line, "It's Free. It's Easy," the campaign seeks to remind this group how much has changed at the library.

Are you reaching young(ish), single adults in your community? What are you doing that works? Any simple ideas of how to include this group?

Rise of the women gamers

A December 23, 2008 BBC News Technology item:

The virtual battle of the sexes
By Tamsin Osborne
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7796482.stm

is the latest in a number of articles I've seen lately that document that video games aren't just for the Elf Lord in his bachelor pad.

According to Ms. Osborne,

But this stereotype has been challenged by a study investigating gender differences among gamers.

It found that the most hard-core players are female, that gamers are healthier than average, and that game playing is an increasingly social activity.

Despite gaming being seen as a male activity, female players now make up about 40% of the gaming population.

One possible problem with this study is that it only looked at one online game - EverQuest II. But this finding is in keeping with my own experience. Many of the folks I know who play World of Warcraft, EverQuest and who participate in Second Life are female.

Does this statistic translate in your library gaming events, if you have them? Let us know your experience in a comment.

Ketchikan PL Tries MonoMouse

Back on July 18th, the Ketchikan Public Library announced it was doing a three month trial of the MonoMouse for visually impaired users. What's the MonoMouse? Let Rainbird Librarian explain:

The MonoMouse is an electronic magnifier that is light, quick to install, easy to use and very portable. Slightly larger than a standard computer mouse, you simply plug one end into an electrical outlet, the other into the VCR jack on your television, press the button and voila! It will magnify any print onto your TV screen; you simply slide the mouse across the page. You can use this to read books, magazines, newspapers - even your mail! Our device magnifies type 13x, so that it is larger than the standard Large Print format. It's designed to be ergonomic and lightweight, so even if you suffer from arthritis it will be easy to use. The instructions are even in a large print font!

If it works as advertised, it should be a boon to readers with vision difficulties. I know our library will be watching this experiment. How about yours? Are you using something similar already?