Anchorage Public Library

Innovation is a word quickly gaining in popularity. You’ve probably heard the word. Or see the word in Forbes or Entrepreneur magazine. The company you work for may have innovation in their mission statement. Read more.

Popular “Tundra” cartoonist Chad Carpenter is going to be at the Loussac Library to talk about cartooning and about his latest project: “Moose,” a creepy and funny, family film. And, oh yeah, it’s important to know this film is NOT animated – it is live action. Read more.

Tired of sub-zero temperatures, snow and darkness? Feeling a bit of post-holiday letdown? Want to run away to someplace warm and exotic and find a bit of adventure? Perhaps we can help. The library is chock-full of travel guidebooks by Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, Frommer and Fodors, to name just a few. See the list.

The idea of libraries serving youth is a relatively recent concept, especially given that the libraries have been around for nearly 4,000 years ago. Although some public libraries had children’s books in their collections in the 1800s, most of them didn’t allow youth in the reading rooms. Read more.

Anchorage Library planners have outdone themselves this month with more interesting and diverse events scheduled than in years. The Zombie Apocalypse returns to Loussac on Saturday, Oct. 19, with the scavenger hunt maze open from 6:45-10 pm. Another noteworthy event this month is the grand opening of Loussac’s new early literacy center for young children. Read more.

Michael is crafting. The staff of the Mountain View Library is stunned. Michael does NOT do crafts and is indignant in the way only a 13-year-old can muster at the mere suggestion that he should try. “Crafts are for girls,” he reminds library staff almost daily when he comes into the “Lunch and Play” program; today doubly so: we’re making origami flowers.

Imagine following a guide as he swims through Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. He holds up shells for you to see and points out colorful fish. You wave your hand to get his attention and ask a question. After listening to the answer, you continue exploring together: You and the other 50 people seated in Muldoon Neighborhood Library’s community room. Read more.

Alaska Public Library Director Mary Jo Torgenson just released the 2012 report for the library. This document is a great reminder of the importance of stepping back and looking at the big picture. Though filled with numbers, the overall arc of the report emphasizes why the library does what it is doing. Read more.

Thanks to the Alaska State Library, libraries across the state have access to two excellent programs. The FY2014 funding for both is going through the budget process right now and I’m crossing my fingers that they make it through unscathed. Learn more.

Anchorage Public Library is in the process of transforming itself in ways unforeseeable when the Loussac was built. Not only will we continue to offer traditional library services, your library is evolving into a dynamic and interactive hub for community engagement. Learn more.

Your public library is constant flux developing ways to connect you with the materials currently on the shelves and introduce the vast array of new items being added continuously. Now, thanks to the ingenuity of staff and help of volunteers, Anchorage Public Library is just completing a customer service project that re-defines the way biographies are classified. Click for more.

It’s started. October is when the Zombie Apocalypse begins. The cultural cliché: “If you’re prepared for zombies, you’re ready for anything,” applies. Are you ready? This year, the CDC declared October Zombie Apocalypse Month and we’re ready to play. Read more.

Anchorage Public Library’s Ready To Read Learning Center has added a fourth kit to its collection, designed to promote early literacy skills to youngsters, 0-3, throughout the state. The new Read With Me Bag gives toddlers the opportunity for hands-on experience with books. Read more.

Music for free! For all of our cardholders who like to listen to music, your library is offering you a drama-free method of getting the music you want, three songs at a time. Gone are concerns of copyright infringements. Absent are the per-song costs associated with downloading. Learn more.

It might surprise you to learn that high school teachers in the Anchorage School District are using comics in a variety of ways to connect with and inspire their students. Read more.

Since the publication of its first volume in 2003, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis has rightly received critical and scholarly acclaim. Time, Newsweek and the New York Times praised Satrapi’s autobiography, both for its innovative use of comic-book format and for the insight it provides into life in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Iran. I have assigned the book to students in my courses at Temple University, La Salle University, and the University of Alaska Anchorage with good results, so I was pleased to hear that Anchorage Public Library had selected Persepolis for this year’s Anchorage Reads. Read more.

Superman, Batman, X-Men, and other do-gooders in tights and capes are probably what you think of when you think about comic books. And as a point of confession, that is what I thought for years until a literature course required me to read Maus by Art Spiegelman and taught me the term Graphic Novel. Learn more.

Ever wondered who picks books for Anchorage Public Library? With more than a half million books on the APL shelves, keeping up with what’s there, what’s new, what should be added or discarded is a complicated process, to say the least! Learn more.