Public Libraries

Public Libraries

Getting Lost in the World’s Largest Stack of Menus

The Buttolph collection of menus at the New York Public Library continues to inspire a new generation of researchers, chefs, and restaurant fans.

The library provided Buttolph no budget and no salary. But she kept collecting, even placing advertisements in restaurant trade and hotel magazines to solicit menus from readers, stressing that their condition must be immaculate. Buttolph could only lure donors with the satisfaction of contributing to a historic archive, but she continued to receive menus from admirers across the country and overseas, including one from a London banquet celebrating King Edward VII’s coronation in 1902.

Hidden books in NSW town Braidwood taking kids on literary treasure hunts to encourage reading – ABC News

Kids find a book sealed in a plastic sleeve, take it home to read, write their name in it, and then re-hide it or pass it on to a friend.

The books are hidden in shop windows, parks and around the streets.

The concept is simple and follows the global painted rocks craze, where kids hunt for painted rocks around their local neighbourhood.

Mum of 10, Samantha Dixon, started the trend after seeing it on a community Facebook page overseas.

We had a bookshelf full of books the children had already read,” she said.

How San Franciscans use their libraries is shifting dramatically

How San Franciscans use their libraries is shifting dramatically

In lieu of borrowing physical books and other items, residents could check out digital materials, including eBooks, streaming content and digital newspapers and magazines. As a result, digital circulation during these months rose by at least 40%. December 2020 recorded the library’s highest monthly digital circulation of over 555,000 — a 50% increase from the previous December.