Dancing in the Library?

There is a raging trend in the professional library literature, namely, that of reinvention. It should come as no surprise to other professionals or patrons that all types of libraries are trying to find new ways to be useful to their respective communities.


Of course, most of this refocus has to do with technology -- how can libraries provide it and apply it? From providing access to computers and ebooks to virtual reference, libraries are getting creative.


I thought I couldn't be surprised anymore by these efforts of creativity, but I was wrong. (In fact, I am coming to expect that complacency usually yields the unexpected.) Today I discovered a newer form of art, called Sciart. This movement merges art and science. At a Swiss school, dancers performed a dance, "Strangels," in the library...working their way through the researching scientists and dangling from the bookcases.

Dancing in the Cern library


Now, I've heard about the Dance Dance Revolution contests happening for teenagers in the libraries. (A library I worked at has done this program.) I even have not been surprised by flash mobs descending upon libraries.


UNC Chapel Hill Flash Mob


But serious performances happening in and among the stacks -- with unsuspecting patrons and researchers as the captive audience?

I think that this is a splendid idea.

This is an interesting topic...would you like to see this in a library near you?

New ACLU lawsuit

I was browsing my library news feeds and came across this headline: "ACLU alleges Michigan school district violated students' 'right to learn to read.'" from the Washington Post.  While not necessarily library related, the story does have to do with a major mission of libraries -- literacy.

Basically, a school district in the Detroit area is being sued by the ACLU and some of the students for being passed on without being able to read at the grade level they should be reading.  The entire area is doing awful financially, and most of the kids in the district are in poverty.

Read the article and tell me, what do you think?