In the first of a new series of posts that feature librarians' successful ideas and creative solutions, Katharine Phenix from Anythink Libraries in Colorado tells us about "Shakespeare Society: Pizza and a Play," a popular program that has been running strong for six years!

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Your library works hard to procure the very best resources possible. But do your patrons utilize them? Do they even know what's available?

Here are five suggestions for ways to connect your patrons to all the information, education and entertainment that your library provides, with a particular eye to the electronic resources available through your website:

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We are delighted to share some great news: BookBrowse has been awarded Gold in the inaugural Modern Library Awards!

Created by LibraryWorks and judged by librarians, the MLAs recognize the top products in the library industry. BookBrowse has been recognized as being an invaluable resource for libraries, providing the many great features that you have come to love: Exceptional reviews of the latest books, 'beyond the book' articles, recommendations by genre and theme, read-alikes, and resources for book clubs.

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A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of hearing Sara Pennypacker give a talk to children's librarians, during which she mentioned a program that she and a few of her children's author friends have launched:

"Share Our Books was born from a conversation a few of us children's authors had about how much we loved Community Reads. The idea is for an entire elementary school community from the principal and teachers to the bus drivers and nurses and, of course, the students and their families to share the experience of reading the same book at the same time. It's an honor and a joy to have our books chosen to help bond a community this way. What could we do to encourage more of it, we asked each other? The answer was obvious...provide the books."

The concept is simple:

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Banned Books Week (Sept 30-Oct 6) is celebrating, for want of a better term, its 30th year!

Banning books has a long and ignoble history going back into the mists of time. Possibly the oldest known ban was against 5th century BC Greek philosopher Anazagoras who made the mistake of suggesting that the sun is "white hot stone and that the moon reflected the sun's rays" - which caused him to be exiled from Athens and all his writings burned.

Of course, through much of history it wasn't just the writings that got burned but the writers themselves. Indeed, it wasn't even necessary to put pen to paper to find oneself atop a bonfire, or other equally nasty fate - a word, a deed, or even the mere suspicion of a thought could have been enough. So, I suppose we should be grateful that in the USA today we've evolved from burning people to merely attempting to ban their books.

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This week marks the USA's 30th annual Banned Books Week (sponsored by half a dozen American library, bookseller, journalist and publisher associations; and endorsed by about half a dozen more.) During Banned Books Week, bookstores and libraries across the USA celebrate (for want of a better word) the books that have been challenged or outright banned from libraries with in store displays, readings and so forth.

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