Archived Event

Beyond Bingo for the Boomers: Public Libraries to Fill a Void

Date : Aug 09, 2006
Start Time : 11 a.m. Eastern
Length : 00:01:00

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Please Join Chris Johnson and Joan Clark from Libraries for the Future to learn about EqualAccess LibrariesTM, a professional development program that helps librarians fine tune their library services to stay in sync with the changing needs of the people they serve. EqualAccess skills and model programs help librarians meet the information and education needs of active older adults, youth (age 10 - 18), and health consumers in the digital age.

This session will focus on Lifelong Access LibrariesTM, a new facet of EqualAccess created to address the needs of the nation's 76 million baby boomers, a group that has transformed each demographic level it has reached. Supported by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies, this program transforms public libraries into centers of lifelong learning and civic engagement for active older adults.

What will you learn?
  • What key demographic trends prompt the need for public libraries to retool themselves to meet the hopes and needs of today's generation of active, older adults?
  • How have selected public libraries re-engineered themselves to become life transition centers where baby boomers and older adults can find meaningful options for lifelong learning, volunteering, re-careering, social, and other opportunities?
  • How is EqualAccess transforming libraries into 21st century community centers that meet the changing information and education needs of older adults, youth, health consumers, children and others.

Joan Clark ?Equal Access Libraries Program Manager, Arizona State Library

Joan Clark is a consultant librarian with Arizona State Library, and the EqualAccess Libraries Program Manager for the state. As a member of the Library Development Division Joan creates and delivers professional development training for Arizona public librarians. She also leads a lifelong learning initiative called Bonus Years which provides a variety of information resources to assist active older adults in transitioning to post-career opportunities.

Prior to joining the Arizona State Library in 2004, Clark held a variety of management positions with AT&T. She began her library career in the AT&T Information Research Center and after leading business research and marketing initiatives there, moved into corporate management. Joan is experienced in corporate training, event and relationship marketing, and strategic planning.

Christopher Johnson ?National Director of Equal Access Libraries, Americans for Libraries Council

Christopher Johnson is the National Director of EqualAccess LibrariesTM, a professional development program that helps public librarians assess and, in collaboration with local organizations, address their community's most pressing needs. Before joining LFF, Johnson was the Manager of Strategic Initiatives at the Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network in Washington, DC. He is the author of the publication 50+ Volunteering: Working for Stronger Communities and The Strength of the Infrastructure of Volunteer Agencies and its Capacity to Absorb "Baby Boomer" Volunteers, a paper prepared for and given at the Harvard-MetLife Conference on the Civic Engagement of the Baby Boomers. He has a B.A. in philosophy from St. John's University in Minnesota and was an International Rotary Scholar at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom, where he received an M.A. in Continental Philosophy.