Libraries are now teaming up with airports to provide frequent fliers with a new option to keep busy during and between flights. And, perhaps most importantly, this also enables those of us previously limited to packing bulky books in our carry-ons or purchasing books from limited selection at airport bookstores. In the Manhattan Regional Airport of Kansas, Books on the Fly, a program started by Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year, Joanne Budler, provides travelers with access to the Kansas State Library’s eLending service. Similarly, the Free Library of Philadelphia has opened a virtual branch at the Philadelphia International Airport, providing Wi-fi access leading directly to the library’s site and online services.

For a more tactile experience, the King County Library System in Washington State provides Quick Read stations with books, magazines, and seating. In its second summer running, staffers drop off donated new books and magazines for travelers to read on site and even take with them and keep for free. Julie Brand, KCLS Marketing Director, estimates the number of books and magazines given away between June and September to be over 15,000. While there is no obligation to return the material, some readers have shipped books back to the library.

And now for a few examples of quirky, amusing, and community-minded innovation in traditional libraries: Cornell Library installed an indoor grass section in their lobby. According to the library staff, natural spaces in high traffic areas promote a healthy educational environment and have been found to “reverse the effects of mental fatigue caused by prolonged study.” The Chattanooga Public Library now has a Ms. Pac Man arcade machine on its second floor. Justin Hoenke, the teen librarian responsible for the addition, said of this unexpected choice, “The Second Floor is a community hub for ages 0-18, a place where kids, tweens, and teens in the community can come to learn, relax, have fun, connect, and more. Ms. Pac Man fits in pretty nicely with this theme. Since we got Ms. Pac Man, groups of teens have started to hang around the machine, doing their best to top one another in high score contests.” A variety of Libraries also offer programs that try to give back to the community, be it forgiving fines in lieu of donated canned goods, providing English as a Second Language classes, and, as reported last year in The Writer’s Chronicle, the occasional pole-dancing course. These are just a few examples of libraries across the country reasserting themselves as centers for culture, community, and, not to be forgotten, reading.

Source: Melville House, and Galleycat
Photo: Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport library
For more information see: http://www.mhpbooks.com/libraries-join-forces-with-local-airports/