Solutions Story Tracker®
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Title
& Description
News Outlet
& Journalist
Date
& Location
MEDIA TYPE
& LENGTH
31 July 2020
Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Multi-Media
800-1500 Words
Summer, which is usually the busiest season for libraries around the United States, brought with it challenges due to the pandemic, but resourceful librarians innovated ways to connect with their most valuable patrons...
28 May 2020
San Francisco, California, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Librarians’ skills have proved critical to San Francisco’s pandemic response, in roles ranging from translating to communicating public-health announcements, but especially contact tracing. The city’s largest-ever act...
29 March 2020
Bay City, Michigan, United States
Text
Under 800 Words
With schools and libraries closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, a librarian in Bay County, Michigan is turning to hosting a virtual storytime. Although this approach lacks some elements of the in-person storytime, ...
14 January 2020
New York, New York, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Instrument rentals help to address a gap in privilege. The Central Branch of Brooklyn Public Library in New York City is one of several programs in the US and Canada that loan out musical instruments for free. The pro...
The Beacon Today
Brenna Brown
8 January 2020
West Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
Libraries around West Palm Beach, Florida, have collaborated to offer resources to children who need to work on technology-dependant homework after school, but who don't have access to the Internet or a computer at ho...
28 December 2019
Denver, Colorado, United States
Text
Under 800 Words
Eliminating overdue fines at libraries allows low-income patrons to reengage with public resources. The Denver Public Library replaced fines with a lending restriction, meaning that patrons could only check out new it...
31 October 2019
New York, New York, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
A bookmobile program in Queens brings stories, computers and wifi to family shelters to help expand access to these vital resources to children and families without a permanent home. The book-filled bus has served ove...
30 September 2019
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Text
Under 800 Words
In Nashville, the public library system and metropolitan public school district are working together to ensure students have access to all the educational resources they need. To start, every student ID doubles as a l...
17 September 2019
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Public libraries can serve as vital community resources. In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Forsyth County Public Library operates as a multi-use facility thanks to investments from a voter-approved bond and state ...
6 August 2019
Brownsville, Texas, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
A public library in Brownsville, Texas continues to remain relevant through its dedication to learning from failed initiatives, investing in new technology, and ensuring that the space keeps up with ever-changing town...
26 July 2019
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Discussing history can help communities heal from racial violence and trauma. Organizations like the Greater Bronzeville Action Plan, the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CCR19), and the Chicago Center...
17 July 2019
Long Branch, New Jersey, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Libraries across the United States are expanding what they offer to not just include books, but also a host of social and human services. From stocking an anti-overdose drug to offering mental health services and lega...
29 June 2019
New York, New York, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is a branch of the New York Public Library system that offers a wide array of services for vision-impaired adults and children. They hold the largest physical colle...
8 June 2019
Stornoway, Scotland
Text
800-1500 Words
Mobile libraries provide a crucial point of engagement for remote communities. In Scotland, the country’s mobile library service has provided residents of its Western Isles with access to books, Gaelic culture, and a ...
3 June 2019
Ferguson, Missouri, United States
Text
Under 800 Words
As American schools have become increasingly focused on preparing students for higher education and careers, life skills classes like home economics, financial literacy, and wood shop classes have fallen to the waysid...
OZY
Joanna Lobo
9 April 2019
Dimapur, Nagaland, India
Text
800-1500 Words
The city of Dimapur in India had no public library - until an online crowdfunding campaign provided the capital needed to rent a small space and get the library idea off the ground. While funding is still limited and ...
2 April 2019
New York, New York, United States
Broadcast TV News
5-15 Minutes
Librarians in New York City are attempting to "promote literacy in ordinary locations." By adding books and staff to laundromats in low-income communities, they are providing opportunities for children living in "bo...
CityLab
Tanvi Misra
12 March 2019
Medellín, Colombia
Text
Under 800 Words
City planners and governments often overlook culture when trying to rebuild cities blighted by war, disasters, or other types of urban distress. But not Medellín, Colombia. After the drug trade made Medellín a violent...
14 February 2019
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Some of Chicago's public housing buildings now house a public library on the base floor. The co-location design is a result of a collaboration between the Chicago Public Library and Chicago Housing Authority intended ...
11 February 2019
United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Libraries serve as trusted stewards of information in the public domain. Looking beyond the traditional management of printed records and archives, libraries across the United States and Canada aim to make data sets r...
22 January 2019
San Francisco, California, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Public libraries are increasingly using their positions as accessible centers for information to address homelessness and mental health issues - in San Francisco, a team of Health and Safety Associates have helped pla...
17 January 2019
Ojokoro, Lagos, Nigeria
Text
800-1500 Words
A community library built in Lagos, Nigeria by a nonprofit called Pyramid Educational Advancement (PEA) is filling a literacy gap in the area due to the low number of government-owned public libraries. Aside from simp...
7 November 2018
Calgary, Canada
Text
800-1500 Words
In Calgary, the new Central Library does more than just provide a beautiful space in which to read books. It also provides a place to access technology and acts as a connection space between the more and less affluent...
27 October 2018
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Public libraries once turned a blind eye to the homeless people using their spaces, but many libraries have now shifted into action mode by hiring social workers to help with behavioral health challenges of patrons. I...
Christian Science Monitor
Eva Fedderly
24 October 2018
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
When a need for more libraries and more affordable housing arose in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel pursued a plan to combine the two. The result is a partnership between the Chicago Housing Authority and the Chicago Publ...
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