TASCHA goes to Next Library 2017

June 2, 2017

Some members of the TASCHA team will be visiting Denmark June 11-14 to participate in the Next Library conference, an event intended to explore the continuously evolving nature of the public library in the 21st century. TASCHA Director Chris Coward and Assistant Director Rebecca Sears will be leading an interactive session and an ignite talk…

Brown bag lunch event with a Director of AfLIA

April 26, 2017

We hope that you will join us for a brown bag lunch event with Dr. Buhle Mbambo-Thata of AfLIA (African Library and Information Association and Institutions) from South Africa, where she will discuss AfLIA and how the library field in Africa is evolving with ICTs and other initiatives. She will also discuss libraries in general…

Partnership design and the Global Libraries legacy initiative

April 3, 2017

Partnership is a core tenet of TASCHA’s Gates-funded Global Libraries legacy work. With the work steaming ahead, TASCHA has invested a great deal of time thinking through how we will work together with our legacy partners, and with others — aligned organizations, funding agencies, libraries, and community members. Our focus was on the partnership of…

TASCHA and partners to develop training that will boost mobile information literacy in Kenya

November 1, 2016

TASCHA, along with the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP), Kenya National Library Services (knls), and the African Library and Information Associations & Institutions (AfLIA), will attend a series of meetings on mobile information literacy needs in Kenya in early November 2016. The aim of the meetings is to develop a Mobile Information Literacy (MIL) curriculum for…

The future of libraries in the US & around the world

June 23, 2016

TASCHA’s work with public libraries is well-known throughout most of the world, ranging from the Public Access Landscape Study, which was the first attempt to identify and describe public libraries and other Internet public access centers and their services in 25 countries, to the Global Impact Study, which looked at the effect of libraries and other public access centers and their services on the users and non-users in eight countries. But with the selection of TASCHA as one of the three Legacy Partners by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries Program, along with the United States Public Library Association (PLA) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), more work by TASCHA in the United States will be seen in the coming years.

Ecologies of innovation and public libraries

April 23, 2016

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent more and more time in the “innovation” space, attending conferences and workshops, speaking with leaders in the public library field, visiting innovation hubs from Africa to South America, doing a bit of research on innovation spaces, and otherwise trying to grapple with what this all means for international development generally (and as it pertains to all of TASCHA’s work), and public libraries in particular (for our public library research).

The past, present, & future of Making, the Maker Movement, & Makerspaces

April 12, 2016

TASCHA has begun looking at innovation spaces that support making activities and how they may provide communities with unique opportunities through fostering innovation and creativity, but there are challenges that must be addressed before “every child a maker” becomes a reality. Through a five-part blog post series, “Making and the maker movement: A democratizing force or an example of cultural reproduction?,” TASCHA research partner Lauren Britton critically examines the discourse around the maker movement and makerspaces, not in an attempt to discredit the movement and its supporters, but rather to draw attention to the issues and challenges of the maker movement and how these may be addressed.

Mobile Information Literacy Curriculum now available for use & adaptation

December 17, 2015

As millions of people come online across the globe through mobile devices, mobile information literacy is vital for those who have leapfrogged from traditional media to digital devices that provide instant access to information. Mobile information literacy is necessary to help people learn how to find and evaluate the quality and credibility of information obtained…

“Making” the Future: Conclusion of Making & the Maker Movement blog post series

December 14, 2015

The Maker movement evolved out of Punk and DIY culture and has grown at a rapid pace over the past six years, spurred by the creation of Make Magazine and the Maker Faire. A manifesto has been published (Hatch, 2014) and ‘how-to’ guides on making and building makerspaces abound (Makerspace.com, 2012; Bagley, 2014; Kemp, 2013; Lang, 2013). Touted as havens for techies, artists, and entrepreneurs, makerspaces are being developed at an astounding rate, both domestically and internationally. Makerspaces are community-operated facilities that provide access to the tools of production, usually wood shops, metal shops, and digital fabrication technology.

Join the U.S. Impact Study at the American Library Association annual conference

June 24, 2015

The American Library Association (ALA) is holding their annual conference June 25-June 30, 2015 in San Francisco. This year, TASCHA collaborators Samantha Becker and Stacey Wedlake from the U.S. Impact Study group will be attending and highlighting some of their great work on library measurement and evaluation. So, if you’re heading to ALA, be sure to join them as they represent two of their projects, the Impact Survey and the Edge Initiative.