Looking back, looking forward...

Happy New Year, everyone!

The past year has been a time of growth and refinement for LibraryCall. From enhancing our stories to adding new services, 2022 was a year to remember. 

 Here are some highlights from our year:

• Won a 2022 Platinum Modern Library Award for offering a top library product. 

• Launched Soundtrack, an audio option for self-paced exhibits like StoryWalks®

• Welcomed four new team members to develop stories in Spanish, Farsi, Dari, Pashto and Arabic.

• Published 34 new stories in the Storytime Commons

• Added read-alongs on demand 

We can't wait to share new features and multilingual stories with you in 2023!

Promotional Calendars Now Available for Storytime Direct

We are now offering Storytime Direct customers printable monthly calendars and social media images in English and Spanish to help promote their dial-a-story service. The calendar includes images of the weekly stories, as well as placeholders for libraries to add their name name, logo, and dial-a-story phone number. The calendar can be edited using Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader. The social media images can be easily downloaded and shared each month without any editing required.

These items will be available in the LibraryCall Manager's Promotion/Outreach section. 

Public Domain Day 

On Jan. 1, 2023, copyrighted works from 1927 entered the public domain, making those works free to copy, alter, share, or adapt.

Some notable titles entering the public domain this year are Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Arthur Conan Doyle’s last Sherlock Holmes collection, A.A. Milne’s Now We are Six (children's verses), and Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop.

There aren’t many notable children’s titles becoming available this year, but it’s a fantastic year for public domain movies, as 1927 marked the beginning of sound films or “talkies”. The first films with fully synchronized film and sound entered the public domain, including Metropolis and The Jazz Singer. We expect to see many spin-offs on those classic films in the coming year.

2024 will be an even more interesting year, as Steamboat Willie–and Mickey Mouse in his first iteration– will enter the public domain on Jan. 1, 2024. Get your popcorn ready, as this is sure to spark both creative inspiration and legal battles.

Here’s more information for our fellow public domain geeks:

• Public domain 2023 analysis: https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/ 
• Find public domain books online at Project Gutenberg

Happy storytelling!