Lifelong Access Libraries Blog

In 1999, the World Health Organization named October 1^st “International Day of the Older Person.”  The theme for 2007 is “Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of Ageing,” although the tag line over the years has been “Older People – New Power for Development.” 

In your opinion, to what extent does this tag line connote the social, intellectual, and political enrichment that older adults may bring to the coming decades, or rather suggest the commercial and economic power that investment firms, retirement funds, and newly created niche markets use to capitalize on this growing population?  We’d like to hear your thoughts and any innovative programs that you might be planning for this day.

Related Articles/Websites

International Day of the Older Person - Human Rights Education Associates

 - includes education resources

Baby Boomers Create New Marketing Frontier - MSNBC

In 2006, the Lifelong Access Libraries Institute closed with a presentation by neurologist, Paul Nussbaum. The 2007 Institute hosted Richard Restak, neuropsychiatrist, as the final presenter. Both discussed the brain’s plasticity– the capacity to learn new things and the possibility of warding off the loss of cognitive vitality, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.

Nussbaum saw the public library as “the health center for the mind,” pointing to the resources and services that libraries offer as opportunities for stimulation and challenge for the brain that can help older adults maintain sharpness.

Is there a case to be made for libraries making available the cognitive fitness software described in the attached article?

Calisthenics for the Older Mind, on the Home Computer

“According to the United States Census Bureau, 9 out of 10 Americans over 60, or 41.5 million people, stayed in the same home or in the same county between 1995 and 2000.”

This article includes a map showing which metro areas of the U.S. had the fastest growth in the “pre-senior” population fro 1990-2005–considered a key factor in determining where the senior population will grow the most, as boomers “age in place.”

 What are the implications of ”graying in place” for library services in your community, including potential challenges and rewards?

article url: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/realestate/keymagazine/909Numbers-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Welcome to the Lifelong Access Libraries Blog.  We hope to make this blog a space for resources, articles, and discussion.  You can stop by as you please or subscibe by RSS feed or e-mail using the links in the right sidebar.  Please peruse the posts below and explore our Lifelong Access Libraries and Libraries for the Future websites for more information on our work.