by Gretchen Wronka, Consultant, ALSC Priority Group VIII
As the group of committees and discussion groups charged to identify and investigate issues relating to children’s services and to recommend and initiate action to improve those services, Priority Group VIII: Professional Development is well-positioned to implement a primary goal in the ALSC Strategic Plan, “to lead the [...]

Bears are my favorite non-domestic animals.  Now, I love elephants and penguins, but bears are my #1 favorite.  I moved to the northern Virginia area not long after the birth of the National Zoo’s young male panda, Tai Shan, and quickly fell in love as I learned more about these fascinating and rare animals.  When [...]

…He would look at the screen while I did my searching, watching every minute, but never once trying on his own. After a while he would tell me exactly what to type and offer alternate search strategies when he felt I wasn’t zeroing in quickly enough. But still he always wanted me to do it…

Are you one of those children’s librarians that’s always looking for something new to add to your story times–a new fingerplay, a twist on old fairy tales or an activity? As children’s librarians, we’re always looking for innovation in the most unlikely of places and transforming ordinary household materials into works of art.  I ran across [...]

If you are an ALSC member who would love to host a children’s author or illustrator to speak with a group of children who have not had the opportunity to hear a nationally known author/illustrator, you are encouraged to apply for the ALSC Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Visit Award. This award pays up to $4,000 of [...]

Happy Thanksgiving fellow children’s librarians.  Hope that when you stuff yourself with turkey, surrounded by family and friends, you’ll reflect on all that you do for kids and their families.  You may not always get the feedback you deserve, but they will remember you.  One bright and sunny day in autumn, you’re paid a visit [...]

I was so excited when my article, “Discover Babylon: E-Learning Power on Second Life” came out in the November 2007 issue of School Library Journal, I couldn’t wait to share it with my mother.  My mother, who is a non-native english speaker, who immigrated from Taiwan and doesn’t have more than a 6th grade education in [...]

I just finished today’s blog entry at my middle school library’s literary blog site about today’s Library Literary Lab and now, using the exact same software (WordPress) and an identical interface, I am posting on ALSC’s blog, as a contributing blogger from the School Library field.  So, I guess it is fitting to just show everyone [...]

I attended the workshop Saturday morning conducted by the ELVEN (Educators and Librarians in Virtual Environments) Institute in Second Life and it was tres excellent! Thanks to Teresa Walls and Kelly Czarnecki for the headsup, I went to their website and filled out a form that asked me to rate my interests from 1-4 from [...]

…..Like the time I tried to create one for a November session, but it just came out all wrong. Maybe because my own children and I had just turned vegetarian and were having a hard time getting excited about the coming holiday: “Five little turkeys knocking at the door / One got its head chopped off and that left four! / Four little turkeys walking by a tree. / ‘Bang!’ went the shotgun and that left three! /….