Time flies when you’re having fun — and what fun we’ve had with the ALSC Blog this past year! A dedicated group of regular ALSC Bloggers, along with 44 guest contributors, worked to fulfill our stated mission of providing a “venue for coverage of time sensitive news in children’s librarianship, current issues in the field, and programs, conferences, initiatives, resources, and activities of interest to ALSC members and those interested in children’s librarianship.”
We loved seeing how frequently links from the ALSC Blog were tweeted, retweeted, & favorited, and we enjoyed seeing ALSC Blog posts highlighted on other blogs and online journals. Here are some additional statistics and highlights:
- There were more than 78 thousand visits to the blog in 2011 with nearly 132 thousand pageviews.
- Over the last 12 months over 400 posts were shared on the blog; these posts generated 450+ comments from interested readers.
- We microblogged from both the ALA Midwinter Conference in San Diego, and much more energetically from the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
- The post receiving the most comments was Unusual Storytime Themes by ALSC Blogger, Katie Salo. Two other posts followed closely in the number of comments received: ALSC Blogger Lisa Taylor’s You know you’re a children’s librarian when… and Guest Contributor Bethany Hegedus’ Meeting Gandhi’s Grandson, the Making of a Picture Book.
- In October, we started a monthly member profile. We thank Treasure Samuel, Emily Kazanecki, and John Galdun for being brave enough to participate.
Ten of the top posts for the year were:
10. iPad and Smart Phone Apps for Kids by Kelley Beeson
9. iPad Storytime Tools by ALSC Children and Technology committee
8. Storytimes for Autistic Children by Kiera Parrott
7. Programming for Children with Special Needs, Part One by Tricia Bohanon Twarogowski
6. Unusual Storytime Themes by Katie Salo
5. Circulating iPads in the Children’s Library by Kiera Parrott
4. Recipe for Life Size Candy Land by Abby Johnson
3. 5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Apps and Ebooks by Kiera Parrott
2. National Poetry Month is Better with Book Spine Poems by Travis Jonker
1. Notable Children’s Books — Nominated Titles for 2011 by Mary Voors
Thanks to all who participated as readers and as contributors in 2011! We have many more ideas for the upcoming year — and we invite everyone to join us. Now, on to 2012!