ALSC members love lists! The ALSC Blog is holding a contest to find out which members have the best lists. And they don’t just have to be book lists. Keep in mind your audience: ALSC Blog readers are world travelers, children’s literature enthusiasts, pillars of knowledge, youth librarians, and community engagement specialists. Send us your top 10 and we’ll hold a vote for the top ten list of top ten lists! Winners will be able to choose from two categories of prizes including individual 2016 Newbery-Caldecott-Wilder Banquet tickets. Participants must be personal members of ALSC. Lists must be submitted by Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5pm Eastern/4pm Central. Help us spread the contest by tweeting about is using the hashtag #toptencontest. For more information and rules, please see the Top Ten Contest tab.
Month: April 2016
Moving? New library job? Some helpful hints
Whether you’re a new librarian moving to take your first job, or an experienced librarian moving to greener pastures, here are some suggestions that might help. I’m not saying I followed them all, but I should have! 🙂 Before you move: Take care of business. Give adequate notice, file paperwork, clean your desk, get your medical and dental checkups in before your insurance runs out, return all your library books. 🙂 If you can, give yourself some time between jobs – especially if you’re moving out-of-state. Acquiring a new, license, registration, cell service, cable, electricity, etc., can be daunting if you’re working full-time. At your new location: Be a team player. It’s easy to think of yourself as the “outsider,” but work is more fun when you work together. Be interested, be helpful, be approachable. Know what’s going on. It’s your home now. Who’s your mayor, your congressman, your baseball…
2016 ALSC Election Results
Many thanks to all of the candidates who ran for division office this year. We appreciate their willingness to put their names forward for the division. Here are the results from the 2016 ALSC elections: Vice President/President-Elect Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, Oakland, CA Board of Directors Karen MacPherson, Takoma Park Maryland Library, Takoma Park, MD New to ALSC Board of Directors Amy Koester, Skokie Public Library, Skokie, IL Fiscal Officer Paula Holmes, Upper St. Clair Library Board, Upper St Clair, PA Newbery 2018 Committee Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos County Library System, Los Alamos, NM Sujei Lugo, Boston Public Library, Jamaica Plain, MA Thaddeus Andracki, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Chicago, IL Janice Del Negro, Dominican University GSLIS, River Forest, IL Catharine Potter, Falmouth Elementary School, Falmouth, ME Carol Goldman, Queens Library, Forest Hills, NY Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA Susan Giffard, Ethical Culture School, New…
Comics Update!
It’s time for our semi-annual comics for tweens roundup. Here’s a few comics that your tweens will adore! A group of teenage girls used to be the Zodiac Starforce: they spent their freshman year fighting monsters. But that’s pretty much over two years later…or so they think it is until their leader, Emma, is attacked by a monster and infect her. Good for tweens and teens, Ganacheau’s bright coloring and magical girl style is fun to real. AT LONG LAST, Amulet #7 has arrived! Your young patrons will be so excited! Emmy, Trellis, and Vigo visit Algos island, where they can enter lost memories, looking for knowledge they can use against the Elf King. This series continues to be great. Use it for displays to get your teens excited about comics! Originally a webcomic, Help Us Great Warrior is a delightful tale of a deceptively tiny Great Warrior protecting her…
Fresh Graphic Novel Picks
Hurrah! Spring has officially arrived- at least for the most part. Although it seems to be a daily surprise here in my part of the country whether or not we will have spring or winter temperatures, I thought it was a great time for sharing some fresh, new graphic novels with you! Below are a few of my favorite titles that have been published so far this year. I’m sure you and your patrons will enjoy them! Complete Chi’s Sweet Home: Part 2 by Konami Kanata. Vertical Comics; 2016. Cat lovers of all ages will adore this manga series! This recently released title collects volumes four through six from Kanata’s original series. Follow Chi in her adorable adventures as she learns how to live with her adoptive family, the Yamadas, and searches for her mother. Unicorn Vs. Goblins: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure by Dana Simpson. Andrews McMeel Publishing; 2016. The third volume in…
Lessons Learned from Storytime
Storytime is a learning environment and we all have lessons learned — including librarians. While I am a better storytime librarian than when I started, I am still far from perfect. And I’ve learned a lot about what kinds of books and materials work best for me in storytime. But in order to do that, I had to make some mistakes. Five Storytime Lessons Learned Never Repeating Themes At my first library, I never repeated storytime themes. I figured I had to get five years worth of themes since I was primarily doing an all-ages storytime and my youngest patrons would age out in five years. That led to some great creative themes, but it also meant shelving dinosaurs storytime for FIVE YEARS. And besides, repetition is great for kids. Lack of Inclusive Books Whoa, have I made this mistake more than once! I used to do holiday storytimes because…
Celebrating Moms (and Grandmoms!)
There is no shortage of amazing picture books about mothers and grandmothers, but there is definitely always a need for more books that include mothers from different cultures and walks of life. If you’re planning a story time, display, or book list for Mother’s Day, include these books to reflect the diversity of your patron population: (image taken from Donna Jo Napoli’s website) With warmer days getting closer and closer, beach stories will soon be in high demand in no time. Hands and Hearts is not only a gorgeously illustrated story about a fun trip to the beach, but it also incorporates American Sign Language to tell this story of a mother and her young daughter discussing their big outing. Where do many families celebrate Mother’s Day? At grandmother’s house, of course! Full Full of Love follows a large extended family as they enjoy a fabulous feast at grandmother’s…
Transforming Ideas into Reality
As I attended the North Carolina Library Association’s (NCLA) Executive Board Meeting this past week in Black Mountain, NC at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, (https://www.blueridgeassembly.org/) I was struck by the passion of my colleagues from across the state who are committed to improving the lives of our library patrons and communities by brainstorming new ideas to encourage change. As Vice Chair/Chair Elect of the Youth Services Section of the NCLA, I’m excited to see how these ideas bring growth and new possibilities. It makes me consider how ideas are able to move beyond the planning stage to become fully fledged concepts, whether these ideas take root as a project within our individual libraries or grow to strengthen the existing work of our professional associations. Passion, people, and purposeful promotion are all necessary to take those valuable ideas beyond board room discussions and move them into practical implementation within our…