Since the election, many of us in the profession have been asking ourselves the same question: “What can I do to help young people find their voice in today’s world?” Now more than ever before, I feel compelled to help young people feel appreciated and important to our community, but how can I do that in a way that is authentic to me? Math.
Month: January 2017
Not Just Tinkering Around
Tinker verb | tin*ker : to work in the manner of a tinker; especially : to repair, adjust, or work with something in an unskilled or experimental manner I had the opportunity to sit down last week with Alison Tseng, the Youth Services Technology Librarian at the Algonquin Area Public Library District to talk about Tinker. (Full disclosure: Alison is my coworker and sits at the desk right across from me, so it was an easy-peasy trip.)
Volunteer to Be a Mentor or Mentee
ALSC announced the opening of spring 2017 applications for the ALSC Mentoring Program. The program, which is open to members and non-members, is intended to help strengthen connections in the field and build the confidence of a new cohort of leaders. Applications are now open for both mentors and mentees. The application process ends on Friday, February 24, 2017.
It’s about the books and more.
We had a staff meeting the other day to talk about revamping our website. We are long overdue. I’ll compare it to the Winchester Mystery House.
Who Will I Be? Books About Careers
It’s inevitable that we discover a section that needs updating (to our chagrin). Last year, I stumbled upon our career books, which didn’t need weeding as much as it needed updating for current and future careers. If your collection is in need of branching out from your average career books, check out these series that will make reading about careers fun and informative at the same time:
Five Ways to Get Kids Excited About Award Winners
It is the week of the Youth Media Awards, one of the most exciting times of the year for children’s librarians. I actually woke up before my alarm on Monday morning and could not stop talking about the award winners this week.
Gimme a C (for Collaboration!): Starting Small and Building
A little over a year ago, I wrote a blog post about collaboration between school and public libraries. I talked about Nashville’s Limitless Libraries and how I wished my students had access to a similar program here in Clarksville (about an hour away from Nashville). In this blog post, I am happy to report that wishes do come true!
ALSC Valuation and Advocacy Research Task Force Recommendations at #alamw17
I’ve finally made it back to Ohio, and I am so energized by all of the wonderful work I saw happening over the last few days at #alamw17. My last afternoon in Atlanta, I listened to an ALSC Board of Directors meeting where the ALSC Valuation and Advocacy Research Task Force presented their report and recommendations. For those of you (like me) who are not / were not aware of the Task Force, they were charged two years ago to: