Many management and leadership decisions with patrons are judgement calls based on ones understanding of their library policy. We have a scenario for you to consider: A solo parent comes into the children’s area of the library with a teenager, a toddler, and an infant to enjoy a Summer Reading Puppet show. Upon arrival the teenager immediately leaves their family in the children’s area to hang out with friends in the teen area. Once the puppet show begins the toddler starts screaming, laughing, and trying to climb on stage to touch the puppets. The parent, with their hands full holding the infant, apologizes for the interruption and pulls the toddler off the stage. The toddler continues to scream, laugh and point at the stage while the performance resumes. After 15 minutes the puppeteer asks the parent to quiet the toddler, because they are disrupting the show. The parent explains the toddler…
Month: December 2018
Municipal Partnerships: Making the Most of Your City
Looking to start a new partnership to liven up your programming or outreach? You may not have to look much further than city hall. Many cities have departments that make wonderful library partners, and these partnerships allow us to show kids all that the community has to offer. At the Newton Free Library in Newton, Massachusetts, the youth services department had several partnerships with other city offices. Here, we’ll look at our partnerships with Historic Newton and the mayor’s office during our 2017 Build a Better World summer reading program. Historic Newton When I was tasked with planning an “around your neighborhood” storytime for summer reading, I started looking for a partner in the neighborhood to take over the activity portion of storytime. Historic Newton was a perfect fit. Historic Newton is a city organization that preserves Newton’s history through two museums and various other initiatives. They have education and…
Children’s Librarians are Expert Community Organizers
At the library, we are often times the nucleus of the community. We are the safe place for crafts and activities outside of school. We are a neutral place to collaborate on homework and to assemble resources to achieve and succeed. In a lot of cases, especially when it comes to working with the youth in the community, it is the children’s librarian overseeing, planning, implementing, and being the catalyst for personal and professional growth and development of children. Through our programming, we, as children’s librarians have the opportunities to work and network with many people in the community. From guest storytellers like police and fire crew, to students logging volunteer hours for community service projects, and finally to social workers conducting their own outreach or providing services for those in the community who need the additional assistance; we have contact with nearly every agency within our communities. Children’s librarians…
Parachute in Storytime
Today’s installment of storytime props is the parachute in storytime. (Previous post: Scarves in Storytime and Egg Shakers in Storytime.) Are you ready to go over the basics? What size parachute do you use?: I have three different parachutes at the library. Two fit in our smaller programming room (parachutes size 10 feet and size 12 feet). This works for classes of 20 kids or smaller. Our large parachute fits our large programming room (parachute size 24 feet). I’ve used this parachute in classes with 70 kids before. How do you take the parachute out and put the parachute away?: In our large music & movement program, I ask the kids to find their grown-ups and stay with them while I pass out the parachute. For classes when I’m the only grown-up in the room, I have the kids touch the wall until I finish setting up the parachute. This…
Children’s Librarians are Expert in Creating Timely Current Event Programs
This fall, voting discussions were happening spontaneously wherever adults gathered: the dinner table, the grocery line, the car radio and well beyond. Kids in our neighborhood heard snippets of local and national voting issues throughout their day. Making sure to vote was often emphasized as a top priority. Just imagine the delight of children who walked into the Tecumseh Branch of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana when they saw a large freezer box voting booth with a “Vote for Best Pet 2018” campaign in full swing! The premise was explained on a bulletin board directly behind the booth itself. “Dog or cat? Your vote decides! Customers of any age may vote from now through Tuesday, November 6th. One vote per customer, please. The winner will be announced with a Dog or Cat Storytime, Parade, and Victory Celebration.” Our sole service point included voter registration cards children…
Talking About Self-Care in LIS
We all know the analogy…we’ve got to put on our own oxygen mask before assisting others. But how often do we actually do that? Or even talk about it within our profession? “Self-care” has become one of those ubiquitous catch-all terms used so often it becomes nearly meaningless. It’s worth noting that its roots as a term are actually quite revolutionary, shaped by the experiences of professionals in the medical field and women of color fighting for civil rights.* Self-care is not frivolous. It’s not only for the privileged few. It’s what allows those who serve the public daily, absorbing the trauma present in our communities, fighting for equitable access for the most marginalized, and navigating and dismantling hierarchical power structures, to maintain the passion, creativity, and strategic thinking necessary to serve the kids and families that drew them to this work in the first place. And yes, for many…
Advocacy Resources at ALA Midwinter 2019 and Beyond
The Midwinter Meeting is coming up fast! In case you want to brush up on how to best advocate for yourself and your library, here’s a quick rundown of the advocacy-related meetings taking place in Seattle. The best part? All the meetings listed below are open and included in your conference registration. Start off your Saturday with Breaking Down the Barriers to Advocacy for School Libraries.Part of the Symposium on the Future of Libraries, attendees can join ALA Policy Corps for a conversation surrounding political advocacy for school librarians. Attendees will also learn how to connect with local legislators and break down barriers that stand in the way of effective advocacy efforts. For the first two years of the Trump Administration, librarians have been politically active and energized. But with a new Congress, what happens next? Libraries & Public Policy After the Midterm Elections & the Midpoint of the…
Censoring Databases
Children’s Librarians are Experts at… Protecting Children’s Access to Library Materials, Resources, and Services.