TW: eclipse glasses If you were working in an American public library* in August of 2017, you likely remember the solar eclipse of August 2017. The five-year anniversary of the 2017 eclipse just passed us, so let’s take a moment to reflect and debrief. After all, another solar eclipse is coming in 2024.
Author: abbylibrarian
I'm the Children's Services Manager at the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library in Southern Indiana.
Inclusive Back to School Books
I know that much of the country is not in back to school mode yet, but in Southern Indiana our students started back to school last week. And as families have geared up, our back to school books have been flying off the shelves. I’ve been keeping a close eye on this display to fill it back up. And I always try to make it as inclusive as possible. Keep this in mind as you’re building yours. Consider some of the books below to make your display more inclusive!
Celebrating Our Library Pride
We just wrapped up our first big library Pride month! We’ve put up book displays for years, but this year we really wanted to add programming and more. I posted some resources last month, but here’s how we approached our first Pride month.
Pride Month at Your Library
June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month! How does your library commemorate Pride Month and/or welcome rainbow kids and families throughout the year? My library is planning a month of Pride programs for the first time this year. I am really excited because this programming and outreach is way overdue. When you’re new at Pride programming, where can you turn? I’ve collected some great resources for you to check out here.
Free Audiobooks with SYNC
Do you know about SYNC? Each summer, AudioFile Magazine partners with over a dozen publishers and with Overdrive Education to offer free audiobooks to listeners. Starting this week, SYNC is back for 2022! Each week, they make two free audiobooks available for download.
Advocating for Diverse Books
I went to a grown-up pre-conference at the 2022 PLA Conference: Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers (check out our PLA 2022 live blogging here!). Many times when choosing conference sessions, I look for content specific to youth librarianship. It’s what I know, it’s what I do. But here’s your sign to look outside our youth librarian box now and then. Although the presenters, Robin Bradford, Alene Moroni, and Becky Spratford are experienced in adult services, everything they said translates easily to youth collections. I want to share my takeaways advocating for diverse books in your collections.
The Children’s Author Panel of My Dreams at #PLA2022
Thursday morning I had the absolute pleasure of sharing breakfast with a room full of librarians and listening to four stellar authors speak about their books. I tweeted that it was the author panel of my dreams: Dhonielle Clayton, Alex Gino, Rex Ogle, and Traci Sorrell.
Braille Enhanced StoryWalks® at #PLA2022
Y’all know I love the StoryWalks® at my library, but you know what could make them better? Increased accessibility for those with disabilities! In this morning’s session Braille Enhanced StoryWalks®, we learned about adding Braille text to StoryWalks®. The Library of Michigan and the Michigan Braille and Talking Books Library partnered to make this happen for dozens of library districts in their state, serving millions of residents.