A serious whim recently turned into a 4-day trip to London, England. I had been drooling over the exhibit Harry Potter: A History of Magic at the British Library for some time. When my friend Kirsten suggested we go to London to see the Winnie the Pooh exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum, we began to plan in earnest. I bought tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit before I even got my flight booked. Tickets were selling fast and the exhibit did sell out, a first for the British Library. But I had two spots for the last day.
Author: Angela Reynolds
Head of Youth Services for a rural library system in Nova Scotia.
At the last
This is my last regular post for the ALSC blog: life and job and projects have taken over. I’ve been doing this since 2008; it is time to move aside and let some fresh voices in. I have certainly enjoyed my time here as a regular blogger: it has given me a place to share ideas, programs, and experiences. Blogging for ALSC has helped me grow as a professional, has allowed me to look at what I do as a librarian and share it with others. We can learn so much from fellow librarians in person, at conferences, via blogs, and on Twitter. I absolutely intend to keep reading the ALSC blog, as it is a great place for news, ideas, issues, conference updates, association happenings, and of course, books. Working with the ALSC blog staff has been great: they make it easy to post and their enthusiasm and encouragement…
Post-Summer Reading Club Blues
I know that Summer Reading Club has just been replaced by Back to School. But I still have not given my final report, still have not sent in my final statistics. And already, I am planning for next year’s SRC. Is it that I can’t let go of summer? Am I clinging to those last sunny days before the trees turn, and the evening chill becomes a day-long thing? And am I just punishing myself by thinking about SRC all year long?
Maybe it IS rocket science
What can you make with cardstock, duct tape, masking tape, and a PVC pipe? Young rocket scientists!
Summer contests
The chance to win something big— like a new bike or a bag of books from your favourite author— appeals to kids and adults alike. Contests are a fun way to spice up the Summer Reading Club.
What’s the Big Idea?
Want to gather your community for stories, art, and food? Looking for a way to make family literacy a part of daily life? We are trying to do just that with a series we are calling Big Ideas.
Beauty and the Book
Spending a month looking at old books, in a library that could be part of a Harry Potter movie set: priceless. Appreciating the book as an object is easy to do when said books are such items of beauty that they demand you stop, hold them delicately, and breathe in their history.
Researching at the Baldwin
If you love old books, there’s a good reason to visit the University of Florida. At the George A. Smathers Library you’ll find the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature. With over 100,000 items, including approximately 3500 published in North America and Great Britain before 1823, this a truly a treasure trove of children’s books. And the best part? Anyone can visit and examine these books. By the way you’ll, feel like you are in a Harry Potter book when you enter the Grand Reading Room.