In the XXX of a five part series, learn about ways to incorporate the Every Child Ready to Read practice READ into your daily work.
Ready Ideas for Ready to Read: READ

Pursuing excellence for library service to children
In the XXX of a five part series, learn about ways to incorporate the Every Child Ready to Read practice READ into your daily work.
In the 2nd of a five part series, learn about ways to incorporate the Every Child Ready to Read practice WRITE into your daily work.
In the first of a five part series, learn about ways to incorporate the Every Child Ready to Read practice TALK into your daily work.
Our staff decided to have an informal “teach ourselves how to play ukulele” group during the month of August.
It’s taken me almost a decade in libraries but I think I’ve finally become a strategic plan junkie. I used to think they were all pomp but now I see how they really are a guidepost for the focus of an organization. That being said, ALSC has a new 2023-2026 strategic plan that was unveiled at ALA! Woohoo! Our esteemed outgoing president Amy Koester detailed everything in her blog post, but here’s some highlights: Looking at this information, may seem like a lot- but Amy also did a great job at outlining concrete items that can be included in committee work plans. Now to think about, how can YOU be a part of the strategic plan? If you answered YES to any of those questions (and have the capacity), fill out a volunteer form and/or send an email to ALSC leadership to indicate your interest and where you feel you can contribute!
On Saturday, I attended the Core Top Technology Trends where a panel of experts discussed ChatGPT in particular and AI in general as they examine how these emerging technologies impact the LIS field. I don’t attend many sessions that aren’t child based and it was interesting to learn about ChatGPT from varying lenses. There was a lot of discussion on how AI has actually been around for a while (hello Google), but is just changing from and how individual institutions need to determine their policies for working with chatGPT and AI. One thing I realized from this session was that I should actually spend some time playing around with chatGPT and see how it worked, instead of just hearing about it. So, my library is currently in a trial on Librari and I decided to ask some questions. Here’s an example using the basic ALSC: What is ALSC?The Association for…
Networking. It’s awkward. We all know it, I mean we’re librarians the poster people for introverted extroverts. However, that Is part of the point of conferences right? So especially with the way life has been since 2020, I feel like there’s so many people I “know” from ALSC and other committees, or I read their blog or follow their social media accounts. Well this conference, I am challenging myself to look at people’s name tags, “to say hello,” and to introduce myself in real life. It’s been a little awkward, because of course it is, but I’ve met a lot of really nice people who Remember me from this or that and are very enthusiastic to include me in their conversations, which makes the conference seem a little smaller. I’ve met the former former blog manager, someone on an committee with me in 2021 and am excited to see who…
A lot of libraries around me have gotten renovations, and it’s always fun to check out what a library adds. In fact I’m pretty sure every library worker finds themselves lurking around local libraries while on vacation to see what they might have. Some items I see are totally unique while others are becoming more common. Here are some “big ticket items” that have been surfacing in more libraries around the country.