Here’s what I figured out most librarians go to Annual for: Reuniting with colleagues who live far away
Author: Kristel Sexton
Kristel is a Youth Librarian in southeastern Michigan. She delights in toddler storytime, developing the YA collection, and everything in between.
Teaching Teen Parents Key Skills
Courtney Saldana and Ady Huertas gave a great presentation about serving teen parents at #alaac16. Ady’s program for teen mothers is amazing. The teens learned different skills over the course of 10 weeks. The library brought in different speakers to workshops attended by the teens during their regular school day. Topics varied from journaling, coping with mental health issues, career prep, crafting, and the most popular event: dressing for success.
Programming for Tweens? Ideas from #alaac16
At what age does a child qualify as a tween? Lisa Kropp (@lisagkropp) posed this question at the start of “InbeTWEEN: Services and Programs for Tweens in Public Libraries.”
Viewing Storytime through an Improv Lens @ #ALAAC16
Amy Steinbrauer’s “Storytime Live: Improv Techniques that Work” session was a delight to attend, because Amy is a delight herself. I’ve never thought about how storytime is really a platform for improv, but she’s completely right. Amy taught us some great games that make use of patterns (STEM concept, y’all), gross motor movements and silliness.
Raise your ALSC voice
Leadership & ALSC at #ALAAC16 is technically a committee meeting, but it’s an open one. Not knowing any better, I attended (first-timer, you know, so a little clueless). I’m so glad I did. There were great discussions about the effect of technology on children’s services, diversity–both in collections and programming (and I would add the profession, but more on that later), and the desperate need for mentors. I was flat-out awed by the knowledge of the women at my table. Listening to these discussions, it feels like ALSC is at a crossroads. Now more than ever, ALSC needs to hear from new children’s librarians and new members. The women at my table were eager to hear my perspective as someone who has been a librarian for 4 years and a ALSC member for a year. For ALSC to meet all the challenges of the future and create a intentional strategic…