Happy Halloween! This weekend, Lindenhurst Memorial Library held its first Masquerade Ball. Children dressed up in costume, and came to the library during a three hour window of time to play games, create art, and pose for pictures.
Author: Lisa Kropp
Pack in the fun with Nature Backpacks
The heady months of summer are winding down, yet you still may be experiencing an influx of young people in the library. While this is a fun time to see so many new faces in the library, the nice weather creates an opportunity to partner with your local forest service or park service departments to encourage families to explore the outdoors into the upcoming autumn.
Learning to Like Mistakes at #alaac16
Everyone makes mistakes, but how many of us embrace them as learning agents?
#alaac16: Top Ten Random Thoughts about the Conference
My conference obligations are done, and I am packed to go home tomorrow morning. Here are my take-aways from #alaac16.
#alaac16: Authors Performing Readers’ Theater
What do you get when you put David Shannon, Mary GrandPre, Alan Gratz, Raina Telgemeier, Christine Kendall, and Jordan Sonnenblick all on stage together? Some pretty intensely funny, and dramatic, book readings.
Tween Spaces – Wants or Needs?
A library’s space, and how it relates to children of all ages, is the theme of this year’s ALSC Charlemae Rollins President’s Program: Libraries: The Space to Be . If you are attending ALA Annual in Orlando, join President Andrew Medlar to learn more about space design during a panel discussion that will focus on best practices for small, medium and large libraries, and how libraries are creating spaces that are vital to children and the communities that support them. Speaking of space design – does your library have a space created specifically for the tween user? Yes, tweens. Previously best known as “school age patrons”, the 9-12 year old set has graduated into their own sub-community of library users, with many libraries paying attention to this demographic by creating specialized spaces within their children’s departments that cater directly to the pre-teenage. Today, libraries are defined as much by their spaces as they…
Quick Tips for Creating Partnership Success
Entering into a new partnership is something not to be taken lightly. In order to make sure you are armed to start out on the right foot, here are some helpful tips to make sure you bring your “A” game. Do Your Homework-be prepared, know what you bring to the table, be able to answer tough questions, be able to ask tough questions What are the objectives? Goals? Why will this partnership help achieve the goal? How will this partnership add value to your community? How will this project be funded? If it is grant based, do you have a plan for continuing the program beyond the grant money? What is your budget? What are your financial expectations from your partner? Know your barriers. What is the time commitment? Include all parties-don’t leave anyone out of the mix. End outcome-be able to relay the message of what is the desired…
Harry Potter Alliance and Youth Advocacy
While browsing the exhibits at ALA Midwinter, I came upon the Harry Potter Alliance and its work on organizing youth to participate in National Library Legislative Day – mainly by creating local chapters in schools, libraries, youth centers, etc.. to enlist passionate readers in youth advocacy. Of course, I also had to buy this wicked awesome (note my attempt at Boston lingo!) t-shirt: These local chapters “serve as an access point for young people who are passionate about stories to become civically engaged and lead projects that improve their communities.” (thehpalliance.org) The HPA envisions librarians being “most heavily involved in creating their chapters, planning the first few meetings, and identifying potential leaders among the young people in attendance.” Are you as intrigued as I am? You can send questions via a virtual owl (HPA brilliant lingo!) to their Chapters Staff at chapters@thehpalliance.org to learn more.