Blogger School-Age Programs and Service Committee

A New Toolkit for Program Challenges

In the weeks leading up to the Drag Story Hour at my former branch, I was equal parts excited and worried. I had been wanting to host a Drag Story Hour for a long time because these special storytimes encompass some of the best parts of children’s programs in libraries: having fun, encouraging creativity, and celebrating diversity through stories. And I was certain that it would be popular with the families who came to that branch. 

Blogger School-Age Programs and Service Committee

Virtual Program – AB Kids

AB Kids is a virtual storytime series hosted each fall at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Nicole Cooke, the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair for the School of Information Science and the team from the South Carolina Center for Community Literacy work together to bring families and school age children, The Augusta Baker Storytelling Experience: Inclusion Programming for Children of All Ages (AB Kids). This series is part of the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair programming at the University of South Carolina. Named in honor of Augusta Braxton Baker, a beloved children’s librarian and storyteller who made South Carolina her home after a 37-year career at the New York Public Library. The first African American Coordinator of Children’s Services within the NY Public Library system, she worked tirelessly throughout her career to diversify the genre of children’s literature and to make books for children and young adults more reflective of the…

Blogger School-Age Programs and Service Committee

Summer’s Over… Now What?!?:  Tips for Planning for a Year of Library Programming

As a school librarian member of ALSC, I have a programming hiatus thanks to our summer break.  I enjoy the break and time off to refresh and renew.  As the new school year approaches, though, I am beginning to look ahead to programming for this year.  This will be my sixth year in the library but only my second year as a full-time school librarian, and I know that thinking about a year of programming can be daunting.  So, for this ALSC SAPS blog, I thought I’d offer a few tips for my fellow librarians who are similarly in the planning stages for a year of programming! My first tip is for those of my fellow librarians who are also relatively new to this profession:  Remember that you don’t have to do it all all at once!   When I began work as a librarian, I had So. Many. Ideas! …

Blogger School-Age Programs and Service Committee

Tuning Up Bike Month Programming

May is Bike Month, so it’s a great time to tune up your bike and your library’s bike-related programming. Between circulating bikes, riding book bikes to outreach events, and offering bike repair workshops or stations, opportunities abound for connecting communities with alternative transportation. Libraries also offer books, of course! These resources and activities can help build a strong cycling community in Bike Month and beyond.