How about that aliteration? Here is the newest installment of 10 ideas from ALSC’s Public Awareness Committee: 10 FREE ways to take advantage of the Kids! @ Your Library® toolkit this spring. For more details, visit the Kids! Toolkit by following this link: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/initiatives/kidscampaign/kidstoolkit.cfm Get your kids excited about President’s Day! Display the latest Presidents of the United States poster and ask your kids to vote on their favorite president and keep a running tally near the poster for all to see. Celebrate Black History Month with a display of notable African Americans, including authors and illustrators. Let your patrons make their own Valentines! Set up a craft table with multicolored die-cut paper hearts and supplies to decorate them the week before Valentine’s Day. Have a drop in bingo program on Valentine’s Day. Invite your tweens to make Duct Tape Roses after school, using the directions in the toolkit…
Category: Blogger Bethany Lafferty
10 Ways to Make 2010 Spectacular For Your Library
Happy New Year to All! 2010 is upon us, and there is no better time to reenergize your library. Getting the new year off to a great start can be intimidating, but the Kids! @ your library toolkit can make that effort completely painless! Here are 10 FREE ideas from our toolkit to get you started. More details for each activity can be found at the website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/initiatives/kidscampaign/kidstoolkit.cfm 1. Brighten up the library with beautiful artwork from award-winning artist, David Diaz. 2. Get your kids laughing with a fun game of Mad Libs. 3. Challenge your patrons to a scavenger hunt. 4. Get your kids singing along with Bill Harley and his catchy tune “@ Your Library”. 5. Host a coloring contest using artwork from Michael P. White. 6. Let those tweens be creative with a Brain Challenge. 7. Invite local celebrities to a Read-a-Thon 8. Try…
Marketing at Your Library
Have you ever had a song get so stuck in your head that you find yourself humming it all day? With the incredibly catchy “At Your Library” song from the Kids! @ your library® Campaign tool kit, this is a good thing! Play Bill Harley’s lively, fun song at the beginning and end of your programs or as the message on your phone system while patrons are on hold, and we can guarantee that listeners will be thinking about the library a lot over the next few days! The song may be freely downloaded in any of its four different versions. There are also ideas for using the song in your library and your community, a public service announcement, the lyrics to the song, and sheet music. This resource is versatile! Find all this and much more in the free Kids! @ your library® Campaign tool kit here: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/initiatives/kidscampaign/kidssong.cfm There…
September is Library Card Sign-Up Month!
September is Library Card Sign-Up Month! Celebrate Library Card Sign-Up Month during September with the Kids! @ your library® Campaign. The online toolkit provides ideas and templates that you can adapt to showcase materials and resources in your library. You can also find free resources at: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/publicawareness/alainitiatives/otherinitiatives/card/librarycard.cfm The official site for Library Card Sign-Up Month. The Association for Library Services to Children, Public Awareness Committee (PAC) wants to hear about your success! Share program ideas and resources by adding content to the Kids! @ your library® Campaign wiki at: http://wikis.ala.org/alsc/index.php/Main_Page . We also want to hear if you have used resources from the Campaign toolkit. Please add content directly to the wiki or email information to Bethany Lafferty, PAC Member, at balaff12@yahoo.com . Bethany A. Lafferty – PAC member Green Valley Library Youth Services Department Head Henderson, NV balaff12@yahoo.com
Bill Morris Seminar Reflection
I was honored to participate in the inaugural Bill Morris Seminar at the 2008 ALA Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia. I don’t recall how I first heard about the Morris Seminar, just that it was something I just had to participate in! When I received my letter of acceptance to the seminar I jumped with joy! I am always on the look-out for professional learning opportunities that also allow me to meet some really interesting youth librarians. Participating in the Morris Seminar fulfilled both desires. All participants received a list in advance of ten (10) books ranging from picture books to young adult fiction. I loved learning about books I might not have read otherwise, and I don’t think there was a single book I didn’t enjoy reading. Certainly some of the selections were outside what I might normally read, but that was part of the fun. Through our guided discussions…
Subject: Late summer fun for Kids! @ Your Library®
Were you in the audience at the Authors Readers Theatre program in Chicago at ALA hosted by the ALSC public awareness committee? If you were, then we hope you’re charged up about doing a readers theater program at YOUR library after seeing the performance by Avi, Pam Munoz Ryan, Brian Selznick, and Sarah Weeks. If you weren’t at ALA Annual, no worries because new toolkit additions are online! Take a look at the Kids! @ Your Library headquarters to find the following FREE resources: * Readers/Story Theater scripts from “The Library Card” and “Bud, Not Buddy” plus a Readers Theater How-To Guide * “Summer at the Library” Mad Lib download * Fabulous new campaign artwork from children’s illustrator David Diaz featured on bookmarks and a poster (PDFs) * Plus much more! Check out the link for late summer ideas and inspirations:http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/initiatives/kidscampaign/kidstoolkit.cfm Bethany Lafferty ALSC Public Awareness Committee member
“Serving Students on the Spectrum,” an AASL Presentation
At the 2009 ALA Annual Conference the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) presented the terrific program Serving Students on the Spectrum. The program was hosted by Alison Ernst, Director — Northfield Mount Hermon School (MA) Library and Academic Resources and Ernie Cox, Media Specialist — St. Timothy’s School (NC) with the following panelists: Patty Saidenberg, Consultant — Trent Learning Corp. (NY); Georgia Winson, Director — Autism Program of Illinois; Bernadette Nowakowski, Director — Chicago Public Library Children & Young Adult Services; Lally Daley, Clinician — Autism Program of Illinois; Christopher Flint, Lead Trainer – Autism Program of Illinois; Joanne Hughes, Chicago Public Library Board Member and Parent. Each panelist discussed their unique experiences and approaches to working with children and families dealing with Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome. Particularly of interest to me was the discussion by Bernie Nowakowski of Chicago Public Library (CPL) and the work that this organization is doing…
Kids @ Your Library!
Greetings Everyone, It’s almost time to launch Phase 2 of Kids! @ your library Campaign Toolkit. The ALSC public awareness committee hope that many of you can join us in Chicago at the ALA annual conference on Sunday, July 12th at 1:30-3:00 p.m. for A.R.T. and Your Library: How You Can Bring Them Together! You’ll learn what is included in the expanded Toolkit, now including ideas and activities for grades K-8. Find out how to use these materials to make your library the place to be! And there’s more…A. R. T. (Author’s Reader’s Theater with Avi, Brian Selznick, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Sarah Weeks) will be performing their reader’s theater magic as an example of how reader’s theater can be presented in your library. Can’t come to Chicago? It is all waiting for you at www.ala.org/kids… click on “Tool Kit.” ALSC Public Awareness Committee Bethany Lafferty