The new Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report was released last month, and it has some interesting statistics in it. For instance: “Three critical measures of a school-aged child’s (ages 6–17) relationship with reading have remained fairly steady since 2010. In the seventh edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report: -Fifty-eight percent say they love or like reading books for fun. -Fifty-two percent agree reading books for fun is extremely or very important. -Thirty-one percent read books for fun 5–7 days a week (known as frequent readers); 41% of kids read for fun 1–4 days a week (known as moderately frequent readers); 28% of kids read for fun less than 1 day a week (known as infrequent readers).” “In the past two years, both kids and parents are less likely to say that when picking a children’s book to read for fun, the type of book doesn’t matter, it…
Mindfulness at the public service desk
As Children’s Librarians, we are often “on”. Facing the public and helping others, even on the days that we aren’t even feeling that great ourselves. It seems that on our quest to help others and inspire their love of reading, we put ourselves and our needs on the back burner.
Bookapalooza Packing
On March 13th 2019, ALSC announced the three winners of the 2019 Bookapalooza Program; McNary Community Library of McNary, Arizona; Jaffrey Public Library of Jaffrey, New Hampshire; and Lawrence County Public Library of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. These three libraries will receive books,and audiobooks published for children birth through fourteen. Each year, the ALSC office receives nearly 3,000 newly published materials from children’s trade publishers. These materials are submitted for consideration by the ALSC award and media evaluation selection committees. By the end of each year, our shelves are filled to the last inch! It’s really exciting to watch the shelves fill up throughout the year. ALSC staff had the tiring, but fun, task of organizing, dividing, and packing these thousands of materials to be sent to our Bookapalooza winners. This year, due to the awards coordinator vacancy, staff pitched in and completed packing over the course of a few weeks. Staff…
Making Changes…
It’s been two-and-a-half weeks since I started at a new library. It was a lateral move to a branch in the same system. Same job description. It’s even the first branch I ever worked at when I was a 16-year-old page, with a lot of the same staff. It’s like coming home. But it’s still new. And I’m grappling with how to simultaneously hit the ground running and make logical and not impulsive changes. Changes that will actually improve the library for customers and staff, and not just “put my stamp on things.” I’m still muddling through, but I thought mentioning a few things that seem to be working, and have worked for me before, would be worthwhile. First, I recommend sitting back and watching for some time, and asking questions. See how people approach the collection. See how attendance is at programs. See how fellow staff (or your staff…
ALSC On The Road – The ALSC Road Show
Maybe you’ve heard about ALSC’s Road Show…but in case you haven’t, it’s this cool opportunity where any ALSC members can apply for funds or material to spread the joy of our professional organization. It’s a way to reach new possible members and to continue the networking that happens at conferences to your backyard in the way that makes the most sense. You can ask for funds to support a networking event or pay for a conference booth and/or ask for printed materials…whichever you prefer. The application takes a mere five minutes to fill out. When I first heard about the Road Show I had trouble imagining how it might be useful—I didn’t get all the possibilities until I actually read the fabulous blogpost written by a fellow Membership Committee Member last year (d’oh-head slap) . Since then, I’ve had tons of ideas on how you could use the program. Here…
MLA-Children and Young People’s UnConference
The MLA-CYP UnConference, held this year on March 29th, 2019 at Rochester Public Library in Rochester, Minnesota, is a day filled with learning about youth development, networking, and soaking in every ounce of inspiration and creative juices you can from other youth services librarians! “Be the person you needed when you were younger.” —Ayesha Siddiqi. One of the key takeaways from this day of learning is that as youth workers, not only should we focus our efforts on programming but also advocating for their presence within the library! Youth should feel welcome and safe when they are at the library. Investing in services for teens is not only important for their development, but also for the future of the library! As youth workers we want to foster a love for the library while also encouraging teens to become invested library users- both today, tomorrow, and in the future! It is…
NAMLE Conference 2019
Are you planning to attend the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June? If so, you might be interested in extending your stay a few days. The National Association for Media Literacy Education will be holding their conference from June 26-28 in Washington, D.C.
A Call for More Free, Accessible Professional Development
A Children’s Librarian By Any Other Name… “Early childhood educator,” “parent educator,” “community worker,” and “social worker.” These are all terms Children’s Librarians have used to describe themselves in the 2017 Every Child Ready to Read report. Children’s Librarians are expanding their skill set and taking on new and exciting roles to best serve their communities. The caveat, of course, is that many librarians are not trained as early childhood educators, parent educators, community workers, or social workers. As our job description expands, so is our need for training and mentorship. The strong sentiment in the field that library and information graduate programs don’t adequately train librarians with real life skills persists. In a 2014 article on the recruitment and retention of Children’s Librarians, Virginia Walter states “no public library can assume that a graduate of an ALA-accredited program has received any relevant training” (p. 27) The lack of preparation…