Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, and in my experience, my display of holiday books won’t last until February 14th. And honestly, for the little ones, love and friendship are just-as-good Valentine’s themes. Today I’m going to share some of my recent favorites on those topics—and please! Share some of yours as well in the comments below.
Tag: books
EDI In Action: Intentionally Inclusive Book Selection
Selecting books for programs is an essential part of a librarian’s job, but how do we do it with inclusivity in mind? We all have those books from our childhood that hold a special place in our hearts, but are those books we want to read in storytime? Should we put those titles on displays or booklists? There are so many new books being published, it can be a bit overwhelming sifting through everything to find the good stuff rather than choosing our favorite go-to classics. When I think of selecting books for programs, I always think about Rudine Sims Bishop’s essay Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors. When a child reads a book about a person who looks or lives like them, they are reading a mirror–they are able to see themselves reflected in the book they are reading. When a child reads about someone who looks or lives…
Everyone is Welcome at PRIDE!
One of the things that patrons missed the most during the pandemic has been the ability to browse and see displays. My library has been offering a robust collection of “Grab and Go” items of curated books and bundles to offer patrons in even the most limited iterations of pandemic library service, a little something extra to take home. The pandemic has also made us rethink the physicality of the building. In before times, displays were in shelves or on bulletin boards, but now, we need to think about where people see us. As a result, we have been putting more displays on our windows! Window displays or “Library on the Glass” as I have coined it, can be anything from booklists, pictures of book covers, patron-created Haikus, notes of love for the library, etc. Since we opened fully for browsing and hanging at the library on June 1st, it…
Ultimate Summer Reading Programming Guide 2021
Summer Reading 2021 So, it’s the ninth hour. Summer Reading 2021 is just about here. Things are changing rapidly, though. COVID safety guidelines are positively fluid. What’s a children’s librarian to do?! Fear not, fearless reader — you’ve got OPTIONS! A Spectrum of Five Options Five options…well, more like 5.2 Passive programming Hybrid programming Limited seating indoor programming Outdoor programming 100% digital programming Pre-recorded Live streaming Passive Programming I know you know what it is. However! There’s an awesome new reference and even a free webinar about this very topic that I want to direct you to. The webinar is a called “Passive Programming That Pulls Them In: Provocative Passive Programming Ideas”. You can find it on Niche Academy. As a matter of fact, they have an upcoming live webinar. Here’s the 10-4: PASSIVE PROGRAMMING THAT PULLS THEM IN: PROVOCATIVE PASSIVE PROGRAMMING IDEAS Wed May 12 at 2:00 pm US…
You Still Can’t Beat Free!
You Can’t Beat Free I can’t remember the first time I said “you can’t beat free” as a librarian — I think it was 2003. 17 years later, it’s still true. And public librarians – gosh – we can squeeze a nickle sideways, am I right? Well, if you’re done squeezing blood from a nickle, try FREE on for size! The Secret of My Success The secret of my success has been my ability to not just grant write, brainstorm and work with some amazing teams. More often than not, it’s my ability to locate free stuff. Lots of times, the free stuff snowballs into something mega, or just plain comes in handy. Many of my colleagues wonder how I’ve done it. It’s not that I fall backwards into free things for libraries. Oh contraire. Sorry, it’s a lot of work. Step One? “Oh, good!”, I hear you say. It’s…
Tales from Self-Isolation
I haven’t had this much time off since high school summer vacation. However, a pandemic is a much more stressful than time off school. How did YOU continue being a librarian during this time off? Here’s what I did. First, I helped with a portion of ALSC’s upcoming Virtual Storytime Services Resource Guide. I am very excited to see the completed work! I live in Ohio, and thankfully, there were several online networking (and venting/commiserating) opportunities. The State Library of Ohio continues to have a weekly “Ohio Youth Services Meet Up” every Tuesday morning. I cannot tell you how much the sharing and listening that occurs in this meet up has helped me keep my sanity. In addition, the North East Ohio Regional Library System also had a series of meet ups that served the same purpose. I watched a bunch of free webinars from publishers and publications previewing upcoming…
Back to Basics?
I originally planned to write a blogpost for the ALSC Early and Family Literacy Committee on all the exciting things happening at ALA Annual around our charge. Not happening. My second thought was to discuss how to do things virtually around Early and Family Literacy. Now that some states are beginning to take a few steps away from complete stay-at-home orders, That seems less relevant too.
Books that I Love, Now vs Then
Being a children’s librarian, I’m often asked for children’s book recommendations, and even more often, I am asked about my favorite books from my childhood. As we know, lots of books don’t hold up over time, so I need to refresh my list and preferences with new favorites.