For Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center in Fayetteville, NC, March is associated with storytelling. This March celebrates our 9th annual Storytelling Festival. Expanded from one week to an entire month, this year will offer even more performers and programs to promote cultural diversity. The theme, Your Passport to the World, integrates international folktales, oral storytelling, and puppetry through a dynamic celebration of world cultures. Our free and inclusive festival provides one of the only literature-based, cultural arts programs many families may experience within our community. Our Community Relations Department created passports for each participating child and customers will receive passport stickers when they attend festival programming or check out books from our international themed book displays. We are excited to see children’s stickers from around the world as they share in this experience with their families. Collaboration remains a central component of our festival. With partnerships with…
Tag: collaboration
Gimme a C (for Collaboration!): Collaborating on a Mini-Con
The annual Comic-Con in San Diego is a juggernaut that everyone looks forward to. Photos of celebrity sightings, interview snippets, and panel videos dominate the web during the event. And Comic-Con isn’t about just comics anymore of course – it’s about books, movies, graphic novels and all things pop culture in general. So what about those of us nowhere near San Diego? You DIY your own!
Transforming Ideas into Reality
As I attended the North Carolina Library Association’s (NCLA) Executive Board Meeting this past week in Black Mountain, NC at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, (https://www.blueridgeassembly.org/) I was struck by the passion of my colleagues from across the state who are committed to improving the lives of our library patrons and communities by brainstorming new ideas to encourage change. As Vice Chair/Chair Elect of the Youth Services Section of the NCLA, I’m excited to see how these ideas bring growth and new possibilities. It makes me consider how ideas are able to move beyond the planning stage to become fully fledged concepts, whether these ideas take root as a project within our individual libraries or grow to strengthen the existing work of our professional associations. Passion, people, and purposeful promotion are all necessary to take those valuable ideas beyond board room discussions and move them into practical implementation within our…
The Art of Collaboration
The spirit of cooperation is a natural force in humanity. Libraries can be a key community collaborator. How can you harness the power of collaborative work? The practice of neighbors helping neighbors is the genesis of a healthy and thriving community. The fire department, the post office, and the public library are a few examples of early voluntary associations that strengthened society. What is the essence of collaboration? What are the benefits of pooling resources with community organizations, businesses, and individuals? How can you determine whether a common mission exists between the library and others? These are some questions an upcoming 2016 ALA Editions book will explore. ALSC is helping me, as co-author, to conduct a brief survey to gather information for the book project. If you’d like to participate, complete the survey by end of Wednesday, June 17, 2015. Thank you, Dorothy Stoltz dstoltz@carr.org ************************************************************************ Today’s guest post was…
ALSC Online Courses for Summer 2015
Summer has a way of sneaking up on you, doesn’t it? ALSC is giving you a little extra time to get ready for our new semester of online courses. Registration is open for all courses. Classes begin Monday, July 13, 2015. Two of the courses being offered this semester are eligible for continuing education units (CEUs) by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET). ALSC online courses are designed to fit the needs of working professionals. Courses are taught by experienced librarians and academics. As participants frequently noted in post-course surveys, ALSC stresses quality and caring in its online education options. For more information on ALSC online learning, please visit: http://www.ala.org/alsced NEW! It’s Mutual: School and Public Library Collaboration 6 weeks, July 13 – August 21, 2015 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Programs Made Easy 4 weeks, July 13 – August 7, 2015 CEU Certified Course, 1.2…
#libtechcon15
At my school (LREI), our Library and Edtech departments merged a few years ago. We are in a bit of a unique position since two of our dedicated tech people are degreed librarians, and the Department Chair of the Edtech department is actually our high school librarian. So our joint department numbers 9 strong with 6 of us holding MLS degrees. We are fortunate to work and play well together, but our sense from attending conferences and meetings was that we are a bit of a rarity. In the fall, we hosted the first #libtechcon14 where we invited librarians and tech folks to come in pairs or teams for an unconference style day that would touch on some of the hard questions about communication, working together and the future of libraries. The event sold out quickly and once it was over, we were asked to consider hosting the conference again….
Networking for Children’s Librarians
I’ve been working on incorporating more singable stories to sing into my storytimes. So where did I go first for recommendations of books to use? The ALSC and PUBYAC listservs, of course! (I got over 50 responses to that particular query and have yet to have time to collate and post the list!) When I see a great article that I think will be relevant to others working with children and technology, I’ll often tweet it (which will then post to my professional facebook page). If I have a question or comment of a slightly wordier/more personal nature, I’ll post it on my personal wall and tag anyone who might have something to say. If I need recommendations for good book apps, I’ll look at some of my colleagues’ Pinterest pages, and I post my own work regularly on my own WordPress blog. Slideshare offers peeks at other’s presentations, and Spotify…
Defending the Puppets: It’s as Easy as Your ABCs
“Oh, how sweet,” said the person I had just met. “You have a background in children’s services. It must be nice to play around with puppets all day.” This off-hand comment really struck a chord with me. Yes, programming is fun (at least it should be.) It’s also an essential role of the job of a youth services librarian, working with purpose behind the practice. The high-energy antics (as well as those incredible voices) of a puppet show may be viewed by colleagues from other departments and those customers outside of our profession as simple play. In youth services, however, the reasons behind why we do what we do (how interactive library programs for children develop essential literacy skills and promote a positive association with books and libraries, to name a few) is, as we know, a life-changer. How can we best get our message across to those…