5 questions to ask when planning the perfect storytime for your library audience.
5 Questions For Better Storytime Planning
Tag: storytime
All Together Now: Collaborative Projects for Summer Reading
With the 2023 Collaborative Summer Library Program Theme of All Together Now, here are some ideas for collaborative projects in the library community.
Partnering to Increase Program Reach and Impact: Musical Story Hour with the Moab Music Festival
Four times a year the library teams up with Moab Music Festival to present a special Musical Story Hour featuring a new musical artist(s). Musical Story Hour has been one of our library’s most consistent programs since 2018; it was one of our library’s first programs to transition to an online offering during the pandemic and last year was offered in city parks to a multigenerational audience.
Training Storytime 101
Welcome to Ask ALSC, where the Managing Youth Services Committee asks leaders in children’s libraries to share their response to an issue or situation. We hope to showcase a range of responses to topics that may affect ALSC members. If you’d like to respond to today’s topics, or suggest a topic for the future, please leave a comment. In public libraries, storytime is the bread and butter of children’s programming (and arguably, of all library programming). Much has been written on best practices for providing storytime, both on this blog and elsewhere. There are innumerable resources for those learning how to develop their storytime skills. But are there best practices for training others on how to present storytime? As a supervisor, part of my responsibility is training new staff on planning and presenting youth programs, and storytime is both the most basic and yet also one of the most complex…
Toddler Storytime Books
We have started up our age-specific storytimes at my library and the toddler one was the toughest for me to figure out. I didn’t want to read only board books, but the books I read to preschoolers were often far too long to hold their attention. I read other blog posts and went through my library to see what picture books I thought 2-year-olds would like. These are the toddler storytime books that I have read in 2023 so far that I love.
Essential Storytime Skills: Leading Group Singing
I started a series last month on essential storytime skills. First, we looked at prep work that you can do to raise your confidence as a singer. Now, we’re going to look at some important ways to successfully lead groups of people in singing.
Learning from the Mistakes We’ve Made
Image created on Canva Please note that for historically marginalized communities, discussions about mistakes in the workplace may be emotionally challenging, especially if their identity is harmed in some way. I am of mixed race and I find these conversations can be especially rough when the mistakes that have been made are things that I have experienced from colleagues. Learning from others can be beneficial, but your mental well-being is more important. Don’t be afraid of opting out of these discussions to protect your peace. Intentionally inclusive programming has been on the forefront of my mind for the last few years, but even with intentionality, it’s easy to make mistakes. The thing about equity and inclusion is that the learning is ongoing. You have to commit to it for a lifetime. As library professionals, we have a responsibility to ensure what we do is in line with what we say—we…
Winter Storytime Crafts
Crafts are a fun way to end a storytime, kids love them, and they are so beneficial in improving the kids’ fine motor skills. They are also simple to tie to a winter book that can close out the story part of storytime. I am currently planning my winter storytime sessions and I thought I would share my favorite crafts I came across while scouring the internet.