Storytime. Summer Reading. STEAM Initiatives. These are just some of the types of programs a Children’s Library might do in any library in America on any given day. All these programs, for wildly different ages and groups of people, must be planned, scheduled, and prepared for. Programming alone is a juggling act, requiring a children\u2019s librarian to impart early literacy tips to parents in the morning and help 10-year-olds solder in the afternoon. But the work of children’s librarians is not just visible programming work at the library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Add in outreach – to local schools, to farmer\u2019s markets, to fairs and festivals and community events. Don\u2019t forget advocacy – attending town meetings, preparing your elevator pitch, and petitioning your elected officials for additional money and support. And marketing – someone has to make the calendars, write the press releases, and let the public know what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we\u2019ve covered the work librarians do with the public – what about the work we do in \u201cthe back?\u201d There\u2019s collection development, which isn\u2019t just buying books. Collectors need to both know their audience and know their market – what\u2019s out there? What\u2019s getting great reviews? What\u2019s getting turned into a movie next month<\/a>? Then there\u2019s the umpteen administrative tasks of children\u2019s librarianship: making sure you have enough coverage for programs and desk shifts, budgeting, pulling statistics, writing reports – a children\u2019s librarian in management has an endless array of administrative tasks, often on top of regular librarian duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than any profession I can think of, Children\u2019s Librarians have a transferable, important skill – the ability to multitask. There are so many balls to keep in the air, and the public never does know just how much the friendly face at the desk is juggling to keep each population that uses the library happy, with their needs filled. Sometimes it can feel like you\u2019re wading through a mire of felt pieces to be cut, emails to be answered, and schedules to be created. But to an outsider, everything seems to happen with ease and even grace. Multitasking is an invaluable skill – and Children\u2019s Librarians are experts in it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you help keep track of your tasks? Do you bullet journal<\/a>? Utilize task managers such as Asana<\/a>? Pen and paper lists? And how do you communicate to your administration the amazing juggling act you’re pulling off each and every day?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competencies: VI. Administrative and Storytime. Summer Reading. STEAM Initiatives. These are just some of the types of programs a Children’s Library might do in any library in America on any given day. All these programs, for wildly different ages and groups of people, must be planned, scheduled, and prepared for. Programming alone is a juggling act, requiring a children\u2019s librarian to impart early literacy tips to parents in the morning and help 10-year-olds solder in the afternoon. But the work of children’s librarians is not just visible programming work at the library. Add in outreach – to local schools, to farmer\u2019s markets, to fairs and festivals and community events. Don\u2019t forget advocacy – attending town meetings, preparing your elevator pitch, and petitioning your elected officials for additional money and support. And marketing – someone has to make the calendars, write the press releases, and let the public know what you\u2019re doing. Now we\u2019ve covered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1612,236,1639,1604],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-administrative-and-management-skills","category-blogger-elisabeth-gattullo","category-childrens-librarians-are-experts","category-competencies-for-librarians-serving-children-in-public-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Management Skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"