While I am not having quite as much difficulty concentrating as I did early on in the pandemic, delving deep into research articles has not gotten any easier. As part of my work on the Early and Family Literacy Committee, I have Google Scholar alerts for articles on the topics \u201cearly literacy\u201d and \u201cfamily literacy\u201d. I receive a digest semi-weekly and skim through looking for articles relevant to our charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
A couple of times, I\u2019ve been pleased to note an article from Children & Libraries on the roster (including one from our very own committee!). Other days I am thwarted by an article such as \u201cLiteracy and History of Early Israel\u201d, which likely will not impact our day to day work as children\u2019s librarians (darn you, keyword searches!). Occasionally I am frustrated by my lack of easy access to articles that appear relevant as 1) I\u2019m not motivated enough to pursue interlibrary loan and 2) we\u2019re not currently ILL\u2019ing materials anyway. Worst of all, sometimes the only obstacle is my own brain, with my eyes skimming over the same paragraph filled with academic jargon ad nauseum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, just as streaming services and podcasts were there to pick up the slack in my personal entertainment, early childhood education podcasts and videos are coming through for me now professionally. Not surprisingly, much of the recent research focus has been pandemic related, as all of us wonder what the long-term effects will be on our youngest community members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of you with similarly exhausted brains, I offer the following short (and hopefully non-intimidating) list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mitigating Pandemic Fallout on Developing Brains<\/a> (part of the Community Voices<\/a> series) \u2013 I am fortunate enough to live within three miles of both the Institute for Learning and Brain Science (I-LABS)<\/a> at the University of Washington and Hilltop Educator Institute<\/a>, which offers a discussion series for early childhood educators and has now branched out into other virtual offerings in response to the pandemic. I found this interview with Amelia Bachleda, Outreach and Education Specialist from ILABS to be both inspiring and a good reminder of the resilience of young children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n