Category Archives: Youth Services

Reading rewards…for some

Many of my memories of being a mother to young boys are wonderful. Not all, mind you, but many. But someone recently posted on Facebook something that brought one of my least favorite memories back. Here’s what Paul Hankins wrote … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood reading, Children's books, Parents, Public libraries, Reading Incentive Programs, Youth Services | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

New Pew Report: Families Use Libraries

Children’s librarians will find the new Pew Report Parents, Children, Libraries, and Reading very reassuring. As we have long suspected, the children’s department brings families into the library, and while they’re there, the adults use the libraries for themselves as … Continue reading

Posted in customer service, Disappearing print, Parents, Public libraries, Youth Services | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reinventing the library wheel

At my library we are currently giving every one of the 270,000+ items a new RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. Everyone from every level is expected to put in some time tagging, because we rented the machines to program the … Continue reading

Posted in Children's books, Collection Development, customer service, Public libraries, Youth Services | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Storyhour mistakes

1:15 yesterday. I am just sitting down to eat my lunch after a busy morning helping the Director prepare for the evening Board of Trustees meeting. I have been working on the strategic plan, on compiling a spreadsheet and chasing … Continue reading

Posted in Children's books, Programs, Public libraries, storytime, Uncategorized, Youth Services | Leave a comment

New Kinds of Learning at the Library

Lately, like many people working in public libraries, I’ve been thinking about makerspaces–creating room in your library where people can make things, build things, DO things. I went to a great program on the topic that talked about using 3-D … Continue reading

Posted in Disappearing print, Programs, Public libraries, Uncategorized, Youth Services | Leave a comment

The Day Between Big Days

Yesterday was a big day.  The Saturday of  ALA Midwinter  is when the youth award groups make their decisions. After a year of reading/viewing/listening to submissions, it is time to make a final choice. Some committees (the ones with fewer … Continue reading

Posted in Children's book awards, Children's books, Public libraries, Uncategorized, Youth Services | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Giant Gingerbread House

I am not a very creative person. Brainstorming terrifies me, and I find people who can sit and think of ideas to be quite amazing. Most of my ideas come under pressure or on the fly, which is why I … Continue reading

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Hey, carrot toes! Please reissue Soup for Supper!

  To tell you the truth, I had a little bit of a wild group at storytime today. One of the two new boys was the kind that my dear friend Jan would recognize. She always told the story about … Continue reading

Posted in Children's book awards, Children's books, Programs, Public libraries, Uncategorized, Youth Services | 1 Comment

Enjoy your job

There are things that I enjoy a lot about my new position as Assistant Director. For the first time in many years, I have some quiet, private space to work, and that makes it possible to wrap my head around … Continue reading

Posted in Management, Public libraries, Youth Services | 3 Comments

Thirty years of being a children’s librarian

Oddly enough, right as I am celebrating the 30th anniversary of graduating from library school (IU Bloomington) and beginning work at the Edgebrook Branch of the Chicago Public Library, I have just begun a new job where my primary role … Continue reading

Posted in Management, Public libraries, Reviewing, Uncategorized, Youth Services | 4 Comments