On the Road - Storytime Mojo

I'm in my hometown of Green Bay WI (yes, home to the Green Bay Packers and booyah) sharing some storytime history (did you know that storytimes for preschoolers in libraries didn't happen widely until the 1940s and 50s?), considerations and tips and hearing back from participants on what works best for them. 

I've presented over 3,000 storytimes for kids since the mid-70s and it's given me a long-eye view into the always vibrant early literacy adventure that is "storytime". Today's presentation includes some of my experience but also, more recently, that of colleagues at libraries I've worked in as well from those around the country and across the border (*waves*).

The following list of resources shared at the workshop is just the tip - the very tip - of the iceberg in creating strong storytime content. It contains lots of links that help readers explore further into more blogs, websites and research supporting our role as early literacy gurus for our communities.  Have fun exploring!

Workshop Pinterest Board 

A Few Blogs with strong storytime content:

Reading with Red  

Mel’s Desk         

 Jbrary

Read Sing Play 

Storytime Katie
Little eLit

Websites:

Growing Wisconsin Readers  

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy  

Saroj Ghoting  

Earlier Is Easier  

Storytime Underground   
Reach Out & Read

Flannel Friday  
Media Mentorship: ALSC White Paper

Upcoming Webinar:

 Successful Programming for Babies and Toddlers – September 22, 2pm CST – Info People. Free 

On the Road - Develop Your Inner Superhero

Image: Pixabay

I'm back in my old stomping grounds on the eastern side of the state presenting workshops on programming superhero-dom (told you I've been thinking about that alot!).

This workshop is sponsored by the Wisconsin Library Association - it was a donation to their foundation auction and Winnefox Library System snapped it up followed by the Waukesha Library System. It's a great way of giving back to our association and also encouraging everyone to become state and national association members because, you know, together we are stronger!

While it has a superhero theme, the workshop isn't just an SLP workshop. (Please note that CSLP through Demco is offering two webinars with great info to help you be mighty on January 28 and February 25)

As I mentioned in my last post, while programming isn't all we do, it is certainly the most public and often the most pressured thing we do (from preparation to conflicting demands). Today we looked at strategies to program smarter and more effectively; the importance of balance and how to fairly meet the many needs of our public - and our funders. Creating a zen balance between service to all ages, finding time to recharge and plan, learning to get off the hamster wheel of constant programming and program shares were just some of what we explored.

What you couldn't be there? Drat! Well, there's a 6 week online UW-Madison SLIS course I'm teaching around the concepts in the workshop starting January 26 (registration is now open).

Here are the workshop resources that were shared with my colleagues:

Going SLP Prizeless - LPL's Journey

Develop Your Inner Superhero Workshop Pinterest board

My general Pinterest boards  - (boards on different program types and samples)

Wimp Yourself

Pixabay (free images)  

Astronomy Picture of the Day 

Struckmeyer, Amanda Moss.  DIY Programming and Book Displays: How to Stretch Your Programming without Stretching Your Budget and Staff. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2010.

A *Few * Favorite Programming Blogs:

Show Me Librarian  

Abby the Librarian 

ALSC Blog  

S. Bryce Kozla

Jbrary   (great resource list of blogs to explore!)

Hafuboti  

Mel’s Desk  (great resource list of blogs to explore!)

Kids Library Program Mojo (for a full list of fantastic program idea blogs AND great program idea posts- this is the class crowd-sourced blog from our spring CE course and has a ton of ideas from students!)

On the Road with Preschool Mojo Part 2

Three foot snow drift in Ashland WI in front of Lake Superior 4/24/14

Brooke and I are excited to be up in Ashland WI, on the shores of beautiful Lake Superior, to share some preschool know-how (and learn some too!) with our colleagues from the Northern Waters Library System. We are doing a workshop on starting a 1000 Books program, creating an inexpensive early literacy area and tips on doing effective early literacy storytimes.

We have a Pinterest board, All Things Preschool, full of links for you. If you don't use Pinterest, here are the highlights:

Growing Wisconsin Readers - a great blog to get insight into everything early literacy - including some great posts on early literacy centers developed in WI!

Hennepin County's slideshare with a ton of easy ideas to create inexpensive early literacy activities

1000 Books Before Kindergarten slideshare

All Things Preschool NWLS Morning Presentation 4/24/14 slideshare

1000 Books Before Kindergarten posts here (including a webinar), here, here, and here.

Both Brooke and I are blogging links for the workshop today, so please head over to Reading with Red for more insight into preschool power!

On the Road in Arkansas

Today I join colleagues at the Arkansas State Library Children's Services Workshop in Little Rock. I'm sharing presentations on Unprogramming, Stealth Programming and Dynamic Partnerships (including Schools!) and many of the programs I refer to can be found on these Pinterest boards. My Arkansas friends are also sharing ideas on science, makerspaces, and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten and sharing weather that is far more spring-like than anything I expect to see for some weeks home in Wisconsin. What could be better? If you don't do Pinterest, below are links to some of the resources that are described in today's workshop.

And while I'm on presentations and workshops, I want to encourage everyone to read this vital post at Storytime Underground by Amy Koester about your own power to share your good work with each other. I am a working librarian like you who does just that. So keep on standing up, sharing ideas and feeling your power!

Unprogramming
Space Trip
Library Camp-out Fun
Ninjago!
Dr. Who Party
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Slideshare

Stealth/Passive Programs
1000 Books Before Kindergarten
Free-quent Reader Club
Cookie Club
Gnome Hunter's Club
Reading is Key Club
Story Action Pods
Slideshare

Dynamic Partnerships
Global Friendship Fair and Science Festival
Marsh Meander and Library Camp
Experts: Check out an Amphibian, Fencing, Yoga
Arts and Artists
School Collaboration
Slideshare

Sharing What We Know

I've been thinking alot about teaching and learning over the past few years. I've been lucky in both this job and my last one to work with former teachers who bring an always more rigorous and interesting perspective to work with kids. And I've been lucky to have supportive management and mentors who have encouraged me to teach and share.

I felt encouraged to blog, to develop and present lots of workshops, presentations and webinars. Recently I took a big step and started teaching as well - first as an adjunct and then as a CE instructor.  I find the teaching I am doing now to be deep and challenging in a whole new way. It makes me question everything I do in every way and hold a lens up to my work as a youth librarian.

But, this teaching isn't unique to me. We are all teachers. I believe this in a deep-bone way.

With the kids and families we work with, we are constantly teaching and sharing - tips on great books, series and characters; literacy tips; ideas on how to find favorite books or discover a different kind of reading.

We do the same with our colleagues we work with every day - whether within our youth area or in our library - teaching a new approach, or a new blog or a thing that helps us work better.

We teach our managers. We teach our board. We teach our funders. We teach our colleagues in other youth-serving organizations.

We teach on Twitter and in blog posts. We teach on listservs (ok, well, some just rant there) and Facebook groups and Google circles. We teach in articles and books we write. We teach through webinars and workshops and at conferences near and far.

I love to see how much youth librarians are generously sharing with each other.  Because as much as we teach, we learn.

We each have a unique approach that we bring to our sharing and teaching.  That is the most fun. I love the learning and the special ways each person approaches their subject. And I get excited when I discover another colleague sharing their knowledge or attitude or perspective. It keeps us wealthy in knowledge and pushes youth librarianship ahead.

So if you are hesitant about starting that blog or speaking up in a Twitter chat or submitting a speaking proposal for a conference/webinar/workshop, let me encourage you. Just do it. We're waiting to hear YOUR voice and learn all you have to share!

Graphic courtesy of Pixabay

On the Road with School and Public Library Cooperation

I am on the road today with my colleagues at the Southwest Wisconsin Association of Libraries to talk smack on collaboration opportunities with our schools.  We can always reach out and create awesome partnerships - just jump in and do it! Here are links to good stuff referred to at the workshop!

A Pinterest board with some of these links plus other collaborative ideas

The ML-W approach to collaboration

SLJ's Rebecca Miller opines about the need for school libraries and public libraries to work more closely and powerfully together.

Great ideas from large libraries around the country on their successful collaborations in January 2013 issue of SLJ.

Jumping in with both feet to create a partnership at a new job from Jennie Bahnaman

Thinking about Common Core and non-fiction programming at the library from Abby Johnson in American Libraries

Thoughts on School Partnerships from Amy Koester at Show Me Librarian blog

A series on the blog on school library collaboration ideas that I have successfully tried.

Making sense of Common Core in the Public Library with resources from the Association for Library Service to Children.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

On the Road with 1000 Books Workshop

On the road today with friends and colleagues with the Waukesha County Library System, Lakeshores Library System, Kenosha County Library System and Milwaukee County Federated Library System. We are learning about baby brain development, Growing Wisconsin Readers and more (I'm a "more!") at an all day workshop. My "more" is sharing what I know about successfully starting and maintaining 1000 Books Before Kindergarten programs in afternoon break-out sessions.

For all my southern Wisconsin peeps, below are the 1000 books resources that I use and have gathered over the years. Enjoy!!

Tiny Tips for Library Fun - I have blogged about our program over the years. Please use the handy-dandy search box and type in "1000 Books Before Kindergarten" or just jump to my tag-cloud and click!

Beth Crist of the Colorado Department of Education has done an amazing job of pulling together resources, including a webinar by Sandy Krost (the motehr of the very first 1000 Books Club) and a PDF explainign what these programs are all about.

Come on, it wouldn't be true children's librarianship if there wasn't a Pinterest board lurking somewhere. If you are a pinner, drop by my Let 1000 Books Bloom board and link up to exisiting programs around the country. Our newest program developed, just posted today, is from Kathleen Larson from Bloomer (WI) Public Library who has a delightful program just launched!

Waukesha County Federated Library System developed an outstanding webinar on the nuts and bolts of 1000 Books thanks to Angela Meyers. Talk about a resource at your fingertips!

Finally, we have PDfs of all the real forms we tried, happily hosted by our Winding Rivers Library System website. Feel free to use and re-purpose. The more we share....

On the Road with Stealth Programming

On the road with my former system peeps at the Winnefox Library System today to talk about all the cool possibilities of "stealth" or passive programming. We feel like we found a fountain of ideas when we started experimenting and implementing these programs.

Below are links to some of the resources that are described in today's workshop. Enjoy!

1000 Books Before Kindergarten - many resources gathered here along with a webinar

Free-quent Reader Club - a quick way to involve kids in frequent library use and check-out

Cookie Club - great for the slow days of December and January

Gnome Hunter's Club - brand new from our newest colleague Brooke Rasche and hot off the presses from a hot August!

Reading is Key Club - a way to highlight your collections

Story Action Pods  - in-house literacy stealth and story extensions!

YALSA Teen Passive Program article by Kelly Jensen (of Stacked blog) and Jackie Parker, two great teen resource folks. Kelly also shared below their Passive Library Pinterest board with more great passive ideas!

Pinterest board on Stealth Programs for all you pinners out there.

And finally the links to the workshop including the slide deck and a film of the three hours (I know, cool!) are at the Winnefox System website

Hitting the Road

For some insanely crazy reason, the stars aligned and in a few weeks I'll be on a two week road trip of storytelling and workshop presentations.

You know that feeling that you get when you are invited to present six or eight months before the event? "Oh, yes, that would be outstanding!" And it is. Many months in the future, no problemo. And then another request comes in for a nearby date. "That would be outstanding!"  And it is. Still far off somewhere, easy-peasy. And then another request comes in, also in that window of previous bookings, and suddenly I'm thinking "Tour". And then another request comes in and doesn't this all fall trippingly into a convenient two week window. And it does.

So, starting September 6 in my own home town of La Crosse WI, with our Storytelling Festival (where I do a little telling and emcee the Friday night spook tales), here's where you'll find me:

September 8-11
Joining Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Leah Langby, Merri Lindgren, Megan Schliesmann and Sue Abrahamson as mentor/lecturers at the Youth Services Development Institute with 25 youth librarians from around the state to make library magic.

September 12
Storytelling at a celebration for children in childcare in Marshfield

September 13-14
One of the featured tellers at the Chippewa Valley Storytelling Festival (Eau Claire) joining friends and colleagues Kevin McMullin, Tracy Chipman and the Saskill family.

September 17
Doing a three hour workshop on Stealth Programming for the Winnefox Library System .

September 19
Joining many fantastic colleagues and doing a presentation on the how to develop a 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program for multiple southern WI library systems at one of the first - if not the first - of seven workshops statewide to roll out the amazing new Growing WI Readers initiative from DPI.

September 19-22
Chilling out with feminist library colleagues at a four day retreat in Wisconsin's charming Door County. This chance to share discussion, support, great food and friendship is always a highlight!

The finishing touches are being put on the presentations. The GPS is loaded. The powerpoints are on the flash drive. The handouts ready to go. The puppets packed.  See you on the road!

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Hello Summer Reading!



Materials ready for one of our small branch libraries

The time is nearly here. The supplies are laid in, the publicity out, the school promo visits just about complete, the database ready, contacts made with groups who come with kids-in-care to get them oriented and staff keen-eyed (or steely-eyed as the case may be). But as prepared as we are, I still like to see what's out there that you all are doing.
As I was reading my feeds (here we pause for the image and book that inevitably pops into my head when I think about my RSS feeds), I came across a colleague's description of her summer reading programs. While it was pretty darn nice to see that she had adapted two of the formats we have been using over the years there was a better bonus for me: she shared two other designs for programs (daycares and super readers) that were new to me and that I like quite a bit.

I really appreciate hearing and reading about what other librarians are doing to make summer fun for kids - and staff! Besides reading blog posts, I am lucky enough to travel widely when wearing my hat as an itinerate workshop presenter around my state and region*. And while I share ideas we have tried, I also pick up ideas others have used to make their summer reading or library programs better and more effective.

And how do we get at effectiveness - especially during summer when our days are filled with families, kids, daycares, slp and programs, programs, programs?

I look for posts or listen to people who tell me about how:

• a decision has resulted in more participation by the kids
• registration has been simplified or tossed out and the result
• how prizes have been considered and the results of any change
• strategies that have providing staffing relief really worked
• active programming has been de-emphasized in favor of a true stealth program: SLP
• they include transliteracy into their SLP format
• they innovate in any way and what happens
• new audiences have been reached 
• value has been added to a program through a simple innovation

You, my friends, are my guides to change and making SLP more fun and less onerous. These 8-12 weeks should not over-run our thoughts, energies, and ability to create powerful children's and teen services magic year-round. When we share our stuff, we make it easier to keep summer in perspective and bring great joy to the process.

Here's hoping you summer is joy-filled, kid-filled and a time to rise above the chaos to see just what good work you are doing for your communities. Now let's dig in!

(May 2014 note: If you'd like to see the mischief we are up to this year, please stop by here!)


*In the spirit of May's 30 Days of Awesome posts started by Sophie Brookover, Kelly Jensen and Liz Burns, I share that I present half and full day workshops and presentations for systems and at conferences that include Rethinking Summer Reading; Programming Mojo; The Big Link: Successful School Public Library Partnerships; Stealth Programming; Everyday Advocacy; Creating Amazing Youth Services; Undoing Dewey and anything else that helps me guide participants in the Marge-way of delving deep into why we do what we do and how to do it better.

Summer Timeout!!!

Over at Hi Miss Julie, Miss J. has a thoughtful and very passionate post up about summer library programs and their worth to libraries.  From questioning the need for summer vacations in a non-agrarian modern society; to whether schools are failing to support kids in reading during those months and putting the burden on public libraries to the overemphasis in many libraries of putting massive resources into the SLP at the expense of other times of the year, it is a meaty, thought-provoking piece.

As an inveterate children's librarian tinkerer, I like to make things easier and speedier and more fun for kids. I too deplore the time and effort spent on SLP at the expense of the rest of the year. I crave workshops regionally that address issues NOT related to SLP.

Each year, I want to see lots of school age kids using us during the summer and I don't mind encouraging them to read a little each day as a fun activity to keep their brains sharp.  I don't see what we are doing as replacing a school's responsibility - I see it as encouraging kids to love the library and spend time with us and our collections. We use trinkets but make sure a book prize is the best prize. The eternal optimist that I am says that kids who find that great space here in summer will visit us all year long. .

But still and all, I feel Julie's pain and am glad to hear a colleague share so honestly a needed perspective on the long SLP tradition in youth librarianship.  Time out indeed.