May 19, 2013

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It Takes Two: Up Close with Librarians Margaux DelGuidice and Rose Luna

By on May 16, 2013 2 Comments
Rose&Margaux

“[Our] library in Freeport is the heart of that community,” says 2013 Mover & Shaker Margaux DelGuidice, who shares duties with fellow honoree Rose Luna at the Freeport Memorial Library in Long Island, NY. These two powerhouses also hold full-time teacher librarian positions at two area high schools, and have devoted countless hours to professional advocacy. In our interview, they share their inspirations and passions, their best practices for constructive collaboration, and their goals for the future of libraries.

Filed Under: Featured, Industry News, Librarians & Media Specialists, Public Libraries, Public Services, Schools & Districts Tagged With: , , ,

Loving Lovecraft: Nebraska Teens Host Life-Size ‘Arkham Horror’ Game

By on May 14, 2013 Leave a Comment
ArkhamHorror

Three cheers for Miskatonic University! That’s the rallying cry of the La Vista Public Library (NE)’s teen advisory board—who, under the guidance of youth librarian and advisor Lindsey Tomsu, 2013 Mover & Shaker—turned its 2012 Teen Read Week into a massive celebration of the works of H. P. Lovecraft, complete with crafts, workshops, and a life-sized version of the complex, cooperative Arkham Horror board game based on the Cthulhu Mythos.

Filed Under: Featured, Librarians & Media Specialists, Public Libraries Tagged With: ,

We’re Ready for You! Planning for Summer Reading | Fresh Paint

By on May 10, 2013 Leave a Comment
SRPbookmark

The Summer Reading Program is Loudon County Public Library’s biggest event of the year, and for the first time, residents of the Gum Spring area will have the chance to experience it at our new library. We’re hoping for a record turn-out for our 9-week program, In Your Backyard… and Beyond.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With: , ,

Architects of Dreams: Anythink’s Pam Sandlian Smith on the Power of Children’s Librarians

By Pam Sandlian Smith on May 1, 2013 1 Comment
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Anythink’s dynamic director explores how children’s services librarians will shape the future of libraries, libraries as places of discovery and experience, and the shift toward participatory librarianship.

Filed Under: Careers, Featured, Public Libraries Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Sullivan Award Goes to Kathleen Reif

By on April 29, 2013 Leave a Comment
St Marys County Library

Kathleen Reif, director of St. Mary’s County Library, Leonardtown, MD, is the 2013 recipient of Peggy Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children. The Sullivan Award, administered by the American Library Association (ALA), is presented annually to an individual in a library administrator role who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library service to children. The award will be presented at the ALA President’s Program, Sunday, June 30, at the Annual Conference in Chicago.

Filed Under: Awards & Contests, Industry News, Librarians & Media Specialists, Public Libraries Tagged With:

Making It Work: NY Library Hosts Own ‘Project Runway’ for Kids

By on April 23, 2013 Leave a Comment
ProjectRunwayTB

What better way to engage and inspire a group of fashion-conscious kids than by creating a design competition modeled after the hit reality show Project Runway? Thanks to the efforts of children’s librarian Frances Grossman-Goldberg—and a little help from The Weinstein Company, Mood Fabrics, and L’oreal.Paris—a group of teens and tweens at the Pomonok branch of the Queens Borough Public Library (NY) had the experiences of a lifetime this past winter.

Filed Under: Featured, Librarians & Media Specialists, Public Libraries Tagged With:

Fresh Paint: Membership and Censorship

By on April 16, 2013 2 Comments
Gum Spring Library teen center

No matter how many school classrooms I visit, tours I lead, or new patrons I welcome into the library, I cannot help but stare in shock every time I am asked, “What is the cost of a membership?” Once I realize they aren’t asking me a reference question (the local Costco fee is $55 per household, and the nearest gym charges $83 per month) I respond, “Unless you drop a book in the bath tub or return something past its due date we will never charge you for anything—ever—at this library.”

Filed Under: American Library Association (ALA), censorship, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Children’s Librarians, Architects of Dreams | SLJ’s Public Library Think Tank

By on April 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
Photo credit: Matt Carr/Getty Images for SLJ.

“The power of books is profound, but power does start in the children’s room. When we connect children with books…we are introducing them to the world,” says Pam Sandlian Smith, director of Colorado’s Anythink Libraries and opening keynote speaker at our first Public Library Leadership Think Tank on Friday. Among the day’s emerging themes: dreaming big, collaboration, innovation, creating community, and believing in the power of kids (and kids’ librarians) to change the world.

Filed Under: Events, Featured, Librarians & Media Specialists, Public Libraries Tagged With: , , , , ,

Photos: SLJ’s 2013 Public Library Leadership Think Tank

By on April 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
featuredimage

Check out images from the SLJ 2013 Public Library Leadership Think Tank, our first leadership event dedicated to those working in children’s services in public libraries.

Filed Under: Events, Public Libraries Tagged With: , , ,

Tech Tidbits: Testing, Testing, One, Two, Spring! ACT and SAT Prep Help

By Phil Goerner, teacher librarian, Silver Creek High School, Longmont CO on April 3, 2013 Leave a Comment
testing teens

It’s spring! Just like the narrator says in the 1947 educational film Body Care and Grooming, “Ah, spring. When birds are on the wing, when flowers bloom… Spring, when a young man’s fancy likely turns to….”—Author unknown. The answer has to be testing! High-stakes testing! Advanced Placement testing! American College Testing or even the SAT! Students feel pressured to work hard to prove themselves in this world of achievement.

Filed Under: Public Libraries, Reference, Resources, Students, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Tulsa City-County Library Offers Safe Place Sites for Youth in Crisis

By on April 2, 2013 Leave a Comment
Safe Place logo

Youth Services of Tulsa, OK, has announced the addition of Tulsa City-County Library’s branches as official Safe Place sites for teens. Safe Place provides runaways and other youth in a crisis a safe place in their own neighborhoods, where they can seek help with issues like abuse, serious family conflicts, and other dangers.

Filed Under: Featured, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Fresh Paint: Doors Wide Open

By on March 20, 2013 2 Comments
Gum Spring opening day

Opening Day of Loudon County Library’s newest facility, Gum Spring Library, has come and gone. More than 6,500 people checked out 14,000 materials in just under five and a half hours, and we issued over 1,100 library cards. And those are just the tangible statistics! Teens finally found a place in their community to call their own! Caretakers can now stop driving 25 minutes to the nearest storytime! An entire region of northern Virginia learned what it feels like to have free resources available to them in their own backyard. The looks of amazement and happiness that I saw on Opening Day filled me with amazement and happiness. The Gum Spring Library has arrived, and we’re open for business!

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Events, Industry News, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Fresh Paint: We Have Arrived

By on February 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
Gum Spring Library

As this article goes live, we are three—count ‘em!— three days away from opening the new Gum Spring Library. I’ve been here since mid-January, and I’m just beginning to realize that the expectations I had in my head were way off base. Between preparing volunteers, planning opening day activities, and training pages, few things have gone exactly as planned. Yet despite the many changes we’ve made in our schedule, our confidence grows as we learn what must be done now and what can wait.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Public Libraries, Resources, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Fresh Paint: A New Building, a New Team, a New Me

By on January 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
11613freshchanges

My father is a Marine, so by the time I was eight I was quite adept at packing up my things. I vividly remember when we moved to Beaufort, SC. It was 1996, and it was the first time I ever took advantage of a move. Instead of trashing my old clothes and childish toys, I fixed up parts of my personality that needed improvement and tried out some new traits. I asked people to call me “Al”, giving the role of tomboy a spin. I also spoke up a little more and put myself in more social situations. I used this experience to invent a whole new me.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Librarians & Media Specialists, Professional Reading, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Libraries with No Bounds: How Limitless Libraries transformed Nashville Public Schools’ libraries

By Tricia Racke Bengel on January 14, 2013 4 Comments
Limitless libraries logo

An ambitious partnership between Nashville Public Library (NPL) and Metro Nashville Schools has resulted in a successful program called Limitless Libraries.

Filed Under: Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Schools & Districts, Teens & YA Tagged With: , , ,

Pictures of the Week: Belleville Library Hosts Three Kings Celebration

By on January 11, 2013 1 Comment
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The Belleville Public Library in New Jersey recently celebrated Three Kings Day.

Filed Under: Public Libraries Tagged With: , ,

That Collaborative Spirit: Changing times demand more complex partnerships | Editorial

By on January 8, 2013 Leave a Comment
Photograph by Thomas Strand.

Who wouldn’t want to work with the two librarians on our cover? To me, their joyous, open faces welcome engagement. I want in on the action—in this case, the series of projects they pull off to bring more to the kids they each serve.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Librarians & Media Specialists, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Students, Teens & YA Tagged With: , , , ,

Partners in Success: When school and public librarians join forces, kids win

By Marta Murvosh on January 1, 2013 2 Comments
SLJ January 2013 Cover

School library and public library collaborations are making a huge difference in kids’ lives.

Filed Under: Featured, Librarians & Media Specialists, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Schools & Districts, Students, Teens & YA Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Pictures of the Week: Stuffed Animal Sleepover at Darien Public Library

By on December 21, 2012 Leave a Comment
dogbear

Librarians at the Darien Public Library organized a Stuffed Animal Sleepover. Children ages 2-6 left their toys at the library overnight and returned to see photographic evidence of the mischief that their stuffed companions wrought.

Filed Under: Public Libraries Tagged With: , , ,

Apply Now for the 2013 Innovations in Reading Prize

By on December 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
Innovations in Reading Prize

Each year, the National Book Foundation awards a number of prizes of up to $2,500 each to individuals and institutions—or partnerships between the two—that have developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading. This is the fifth year that the Foundation is offering the 2013 Innovations in Reading Prize, sponsored by Levenger. Wouldn’t you know it? One of the 2012 winners, Bookends (Poudre River Public Library District, CO), found out about the competition right here, in SLJTeen.

Filed Under: Awards & Contests, Industry News, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Publishing, Teens & YA Tagged With:
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