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Quiet: Speaking Out on Introversion | Links of the week

Kathy Ishizuka — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:06:21 +0000

An interesting convergence on the web has more than a few people talking about quiet contemplation.

Hot Topic at Midwinter: Library Maker Spaces, Ideas for Cheap, Hands-On Fun

Kathy Ishizuka — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:56:30 +0000

From ebooks to digital literacy, there was plenty to debate at the Midwinter meeting of the American Library Association. But the unconference on January 25 revealed clear consensus on one topic: maker spaces. They’re red hot.

“It’s the one thing we can all agree on,” an unconference attendee told this reporter. Indeed, the concept of hands-on programming in libraries—school, academic, or public—appeals to the broad spectrum of information professionals, from techy geeks at one end to traditional handcrafters at the other. After all, “we’ve been doing this in children’s programming for years,” she said.

Put to a vote among unconference participants, “Creative Spaces” won out as the topic of choice (beating by a wide margin digital relevancy, advocacy, and budgeting).

Attendees shared ideas, with an emphasis on low-cost, practical ways to implement “Maker” activities in the library. Much of the conversation urged partnering with other organizations, including:

Reddit subcommunities. Local groups have formed around social news site Reddit. Consider hosting an event at your library. Or how about Ikea Hackers? Your local college or university. Don’t have native expertise among your library staff? Consider reaching out to a technical college or student organization to help lead programming. Area crafters. The Greenpoint branch of the Brooklyn Public Library enlisted the local Etsy community to help launch projects, from making zines to bicycle tire art. Hacker spaces. From robotics and electronics to wood and metal working, these groups are springing up worldwide.

Then there are Maker Kits. MAKE magazine is starting with a beta group of libraries, retrofitting their commercially available MAKE kits for checkout by patrons, from grade school kids to adults. The kits include “Getting Started with Arduino,” “Squishy Circuits,” and “Spinbots.”

For teens, there’s Maker Camp, a six-week online summer experience with how-to instruction for completing 30 projects in 30 days. This year, Maker Camp runs from July 8 to August 16. To register and see the projects from the 2012 Camp, visit the page “Maker Camp on Google +”

For information about MAKE’s library initiative, email library@makermedia.com.

UPDATED Applegate, Klassen Win Newbery, Caldecott Medals

Karyn M. Peterson — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:47:29 +0000

The audience erupted in cheers Monday morning after “Animorphs” (Scholastic) author Katherine Applegate was named the winner of the Newbery Medal for her heartfelt and unforgettable story The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), and Jon Klassen was awarded the Caldecott Medal for This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick) at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards for 2012, which were announced during ALA‘s annual Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, WA. Another Klassen project, Mac Barnett’s picture book Extra Yarn (HarperCollins), was named a Caldecott Honor book.

Katherine Applegate

The Newbery for The One and Only Ivan, Applegate’s uniquely creative, fictional take on the true story of a silverback gorilla who once lived in glass enclosure in a shopping mall, surprised many attendees who had not shortlisted it for the win. Nevertheless, the book had many enthusiastic fans among the crowd in Seattle, who agreed that it was—and would continue to be—a hugely popular choice with kids.

California resident Applegate was visiting relatives in Virginia when she was surprised by the call from the Newbery committee this morning, only an hour and a half before the YMAs presentation began, she tells SLJ. ”I was stunned, totally delighted but speechless,” she says. “The speechlessness went on for a while, then I screamed, and my family marched in at that, and there were a lot of screams! Then we watched the webcast and it was great. It was fun to watch with no anxiety, because they had called me already.”

Writing the book “was absolutely a process,” Applegate says. “I knew I wanted to do First Person Gorilla—but figuring out that voice was really tough. It helped a lot to think that gorillas would be poetic, so I took a spare poetic approach to the prose. I tried doing it very journalistically and found that it was a really short book. The fictional element made it more cohesive and a longer story.”

Applegate credits her win in part to a large community of online fans, especially on Twitter, who have been championing the book and who have conducted huge amounts of outreach to middle readers, including John Schumacher and The Nerdy Book Club. “I have gotten so much support from different communities,” she says. “They have helped tremendously in how visible the book was to readers.”

Adds Applegate, “It’s just surreal! I know what a lottery it is because there were so many good books this year. It’s a huge honor but it could have been any one of them.”

Jon Klassen

And although This Is Not My Hat was a Caldecott favorite going into the awards, “I was actually very, very surprised,” Klassen tells SLJ. “I had done a pretty good job of convincing myself not to think about it, so it came out of the blue. It’s such a big thing to think that you were going to get mentioned at all, (the dual win) didn’t register. I’m still getting used to the idea that people are looking at these books, much less giving them the distinction.”

As an illustrator, Klassen says, “You do have this weird ‘tiny room’ relationship with a book. It’s my little guy, the book I made in my house! It doesn’t seem real seeing it in stores.”

Fortuitously, Klassen has collaborator Mac Barnett to help him navigate these strange new waters. “We had dinner last night!” he says. “I was already on a plane to San Jose for an art direction gig, and he was in Berkeley. So we got to sit down and smile across the table.”

Adds Klassen, “Mac is so smart and so plugged in to this whole librarian community, so he’s been helping me out how this world works. Librarians are very important! It’s been crazy to find this stuff out. It’s not a marketplace angle; librarians are looking for what’s best for kids, so they have different criteria. The opinions that they give out are really thought through. They’re very passionate.”

Klassen’s achievement in creating both the Caldecott Medal book and illustrating a Caldecott Honor book is notable; he is only the second illustrator to have done so in the award’s 75-year history. The other distinguished artist was Leonard Weisgard in 1947, who illustrated Caldecott Medalist winner The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown (writing under the pseudonym of Golden MacDonald), and the Caldecott Honor book Rain Drop Splash by Alvin R. Tresselt.

“Leonard Weisgard—he’s amazing,” Klassen says. “He did such interesting work.” For Klassen, being now placed in the same category as an illustrator “is the hardest thing to process for me,” he says.

Another surprise win, according to many SLJ spoke to today, was Nick Lake’s In Darkness (Bloomsbury), which was awarded the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in YA literature. ”We are basking in the glow,” Beth Eller, Bloomsbury’s director of school and library marketing, tells SLJ. “We are thrilled, surprised, and stunned—but most of all thrilled. There were just so many good books this year. It was an ambitious novel; it’s nice to see it get some recognition.”

The crowd was also ecstatic to learn that the Margaret A. Edwards Award, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, will be presented to Tamora Pierce for her significant and lasting contributions to YA literature via her “Song of the Lioness” series. The award is sponsored by SLJ.

Other big winners of the day were Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook Press) by Steve Sheinkin, which scored the YALSA nonfiction award, the Sibert Informational Book Medal, and a Newbery Honor; and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Simon & Schuster) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, which also was selected three times: for the Stonewall Award, the Belpré Author Award, and a Printz Honor.

Although Sheinkin knew Bomb was a strong contender for the YALSA nonfiction award, he was “really surprised by the other awards—happily so,” he tells SLJ.

In fact, after the YALSA committee informed him of his win for the nonfiction award on Saturday night, he turned off his phone before the Sibert committee was able to reach him. ”They tried to call me many times last night,” he says, “but then they left a message. But that was cool, too.” (Now he has the message saved, he says.)

Sheinkin hopes his cross-category wins might signal a trend of growing popularity for exciting young adult nonfiction overall among kids.

“It’s really cool to break out of just the nonfiction category,” he says. “That’s my biggest thing—I’m a big proponent of history for kids, of nonfiction, but also trying to win over people who just want to read a good book. To prove to young readers that this kind of book can be fun also is a really big thing. A lot of kids know it (some kids are into history) but some kids are scared of it.”

Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Meanwhile, Sáenz, after hearing of his three wins across categories “had a frantic and beautiful morning, was in class all afternoon and then quietly celebrated by taking a walk in the desert,” he tells SLJ, adding that the Stonewall award was a “complete surprise” and the Printz honor left him “stunned.”

He notes, “the Belpré people called me the night before and I was absolutely thrilled. They were all on speakerphone and I could hear them screaming. They were very sweet and I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know that we as authors should expect awards; they are gifts to us. I get really choked up. I’m just grateful for the gifts. I would hope my mother raised a gracious man, who knows how to say thank you.”

He also notes that the book’s cross-category recognition is a testament to how well it was marketed by Simon & Schuster as well as the word of mouth of reviewers and librarians who recommended it. “They felt that everybody should read this book, they put it into everybody’s hands,” he says. “It takes a village to take the book out into the world. We had a great village.”

The prolific author—who writes poetry, children’s books, and adult novels in addition to YA literature—somehow found the time to write Aristotle and Dante while teaching bilingual creative writing and acting as MFA department chair at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is already deep into his next project, another dramatic YA novel. “I’m always writing,” he says.

* * *

Here is the list of winners of the ALA’s Youth Media Awards:

(John) Newbery Medal
The One and Only Ivan. Katherine Applegate. HarperCollins.

Honors:
Splendors and Glooms. Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick.

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point/Roaring Brook.

Three Times Lucky. Sheila Turnage. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

(Randolph) Caldecott Medal
This Is Not My Hat. Jon Klassen. Candlewick Press.

Honors:
Creepy Carrots! Aaron Reynolds. Illus. by Peter Brown.
Simon & Schuster.

Extra Yarn. Mac Barnett. Illus. by Jon Klassen.
HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray.

Green. Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook.

One Cool Friend. Toni Buzzeo. Illus. by David Small. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Sleep Like a Tiger. Mary Logue. Illus. by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award
Up, Tall and High. Ethan Long. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Honors:
Let’s Go for a Drive! Mo Willems. Hyperion/Disney.

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. Eric Litwin. Illus. by James Dean. HarperCollins.

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover. Cece Bell. Candlewick.

(Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award
Katherine Paterson

Andrew Carnegie Medal
Anna, Emma and the Condors. Produced by Katja Torneman.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point/Roaring Brook

Honors:
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Robert Byrd. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Phillip M. Hoose. Farrar.

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic.

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
My Family for the War. Anne C. Voorhoeve. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Honors:
A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return. Zeina Abirached.
Tr. by Edward Gauvin. Graphic Universe/Lerner.

Son of a Gun. Anne de Graaf. Eerdmans.

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Andrea Davis Pinkney

Pura Belpré Awards
Author: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
Simon & Schuster.

Honor: The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. Sonia Manzano. Scholastic.

Illustrator: Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert. Gary D. Schmidt. Illus. by David Diaz. Clarion.

Michael L. Printz Award
In Darkness. Nick Lake. Bloomsbury.

Honors:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Simon & Schuster.

Code Name Verity. Elizabeth Wein. Hyperion/Disney.

Dodger. Terry Pratchett. HarperCollins Children’s Books

The White Bicycle. Beverley Brenna. Red Deer Press.

Odyssey Award
The Fault in Our Stars. John Green. Narrated by Kate Rudd. Brilliance Audio.

Honors:
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian. Eoin Colfer. Narrated by Nathaniel Parker. Listening Library.

Ghost Knight. Cornelia Funke. Narrated by Elliot Hill. Listening Library.

Monstrous Beauty. Elizabeth Fama. Narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Macmillian Audio.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin
Flash Point/Roaring Brook

Finalists:
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Karen Blumenthal. Feiwel & Friends.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Phillip Hoose. Farrar

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic.

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Cynthia Levinson. Peachtree Publishers.

William C. Morris Award
Seraphina. Rachel Hartman. Random House.

Finalists:
Wonder Show. Hannah Barnaby. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books.

Love and Other Perishable Items. Laura Buzo. Knopf/Random House.

After the Snow. S. D. Crockett. Feiwel and Friends.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post. emily m. danforth. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Margaret A. Edwards Award
Tamora Pierce for her “Song of the Lioness” series

Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Author: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illus. by Brian Pinkney. Hyperion/Disney.

Honors: Each Kindness. Jacqueline Woodson. Illus. by E. B. Lewis.
Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Young Readers.

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner.

Illustrator: I, Too, Am America. Langston Hughes. Illus. by Bryan Collier. Simon & Schuster.

Honors: H. O. R. S. E.. Christopher Myers. Egmont USA.

Ellen’s Broom. Kelly Starling Lyons. Illus. by Daniel Minter. Putnam/Penguin Young Readers.

I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. Ilus. by Kadir Nelson. Schwartz & Wade/Random House.

Virginia Hamilton: Demetria Tucker
Practitioner Award for Lifetime achievement

Stonewall Book Award
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Simon & Schuster.

Honors:
Drama. Raina Telgemeier. Graphix/Scholastic Inc.

Gone, Gone, Gone. Hannah Moskowitz. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster.

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. Lesléa Newman. Candlewick.

Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie. S. J. Adams. Flux.

Schneider Family Book Award
Teen: Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am. Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis. Simon & Schuster.

Middle Grade: A Dog Called Homeless. Sarah Lean. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Book.

Children: Back to Front and Upside Down! Claire Alexander. Eerdmans.

The DPLA and School Libraries: Partners Focused on Digital-Era Learners

SLJ — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:52:20 +0000

This is the third in an occasional series of articles that will explore issues surrounding the efforts to launch and expand the Digital Public Library of America. In the most successful public and independent schools, librarians work as teachers in partnership with those based in the classroom. Together, these teachers prepare our kids for lifelong learning, from their school-age years and on into college and the workforce. Librarians and classroom teachers each bring unique and essential skill sets to the task of enabling students to construct knowledge. It is particularly troubling that many school libraries are under threat today, as education budgets tighten and library-based teachers are too often deemed inessential. While the threat to school libraries is not new, it has intensified in recent years. Budget cuts have eliminated support for many school library programs and the librarians who work in them. The Obama Administration, strong on support for education as a general rule, has failed to champion school libraries and instead cut federal funding. The President’s 2013 budget proposal cut $28.6 million that was earmarked for literacy programs under the Fund for Improvement of Education. These types of cuts to school libraries are short-sighted. Data suggest a direct correlation between schools with strong libraries and academic performance. Students in programs with more school librarians and extended library hours scored 8.4 percent to 21.8 percent higher on English tests and 11.7 percent to 16.7 percent higher on reading tests, compared to students in schools where libraries had fewer resources, according to a study by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). In an era of ubiquitous information, the need for school librarians is greater than ever. Critical thinking requires students to find information to fuel their inquiries. The same goes for the creative forms of learning that many of the best teachers seek to inspire in their students. There are far more sources of information for students to choose from, but students are rarely taught how to develop a good process for making wise decisions about information quality. Students need to learn digital literacy skills to be able to identify credible information in a more distributed, complicated world rich with data. Classroom teachers who were trained in an earlier era sometimes struggle with navigating the digital world of information and can lack the skills and confidence to teach kids well. The task of determining (and improving) information quality is core to the library profession. This educational challenge is one that school librarians are exceptionally well prepared to meet on behalf of our students. It is precisely the wrong moment to be cutting school librarians out of schools. If we build it well, a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) can help school libraries meet the information needs of students even as local budgets shrink. The DPLA can provide important resources to the partnership between library-based and classroom-based teachers, especially during this period of rapid change in education, in libraries, in technology, and in the world of information generally.

Adopting the Common Core Standards

During last two decades, education leaders at the national and state levels have made significant changes in how students learn in our public schools. These reforms, including the adoption of a set of common core standards approved by 45 states, imply that teaching and learning will be geared toward a shared set of particular themes and skills in mathematics as well as English and language arts. The new standards have only increased the importance of librarian-classroom teacher partnerships in meeting the needs of our schoolchildren. Schools will need to adapt the materials that they use as texts. While publishers are rushing to meet this demand for new teaching materials, not all schools can afford to pay the prices that Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and other education-oriented publishers are seeking. School librarians have the skills to identify and access materials to support student learning. Whether or not the school library is able to offer licensed proprietary databases, librarians can find appropriate instructional resources on the Internet in open textbook projects and other educational repositories. School librarians can also serve as vitally important teachers to meet aspects of the requirements themselves. For instance, the English and language arts common core standards include an explicit provision with respect to media: Media and Technology: Just as media and technology are integrated in school and life in the twenty-first century, skills related to media use (both critical analysis and production of media) are integrated throughout the standards. Classroom teachers are rarely well trained in new media and technology. While some are extremely savvy technology users, most were students before digital technologies became as central to the learning process as they are today. By contrast, because the disruptive transformation of libraries precipitated by the digital era has required school librarians to develop and maintain proficiencies in the use and application of a wide range of technologies, they are frequently the most technologically adept educators in the school. Many school librarians face a financial barrier that limits their ability to take on these new and essential roles in partnership with classroom teachers, meeting requirements of the common core. While school librarians were underrepresented in the development of these standards, it is essential that they be centrally involved in their implementation at the school level. The DPLA can help to bring down the financial barrier to full participation by librarians as they seek to provide the resources for kids to meet the new requirements of the common core standards. The DPLA can help librarians identify and provide access to materials that will help kids reach the standards, as implemented at the state level. For instance, the common core standards call for the types of reading for young people to increase from 50 percent non-fiction and 50 percent fiction in the fourth grade to 70 percent non-fiction and 30 percent fiction by the end of high school. This shift toward “challenging informational texts in a range of subjects” can be supported by shared resources, collected at a national level and then curated locally by librarians to meet the needs of specific communities.

Rewriting the Advanced Placement Exams

An analogous process of transformation is underway at the most advanced end of high school teaching. Since 1955, students who plan to attend college have been offered the chance to take Advanced Placement courses and corresponding exams, administered by the College Board. These exams allow students to demonstrate their readiness to tackle the complex material ordinarily offered at competitive colleges. These Advanced Placement exams are in the process of being rewritten to meet the changing demands of the new century. As the new material is built into school curricula, a national DPLA initiative to make appropriate supporting material available to all AP teachers and AP students could drive down the costs of the transition for schools and enable students to have easy, free access to relevant study materials.

Meeting the Needs of Students in Community Colleges

Community colleges serve nearly as many students as four-year, full-time colleges and universities, but without the strong library systems that their wealthier peer institutions can offer. Community colleges serve all Americans who apply, providing both academic and job-training programs. Thirteen million people attended community college in the US in 2009. In addition to having far fewer resources than their better-off cousins at four-year colleges and universities, community college libraries are often plagued with budget limitations that impair their ability to build a collection over time. Staffing levels are likewise nowhere near as high as at other academic libraries. The unmet opportunity to serve students as learners, to increase job-readiness for the highly skilled information sector jobs, and to grow the economy is substantial. The Digital Public Library of America would remove the budgetary pressure of the need to collect a set of dedicated resources by establishing access to a set of common resources. A common technological infrastructure and a set of shared materials—for instance, historical materials to support common research projects, such as those focused on the Civil War, prohibition, or segregation—would mean that limited library funds at community colleges could be focused on hiring skilled librarians and providing them with ongoing professional development. The function of the community college librarian would be much like in other school libraries; to act as a teacher in helping students to construct knowledge through the use of the shared resources of the great libraries of the world. The DPLA cannot solve all of the challenges facing our nation’s essential school libraries, from K-12 through community college. Support for building a DPLA should be seen as helpful to school librarians and their partners in the classroom. But support for the DPLA should not translate into support for budget cuts at any kind of library. The importance of school libraries does not lie in their role as depositories of materials. Rather, their importance lies in the essential skill sets of the dedicated librarians who continually take on new roles in support of the education of our children. A well-developed DPLA will help school librarians by providing ready access to nationally-collected materials necessary to meet changing curricula. In partnership with classroom teachers, they will be able to identify and use the materials to support students in the construction of new knowledge. By working together at the national level, the DPLA can create shared platforms and materials in ways that will enable school librarians, and the students that they serve, to flourish in the digital era. For more information on the DPLA, come to the Digital Public Library of America Update at ALA Midwinter.

As Tablets Supplant Ereaders, New Challenges Arise for Publishers

Matt Enis — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:56:35 +0000

Sixty percent of publishing executives believe that tablets have become “the ideal reading platform,” and 45 percent believe that dedicated e-readers will soon be irrelevant, according to a recent online, by-invitation survey conducted by global research and advisory firm Forrester.

‘I Love My Librarian’ Awards Honor Three School Librarians

Rocco Staino — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:23:56 +0000

Julie Hatsell Wales, Sue Kowalski, and Rae Anne Locke.

Three school librarians who create a spirit of community in their libraries were among 10 recipients of the 2012 I Love My Librarian awards.

Susan Kowalski of the East Syracuse (NY) Minoa School District, Rae Anne Locke of Westport (CT) Public Schools, and Julie Hatsell Wales of Brevard County (FL) Schools joined their public and academic colleagues and 200 supporters in an award ceremony on Tuesday evening, December 18, at the New York Times Center in Manhattan.

The award, an initiative of the American Library Association sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Times, drew 1,500 nominations from around the country. A committee of librarians selected the winners.

Kowalski’s nominations cited her “cunning ideas,” including an “iStaff Mobile Innovation Studio,” a mobile station at her library with an iPad, projector, and computers. Students versed in this technology assist their peers using the equipment for school projects at the Pine Grove Middle School in East Syracuse, where Kowalsky is school librarian.

“When you believe in something you inevitably put your heart and soul into it,” Kowalski told SLJ. “I’m a passionate believer in the power of libraries and continue to do just that.”

Locke’s innovations included creating digital book trailers with her students and creating a monthly digital school newsletter in collaboration with a technology teacher at Westport’s Saugatuck Elementary School, where she’s a library media specialist, according to her nomination.

Locke’s “Secret Garden Library,” which she created in 2002, nurtures each student individually, read the nomination. She was recognized more broadly for her collaborations with teachers and students that collectively create a culture honoring literacy and the dignity of each learner.

Davia Phillips, a second grade teacher at Saugatuck, called Locke “a collaborator who goes the extra mile.” Melissa Augeri, a parent and volunteer at the school, praised Locke for her ability to get kids reading, saying, “she knows what they like.”

Wales was called “the glue that holds this school together” by a social studies teacher at the McNair Magnet School in Rockledge, FL, who supported her nomination. School librarian Wales was singled out for helping students and fellow educators keep their information literacy skills up to date and directing them to reliable databases. Wales also wrote grants ranging from $500 to $1.9 million that “brought vital resources to the school,” the nomination said.

While accepting her award, Wales lamented the reduction of the number of school librarians across the nation. “It is like ripping the heart from the school body,” she said.

Among the other winners was 40-year veteran public librarian Mary Ellen Pellington, director of the Octavia Fellin Public Library in Gallup, NM. She told the audience, “You can count potholes but you cannot measure the impact of one story hour on the lives of children.”

Rachel Hyland, whose wit and energy brought changes to the Tunxis Community College Library in Farmington, CT, attributed her “librarian genetic makeup” to her grandmother, who worked for 50 years in a high school library in Hartford, CT.

“We make a difference. Some of it is big and some of it is small,” said Greta E. Marlatt, librarian at the Knox Library at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, where she works with first responders. Audience members who were first responders received a standing ovation.

Creating a sense of community among the homebound population was one of the achievements of Madlyn S. Schneider of the Queens Library in Queens Village, NY. Schneider maintains contact with isolated patrons through Skype and conference calls.

Also honored were Beatriz Adriana Guevara of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC, along with academic librarians Dorothy J. Davison of the Horrmann Library at Wagner College (NYC) and Roberto Carlos Delgadillo of the Peter J. Shields Library at the University of California, Davis.

Robert Massie, author of Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman (Random House, 2011) and winner of the 2012 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, praised the work of librarians in a speech. Massie, former president of The Authors Guild, also asked that librarians fight to maintain copyright, saying, “without copyright, there won’t be authors.”

Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, said, “Sandys come and go, but libraries always stand.”

Each honoree received a $5,000 cash award, a plaque, and a $500 travel stipend to attend the awards reception in New York City. Nominees must be librarians with a master’s degree from an ALA-accredited MLIS program or a master’s specializing in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.

National Federation of the Blind to Take Protest to Amazon, Denouncing School Kindle Use as Discriminatory to Blind Students

The Digital Shift — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:44:28 +0000

For years, representatives from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) have been urging Amazon representatives to make their Kindle ereaders accessible to people who are blind and have low vision. Frustrated by what they say is an unacceptable response by Amazon and galvanized by the retail giant’s push for Kindle ebooks adoption by schools, NFB officials will protest outside Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on December 12 at 11:00 am. At issue is the fact that while blind students can listen to Kindle content with the devices’ text-to-speech technology, Kindles don’t enable them to perform research functions on their own while reading, like checking spelling and punctuation, highlighting passages, and finding things in the dictionary, all of which are available to sighted students using Kindles, says NFB spokesperson Chris Danielsen. “Amazon has repeatedly demonstrated utter indifference to the recommendations of blind Americans for full accessibility of its Kindle ebooks and failed to follow the best practices of other e-book providers,” NFB president Marc Maurer said in a statement released to press and posted on the NFB site. “Blind Americans will not tolerate this behavior any longer. While we urge Amazon to correct the many obvious deficiencies in its implementation of accessibility and remain willing to work with the company to help it do so, we will oppose the integration of these products into America’s classrooms until Amazon addresses these deficiencies. Putting inaccessible technology in the classroom not only discriminates against blind students and segregates them from their peers, but also violates the law.” Amazon makes Kindle content available only to its own proprietary text-to-speech engine, which does not include basic technology for blind readers available elsewhere, according to Danielsen. While the Kindle Keyboard 3G provides voice guides, allowing blind people to access their menus, that’s not enough, according to Danielsen. “It doesn’t necessarily give you access to all the options,” he says, even though this is a slight improvement over earlier Kindle models, which required a sighted person to activate text-to-speech functions that blind readers could use, he says. Currently, “If you want to read a book straight from beginning to end, then using the Kindle’s text-to-speech will work for you,” says Danielsen. “But that’s not how you read in school. How you read in school, particularly with a textbook, is that the teacher says, ‘look at page so-and-so.’ A blind person has no way of controlling that with the Kindle ebooks, though sighted students do.” Other ereader devices, including Apple products, provide tools that blind students can use for these functions, according to Danielsen. As schools race to select ereader models for classroom use, “We do not accept the idea that you let some students use Kindle ebook and you let a blind student use something else,” Danielsen explained. “That is segregating the blind students, using a ‘separate but equal’ philosophy that we don’t accept.” Amazon did not respond to a call and email request for comment from SLJ. Danielsen says that blind people generally use screen-reading software like Jaws for Windows and Window-Eyes that “take any document on a computer—an email or word document, read it to a blind person, and allow a blind person to control how it’s read,” he explained. “If you’re advancing through a document you can stop at a word by pushing the keyboard. The software speaks to you.” Since many blind people touch type, Danielsen says, this kind of system works smoothly. Apple’s VoiceOver app provides the same options for Apple products, Danielsen adds. “The difference is that it can be controlled by gestures as opposed to the keyboard. That works for us.” Screen reader technology for the blind can often communicate with devices that create braille displays, and the Kindle does not offer that option, he says. The NFB site offers an overview of its push to make ebooks available to the blind, along with information on a letter-writing and video campaign to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and template letters for blind children and their parents to use when writing Bezos. After Amazon introduced its text-to-speech function in 2009 with the Kindle 2, the company faced pressure from the Authors Guild which claimed that the read-aloud feature was a copyright infringement. The guild demanded that authors and publishers be able to block this feature, and Amazon relented, allowing them to do so on a title-by-title basis. “We became involved and took Amazon’s side,” says Danielsen. “We were hoping that being positive about what Amazon had done would lead them to incorporate more accessibility features.” The NFB also filed suit against Arizona State University in 2009 for adopting the Kindle DX, claiming that its menus could not be used by blind students. In January of 2010, four universities agreed not to use the Kindle DX until it was made accessible for blind students. That summer, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education released an open letter stating that it was unacceptable for colleges and universities to adopt ereaders that blind students could not use. The cost of implementing these functions should not be an issue for Amazon, Danielsen maintains. “Other people have done this without increasing the cost of their products,” he says. At the protest, he says, “We will directly interface with Amazon and the public and we are going to inform the public that Amazon is not making ebooks accessible to blind children and hopefully that will have an impact.”

In Sandy’s Wake, Library Systems Help City Keep Students Connected

Hiten Samtani — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:21:50 +0000

Photo courtesy of the Queens Public Library.

The New York, Queens and Brooklyn Public Library systems have partnered with the city to ensure that students affected by Hurricane Sandy are able to stay on course academically.

Late last month, schools chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announced that the Department of Education would offer online courses to students displaced from their homes and to those attending affected schools. “The impact on students demands more resources to ensure they get the education they need,” Walcott said. “These online courses will help keep our students on track for their academic success.”

The courses—which are an extension of New York’s digital iZone initiative—can be completed through any computer with Internet connectivity. The city’s public library systems will complement the DOE’s efforts by offering these students Internet access across its branches.

“The city’s critically important program to help students displaced by the storm is a public service that we are very proud to offer as we continue to do all we can to help New York recover and support education, ” said New York Public Library president Tony Marx.

In the storm’s wake, librarians have come together to offer support and resources. At November’s annual NYCSLS fall conference, New York City librarians discussed a plan to deliver supplies and volunteers to affected libraries so that they could continue to provide essential student services. Linda E. Johnson, president and chief executive of Brooklyn Public Library, said that just days after the storm, bookmobiles traversed some of the borough’s hardest-hit neighborhoods and delivered books, charging stations and other materials to those in need. “We will continue to help all of our patrons, volunteers and employees recover from the disaster,” Johnson said. NYPL’s Tony Marx added that since Sandy struck, the library has offered free Internet, heat, power and other resources to thousands of New Yorkers.

To enroll in the city’s online courses, students must complete an interest form online or by calling 718-642-5885. The city will set up a learning plan for each eligible student, and they can go online to access the courses.

Along with Internet access, libraries will offer students technical assistance and other support, said Bridget Quinn-Carey, chief operating officer of the Queens Library. “Our doors are open, our computers and our trained information professionals are available to help students succeed,” she said.

The Public Library Connection: The new standards require that public and school librarians pull together | On Common Core

Olga Nesi — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:00:34 +0000

Now, more than ever before, collaboration between public and school librarians is critical. As we strive to be at the center of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in our schools, strong relationships with our local public librarians can make all the difference in the world and provide us, our students, and our school colleagues with tremendous advantages.

While public and school libraries differ, our common patron base of children gives both groups fertile ground for growing ever stronger collaborative bonds. The extent to which school libraries can contribute to the creation of lifelong public library patrons should not be underestimated. Nor should we ever underestimate the extent to which public librarians can reinforce and support our work and our kids’ learning well beyond the school day.

Pulling together

The more people are directly and deliberately involved in the implementation of the CCSS, the more likely it is that it will succeed. All too often, however, collaboration between different types of libraries is too passive. Largely, public librarians have “picked up” where school librarians “leave off.” After school hours and during vacations, we “hand off” our students to the public libraries. While this arrangement has met with varying degrees of success (based largely on the disparate efforts of individual public and school librarians), the Common Core demands a more seamless and systematic integration of services to youth. As with anything pertaining to these new standards, heavy lifting must be done.

If we are committed to having our students succeed in achieving the Common Core, school librarians must help public library colleagues get up to speed on the new standards. We should share with them the changes we are facing, and brainstorm how that may impact their work directly. Ideally, they will not discover the CCSS by accident or on the fly—when one of our students is standing in front of them asking for help. Only proactive and consistent communication will lead to success.

Where to begin

The key shifts of the literacy Common Core Standards provide a strong starting point for the dialogue (see table). Envisioning how these shifts may impact and be supported by the work of public librarians will help them be better prepared for what our students and colleagues will surely need from them. It will also foster a more integrated learning experience across library environments.

To submit an On Common Core opinion piece, please contact Rebecca T. Miller at rmiller@mediasourceinc.com.

Discovery Game for Libraries Kickstarted by Booklamp.org

Matt Enis — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:17:51 +0000

The developers behind the Book Genome Project and Booklamp.org have launched a Kickstarter campaign for “The Game of Books,” a new digital card and role-playing game designed to reward young adults for reading. Funding raised by the campaign would be used to design, produce, and distribute 4,000 Game of Books starter kits to U.S. libraries. Founded in 2003, the Book Genome Project works with publishers to solve challenges in book discovery by using computer analysis of the language, theme, and characters in books. Similar to the way Pandora.com uses data from the Music Genome Project to suggest new music to users, Booklamp.org is a free reader recommendation tool that uses this data to suggest books that have a similar “DNA” profile to a book that a user has enjoyed in the past. The Game of Books is another practical application for the underlying Book Genome Project data. More than 100,000 books have been assigned unique, digital “game cards” that offer readers experience points, digital badges, and other rewards based on a book’s content. Each book’s digital game card can be viewed by scanning the barcode of a physical book using an iPhone or Android device. Readers play by going on specific literary “Journeys,” such as a Science Fiction Journey or Romance Journey, for example. To complete each Journey, players must collect specific badges, such as the “Tough Love,” a badge awarded for reading a romance novel written at a challenging reading level. Similar to the achievement system on the Xbox 360 or the trophy system on PS3 gaming consoles, this digital game card and badge system rewards players for books that they have read, while over time generating a highly customized profile of their tastes. Aaron Stanton, founder of the Book Genome Project and Booklamp.org described it as an “imaginative Foursquare. Foursquare gives you rewards based on where you have been. This gives you rewards based on where your imagination has been,” he told LJ. Players can then share this profile among themselves or on social media sites. The Journeys are also designed to encourage readers to branch out and explore, even if they continue reading within a favorite genre. “To complete the Science Fiction Journey they may have to read books that earn them the Space Exploration badge, the Underwater Cities badge, and the Time Travel badge,” the Kickstarter page explains. Completing these Journeys—which will generally include about five to seven books—offers additional rewards, such as collectible bookmarks. Readers who are fans of specific genres can also earn character levels by reading books with similar themes, becoming a Level 2 Vampire Reader or a Level 3 Fantasy reader after reading several books from those genres, for example. Libraries have been targeted as the recipients of starter kits generated by the crowdfunding campaign to encourage participation by institutions that are already actively involved with literacy efforts, Stanton added. The program is designed to fit well with existing summer reading programs or book clubs. “We want to make it fun to read with friends,” said Stanton. “You can compete or just compare what you’ve read.”

Sandy & Libraries: Photos of Libraries in the Storm’s Aftermath

SLJ — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:42:21 +0000

Are Dewey’s Days Numbered?: Libraries Nationwide Are Ditching the Old Classification System

SLJ — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:44:51 +0000

Illustration by Victor Juhasz

Join the authors for a Twitter chat, Thursday, October 11, at 9 p.m. EST hashtag: #sljdewey

Pushing between snack time and reading group, Zack, a third-grade boy, ducks into our school library while another class is beginning to check out books. “Sue, do you have anything about making stuff with paper?” asks the third grader. Around him, a dozen nine-year-olds independently browse different sections that are marked by large, kid-friendly signs, such as “Scary,” “Animals,” and “Adventure.”

With only a moment to spare, the librarian suggests that Zack look above the shelves for the big “Making Stuff” sign, and then search the labels under “P” for paper. A few minutes later, he’s grinning at Sue, holding not only a book about origami, but also one on sewing that he snatched from a nearby shelf. “That was easy!” he boasts. “And I found more things I want to do, too!”

Zack’s “Aha!” moment is the kind of discovery we like to call orchestrated luck—and it’s the inspiration for a unique system that we’ve developed to encourage more independent and empowered seeking in our library. Here at the Ethical Cultural Fieldston School, a private preK–5 school in New York City, we’ve gotten rid of the Dewey decimal system and created a new library system that’s tailored to the needs of our students, staff, and curriculum. Thanks, in part, to whole-word labeling, child-friendly categories, and visually compelling signs, our kids are now amazingly optimistic about finding what they want. In fact, they keep telling us, “Wow, you’ve really organized the library!”

Our post-Dewey system, which we’ve affectionately dubbed Metis (after the clever, crafty mother of the Greek god Athena), puts things together in a way that encourages kids to move easily from one idea to another. Zack’s natural and simple segue from paper craft to sewing would probably never have happened with Dewey: it would have entailed a jump from 735 to 646. That’s a big reason why a small but growing number of school and public libraries—from the Perry Branch Library in Gilbert, AZ; and Burke High School in Omaha, NE; to the newly opened Carmel Elementary School in Clarksville, TN; and Darien Library in Connecticut—have ditched Dewey, or at least have escorted the 136-year-old system partway out the door.

Has Metis made a difference? Absolutely. During the past year, in our middle-grade library (for kids in grades three to five), we’ve seen dramatic increases in circulation—including around 100 percent or more in our “Sports,” “Countries,” “Humor,” and “Mystery” sections, and a spike of 240 percent in “Machines” (which includes the military and transportation). And in those always under-used sections like “Languages” and what we now call “Community” (sections of the 300s in Dewey), we’ve seen a jump of more than 300 percent. The early grades library, for preK through second-grade kids, has seen similar gains in areas such as “Humor” (87 percent), “Scary” (148 percent), and “Adventure” (110 percent).

Students aren’t the only ones who are enjoying the ease of navigating our collection. “I love your new system!” exclaims one of our kindergarten teachers. “I can find what I need for my classes in no time,” says another. And parents are also appreciative. “My child loves choosing a book to read with me every morning,” reports the mother of a young boy. “We usually start in ‘Machines’ and can find what we want without help. He’s even begun to branch out a bit and is asking for books about space now!”

Winter of our discontent

Certainly there was no lack of order back in the old days, in 2010, when we still used the Dewey decimal system: our shelves were labeled and organized; the online catalog was accessible; students were taught the basics of searching from the earliest grades. So what made us switch?

Our discontent with Dewey arose after years of confronting train books in the 380s and transportation items in the 620s; crafts scattered throughout the 600s and 700s; pets stuck next to cooking; and double-digit Dewey numbers for our extensive folktale collection. More important, we had the sense that for all the energy that we and our students were spending on teaching and learning Dewey (all those scavenger hunts and online library games), even our most advanced students still struggled to navigate smoothly from their initial request through the catalog to the item’s correct place on the shelves. So much effort was expended on this process that we felt as if our library was focused on finding materials rather than actually using them, and at odds with the emphasis on inquiry and critical thinking skills found in the American Association of School Librarians’ “Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.”

Once our objections to using Dewey became clear to us, the problems we’d been working around for years became intolerable and we began questioning everything. “Is Dewey and the curriculum focus that it demands leaving us behind in the 20th century?” we asked ourselves. “Why are we using decimals in a children’s library, when they don’t learn that until fourth-grade math? And why are our picture books arranged by author, when most children are more interested in the content than in who wrote the book?” By January 2011, we knew it was time to say good-bye to Dewey.

Ditching Dewey

With a palpable sense of terror and excitement, we set about creating a new system. We knew the task was huge, and we had no idea if we were up to it. The process involved a great deal of thinking, talking, and pushing at one another’s arguments to try to find flaws in them. Questioning our long-held assumptions generated a wave of almost superhuman energy that propelled us into the massive undertaking ahead.

With some sleuthing, we discovered the work of Linda Cooper, a professor at New York’s Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, who had researched the way that kids categorize information. Taking a cue from her methodology, we asked our fourth and fifth graders to brainstorm the contents of their ideal library in terms of categories or topics. It was from a request during one of these sessions that we got the idea for and name of our new crafts category, when a student innocently asked, “Can you please make a section on making stuff?” These sessions helped us hone our 26 “main categories,” counterparts to Dewey’s 10 main classes.

We also gave small groups of third and fourth graders carefully selected stacks of books and asked them to organize them in a meaningful way, and then to explain their reasoning. We discovered that many students wanted books on flying animals to be lumped together, and almost everyone wanted items on aquatic animals to be grouped together—penguins with sharks, dolphins, and seashells. Ultimately, after consulting with our science teachers, we decided to adapt their terminology, and we formulated animal subdivisions that approximated scientific classifications, while making some exceptions: “Aquatic Animals,” “Birds,” “Bugs,” “Reptiles,” “Mammals,” and “Prehistoric.”

Our kindergarteners and first graders were asked to make some sophisticated choices about sports biographies and animal books by moving to one side of the room or another in response to specific questions, such as, “Does Derek Jeter belong with famous people or sports?” or “Should this book on whales go with the mammal books or with books about other aquatic animals?” (Jeter sensibly went with sports, and whales with aquatic animals, despite the fact that our students were aware that the Yankees shortstop is famous and that whales are mammals.)

We also measured some of our young library users’ attitudes. We asked our first and fourth graders how they felt while they were searching for a good book, and how they felt when they had trouble finding a title. Our first graders didn’t hold back; their responses were emotional and surprisingly succinct. “When I can’t find what I want, I feel aginy [sic],” wrote one young boy. He wasn’t the only one, affirming that we had to make our students’ library experiences much better.

Articles of belief

As we worked on developing ideas about categories and subcategories, their order, call numbers, and visual labels, we kept a few principles in mind. These principles became our navigational tools. Our system had to be…

Child-centered: it had to start from a student’s point of view and use appropriate language for our users.

Browsable: the order and the sections and subsections had to be clear not only to librarians, but also to students, faculty, and parents.

Flexible: it had to be capable of being adapted for use by a range of ages and be capable of evolving over time, as the world changed and our collection grew.

We also knew that we wanted a system that allowed our students to be as independent as possible—and that meant our spine labels needed a major overhaul. For starters, we wanted to make sure that the labels had a strong visual component, so that students could easily tell what section they were in—this was especially important for our youngest learners who may lack reading skills. To accomplish this, we hired a graphic designer to create a subject label for each main category—for instance, a tennis racket hitting a football for “Sports” and an image of gears for “Machines.” These labels are a huge hit with everyone. They clearly identify what the book is about, and they’re so visually engaging and child-friendly that they’re often the first things our patrons comment on.

We also knew that the use of any kind of code had to be minimal, if at all. Consequently, we decided to use whole language in our call numbers and on our spine labels. So, for instance, instead of 793.57 GUT, a corresponding label now reads “Sports–Baseball,” and 818 HAL has become “Humor–Jokes.”

The grand plan

After several months of dissecting ideas and piling books into groups, we started to see the big picture and established the following plan:

Primarily, we’d use alphabetical order. Although younger students struggle with this, it’s a skill that’s taught in the earliest grades, and reinforced in classrooms, with print dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Because alphabetizing the main classes by name would result in an order that wasn’t very helpful (as in “Adventure,” “Animals,” and “Arts”), we decided to assign a single letter (A-Z) to each of our main categories. This is the only code we use in our system, and it has enabled us to create a flow and logical order for the entire library space, with, for example, “Machines,” then “Science,” leading into “Nature,” then “Animals” and “Pets.”

Within our main categories, we use mostly an alphabetical arrangement for the subcategories, which gives students a clear, intuitive order when browsing, and allows for maximum flexibility and adaptability in terms of future changes to and the expansion of our collection. In a few cases, alphabetical order wasn’t helpful, and we opted to place a number before the subcategory so that the shelves have a logical order. For instance, in “Countries,” we’ve arranged books by eras: “1. Ancient,” “2. Medieval,” and so on.

Fairly early on, we made the crucial decision to give up the idea of creating a system that classifies books as precisely as Dewey does. Instead, we opted for something we call “categorization,” based on some of the ideas developed by England’s East Sussex County Library in the 1980s. We’d put books in helpful categories, like “Languages” or “Mystery,” and dispense with author Cutters on the spines. After all, most students don’t care who wrote a book on volcanoes, they just want to find the topic, so the writer’s name isn’t especially helpful. (Putting the first three letters of the author’s surname on the call number is useful if you want to know exactly where a book is on the shelf, but it’s unnecessary if you keep your subcategories browsable.) Overall, this meant that many times we’d have more books—say, 15 books in “Nature-Disasters”—with the same call numbers than we did with Dewey. We figured it was our job to keep those categories manageable and of a helpful size. We did use author Cutters in “Picture Stories,” “Fiction,” and “Verse,” where subcategories are larger or the author’s name is an important factor in selecting a book, especially for students and teachers in the upper grades.

While we were at it, we also decided we’d break some rules when it came to dealing with fiction and nonfiction. Since we often talk to our students about evaluating online information and critical thinking, we thought that mixing together fiction and nonfiction titles would lead to some interesting teaching opportunities and conversations about books. In addition, it would help us categorize the growing number of books that occupy that grey area between the two. (For years, we’d been trying to explain to kids why the “Magic School Bus” series was in nonfiction when it’s obvious to any five-year-old that Ms. Frizzle isn’t real.) We decided that, particularly in the lower-grades library, we’d interfile fiction and nonfiction, and clearly indicate the difference on the spine by using a red dot for “imagination” or a blue dot for “information”—our terms for fiction and nonfiction. A lot of students, who love being able to find all sorts of items on the same shelf, also urged us to add a purple dot to identify books that straddle both categories, but so far, we’ve resisted that temptation.

Springing forward

Over the next several months, we had time to test, ruminate, and get a good feeling for what would work as separate categories. We consulted with the science department about our animal classifications and with the guidance department about the best word to represent learning differences, as well as disabilities such as blindness, so that our terminology aligned with our curriculum. With summer 2011 rapidly approaching, we decided to test some of our theories while we still had a captive audience.

We put “Holiday” picture books and nonfiction books together and every title we found that fit the notion of “Scary” into separately labeled areas. (This arrangement turned out to be a huge kid-magnet, and we couldn’t keep those shelves filled.) In the upper-grades library, we already had our Dewey fiction area labeled by genre, but now we separated the titles into smaller sections, such as “Adventure,” “Fantasy,” and “Sci-fi.” Kids who’d previously had trouble choosing a book for independent or pleasure reading loved this new and easier-to-navigate arrangement.

During spring break, we tore apart the nonfiction sections (300s, 600s, and 700s) and worked on creating subcategories for “Machines,” “Community,” “Ourselves,” and “Making Stuff,” putting stacks of books on carts, and reorganizing the shelves in a rough way. Some of the first categories we worked on were synthetic, in that they gathered together books from various parts of Dewey. The “Mystery” category, for example, includes books about spies (327), puzzles (793.7), crime (360), the unexplained (001.9), and codes (650), and “Making Stuff” features books on models from the 620s, cookbooks from 640, books from many sections of the 700s, and guides for writing poetry from 808. Our circulation immediately soared, especially in the noncurricular areas, such as “Making Stuff.” And even with the old Dewey labels still on our books and rough signs on shelves, one of our third graders, who’d asked for help in the last few moments of class, had no trouble finding a magic book, because she understood how to look under “M” for magic in the “Making Stuff” section. “That was so easy,” she declared, “I don’t know why I even needed to ask for help.”

Summer of love

The end of the 2010–2011 school year found us pulling apart the shelves. With our alphabet floor mats strewn across the rug, we began piling up picture books in the lower-grades library, and dissolving what remained of the Dewey order in our upper-grades room. We ordered custom picture labels for each category and laid in a stockpile of dots, stars, and spine-label protectors. Book by book, we determined whether it was fiction or nonfiction. We wrestled with the problems inherent in making some of the longer whole-word designations (such as “USA–African Americans–Civil Rights”) fit on a spine label. Then, after the books had been assigned to their new categories, it was time to reassign call numbers in the catalog, print labels, and relabel every single item in the library. We sorted all day and reclassified all night, getting the next section ready for relabeling.

Fortunately, we had a lot of help from our community. Several high school students came back to work on our assembly lines, stopping briefly, every now and then, as they came across one of their old favorite novels. More than three dozen volunteers, including parents, faculty, administrators, and kids, helped out. They joined our family members and a few stalwart friends in removing old layers of labels bearing years of Dewey workarounds. It took us six weeks to tackle our 20,000-volume collection, but it was truly a cleansing experience for all of us.

A new beginning

As September 2011 approached, we made posters using our subject-picture labels, put up shelf signs, introduced our faculty to the new system, and got ready to roll it out to our students. Some teachers preferred just a printed outline, while others worked with us to get a feel for the new sections. In our introductory student sessions, we encouraged kids to explore the system. While a handful of students who had been relatively comfortable with Dewey expressed some discomfort with the new arrangement, the vast majority was thrilled by the change.

During their very first class in the upper-grades library, our third graders were easily able to find humorous fiction, scary fiction, basketball, and animal fiction on their own, leaving the librarian free to talk to students about fractured fairy tales and whether or not Gail Carson Levine was a good choice—and then quickly help another student find an appropriate audiobook.

Since then, we’ve seen kids navigate the new system with ease and speed, locating materials independently with just a sentence or two of explanation from us. Students who’d struggled to find a good book to read independently are suddenly choosing books from multiple sections with simple prompting. Books on inventions, science experiments, and children’s play scripts that had languished for years are now flying off the shelves. And nowadays, we spend checkout time talking to kids about the next book they might like to read rather than helping them find a joke or magic book.

Parents are also thrilled with the new setup. They’re now able to help their kids find books, and that sense of accomplishment has translated into a greater appreciation of our library and its services.

The faculty response has been positive, too. While teachers who knew exactly where to go to find their old favorites were at first a little disconcerted by the changes, they soon discovered that the new system provides opportunities to quickly find new resources. That probably explains why teachers are now visiting the library more frequently. It’s not uncommon for one to rush in during a prep period, looking for picture books on bullying or sharing (topics that were formerly scattered all over the picture book and nonfiction sections with Dewey), and walk out with everything they need within a few minutes, rather than spending a half hour or more moving from catalog to shelf and back again.

Where to, next?

Is there really a “happily ever after”? We think so. We only just finished up the “tale” end of cataloging our collection, and we still have some rather ungainly call numbers in some of the history sections. We’re working on improving our signage, and we’re finding new ways to fine-tune the services we provide. We’ve also set up a website at www.metisinnovations.com to encourage our colleagues in the library world to share their ideas.

Change is hard, but the new system has been a boon for our students, faculty, and parents, and it’s boosted the library’s standing in our school and community. Having moved away from an old system of organization that demanded that a significant portion of our teaching time was spent on simply finding books, we’re now able to concentrate on talking with our students about books, as well as teaching them critical thinking and assessment skills. In this 21st-century world of rapidly changing technology, we want our library to play a central role in our school and community. We’re finding that our new system supports the library program so well that we are better able to collaborate and support the schoolwide curriculum. We know our new system isn’t perfect, but we’re definitely on the right track. And to think it all started when we waved good-bye to Dewey.

From the left: Librarian Tali Balas Kaplan, Assistant Librarian Andrea K. Dolloff, Librarian Sue Giffard, and Technology Librarian Jennifer Still-Schiff teach at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City.

Romney Doesn’t Support Fed Dollars for Common Core

Rocco Staino — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:03:26 +0000

What can we expect if Mitt Romney’s elected the next president? More school choice, absolutely no federal money devoted to helping implement the Common Core Standards, and an A to F grading system for all K-12 schools.

NBC’s Brian Williams (left) with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

“Education is about teachers, great leadership, and parents.” the Republican presidential candidate told those gathered at NBC’s third annual Education Nation Summit in New York this week, which many say outlined his education policy for the campaign.

Romney proposed that the nation follow Florida’s lead by grading schools so that parents would have more choice for their kids. Moderator Brian Williams, who noted that the current tuition for Romney’s alma mater, Cranbrook School, an elite all-boys prep school in Bloomfield Hills, MI, is $38,900, and asked if every child deserved that kind of education. Romney said his support for a voucher system included using Title I funds to support school choice. When 17-year-old Nikhil Goyal, a senior from Syosset High School in New York, asked about standardized testing, Romney said he supported teaching to the test.

Many educators attending the event took interest in Romney’s opposition to a “national curriculum” and his stance against allocating federal dollars to support the Common Core State Standards.

“I don’t subscribe to the idea of the federal government trying to push a common core on various states,” he said. “It’s one thing to put it out as a model and let people adopt it as they will, but to financially reward states based upon accepting the federal government’s idea of a curriculum, I think, is a mistake. And the reason I say that is that there may be a time when the government has an agenda that it wants to promote.”

The three-day event from September 23to 25 was hosted at the New York Public Library’s 42nd Street building and brought together NBC journalists Williams, Tom Brokaw, Rehema Ellis, and others along with governors, mayors, commissioners of education, and teachers to engage the public in a solution-focused discussion with the goal of improving education and preparing American students for jobs of the future.

The summit failed to mention the importance of libraries in education, and they weren’t even mentioned in a session called “Early Literacy Imperative: Central Falls (RI) Collaborates to Improve Reading,” which was moderated by Chelsea Clinton.

“Every classroom in our school has its own library, and those books travel home with students daily,” said Kath Connolly, spokesperson for the Learning Community,a featured charter school in an email to School Library Journal. “A central book room is constantly stocking and restocking those classroom libraries so that the content and the reading level remain engaging and challenging for students,”

Anthony Marx, New York Public Library’s president and CEO, welcomed everyone at a lunch where he emphasized the library’s goal to offer all children quality programming. The library system just went through a major reorganization, which eliminated the position of assistant director for public programs and lifelong learning for children, teen and families, which was held by Jack Martin, the current president of the Young Adult Library Services Association.

When questioned about the reorg, Marx stressed the library’s commitment to youth services and added that the library is currently recruiting a director of education programs, which will be a senior management position.

“Once that position is filled other positions will follow,” Marx told School Library Journal.

The summit presented 10 case studies and presented toolkits for educators. Zoran Popovic, director of the Center for Games Science at the University of Washington, used a crowd-sourcing exercise in which attendees helped to create a digital game called Wiznapped.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Turn Wikipedia Articles into Ebooks | Screencast Tutorial

The Digital Shift — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:31:33 +0000

Wikipedia users can now create ebooks using articles from the English edition of the crowd-sourced reference. Library consultant Linda Braun shows how it's done.

NY’s Queens Library Brings In Youth Services Champion to New Post

Lauren Barack — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:00:55 +0000

If one theme runs through Tracie D. Hall’s career, it’s the passion she feels for young people and

Tracie D. Hall

ensuring they have the resources to succeed. As Queens Library’s newest director of strategy and organizational development, she’s involved in the library’s customer service priorities—but she’ll also ensure that youth services remains a priority.

“I’m always in awe of the raw potential in young people,” says Hall, who came aboard on July 16. “Institutions can either squash that and try to contain it, or create an atmosphere to foster that and help it grow.”

It’s clear which side Hall falls based on her work experience—from directing a homeless shelter in Santa Monica, CA, to working as a senior program manager in young adult services at the Seattle Public Library and working to help build partnerships between schools and public libraries.

“We wanted to reach students before they got to high school,” she says. “We wanted them to take the public library as a resource with them as they went along.”

It was her work in Seattle that influenced Hall to take her librarianship to the next level and earn her MLIS from the University of Washington’s Information School. She was named a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal in 2004, and throughout her career, she has continued to look for ways to widen programs for librarians and youth, including her position with the American Library Association directing its Office of Diversity.

“We we’re focusing on the next generation of librarians who had a heart for public service,” she says.

Hall says young adult services is one of the “hallmark” programs at Queens Library and it will continue to remain a priority there, as will working with the New York City Department of Education to open up the library’s holdings and provide more access to them for teachers across all boroughs. And for the first-time New Yorker, Hall is jazzed to start.

“People in New York seem to have an appetite for the amazing,” she says. “I think because of the magnitude, the scope and the size, people aren’t afraid of good ideas.”

Locals Create ‘People’s Library’ During Seattle Public Library Closure

Debra Lau Whelan — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:57:26 +0000

Just because citywide budget cuts have forced the Seattle Public Library to close its doors for a week starting Monday, doesn’t mean kids will be left without good books or fun things to do during that time.

A group is organizing a “People’s Library” in the Central District—and it needs children and YA titles.

The goal? To provide the public with kid’s activities, reading materials, and Internet access from Monday, August 27 through Sunday, September 2, when all 26 branches will be shut. Libraries will remain closed on September 3 for Labor Day.

The group, led by a local activist named Rebecca Yates Coley, has set up a Facebook page and blog calling for financial donations, as well as books, magazines—and just any reading material.

An August 22 blog post read, “Now accepting financial donations” with a link to a page to help reach a goal of $500 to help cover the costs of wireless hotspots, storage needs, transportation, and arts and crafts materials.

But as of August 23, there were no donations.

To set up a functional and welcoming library space, organizers are also asking for other much-needed supplies on its wish list, such as milk crates, pop-up tents or tarps, tables and chairs, wagons or dollies, and small generators to run laptops. They’re also seeking loaner laptops and hot spots for the week.

There are a total of seven donation sites set up throughout the city—and local book stores, such as the Pegasus Book Store in West Seattle, have made large contributions.

In fact, people have been so generous that organizers are now faced with a storage problem. So they’re asking those in the construction, storage, or trucking business to help out.

“Come to the Library on Monday, Aug 27! Browse our collection. Lead arts and crafts activities or games with the kids” reads a recent blog post. “Bring your neighbors.”

Unlike Seattle Public, this library won’t have late fees—and people can even keep the books if they like.

Chicago Kids Read a Record 1.5 Million Books as Part of Rahm’s Readers Summer Reading Program

SLJ — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:22:34 +0000

Some 60,232 Chicago kids read more than 1.5 million books this summer, thanks to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Rahm’s Readers, the Chicago Public Library’s summer reading program.

“Reading provides children with a window to the world and a door to their imagination, and Rahm’s Readers encourages children and their parents to continue to read new books and revisit old favorites during the summer months,” said Emanuel.

Studies show that children who participate in summer reading programs maintain or improve their reading skills and start school ready to learn. Last summer 58,696 children read more than 1.4 million books as part of the Rahm’s Readers.

“We are very excited that a record number of children participated in the summer reading program,” said Chicago Library Commissioner Brian Bannon, explaining that this year, the library reached out to new community partners such as By The Hand Club for Kids and Reach Out and Read to help encourage kids and teens to participate.

This year’s theme was “You Are What You Read,” and in addition to reading, the program encouraged children to eat right, exercise, and keep themselves, their families, and the planet healthy. Kids between the ages of three to 14 participated in the Rahm’s Readers by reading and reporting on books that they chose themselves and attending programs and earning stickers and prizes each week.

Picture-book readers and pre-readers who completed 25 pictures books earned a bag for books. Children who read chapter books earned a back-to-school drawstring backpack when they completed 10 chapter books. Weekly book raffles, author visits, performers and presenters were just some of the activities that were featured throughout the summer to help motivate kids to read for fun. All readers and their families were invited to a special Reader’s Night/Day event to celebrate their success.

The Chicago Public Library on August 20 also kicked off its first fine amnesty program in more than 20 years, in part to encourage students to return books and any multimedia, and start the school year with a clean record. “For any students that participated in Rahm’s Readers and forgot to return a book, or just borrowed an item and hasn’t returned it, now is the time to bring it back without paying any late fees,” said Bannon. “Regardless of the reason for not returning an item, students with overdue materials can start fresh and take advantage of the library and its extensive resources for their studies.”

There will be no late fees on any overdue books, CDs, DVDs, and other materials returned between August 20 and September 7, regardless of how long ago they were checked out. Also, there are no additional fines for patrons who pay replacement costs for lost items.

DC Public Libraries Serve Up Books—and Lunch, Too

Lauren Barack — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:12:08 +0000

The main branch of the DC Public Library serves lunch this summer.

Literacy isn’t the only thing Washington, DC, public libraries offered kids this summer. They also served up some lunch.

“We wanted to make sure they had a reason to come,” says Ginnie Cooper, chief librarian for the District of Columbia. “Sometimes the kids will come for the lunch, and sometimes they come for the program.”

This year, 11 out of 25 branches participated in the DC Free Summer Meals Program, providing kids 11,550 boxed lunches that include carrots, sandwiches, and chocolate milk—all fully funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Now in its second year, the public libraries decided to add special programming to the day’s lunch— with the topic and activity individually handled by each branch, says Cooper.

Students who are eligible for free or reduced priced school lunches also qualified for the free summer meals —although any child could take part in all branch activities that took place during the 1 p.m.- 2:30 p.m. slot when lunch was served. While programs varied at each branch, they included reading hours, science programs—and even a chance to play Wii games while snacking on fruit cups.

Although numbers are still being tallied, Cooper says branches have reported seeing more kids since the program launched in 2011—whether that includes coming in early to read or staying after “to appreciate the air conditioning,” she says.

During the summer months, just 14.5 percent of kids eligible for free lunch actually receive the meals. But DC ranks number one in the country in its ability to reach these communities. It boasts getting meals to 73.5 percent of qualified children, says Sandra Schlicker, deputy superintendent of DC’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education Government. Meals are served at 343 Summer Meals sites throughout Washington, DC— with some serving up to two free meals each day.

“Our goal is 100 percent,” she says. We don’t want any child to be hungry in the summertime.

Meals are delivered at about 7:30 a.m. at participating branches, says Cooper. And while most libraries don’t open until 9:30 a.m. or 1 p.m. depending on the day, library staff must be present to accept deliveries of the boxed lunches. Refrigerators were also purchased with grant money to keep the meals fresh for lunch time.

This year, DC expanded the number of library lunch sites to 11 from seven, and Cooper says next year it could include the new Mt.Pleasant branch, which opens this September.

“Just as teachers see kids who are hungry, so too, library staff noticed kids who were hungry,” says Cooper. “We’re thrilled to be able to feed their bodies as the same time as providing nourishment for their minds.”

NYC Pols Urge State to Ban Sex Offenders from Library Children’s Rooms

SLJ — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:24:57 +0000

NYPL’s 42 Street Children’s Center.

New York Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens have asked the New York state legislature to pass a law barring sex offenders from children’s reading rooms in libraries.

In addition to proposing a City Council resolution, de Blasio and Valone sent a letter to Sheldon Silver, speaker of the Assembly, and Dean G. Skelos, majority leader of the Senate.

The two are targeting children’s rooms specifically because complete bans on sex offenders in libraries have been held unconstitutional, as LJ reported. “We suspect a law along these lines recently passed in the State Senate will face similar legal challenges,” the two said, referring to S3744-2011, which passed the Senate but died in the Assembly.

However another bill that focuses only on children’s areas of libraries already exists: called S7823-2011 and sponsored by Senator John L. Sampson, it was referred to the Senate rules committee on July 11.

Read the full story on Library Journal.

Want to Work with Kids in a Public Library? Here’s the Inside Scoop

Elizabeth Bird — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 05:05:32 +0000

Illustration by Giselle Potter

In this Article

Where would you like to work?

Mad skillz

It’s all about personality, baby

What’s the going rate these days?

It was 2001 and I was a year out of college, my dream of becoming a photographer neatly scrapped due to the slightly sobering fact that my photography skills, not to put too fine a point on it, stunk. Library school seemed a given at that point in my life, and I was determined to follow what I had always thought was my lifelong ambition: becoming an archivist. I wanted to conserve books. Never mind that I’m as gentle with rare materials as a cat with a dead mouse; I was determined to see it through.

That resolve lasted until I took LIS 721 Library Materials for Children on a lark. Despite the fact that I was pretty sure I didn’t like kids (a suspicion that proved to be poorly founded), just a couple of classes with Professor Heidi Hammond were enough to turn me off the wayward path of conservation and onto my true calling—children’s librarianship. After graduating in 2003, I left the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN, and soon discovered that New York City was the place to get hired.

At the time, landing a children’s librarian job was tricky but surmountable. These days, of course, it’s significantly more difficult. Between budget cuts and systems that reinvent the very definition of what it means to be a librarian, the word of the day for us must be “flexibility.” Still, in the end, it’s entirely worth it. Children’s librarians are the very backbone of the public library system, creating the readers who’ll grow up

to support the system with their tax dollars. As for school librarians, they’re often the first and sometimes the only librarians whom children will ever encounter, providing services for comers of every background.

I’m going to go out on a wild limb here and assume that many SLJ readers have a pretty little ALA-accredited library degree tucked safely away in their closet. But for those of you who don’t or hope to have one soon, let me guide you through the profession’s trips and traps. Let’s look at what you’ll need to know, where you’d like to go, what you can expect in terms of pocket change, and what the future holds. Everyone else, come along for the ride.

Where would you like to work?

As a children’s librarian, your choices basically boil down to four possibilities: working in a public library, a private library, a public school library, or a private school library. Librarians in each work with children but serve them differently. A school librarian’s days are chock-full of classes, leaving little time for her own work (and what little time remains is often booked by teachers who think the media specialist has nothing better to do than help them). A public librarian must balance storytimes and other programs with class visits and the after-school rush, as kids with working parents race through the door to claim computers and table space.

The public vs. private school question is an ethical and a financial challenge. Recent Pratt library school graduate Allison Bruce put it best when she explained that for her it comes down to working “for an impoverished population and risking failure and burnout, or continuing to serve a population that I don’t feel particularly needs my skills.” To some degree, children from families of every income level need a librarian, but those with fewer advantages particularly benefit from having one in their lives. Then there’s the question of hiring. While public school libraries often require additional education degrees, private schools don’t have such restrictions and can pay more. Hiring practices in public libraries vary according to location. While big cities like New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles have put the brakes on hiring, right now, suburban library systems seem to be advertising for new librarians. As for private children’s libraries, they’re rare but wonderful beasts. Imagine working for a children’s library housed in a museum or a private children’s literary collection that’s owned by a university. It can happen, but you have to be open to the possibility.

What it all boils down to is the fact that you’ll have to look in a variety of places. New York Society Library children’s librarian Carrie Silberman found her position through the American Library Association’s (ALA) website. Though she’d studied to be a school librarian, her new job allows her to “create a modern children’s library within this historic institution.” The trick is staying flexible about where you end up. As another new graduate from Pratt, Danielle Kalan, says, “This job market requires it…. I’ve noticed a trend away from total specialization in library school, since students want to be more broadly employable.” So while you may prefer working with children, stay open to young adult librarianship, archival librarianship, or working with adults. The job you get today may just lead to the job you want tomorrow.

Ask the graduates

How do you keep up with what’s new?

Allison Bruce: “I read the magazines published by ALA, AASL, ALSC, and YALSA thoroughly. Also School Library Journal in hard copy (I’m old-fashioned). I adore The Horn Book, more for personal than professional reasons… and follow a lot of the major players on Facebook and my newly activated Twitter account (I also read articles and news posts via Facebook and Twitter).”

Mahnaz Dar: “I read School Library Journal fairly regularly, both to look at what’s going on in the library world, as well as to look at new or interesting books. Listservs, like the Hudson Valley Library Association (HVLA) listserv, are really helpful, because often I’ll notice that librarians are emailing to ask about a certain topic, like ebooks or iPads. Conferences or meetings for librarians, like HVLA or the Department of Education, can also be really helpful for meeting other librarians and talking in an informal setting about new trends.”

Danielle Kalan: “I think other librarians are always a terrific resource—I learn so much from just talking to colleagues and fellow students about what they’re reading, what they’re noticing, and what’s new in their libraries.”

Mad skillz

Which is to say, there are classes that you’ll be glad you took. I’ll level with you. In grad school, I took a total of two classes directly related to children’s librarianship. These consisted of a class on literature (the one I credit with my vocation change) and another on programming. At the time, I had no idea that many of the other classes I happened to take would prove useful, including:

Reference and online services. Recent Pratt graduate Mahnaz Dar says, “The most important course I took was Information Services and Resources, which taught me how to reference sources and conduct reference interviews with patrons. It seems like the one skill that almost every librarian will use, and it was extremely valuable to me to really think about evaluating reference sources. Because I want to work as a school librarian, helping students conduct research is a big part of what I’ll be doing, and this course taught me to think critically about sources in a new way.” These classes sometimes offer help with managing a children’s reference desk, which may come in handy when you’re faced with a tow-headed five-year-old who wants to know where he can find “the orange book.” As Professor Hammond says of the skill that they don’t teach but that we all wish we had, “Mind reading would be helpful.” In lieu of that, try a reference course.

Management of libraries and information centers. Managing a library system may be the last thing on your mind when all you want is to just get hired. Yet you’d be amazed how easily a children’s librarian can slip into the role of manager. Why’s that? Jill Rothstein, manager of New York Public Library’s 67th Street Branch, says, “The same skills that make a good children’s librarian—dedication, energy, innovation—are important, along with understanding how to communicate with different personalities in staff and management, the ability to motivate others, and the ability to keep track of lots of balls in the air.” Remember, keep an eye on the future, even as you try to find a job in the present.

Cataloging. Don’t believe me? Then take it from newly minted school librarian Allison Bruce who says, “I wish I had taken a class devoted solely to cataloging…. I am finding that I’m teaching myself a lot of cataloging on the job and am sure that there are major elements I’m missing as I go.”

Serials management. Whether it’s dealing with the latest print issue of Ranger Rick or the digital edition of Kirkus, a course in serials will give you all the information you’ll need when deciding how to allocate your limited budget and what formats to consider.

Law. OK, I’m kidding here. I’ve found the law librarianship class completely useless. Sorry, law lovers.

While you’re considering potential courses, don’t shy away from those that test your prejudices. Whether it’s taking a class on young adult literature when you’re sure all teens are the devil’s spawn or a graphic-novel course when you couldn’t care two bits about the comic format, taking courses in areas you dislike or fear can only allay those worries and give you the preparation you’ll need. Consider, too, taking classes outside of your graduate program. As Steve Zampino, a teen librarian at Stamford, CT’s Ferguson Library, points out, “Being able to speak Spanish, or another foreign language used by a significant number of a library’s patrons, can be a big help on the job.” These days, multilingual librarians have a significant leg up on the competition.

Also pay attention to what’s new. Today’s innovation just might be tomorrow’s norm. Professor Hammond recommends keeping up with ebooks, ereaders, iPads, and apps, as well as social networking sites and cyber safety. New grad Danielle Kalan says the information technologies class, a core requirement when she attended Pratt, is extremely relevant to her work, especially the basic Web-design skills she learned. “These are the skills that are going to set recent graduates apart as desirable applicants, skills that those who were library students even 10 or 15 years ago won’t have,” she says. They’ll also give you the ammunition you need to justify your job. And when it comes to applying those skills later, find librarians in the field that you can look to for guidance. For example, if you want to be a public school librarian and you don’t currently worship at the altar of Buffy Hamilton, a. k. a. The Unquiet Librarian, now’s the time to start.

It’s all about personality, baby

My mother always said that they should give out degrees in social work alongside degrees in library science to folks going into public library work. Basically, if you’re going to deal with the public, you need to consider how your personality gels with the profession. Work in a public library and you’ll find out some valuable things about yourself. When asked what makes a good children’s librarian, Steve Zampino suggested that “diplomacy and empathy…can be very helpful when dealing with kids, teens, parents, and teachers in a variety of situations.” Don’t feel particularly diplomatic or empathetic? Have a short fuse? Figure out now what might cause you trouble later.

Surprisingly, the rewards outweigh any unpleasantness. Helping a tiny tot find a copy of Strega Nona will get you through an irate mom who demands that you burn your copy of In the Night Kitchen any day of the week. Above all, know thyself. If merely answering the phone gives you stage fright or you don’t much like people, any people, then perhaps front-desk work isn’t for you.

What’s the going rate these days?

Naturally, you’re going to want to know how much your average children’s librarian makes. I don’t think I’ll shock anyone by noting that few folks retire in their 40s, thanks to a lucrative life behind a reference desk. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 the median salary for any librarian was $54,500 per year or $26.20 per hour. (For more information, see SLJ’s first public library spending survey and Library Journal’s 2011 “Placements & Salary” survey.) Here’s the good news and bad news about job prospects. The bad news is that while the “employment of librarians is expected to grow by 7 percent from 2010 to 2020,” that’s slower than the average for all occupations. The good news is that while there are limited positions available in the early part of the decade, the prospects will sharply improve as older librarians retire. That’s all well and good, but how does it look for children’s librarians? Well, according to SLJ’s 2010–2011 school library spending survey, librarians who work in the educational field also have a good and bad scenario. Tiny budgets, additional duties, and limited hours are some of the problems you might encounter. On the plus side, the survey showed that media specialists’ salaries went up by 10 percent, book collections have grown, and it appears that painful budget cuts are at last ebbing.

Finding a job

Happily, in spite of every economic downturn, library jobs still exist. Unfortunately, the number of applicants per position is sky high. That means you’ll need to explore unconventional places for employment. “I try to keep up with various listservs,” says Mahnaz Dar. “For example, there’s Pratt’s listserv, and I’m also on the Hudson Valley Library Association’s [an organization for librarians working in independent schools] listserv. However, most of the actual jobs I hear about are from people I know who have told me about opportunities at their libraries.” Joining a library as an intern, a page, a clerk, or a volunteer can give you first dibs when a job opens up. Plus, librarians will sometimes bend over backward for an employee they know over an unknown applicant.

Connect!

The children’s librarian who works in a bubble is just asking for trouble. If you think you can ignore networking just because you work with preschoolers, think again. With public library cuts looming and school boards axing media specialists, the time to meet, collaborate, and learn is now. Public librarians need to reach out and meet up with local school librarians, public and private. Build relationships with these people, and you’ll get your hooks into students who might otherwise never have stepped foot in a public library without a gentle little push. Likewise, a school librarian who connects with a public library can discover that the relationship yields all kinds of unexpected rewards. For example, one Manhattan public school of my acquaintance cultivated a partnership with its local public library. When the school librarian fell ill and was out on leave for several months, the public library sent multiple children’s librarians to the school to read to the kids on a regular basis. Build a bridge, and you’ll have many reasons to cross it.

Another way to connect is by joining a professional organization consisting of like-minded folks. There are the usual suspects like ALA, the Public Library Association, and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), which all help you find your tribe. Consider thinking outside the box—join organizations that connect to your world but in ways you’d never imagine. For example, I’m a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators as well as the United States Board on Books for Young People, both of which give me insights into the crop of new books for children in the States, as well as children’s books found worldwide.

It can be done!

No matter how daunting the outlook seems, there’s hope. Maybe it’s ridiculous, but I believe that even if all other forms of librarianship were to crumble to the ground and wash away with the tides, children’s librarians would remain standing. New parents and children appear every day. They need your opinions, your thoughts, your recommendations, and your help in finding the best books, websites, apps, and materials out there. Some people say that where there’s a will there’s a way. I say that where there are children there will be librarians, by hook or by crook. Now go out there and help those kids, tiger!

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