Public Libraries

Youth services librarians from the NYC metropolitan area gathered for the fifth annual KidLib Unconference at Darien Public Library on August 7.

Rachel G. Payne, coordinator of early childhood services at Brooklyn Public Library, offers advice for parents.

Storytime is the premium service for children in public libraries across the country. For many youth librarians, it's the most treasured part of their job. A storytime veteran shares her best practices.

American Library Association (ALA) President Barbara Stripling unveiled the “Declaration for the Right to Libraries” on Monday during a signing ceremony at Nashville Public Library, the first in a series of signing events the ALA plans to host across the country in the coming months.

Draconian cuts to Miami public libraries—nearly 45 percent of its branches shuttered and more than 250 staff positions—lost stand to impact the community. The intended cuts pose a monumental loss of service to Miami’s K–12 students, as some of the public libraries slotted to shut down are close to Miami-Dade County public schools.

A design revolution is reinventing the children’s room in public libraries and changing the way young children learn. This new breed of literacy-packed play spaces in libraries is inspired by children’s museums and the developmental theories that drive them.

Acclaimed author/illustrator Ashley Bryan celebrated his 90th birthday at the Simon & Schuster Children's fall preview on July 25. The winner of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton and Coretta Scott King Awards was joined by librarians, publishing professionals, and fellow children's books artists.

It’s official. Gum Spring Library is no longer the new kid in town. And now the realization that tweens are the most frequent Teen Center users has forced staff to look more closely at upcoming programs.

During his “busman’s holiday” in France, SLJ’s contributing editor Rocco Staino was invited to Paris to tour the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the National Center for Children’s Literature. In this dispatch, he shares what he learned about the business of kids’ books in France—notably, American authors are very popular—plus highlights of his visits to other library branches and bookstores.