Because nobody taught you how to do your taxes.
Teens First: Reimagined Library Services for and with Teens Additional Resources I Downloadable Infographic (.pdf) In YALSA's Organizational Plan and report, the Future of Library Services for and with Teens: A Call to Action, YALSA outlines a paradigm shift that calls for a transformation in libraries and teen services. The transformation takes an asset-based and youth-centered approach, focusing on developing teen outcomes in a number of key areas.re-imagining teen services with a teens first approach
Blackout Poetry is a great way to celebrate National Poetry Month in April! We set up a table with book pages, markers, and that’s all it took to get the kids creating. The posters hanging …
Don’t be like Philip! This was one of the first photo projects that we ever undertook. After seeing a seminar by Ben Bizzle, I really got inspired by trying to branch out with a little bit …
YALSA offers several downloadable resources about its events and resources. You can download the following tools, including presentations, handouts, and flyers for use at conferences, presentations, workshops, and other events.Downloads and more for presentations and workshops
Kimberly Bolan This companion website for Teen Spaces: The Step-by-Step Library Makeover, second edition, provides downloadable versions of the materials in the appendixes of the book. The worksheets can be printed out or filled in using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Also visit Kimberly Bolan’s Flickr channel, showing the best teen spaces from libraries of all sizes : www.flickr.com/photos/kimbolan/collections/. Or join the discussion and share your own teen space photos at www.flickr.com/groups/bolan-teenspaces/.
Or do you call them Cootie-Catchers? One and the same, my friend. The point is, here's an idea to help patrons figure out what to read next. Like so: I originally saw the idea on MLISsing in Action, which actually has all kinds of fun passive displays. But I decided to make my own version of the fortune teller idea: free printables included! Here's the sign and here's the cootie-catcher. There's four versions in the cootie catcher file: the first is what you see: I filled mine all in with actual titles (my favorite middle-grade fiction, as selected from my "What Books to Give a Middle-Grader" flowchart poster). The second version has fortunes, such as "Your next title will begin with the letter 'H'" and "Pick a yellow cover to ensure happiness". Fun stuff like that (which provides a good opportunity to display books that fulfill those fortunes!). The third has blank fortunes, so you could do your own. And fourth is...well, pretty much all blank. Do whatever your heart desires! Here's a brief pictorial representation of how to fold your cootie-catcher... cut out the square fold along the diagonals fold the corners in turn over and fold corners in again ta-da! Or this library has a nice instruction sheet seen here. The point is, it's a fun way to get patrons to try something new! See how your library likes it!
Library Escape Rooms are really big right now, so I tried to design this program so that any library can try to duplicate it. Because making something like this is kinda daunting–where do yo…
So, you're planning programming for the adults in your library and you're looking to change it up? From time to time, this question is posed on the awesome Programming Librarian Interest Group and librarians respond with lots of great possibilities. I thought I'd compile a list and share. Perhaps some of these ideas might work for your library? Local 1. Local History Talks/Presentations 2. Local History Walk 3. Genealogy DIY Crafts 1. Paper Making 2. Stab Binding Books 3. Christmas Ornaments 4. Shibori Scarves 5. Water Color Scarves 6. Soy Candles 7. Glycerin Soap 8. Beading 9. Altered Books Technology 1. Digital Photography Classes 2. How to Use Facebook/Pinterest/Instagram/Snapchat, etc. 3. iPhoneography (taking and editing pics with iPhone) 4. Intro to Windows 10 Food 1. Cookbook Club 2. Cooking Classes 3. Soup Night / Pie Night (patrons bring in food to share) 4. Rose Hip Jelly Making 5. Downton Abbey Tea 6. Wine Tasting 7. Edible Book Contest Presenters 1. Paranormal/Haunted Presentations 2. Pet Psychic 3. Professional Headshots for Facebook Profiles 4. Discovering New England Stone Walls 5. Falconry 6. Beekeeping and Honey Tasting 7. Yoga 8. Meditation 9. Veteran Author Talks 10. Living History Performances and Re-enacting Educational 1. Car Seat Safety Program 2. Business Networking/Speed Networking 3. Job Prep (Resume writing, Mock interviews) 4. DIY Home Repair 5. Pearl Harbor (75th anniversary in December) 6. Show Great Courses Lectures 7. Interior Design 8. Travel on a Budget 9. Identity Theft 10. Etsy/eBay 11. DIY Bike Repair Gardening 1. Gardening Presentations 2. Plant Swap 3. DIY Terrarium Writing 1. Publishing Your Writing 2. Writing Memoirs 3. Open Mic Nights Fun / Entertainment 1. Family Movie Nights 2. Star Trek Program (50th Anniversary is coming soon) 3. Introduction to Drones 4. Bridge 5. Collectibles & Antiques 6. Plan the Perfect Staycation 7. Mah Jongg 8. Couponning 9. Coloring Books 10. Chinese New Year Places for Partnerships If you are looking to increase your attendance numbers, partnerships are a great way to do so: America Red Cross (for blood drives hosted at libraries) Local Senior Center Local Historical Society Local University (The outreach office may have someone willing to do social media programs) Local Stores (Drones, DIY Home Repairs/Renovations) Additional Reading Want more ideas? Check out: "Adult Programs in the Library" by Brett W. Lear was highly recommended. You can also access PLIG's Program Speed Dating Packet for more great info and ideas. List Source The list above was pulled from these discussions: Discussion #1 and Discussion #2. You need to be a member of the Programming Facebook Group to be able to read them. Thanks to all of the librarians who shared their wisdom!
There are three kinds of teacher-decorators: those who were born for Pinterest, those who can’t, and all the ones in between (such as the broke, the tired, and the I-have-no-time-to-decorate). However, making a classroom appeal to middle and high school students doesn’t HAVE to involve serious crafting or expensive, time-intensive projects. Check out these tips from me and Bonnie from Presto Plans as you prepare your classroom for the fall (or at any time of year that you want to give it a boost!) You might also like Sara's more recent blog post, Inside My Farmhouse Classroom Makeover. 1. Have a color scheme (if you can) Sara: My principal gave each teacher the paint for one accent wall, so that shade of turquoise inspired the rest of my blue decor: milk crates, bulletin board borders, etc. It helped unify the room to make it look pulled-together instead of random. I've also learned about the importance of contrast. Even a full-blown rainbow color palette can look clean and cohesive (instead of cluttered) if you pair it with black or white to balance it out. Bonnie: If you are looking for inspiration for colors that look great together, check out this Pinterest board. There are lots of combinations that will help you choose colors when you are shopping for classroom materials. 2. Stick to a few favorite fonts Sara: Just like businesses create a brand, you are creating a classroom “look” or persona that you will be known for... or, at least a mood you will create. (Friendly? Professional? Fun? Minimalist?) Try to pick a few fonts that most of your labels, signs, and other wall-hangings will consistently use. For example, I used the Google font Crushed to make and laminate labels for my whiteboard (see below), along with mint-colored painter's tape. 3. Make your classroom library a focal point Bonnie: Your class library should draw students in and works well as the focal point for any English classroom. Here are a few things you can do to make your library stand out: Give bookshelves a makeover by rolling them a new coat of paint and/or taking the shelves out and attaching wallpaper or scrapbook paper to the back. Put a few floating shelves on the walls near your library area where you can feature particular novels recommended by students. Add comfortable, flexible seating near a library to make it more welcoming. These items can be more expensive, so shop around online or scour garage sales until you find seating that may work. Use old books as decorations! When a book is unusable, find a way to repurpose it. One easy way to do this is to cut out the pages and write a reading-inspired quote in black permanent marker on top of the page. Frame the page and put it on your bookshelf! Sara: If your classroom library is small, nonexistent, or needs some attention, check out this blog post for more ideas about how to strengthen it. 4. Display student work Bonnie: Use student work as decor by making a framed gallery wall. All you have to do is pick up some inexpensive 8x10 frames (check your dollar store) and arrange them on your wall. When you get a piece of exceptional student work, add it into the frame! If you don’t want the hassle of buying and hanging frames, order a pack of mixed color picture mats and use them to frame student work on a bulletin board. Sara: Another way to get student work on display (while also practicing literary analysis!) is to have them complete this Quote Illustration and Analysis assignment; students use Canva (or any tool you wish) to make an inspirational or literary quote come to life. The results are stunning! 5. Use author-inspired decor Bonnie: Find ways to incorporate the authors you will be studying into your classroom decor. You can do this by featuring fun facts or by sharing quotes by the author. For example, I use an interactive Shakespeare Hashtag of the Week bulletin display that exposes students to one quote from a Shakespeare play each week. If you don’t want to make your own, you might even consider assigning an author to each student and having them develop a bulletin display with a biography, fun facts, and quotes that you can swap out weekly. Sara: Don't forget to interject moments of literary ALLUSION or author-inspired inside jokes as well, like my favorite light switch art... 6. Make your posters work together Sara: On at least one bulletin board or section of wall space, add some symmetry or consistency by hanging posters in a similar style (color, font, or other), or by displaying images that have a common theme. For example, check out these posters of stylized quotes to get some English class wisdom on your walls. Bonnie: If you are looking for some ideas of common themes you could use for posters, try some of these ideas that could work in any English classroom: funny grammar quotes or fails, literary terms or genres, author quotes, famous lines from literature, idiomatic expressions, or jokes using puns! To read more about my favorite bulletin board ideas for middle and high ELA, check out this blog post. "English is Weird" poster set 7. Make displays that are EASY to update Sara: Two of my favorite bulletin board spaces were ones that took VERY little effort in updating, so I didn't have the self-imposed pressure to redo the whole thing multiple times per year. For example, my Word Nerd Challenge is quick to update on a Monday morning because all I have to do is add this week's word to the list. (I made each word tile a magnet that can go on my whiteboard!) I also made low-prep Quote of the Week flipbooks of reading and writing quotes, which students often asked to flip FOR me. I used Command hooks and spiral binding to hang it on a cabinet. Do you have additional ideas? Tell us in the comments!
I found this post from Mlissinginaction and had wanted to do something like this for awhile now. I attempted to make my own fortune teller/cootie catcher and failed miserably (I made them a million…
In the books I loved to read as a kid, libraries are crazy old buildings full of secrets. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn sends Anthony Monday all over the library, following obscure clues to u…
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The New York Public Library has been challenging readers to put themselves front and centre on their favourite books – and they’ve responded in style. Here are some of our favourite #bookfacefriday pictures. But can you cover yourself with glory?
It's time again to link up with Oh Boy 4th Grade for Currently February! * I love me some snow!! (My hubby says that's because I usuall...
As many of you know, especially if you follow me on Twitter, one of my greatest fears in life is that all these cool and amazing programs we have – especially the ones during summer – miss out on working parents. Everything we have starts at 2 PM? Well, what about if you don’t have... Read more »
I run a Pokemon Club at my library as part of a regular series of after school programs. The kids who come to my club are always very excited to be here, and they often stop by and talk about Pokemon or ask me when we'll meet again, even if Pokemon Club is weeks away. I am glad to have such a large group of kids who come to the library on a regular basis, but I wanted to find a way to keep them engaged with the library between meetings. I know these kids love their Pokemon and they love talking about them, too. So I wondered, would it be possible to do readers' advisory for a particular Pokemon? I created bookmarks with a Pokemon on one side and a list of 3-4 books I think that Pokemon would like to read. I did this based on my (admittedly limited) knowledge of the different characters and their personalities. I made sure all the books I listed were part of my library's collection, and I added the call numbers after each one in case a child would want to find them on the shelf. For the back side of the bookmark, I used a picture of that Pokemon's evolution and left a blank area for the patron to suggest books for that Pokemon to read. I set out one set of these bookmarks (ten copies of the exact same one, so that one child didn't stop by and try to "collect 'em all" by grabbing the set), along with a sign explaining what to do. Children were free to pick up a bookmark, choose books for that Pokemon to read, and write down the titles on the bookmark. Once completed, they brought it to me and received free Pokemon cards. Our library has amassed a large collection of slightly random, mostly common Pokemon cards. I will admit that more than a few of these were from my own collection, as I thought it important to learn how to play the card game before we started our Pokemon club. I want the library to have a small collection of cards that I or a volunteer can use during club meetings so that kids who are intimidated by trading with other kids, but who still want to trade, can do so with me. However, in an average batch of Pokemon cards, there will be several duplicates. I compiled all the duplicates into several stacks by type and dealt them into piles so that each stack contained, for example, two fire Pokemon, two water Pokemon, etc. Then I put each stack in an envelope. Kids who finish the Pokemon bookmark receive one envelope of cards, which gives them an incentive to participate and also rids the library of all of its extra cards. None of the kids are receiving super-valuable cards, but the cards are still good for trading or playing the game. I haven't even announced this passive program to my Pokemon club kids yet as we haven't had a meeting since I made the bookmarks, but in just the first 24 hours of the bookmarks being out, I already had six kids stop by my office to receive their cards. They informed me that it was easy to look up books on the computer and add them to their list of suggestions; I'm glad that they have a skill - looking in the library's catalog to find a book - that many of my patrons lack. I was hesitant at first to try this program, as it seemed a bit labor-intensive, but it took less than ten minutes to create the envelopes of cards, and the bookmarks took less than an hour to create and not very much time to print, either. I only have eight different bookmarks made so far; if this program is as successful as I hope it will be, I will add more later on. If it fizzles out and is no longer interesting, then I won't bother creating more bookmarks. You can access the bookmarks here. Enjoy! UPDATE: The second part of this article can be found here.
A high school librarian shares the 15 great books for teens their kids won't stop recommending to each other.
From the YALSA website : YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee presents fiction titles published for young adults in the past...
TikTok recommendations are driving sales and launching authors’ careers as the social media app continues to reshape the industry
OK, det här är väl inte världens mest seriösa biblioteksaktivitet och det kan upplevas skrämmande eller provocerande för en del (-Får en göra så med bibliotekets böcker? Det har väl inget med läsni…
If you use Facebook, #22 will make you laugh.
This bibliography is drawn from books published between 1995 and 2020. While some award-winners and bestsellers are included, part of the goal is to feature underappreciated gems. SEE ALSO Ongoing Coverage of Native Books at Cynsations, Home and Classroom Teaching: Native American Children’s Teens’ Books & Resources, and Native American Children’s and Young Adult Book Bibliographies and Educator Resources. Continue Reading Native American Children’s and Young Adult Authors: Novels »
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Or do you call them Cootie-Catchers? One and the same, my friend. The point is, here's an idea to help patrons figure out what to read next....
Four of our Language Arts classes participated in our first HCMS Library BOOK TASTING! Here's how it went: we se nt THIS video for t...
These files are available to school & public librarians at Lunanshee's Resource Page .
Libraries become a different kind of learning destination when schools reimagine them as open, transparent spaces that invite student communication and collaboration.
