Great Website Alert: Autism Resources for Libraries

via the Librarian in Black:
Here is a great resource: Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected.  Many library users have autism, and most library staff don’t know the first thing about interacting with them appropriately.  We’ve just never been trained.  This website offers resources about communication, customer service tips, a video, workshop resources, contacts for more information, [...]

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You, me, and every book we know…

Well, I tried to title this post “))<>((“, but wordpress is being uncooperative. (Apparently, you cannot have purely punctuation-based blog titles. Whatever.)
But onwards and upwards! I was putzing around on wikipedia (aka, stalking my favorite bands) and stumbled upon this little tidbit:
Becky Stark, lead singer of the awesome, happy alterna-folk rock band Lavender [...]

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Sky rockets in flight….

A few weeks ago we had a program planning meeting at my library. We started discussing some of our regular programs and a few new ones we hope to offer in our new building. Somehow we wound up brainstorming new names for the baby, toddler, and preschool storytimes. For inspiration, we consulted [...]

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What Teen Boys Want (in books people, in books!)

Mostly: Kickass vampires, alien attacks, and a moratorium on old-timey speak. Hear, hear! In case you haven’t read it, check out this point-on and funny article from eighth-grader Max Leone.
thanks to Miss Rumphius Effect for the link!

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Reluctant Reader Pick of the Week

Main Street: Welcome to Camden Falls by Ann M. Martin (audio version)
Growing up, The Babysitter’s Club was one of my favorite series.  Well, that and Sweet Valley High.  Even when I began to outgrow the writing style and no longer required an introduction to the major characters at the beginning of every installment, I still [...]

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Putzin Around with Voicethread

So today we had an awesome tech workshop with library goddess Linda Braun.  We experimented with some cool 2.0 tools like Audacity and Jing.  So many possibilities!
We also played around with VoiceThread, my new favorite toy.  The idea, at least the way I see it, is to foster a sense of community through conversation in [...]

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Gawker reviewing Times reviewing kid lit? Heh?

Tomorrow’s Sunday Times will feature a special review section for children’s literature: Children’s Books.  Some of the reviewers include John Green, and Leonard S. Marcus.
While engaging in my guilty pleasure (scrolling Gawker), I happened upon the following snarky (obviously) post.  Humph.

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Library Signage I <3

Awesome sign found via Flickr’s Creative Commons:
How many times has a patron prefaced their question with, “Sorry to bother you….”?  What a great signage idea!

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Baby LoJack and Teen Surveillance: Can (Should) Technology Replace Good Parenting?

So, I happened to catch one of those sanctimonious Duracell commercials in which having a pair of double A batteries saves the world from blowing up, prevents a small child from falling down a glass-shard-encrusted well, or some such nonsense.  This particular commercial depicted a mom spending an afternoon in the park with her children.  [...]

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The First Kids: Sasha and Malia

There have been few times in my life when I’ve thought, “I am living through history.”  The last time that thought crossed my mind was on September 11th, 2001.  And it was with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart that I thought about one day explaining to my grandchildren what it meant to [...]

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