New ALSC Toolkit on Summer Learning

Image from ALSC Learning Beyond Toolkit

Recently, ALSC debuted a new and helpful toolkit entitled: Learning Beyond: 21st Century Summer and Out-of-School Time Toolkit. Created by ALSC's Summer and Out-of-School Time Task Force, this toolkit features .evidence-based approaches to developing worthwhile programs and services for youth. 

In a recent ALSC blog post, ALSC's School Age Services and Programs COmmittee wrote about the toolkit:

"The Toolkit has eight sections that include: 

• Summer in the 21st Century & the Critical Skills of a 21st Century Learner
• Building Equity 
• Co-designing Effective Program
• Working Together/Partnership
• Evaluating Success
• Role of Reflection in Learning
• Online & Digital Programming
• Positive Youth Development Framework for providing quality programs

Each section contains a narrative overview, five facts to know, a resource list, and a case study from a public library to see the practical application of this work. 

One of the eight sections is written by Wisconsin's own Sue Abrahamson of the Waupaca Public Library!

You can read more about the toolkit here. (ALSC Blog. Learning Beyond: 21st Century Summer and Out-of-School Time Toolkit. March 26, 2022.)

You can download the toolkit here.

Summer Library Program Inspiration - Décor & Programming

Wow! The CSLP Programming Group on Facebook has been active lately with lots of décor and programming inspiration. If you are using the Oceans of Possibilities theme this summer, you might want to keep tabs on this group throughout the spring. 

If your library happens to be an iREAD user, there is an iREAD Pinterest board for iREAD décor and programming ideas. 

Outreach Roundtable Programming Awards

You know we youth folks do a TON of outreach. Are you doing outreach during National Library Week (April 3-9)? Why not submit your program for this new outreach awards program sponsored by the WLA Outreach Services Roundtable?

The Outreach Services Roundtable is proud to announce our new outreach awards program. These awards are given to libraries in Wisconsin who have gone above and beyond to engage their communities with displays, events, or activities that highlight various themes throughout the year. 

Our first Programming Award highlights the creative ways libraries have connected with their communities during National Library Week 2022 (April 3-9). We encourage you to document your library’s outreach during NLW22 and submit your best program for consideration. Please only one submission per library. 

The OSRT will review all submissions and choose the winners, which will be announced online. Winners will receive an official awards certificate and their project will be proudly displayed in a post on the OSRT webpage. We will select winners in each category: academic, public, and school/special library. 

Contact Haley Lott at lotth@beloit.edu with questions. 

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, April 20, 2022.  

Submit today! 

Jennie Fidler

Special Services Coordinator

Oconomowoc Public Library

(262) 569-2193, ext. 206

oconomowoclibrary.org

Reminder - CCBC Friends Spring Book Sale This Week

Don't forget! Tons of books! Tons of bargains! 

I volunteer to help at the sales and we constantly re-stock the books for babies through teens!

Virtual Variety: Pin Design Club for Teens!

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your patrons!

Our teens have been chatting online about their interests, and I found out that they’re all creative in their own way. More specifically, most of them have an ipad with one or more drawing programs on it that they use regularly, and we happen to have a button maker lying around. This sparked an idea.

Starting as a one-off for just one month, I invited them to email me one to three designs to make 3 pins per person. We haven’t opened up all of our in-person programming yet, so I assembled the pins for them and made up a curbside pickup bag of their creations. They loved it and asked for a continuation. So now it’s a monthly pin club! Each month, we invite our community’s teens to design three pins based on a theme (which is optional) set by my regular game night crew who chat online. As a little added bonus, I design a fun, extra pin they get with the library’s logo and “RLPL Teens” which will be different every month. It’s exciting to see what they create and send in. Hopefully soon they can meet in person and get to use the button maker themselves.

This is a great way to encourage and celebrate creativity in young people! It’s been super easy to do virtually–whether you don’t have a space or aren’t able to meet in-person. 

Young Adult Book Lists

Here is a quick, but hopefully helpful, tool for those of you providing young adult reader's advisory and collection development. The tool is called The Hub, and it is sponsored by YALSA—the young adult division of ALA. 

Available on the site:

• "Selected Lists" book lists from 2022 on the homepage
• 2019-2021 lists in the archives
• A Book Finder Database
• "Teen Choice" top ten lists  

WLA Webinar - Navigating Pushback and Challenges

YSS and the newly revitalized WLA Intellectual Freedom Special Interest Group (IF-SIG) are planning a helpful webinar free to WLA members on Tuesday April 5 from 2:00-3:00 pm. 

The cost for non-members is $25 (but it's easy to become a member and share in member benefits. Just stop here to become a WLA member!)

Registration for webinar is required. Register here.

Unofficial and official challenges have been on the rise all over the country, but there are a lot of steps that library staff can take to be prepared to respond to these concerns.  Join WLA on Tuesday, April 5, from 2-3pm for a look into how to navigate these often tricky and emotional situations. Megan Schliesman will kick the webinar off with an overview of what challenges are looking like and the services available from the CCBC to support library staff. Melissa Prentice from Mead Public Library will walk through a book challenge her library recently went through. WLA Executive Director will briefly address support that is available from the Library and Legislation Committee (LD&L). Finally, Kristina Gómez will cover how one library responded to pushback on a program, as well as an update on the work of the Intellectual Freedom Special Interest Group.  Come ready to learn and ask questions!

Brought to you by the Youth Services Section and Intellectual Freedom Special Interest Group of WLA.

____________________________________________________

And be sure to join the 

Intellectual Freedom SIG Monthly Meeting

Monday, March 28, 11:00 a.m. 

 

At this month’s meeting we will explore ways to support Intellectual Freedom at the 2022 WLA Annual Conference (Nov 1-4, 2022 in Lake Geneva). With a theme of “Rising to the Challenge,” the annual conference gives an opportunity to support staff from around the state with in-depth workshops on a variety of topics. Help us craft an Intellectual Freedom track for this year’s conference! SIG  meeting attendees will have the option to join one of five breakout rooms to brainstorm possible conference workshops: Policy Development, Staff Training & Support, Trustee Relations, Media Relations / Shaping the Narrative, and  “None of those but I have a cool idea!”

 

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://zoom.us/j/92607836678?pwd=djZ1UzFtRTNRdTAzb1R1K3VFZDNYdz09

New CCBC "What IF...Forum" Questions Answered

The CCBC consistently updates their "What IF Forum" to reflect answers to questions that libraries are dealing with currently. The two newest topics are incredibly important right now:

Talking About Intellectual Freedom with Your Community

Concern Library Attempting to "Indoctrinate " Children.

Each answer essay is thoughtful, supportive, helpful and gives readers the information they need to navigate difficult situations.

Read the discussion on these and other pertinent topics that matter to you on the CCBC's webpage at the What IF..Forum.

Jason Reynolds WLA Fall Conference Keynoter

Jason Reynolds

This year’s annual WLA conference will kick off Wednesday, November 2 at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa with keynote speaker Jason Reynolds!

Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author whose award-winning book Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks was a National Book Award Finalist, Carnegie Medal winner, and named one of the best books of 2019 by NPR, School Library Journal, and many more. He's currently serving as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. For more information on this Speaker, please visit www.simonspeakers.com.

 

The theme for this year’s conference is “Rising to the Challenge'' and we would like you to share your stories of how you’ve overcome obstacles, collaborated with your communities and how you’ve not just survived but thrived despite the challenges of the past few years and how you’re preparing for future challenges. We’d also like to continue the important conversations around diversity and inclusivity, staffing, fundraising, advocacy and cultivating connections. We’d like you to consider the big picture but also encourage you to share your practical and effective strategies and inspiring projects from your corner of the library world.

Proposals for presentations, panels, and workshops are welcome. Sessions will run 45 minutes in length (with a limited number of 90 minutes sessions available) and with a maximum of four presenters.

 

Help shape this year’s conference by submitting your proposal via this link by Monday, April 25, 2022.

-From the WLA Bulletin. March 18, 2022

 

Claire's Corner - March 2022 YSS Board Updates

Today's March 16 YSS board meeting update is from Claire Parrish, YSS 2022 Chair and Public Services Director at Rice Lake Public Library.

March’s YSS board meeting started with conversations of moving back to in-person programming and all the complicated feelings that can come along with it. My library has recently made a lot of changes to our COVID protocols, and while we are still following CBC recommendations, it also raises a lot of questions about how we balance programming with keeping staff and patrons safe. 

While we could have spent our entire meeting discussing that topic itself, there was lots of official business to get out of the way.  Maybe this calls for a WLA presentation on the topic of moving forward from COVID?  Speaking of conference proposals, YSS is working on a collaboration interest form for anyone who’d love to share something amazing, but doesn’t love the idea of speaking solo. A post on this will be shared soon and a link to the interest form will be added to the blog underneath the board members names to your right and also in the “Links” section below the search tab

YSS has partnered with WLA and the Intellectual Freedom Special Interest Group to plan a very timely webinar on navigating challenges and pushback from your community.  This webinar will take place on Tuesday, April 5, from 2-3pm, and will feature a panel of librarians sharing a wealth of knowledge on everything from resources available if a challenge comes up, to how to use pushback to thoughtfully update or create policies and procedures to fall back on. The webinar will be free to WLA members and $25 for non-members, so this is a great time to check your membership status or take the plunge and become a member of WLA!  There are so many amazing benefits and the organizational dues are on a sliding scale, making it accessible to any level of library staff. Be watching for registration information on the webinar in the next week or so. 

Attending WAPL?  Be sure to add the YSS Social to your list of must-attend events! This year we’ll have a slew of easy-to-learn board games to play while you relax and socialize with your fellow library staff serving youth. The social is a great way to make new connections and get fun ideas to implement back at your library. Light snacks will be provided along with access to a cash bar. 

My final note is just a complete teaser, as I won’t steal WLA’s thunder, but the opening keynote for WLA this year is going to make everyone SQUEAL in excitement. Yet another reason to open up that WLA website and become a member today! 

Throw It Thursday: Awards Season in Booklandia

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library and YSS board member, is back with her monthly column and has some great advice on making sure your collections are updated.

Happy Awards Season everyone! The beginning of the year always marks the best new books from the previous year. But we only have so much room on our shelves and we can’t buy every award winner, much less keep all of the ones we do purchase. I know I sometimes have a difficult time throwing award winners on the discard pile, and I know I’m not the only one. So how do we know when it’s time to toss an award winner in the weeding pile?

For me, the key is to not overthink it. For the most part, I treat award winners the same as all other books. I work in a public library. We don’t have space to hang on to things that don’t get used, so award winners live and die by the same criteria as any other book. That’s not to say you can’t spend a little bit of effort to try and save them. You could make a display of award-winning books; you could make a last chance cart or display; you could even throw them into your storytimes and try to re-invigorate interest that way. But if these tactics don’t work and the books still don’t go out, maybe it’s time to let them go.

Happy weeding!

Ideas for Children's Book Week — Free Posters!

The 2022 spring Children's Book Week is coming up on May 2-8. This year's slogan is How Do You Book?, and the poster artwork is by Raúl The Third.

Visit here for more details about the celebration.

Pledge to participate in the celebration, and receive 2 of the posters for free!

This is a great excuse to celebrate books, authors, and reading! You may want to consider hosting an active or passive program:

• Your program can be as simple as a "book characters scavenger hunt" in your library. First, print and laminate images of book characters to hide around the library. Then, offer a sticker as a prize for completing the hunt.
• Decorate the library with Children's Book Week posters and with any book character stuffed animals your library owns.
• Hand out free bookmarks.
• Try these bookmarks from Demco.
• Or print the bookmarks available directly from the Children's Book Week website.
• Maybe you'd like to have a raffle—anyone who visits the library that week could enter a raffle for a free children's book.

However you decide to celebrate, I hope you have fun with it!

YSS Virtual Tours are BACK!

 

Join YSS for our first virtual tours of 2022!

Julia Lee from Manitowoc and Taylor Wilcox from Waupaca will be showcasing their library spaces and sharing program ideas - - trust us, you don't want to miss this!   After the tours, we'll have a chance to chat! Feel free to ask about summer programs, COVID regulations or other topics of interest to you. Some of us have been around a while and love to answer questions!   Join in the fun on March 17th via Zoom:   Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/93448874539?pwd=WWlaVjY3ZVVsWlo4eTFQSDcrMDdaUT09 Meeting ID: 934 4887 4539 Passcode: 782301

Happy Pi Day

 

Hoping pie and PI are what make for a happy Monday!

Quick and Easy Teen Book Displays

Abby Seymour, E.D. Locke Public Library, McFarland, WI is a member of our Wisconsin Teen Librarian Services Group. She shares her experiences with creating quick and easy teen book displays for your library.

Putting books on display is my super subtle way of screaming “PLEASE TAKE THESE BOOKS, TEENS!” Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t have a lot of display space in my teen section (just one shelving unit and one small table) so I try to put some good thought into the displays I make. I leave the display up for a maximum of a month, but my real goal is to have a new display every 2-3 weeks. 

Most of my inspiration comes from looking at lists of books and checking to see if I have enough books in that category/genre/theme to make a display. For example, I might come across an article called “22 Books That Prove the Bond Between Sisters is Eternal” and think that a display about YA books featuring sisters would be a great display! Then I would check how many books on that list are currently available at my library and if there are enough to fill my display, we’re good to go! Next task is making a display sign, which I usually make on Canva. Most of the inspiring book lists I find come from Epic Reads, Book Riot, and Buzzfeed Books. 

In general, my teen book displays fall into one of the following three categories:

Seasonal Displays

Pretty self explanatory! I put out romance books in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, horror/thriller books during October to get into the Halloween spirit, cozy winter reads before Christmas, and last September I featured books that take place at boarding schools. Don’t forget Black History Month and Pride Month! Don’t feel like doing a mainstream holiday? Look at the random holidays coming up, like on National Umbrella Day, put books on display that have umbrellas on the cover! 

 

Always Relevant 

You have got to have a few of these display ideas in your back pocket! These are displays that can be put up no matter the time of year or what’s going on in the world. The very easiest display is to simply pick a genre and put those books on display. It’s as simple as grabbing a stack of fantasy books and making a sign with a dragon and a sword! Rinse and repeat with all the other genres you can think of. Similarly, do a display featuring graphic novels or new releases.

 

Similar Covers

Another fun angle on this is putting books on display with similar covers. An easy one would be to grab books that have blue covers. Rinse and repeat with all the colors of the rainbow! You could also do books with people on the covers or books that have a person’s name in the title. Here is my display that featured duologies:

Viral Moments 

These are the displays you can’t do much to prepare for and are centered around the latest viral phenomenon/zeitgeist moment. Ask your teens about what’s trending! Similarly, displays can be made around the newest blockbuster movie or latest music album everyone’s talking about. For example, here’s a display I made last fall when Taylor Swift came out with her version of Red. 

When all anyone could talk about was Noodles the Pug and whether or not it was a Bones Day or No Bones Day, I made a quick and easy display on it. 

These are the hardest kind of displays to make and we’re all bound to miss some viral moment (or discover them embarrassingly late). My only advice is to pay attention to what your teens are discussing the most or, when in doubt, just ask them!   

We're always looking to connect with other young adult services librarians in WI! If you, or someone you know, wants to join our monthly meetings, please contact Taylor Wilcox at twilcox@waupacalibrary.org.

Just Wondering - How Do We Combat Ignorance?

Image by Michael Hourigan from Pixabay

This month's column by Manitowoc (WI) Public Library Youth Librarian Susie Menk is thinking about how to help people understand the how and why's of library work. And she's wondering....what do you think? 

Recently we had a patron come in and request that we remove a book from our collection.  We followed protocol and issued our request for reconsideration form.  After the patron filled out the form, we read it and the patron had put on the form “I don’t have to read the book to know it’s bad”.  Statements like this show so much ignorance.  Other examples include patrons condemning books they haven’t read and parents wanting books removed from the collection because they don’t want their child to read it, and the list continues.  

How do we as librarians and information gatekeepers help educate our communities?

 

How do we gently lead our patrons to a better understanding of how a public library operates?

How do we show our patrons the time and effort that goes into cultivating a rich and diverse library collection of books?

How do we share with our community that all people in our community should be able to come into the library and find books representative of themselves?

 

I feel lately that it has been a long uphill climb to diversity, inclusion and equity in the library.  For every program or book or activity that we offer, we have some community members questioning and arguing and showing up at board meetings to contest them. 

 

I have always believed that the main purpose of the library is to offer a lifelong love of books and reading.  In more recent years, the library has become a place to gain access to technology and equipment that is not readily available to all our patrons.  We are a cornerstone of our communities where every person is welcome and helped and can find something that interests them or helps them. 

 

So what to do?  Our library has tried to get patrons to share their “library stories”—times when the library made an impact on them or their family.  We have also made videos highlighting our digital resources and tutorials on how to get into the digital resource and then how it works.  We also share pictures and events on social media so others can experience the wonderful programs and activities we offer to patrons of all ages.  

 

Maybe we should do a monthly video entitled “A Day in the Life of…” and have staff in various departments explain what their job entails and show their work space.  This could possibly give a better awareness to our community of how complex library work can be and the overall process of getting material shelf-ready for checkout. What do you think?  What have you done to help combat ignorance in your community? 

 

Just wondering…

CCBC Book Sale — March 25-26

SALE! SALE! SALE!

The book sale from the Friends of the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) offers thousands of new and gently used books for children and teens. This is a great time to stock up on titles to use for prize books or maybe even items to add to your collection.

The next CCBC sale is in Madison on March 25-26. More info here. 

Prices:

• 

  Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

  $2 paperbacks  ($1 Friends members)
• $2 board books (everyone)
• $1 ​hardcover fiction (everyone) (new lower price!)
• $4 hardcover picture books, beginning readers, graphic novels and non-fiction ($3 Friends members)
•  Final Hour: Bag Sale:  $5 / bag on Saturday noon - 1 pm

Accepted forms of payment: cash, check, or institutional purchase order—no credit cards.

ICYMI: National Pollinator Month programs & content for Wisconsin Public Libraries to use in June 2022!

June is National Pollinators Month. In an effort to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators and how everyone can help them, American Transmission Co. is teaming up with gardening expert and author Melinda Myers. Together, they will produce and provide educational programming and content to Wisconsin Public Libraries statewide for National Pollinators Month (June 2022). The content and programming will be made available to the libraries at no cost and the libraries may offer the programs and content to their patrons throughout the month of June.  Everything will be delivered to the libraries by mid-May.  Attached is a program factsheet with exactly what you’ll be able to offer your patrons and ideas on how you can work the content and materials into your June educational programming, including 3 live webinars, 3 videos, several Do-it-Yourself projects and more!

We hope you can utilize the content and materials to help get the word out about the importance of pollinators and how we can all do our part to help them.

If you have any questions, please email diana@melindamyers.com.

Call for WLA Conference Proposals

Hey youth services folks! Put on those thinking caps and get in a proposal! Reach out to colleagues around the state to create a panel or find a co-presenter (nothing is more powerful than a panel made up of librarians from different size libraries, different communities and diverse situations!). Share your good ideas and thoughts about the theme. Let's get some great youth content on providing service to youth ages birth-age 18 and their families at this year's conference!

We’re looking for library staff who are ready to rise to the challenge! The Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference programming committee seeks program proposals for the next conference to be held November 1-4, 2022 at the Grand Geneva Hotel in Lake Geneva.  

The theme for this year’s conference is “Rising to the Challenge'' and we would like you to share your stories of how you’ve overcome obstacles, collaborated with your communities and how you’ve not just survived but thrived despite the challenges of the past few years as well as how you’re preparing for future challenges. We’d also like to continue the important conversations about diversity and inclusivity, staffing, fundraising, advocacy and cultivating connections. We’d like you to consider the big picture but also encourage you to share your practical and effective strategies and inspiring projects from your corner of the library world. 

Need some inspiration? Here are a few suggestions: 

· Intellectual freedom

· Navigating a pandemic and post-pandemic world  

· Data and analytics  

· Equity, diversity, and inclusion  

· Managing e-resources  

· Funding and support  

· Digitization  

· Staff training  

· Self-care and healthy boundaries

· Privacy

· Accessing government data  

· Collaboration  

· Community outreach  

· Customer service  

· Navigating stakeholder relationships

· Futurecasting post-pandemic library services

· Leadership pathways and career growth

Proposals for presentations, panels, and workshops are welcome. Sessions will run 45 minutes in length (with a limited number of 90 minutes sessions available) and with a maximum of four presenters.

Help us shape this year’s conference by submitting your proposal via this link by Monday, April 25, 2022.

We look forward to your fantastic proposals!

Sincerely,

The WLA conference program committee:

Linda Jerome   ljerome@lacrosselibrary.org   608.789.7157

Becky Phillips    becky.phillips@browncountywi.gov    920.448.5915

Margaret Murphy    msmurphy4@wisc.edu      920.268.2187