Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Are We Too Centered in Our Storytimes?


Lindsey Krabbenhoft at Jbrary recently wrote a thought-provoking post about how emotionally invested we can become in "our" storytime and how that can really negatively affect the quality of our service.

Lindsey writes: "I’ve been reflecting the past few months on the special place storytime holds in my heart. This reflection has coincided with my journey to have a healthier balance between work and home life. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with being emotionally invested in my work. But I also think it’s helpful to check this investment against my own ego from time to time.

I came up with the following model as a way to help me see if my philosophy and my practice are in alignment. I started to ask myself: Who is the center of my storytimes? What information am I sharing and why? What is guiding my decision making when planning? To help me answer these questions I’ve framed storytime as The Great Connector. When I view storytime through this lens it helps me focus on the following three connections."  

Those connections include connecting families to the library; to each other and to the storytime presenter.  Lindsey seeks balance among all three.

You can read her fascinating analysis here. [I'm Not the Center of Storytime and That's OK. Krabbenhoft, Lindsey. Jbrary. May 23, 2023.]

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