Operation Teen Book Drop 2010 - April 15

American Libraries Direct included an item by Stephanie Kuenn about Operation Teen Book Drop 2010. She says “YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) will again work with Readergirlz and Guys Lit Wire in 2010 for another iteration of Operation Teen Book Drop. The initiative will take place on Support Teen Literature Day, April 15. Over the past two years, Operation TBD has put 20,000 books for teens into pediatric hospitals in the United States and Canada. This year, Operation TBD will coordinate donations to tribal libraries and schools by joining forces with If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything, a national book club for Native American children, a project directed by former ALA President Loriene Roy.” Watch the Readergirlz video (2:29)....Music is "Prayer Song".
YALSA Blog, Dec. 16; YouTube, Dec. 10

Georgia School Librarian Asks Kids: What makes a Library a Library?

The Unquiet Librarian is the name of a blog written by Buffy Hamilton, a high school librarian in Georgia. She has been doing video interviews with students, asking "What Makes a Library a Library", a question asked recently by California blogger Sarah Houghton-Jans, aka Librarian-In-Black.

Check out the answers by high school students:



What would your students say? What would your library visitor "regulars" say? What are some other good questions to ask library users? I'm sure you can come up with some meaningful and fun questions, but here is a start:

• Why are you in the library today?
• Do you remember the first time you visited a library?
• How old were you when you got your first library card? Which library?
• When you come to the library, do you have a favorite section or place?
• Do you have a special "reading place" at home, in the library, or?
• What are you reading or planning to read next? Any recommendations?
  

Gingerbread Library -- FRIENDS Fund Raiser

Ever see a Gingerbread Library? Conshohocken Public Library FRIEND Jen Borovicka baked and built a replica of the 152-year-old Victorian Gothic Revival building as a centerpiece for a Winter Solstice Celebration and a raffle prize.

Once upon a time, a long long time ago when I was getting my MLS degree from Drexel University, I lived around the corner from the Conshohocken, PA public library. So, when I was reading today's issue of American Libraries Direct, news of the fund raiser by the FRIENDS of the Conshohocken Library caught my eye.

What a yummy treat! How many libraries can say their library tastes and smells like Gingerbread? Hope the FRIENDS have digitally captured the little library in a way that can be used for holiday cards, cups, or calendars.

National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

Two years ago, the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council appointed John Scieszka as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Since then, the author-ambassador has traveled to 33 states, visited hundreds of schools/libraries/bookstores/festivals/conferences, and met many young children.

His official term as National Ambassador is ending, but once-an-ambassador, always an ambassador for reading. He says he will continue to serve as Ambassador Emeritus. He wrote an end-of-term article in the Huffington Post.

Here is the advice he has given throughout his ambassadorship:

• Let each child choose what she or he wants to read. I'll never forget my own son's reaction reading Little House on the Prairie (a favorite of many readers): "Are they really going to spend this whole chapter making a door?"

• Expand the definition of "reading" to include non-fiction, humor, graphic novels, magazines, action adventure, and, yes, even websites. It's the pleasure of reading that counts; the focus will naturally broaden. A boy won't read shark books forever.

• If a kid doesn't like one book, don't worry about finishing it. Start another. The key is helping children find what they like.

• Be a good reading role model. Show kids what you like to read, what you don't like to read, how you choose what you read. Let them see you reading.

• Avoid demonizing television, computer games, and new technologies. Electronic media may compete for kids' attention, but we're not going to get kids reading by badmouthing other entertainment. Admit that TV and games can do things books can't. Talk about how reading can make a world in ways that movies and games can't.

Reading champion Stephen Krashen posted this praise on the California School Library listserv: "Jon Scieszka has been giving young people a lot of advice on reading, in his role as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. What audacity! A mere author giving advice on reading! This is the job of professional educators and reading researchers like myself, academics who have spent years painfully and carefully doing studies, examining the research of others, and performing arcane statistical analysis. But Mr. Scieszka got it exactly right. Everything he says is backed up by our research. And being a fine writer, he said it more succinctly and convincingly that any of us ever did."

Scieszka is the founder of Guys Read, a nonprofit literacy organization. He is also a children's author of books including The Stinky Cheese Man.

"Best Sellers" Campaign for Strong School Libraries

The California School Library Association is going into high gear in promoting its grassroots advocacy effort, the CSLA "Best Sellers" Campaign for Strong School Libraries. CSLA introduced the campaign at its November conference and will continue to promote it to its members -- they are the grassroots! "Best Sellers" work to save California's school libraries and teacher librarians and to help our students become college and career ready.

California’s massive budget cuts have dramatically impacted K-12 public school library programs. The national average for the ratio of students to teacher librarians is 1 to 916. California ranks last in the nation with a current ratio of 1 to 5,124. The number of credentialed teacher librarians has continued to drop each of the last 5 years and is now at 1,151 for 9,846 schools in the state. Additionally, the age of library book collections has increased due to a lack of funding.

Why is a quality school library so important? According to research by Doug Achterman, PhD, in his work entitled “Haves, Halves and Have-Nots: School Libraries and Student Achievement,” California public schools with strong school library programs outperform those without such programs on the state’s STAR tests. This is true regardless of the school community’s parent education and poverty levels, ethnicity, and percentage of English language learners. Policymakers fight to improve student performance, so this remarkable data should not be overlooked or ignored. Achterman’s research shows that increases in the following library program elements correspond to increased STAR test scores at the elementary, middle school and high school levels:

• Total hours library open
• Total technology available through the library
• Total services provided by library staff
• Offering a program of curriculum-integrated information literacy instruction
• Informally instructing students in the use of resources
• Providing teachers with information about new resources
• Providing reference assistance to students and teachers

What can "Best Sellers" do?

• Study the issues and the impact of strong school libraries on student success and put this information to work in whatever you do - speaking, writing, policymaking.
  
• Encourage your local school districts and communities to include strong school libraries as a key solution to improving academic achievement.
• Become an advocate or “Best Seller” for strong school libraries and their role in developing 21^st Century learners and workers by telling the story of why school libraries are a crucial component of student academic success. Learn what it means to be a “Best Seller” and invite others to become advocates as well.
• Read the national research on school libraries. The document, “School Libraries Work,” chronicles the research done in 19 states on the value of school libraries. The cornerstone of student success is their ability to read. The research shows that access to a quality school library is the most important factor in student success.

I'll keep track of this important California campaign.

ASF School Library - Dewey Decimal Video

Check out this fun music video on the Dewey Decimal system. This video was produced by the Lower School Library at ASF (American School Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico).

School Library Videos

I searched my PageFlakes videos for the term "school libraries" and came across a few fun videos filmed in school libraries. Here is a short video on successful school library advocacy by Australian school library advocate Karen Bonanno.

Biblioburro - Columbian Traveling Library

Watched a video about Luis Soriano, a Columbian teacher in the small town of La Gloria. For the past ten years, every weekend he loads his donkey with books to deliver to kids far out in the countryside. The kids love the biblioburro.


Watch this video at Ayoka Productions