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Summer Reading At The Library

Summer reading programs are a big focus for libraries at this time of year.  I have to admit that I am not good about keeping track of my kids’ fifteen minute increments  (this is how our library tracks summer reading) probably because they spend SO MUCH time with books. But not everyone spends hours poring over Halloween cookbooks (my son demanded we go to the library today with some urgency so he could check out their copy of Ghoulish Goodies again) and Dr. Seuss. Either way, summer reading is a great excuse to read with your kids (even if it’s a recipe for Mummy Dogs or Spiderweb Cupcakes).

Here at MonsterLibrarian.com we thought we’d recognize some of the libraries that have linked to us as a resource. Clearly they have exceptional librarians if they’ve recognized the importance of providing readers advisory in horror fiction. And they also have summer reading programs.

The Rochester Public Library has summer reading programs for both kids and teens (the teen program starts today). I LOVE the theme for the kids’ summer reading program- “One World, Many Stories”. How cool is that?

The Inola Public Library doesn’t appear to have a summer reading program, but I read the history of the library, and it was a grassroots effort(started by the Inola Homemakers’ Extension Club) to establish it. I can only say that I think the people of Inola, Oklahoma rock.

The Lorain Public Library System has a summer reading program that makes me wish I were a teen in Lorain, Ohio. Teens can actually enter a drawing for a Sony Pocket reader! In addition to programs for kids and teens, there is also an adult summer reading program that runs through August 6. I don’t know why this information is so carefully hidden- I couldn’t even discover the theme of the program. Go sign up.

Morton Grove Public Library puts information about their summer reading program right there on their homepage. Way to go, guys! They also are using the “One World, Many Stories” theme, and have programs for kids, teens and adults.

St. Charles City-County Library District is also using the “One World, Many Stories” theme for their children’s program and the theme “You Are Here” for their teen program. You can access information about the programs from their homepage, but you’ll have to sit through a little slideshow of upcoming programs to get to it.

I think this “One World, Many Stories” theme is so great! It sure beats the summer reading theme at our local library, “Sit! Stay! Read!” Go sign up for summer reading at your own library today!

Posted on June 12, 2011 by , Reply

What’s The Big Deal About Seth Godin?

A writer named Seth Godin wrote a blog post called “The Future of the Library” .  Honestly, it didn’t say anything new. He wrote that the model of the library as a warehouse for books isn’t working anymore. In a lot of places, it isn’t. That doesn’t mean libraries shouldn’t or won’t have print books. It’s just not enough. Why do you go to the library? Do you go sometimes to check your email, play World of Warcraft, or write up your resume? You need a computer for that. Maybe you’re one of the few people who don’t have a DVD player- you can find VHS tapes at the library. Going on a long drive? You could pay awesome amounts of money for an audiobook you might listen to once, or you could go to the library. Librarians are working hard to get publishers to allow them to offer ebooks because there are taxpayers in their community who demand it.  Have any of these other formats made paper books obsolete? I don’t think so. Offering new ways to consume (and now produce) information isn’t going to change that.  Libraries already do that. Okay, maybe they don’t arm the librarians with soldering irons.

In the school library, and that’s where I worked most recently, the kind of librarian he describes is the kind we aspire to be. The kind who encourages kids to become subject experts who can share new information with not just their peers, but with everyone.  The kind who gives kids tools and time and opportunity to create YouTube videos and Scratch programs. The kind who collaborates with teachers, parents, administrators, and kids to create the best learning environment possible. The kind who integrates digital and media literacy into the curriculum.  School librarians and public librarians are in different environments, but no matter what the environment, the job we have is to support our community’s needs by giving them all kinds of access to the kinds of information they want and need.  Part of that is flooding them with books to create engaged, literate readers, but that’s the beginning, not the end.

At Agnostic, Maybe, Andy Woodworth offered a response that I think did a better job of addressing the issues in Godin’s post. He wrote,

“We are in tune with an emerging sharing culture. We strive for information access for our constituent communities. We work to put books in hand, answers at fingertips, and ideas in minds. And we’ll dance with The Devil to make it possible. “

Darn right.

Honestly, I don’t think Godin knows much about what’s actually going on in libraries today. His vision of the future library is not radical- it’s already happening in a lot of places. In fact, a futurist came to a donors’ event at my own public library and said many of the same things (I didn’t like him much, but he’s already proved to be right on some things). Whatever errors or annoying remarks Godin made (I am not a “data sherpa” or “conceierge”, thank you very much) his final point, which he repeated multiple times, but which I think was lost in the shuffle, is one that I really appreciate, especially now as librarians are actually on trial for their jobs (see below for my post on that)

“We need librarians more than we ever did. What we don’t need are mere clerks who guard dead paper. Librarians are too important to be a dwindling voice in our culture”.

So there.

Posted on May 19, 2011 by , Reply

Moms vs. Zombies, Mother’s Day Edition: A Mom, A Plan, A Minivan

Kirsten Kowalewski has worked as a children’s librarian and school library media specialist. Currently she is a reviewer and editor for MonsterLibrarian.com. Kirsten has two children, ages 3 and 5, who you would NOT want to be boarded into a basement with during a zombie apocalypse.

Kirsten’s husband has asked her to make it very clear that this entry is a work of FICTION. Check back tomorrow (Yikes! Mother’s Day already) for our final Mother’s Day entry.

A Mom, A Plan, A Minivan

My husband is driving me crazy.

Every night he comes home from work, eats dinner, sinks into his recliner, and zones out in front of the television.  If the kids start jumping all over him, sometimes he’ll move to the couch, but even then I can’t tear him away from professional wrestling long enough to get him to talk about what’s going on.

He tells me that it’s just craziness on the Internet, that the media is just hyping things up, and that it’s no big deal, nothing to worry about.  He says not to get whipped up into hysteria by talking to my friends about what’s in the news.  Everything will be okay, he assures me.

Though even if it’s not okay, he says, even if it’s really happening, he doesn’t see why I need to get into the details. He bought a zombie survival kit off eBay, and he figures that if that doesn’t work, we’re toast, anyway.

Personally, I don’t appreciate his attitude.

I mean, I read the news. This zombie thing isn’t just showing up in wacko/conspiracy theory blogs or cheesy, obviously fake videos on YouTube. And it’s crossing political boundaries: I’ve seen stories on Fox News agreeing with articles in the New York Times.  I can’t watch the news feeds, though—the carnage is awful, and I just don’t have the stomach for that kind of thing.

Maybe if it was just me, I’d head to Costco and stock up on bottled water, canned goods, and toilet paper; I could board over the basement windows and hide out. It might even be an opportunity to spend quality time with the man I love. But…there are the kids. And there is no way in the world that we can stay cooped up in a boarded-up room, even a big one, with two kids under five with energy to burn who are capable of producing the kind of ear-splitting screams ours can, and one of whom isn’t potty trained.

Crap.

What happens if the zombies come and I run out of pull-ups? It’s too bad they have no sense of smell—otherwise I could just wave the stinky ones in front of them to drive them away.

I’ve talked with friends about loading up our minivans to form a caravan—strength in numbers—but I don’t know what we’d do when we run out of gas. Running out of gas on the highway seems like a bad idea, but if we stopped a gas station we could be walking into a trap…

Geez, maybe my husband has a point. I really sound paranoid.

But, if we were to do this, where could we go that’s far enough from the city to avoid the major zombie attack, but close enough that we won’t run out of gas?  Wherever it is, I kinda doubt we’ll find a Chick-fil-a , but hopefully we can manage a zombie-proof playground of some kind.

While we try to figure out where we’ll go, I’m making a list of stuff I think we’ll need to take. You can fit a lot of stuff in a minivan, especially if you’re good at packing. Guns make me nervous, even the toy ones, but I can pull an emergency survival kit together. Most of that stuff is in a basic first-aid kit (i.e. one with LOTS of bandages, adhesive wraps , painkillers, gauze, children’s Tylenol, a thermometer, tweezers, and a long list of other things I keep on hand for the sick and wounded), plus my son’s inhaler and my own meds. (I’m a little worried about what will happen when I run out of meds, so hopefully this will all be over before my three-month mail order supply is gone)  Soap, definitely, both solid and liquid (I see dishes and laundry probably being washed by hand); towels; underwear; toilet paper; pull-ups; a portable generator; water; extra gasoline; milk boxes and snacks for the kids; the GPS unit…there’s a lot to consider.

I really love my kids.  I don’t want to see them hurt, and I definitely don’t want them turning into zombies.  So I am taking in every single hug, every “I missed you, Mommy” to remember, just in case.

I wonder…do you think, if you were firm enough…would zombies sit quietly in timeout?

Posted on May 8, 2011 by , Reply
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