Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times

Block, Marylaine. The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2007. isbn: 978-1-57387-277-5 025.1974 Block

Ms. Block compiles a highly readable guide to strategies and projects that have helped more than 100 public libraries gain community support and funding in challenging times. She integrates interviews and survey responses from innovative library directors with research and analysis to showcase winning programs.

Strategies explored in the book include youth services, the library as place, partnerships, marketing, stressing economic value, Library 2.0, outreach, and helping the community reach its aspirations. Additional examples are drawn from long-range plans, annual reports, programs, Websites, and more.

Storytime: Not Just for Kids Anymore (book and DVD)

Multnomah County Library. (2007). Storytime: Not Just for Kids Anymore: Enhancing Library Storytime with Early Literacy Skills and Messages. [DVD and Discussion Guide]. Portland, OR: Multnomah County Library, Early Childhood Resources.

I just watched the DVD, it is an excellent storytime training for children's librarians! This DVD will show you what it is really like to integrate early literacy into storytimes. You will see librarians presenting storytimes at the library with children and parents. You will see what each early literacy skill looks like in an actual storytime, how children demonstrate each skill so you know what to look for, and get ideas about how to talk to parents about each skill. The discussion guide is aimed at presenting storytime training to a group of children's librarians, but if you are just looking to improve your own storytimes and learn more about how to integrate the early literacy skills intentionally into your storytimes you will get a lot of information and ideas from the discussion guide as well. I highly recommend checking this out!

Helping Homeschoolers in the Library (book)

Furness, A. (2008). Helping Homeschoolers in the Library. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

This practical guidebook seeks to bridge the gap between librarians and homeschoolers in these two ways: who are homeschoolers and how can I help them practically? Part 1 addresses the history and background of homeschooling as well as the needs and viewpoints of various homeschooling groups. Part 2 deals specifically with building programs and services for the homeschooling population.

Addressing all age groups, from how to serve elementary school children and teens, to even the homeschooling parent, homeschooling expert Furness offers
· In-depth chapters dedicated to different types of homeschooling and unschooling movements
· Comprehensive discussion of resources to serve the diverse homeschooling population
· Ideas on programs and social outlets the library can provide
· Annotated lists of further readings at the end of each chapter, plus website resources and electronic discussion lists
· 17 real–life stories of librarians interacting with homeschoolers

(taken from the back cover)

Studying students: the Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester

Studying students: the Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester, edited by Nancy Fried Foster, Susan Gibbons. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2007.

This publication "provides a view into the groundbreaking application of ethnographic tools and techniques to the understanding of undergraduate students and their use of information. The publication describes findings of the work at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries and provides insight into how academic librarians might use these techniques on their own campuses." [from the ALA site]

Table of Contents:

Introduction to the Undergraduate Research Project
Nancy Fried Foster and Susan Gibbons

1. Faculty Expectations of Student Research
Barbara Alvarez and Nora Dimmock

2. Asking Students about Their Research
Vicki Burns and Kenn Harper

3. Night Owl Librarians: Shifting the Reference Clock
Suzanne Bell and Alan Unsworth

4. Library Design and Ethnography
Susan Gibbons and Nancy Fried Foster

5. Dream Catcher: Capturing Student-Inspired Ideas for the Libraries’ Website
Jane McCleneghan Smith and Katie Clark

6. Photo Surveys: Eliciting More Than You Knew to Ask For
Judi Briden

7. Mapping Diaries, or Where Do They Go All Day?
Katie Clark

8. What an Experience: Library Staff Participation in Ethnographic Research
Helen Anderson and Ann Marshall

9. Then and Now: How Today’s Students Differ
Sarada George

10. The Mommy Model of Service
Nancy Fried Foster

11. Conclusion: Creating Student-Centered Academic Libraries
Susan Gibbons and Nancy Fried Foster

ALA-APA Salary Survey

ALA-APA Salary Survey: Non-MLS -- Public and Academic, [Chicago, Ill.] : American Library Association/Allied Proffessional Association, 2007

From the ALA website:

Useful for non-MLS Accredited professionals seeking employment in academic and public libraries, this national survey covers 62 positions in all departments: clerks, ibrary technical assistants, copy catalogers and interlibrary loan assistants, information technology managers, human resource managers, administrative assistants, and accountants. It also includes salaries for 6 positions staff employed as librarians but who do not have an ALA-accredited MLS.

The ALA-Allied Professional Association is a nonprofit organization chartered in the State of Illinois and established “to promote the mutual professional interests of librarians and other library workers.”

The mission of the Office for Research and Statistics (ORS) is to provide leadership and expert advice to ALA staff, members, and public on all matters related to research and statistics about libraries, librarians, and other library stuff; represent the Association to Federal agencies on these issues; and initiate projects needed to expand the knowledge base of the field through research and the collection of useful statistics.

"How Teacher/Librarian Collaboration Can Support Student Learning." Focus On: Research-based practices for the classroom teacher Jan. 2007:

Great resource! Several copies are available for checkout. This publication clearly defines the role of Today’s Library Media Specialist, describes how to collaborate with classroom teachers and provides some sample Collaborative Projects. Every K-12 teacher librarian should have a copy!

Partners in Literacy: Schools and Libraries Building Communities Through Technology. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2007. by Cuban, Sondra, an

Chapters include Social Forces Affecting Public Libraries and Schools, Explaining Libraries’ and Schools’ Different Strategies Toward Technology, Libraries, Literacy, and Instructional Technology, Technology in Public Schools and Schools and Libraries as Partners in Community Technologies.

University Press Books: Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries. New York, NY: AAUP, 2007.

2006 published books reviewed by a committee from AASL and the Small and Medium Sized Library Committee of PLA. Listed in Dewey order this publication should give you an idea about books to consider purchasing