Audiobooks for Youth: A Practical Guide to Sound Literature

Burkey, Mary.  Audiobooks for Youth: A Practical Guide to Sound Literature. Chicago: ALA.  025.2882 Burke   ISBN978-0838911570

Audiobooks are now a staple in most public and school libraries, and with good reason, since they have a clear role in the education of today s born digital generation. Burkey, who has been following their rise in popularity for years, combines a fascinating history of the medium and practical tips for using them in a readable guide applicable to school and public librarians as well as classroom teachers. Enriched  with reflections and comments from authors, audiobook narrators, producers, reviewers, and librarians, this book

·         Shows how audiobooks not only benefit struggling readers and bring families together but also fit neatly within newly accepted standards for early literacy education

·         Demonstrates how to use audiobooks as classroom and library tools for learning

·         Identifies how to locate must-have audiobooks and offers advice for maintaining a collection

Including an overview of the major audiobook awards and lists of additional resources, Burkey s guide will help librarians and educators unlock the educational potential of audiobooks for youth.

Read, Rhyme, and Romp (book)

McNeil, H. (2012). Read, Rhyme, and Romp: Early Literacy Skills and Activities for Librarians, Teachers, and Parents. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

This practical guide is filled with simple strategies, creative activities, and detailed instructions designed to promote literacy in young children and empower parents, educators, and librarians with the skills to make reading fun... This handy resource provides essential tips, techniques, and strategies for making early literacy development fun and inspiring a lifelong love of reading.

Read, Rhyme, and Romp: Early Literacy Skills and Activities for Librarians, Teachers, and Parents explores the six basic pre-literacy skills that experts agree are necessary for a young child to be ready to learn to read. Special sections within each chapter are dedicated to the specific needs of preschool teachers, parents, and librarians, making the content relevant to different settings. Recommended book lists, personal anecdotes, and literacy-rich activities combine to create an effective and accessible plan for implementing an early literacy program.

Features
• Recommended book lists for promoting reading
• An overview of basic strategies and components of an early literacy program
• Helpful outline of pre-literacy skills required for reading success
• Detailed instructions for early literacy activities

Highlights
• Includes research that highlights the importance of encouraging early literacy skills
• Shares personal anecdotes from parents, teachers, and librarians about the power of books
• Provides tips on creating a successful early literacy-based story time that is both fun and informative
• Contains more than 400 recommended titles to share with young children

(book description)

Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems

Rocket Surgery Made Easy : The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems, by Steve Krug. Berkeley, Calif. : New Riders, c2010

From the publisher:

It's been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.

In this how-to companion to Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don't Make Me Think, "It's not rocket surgery".)

In this new book, Steve explains how to:

• Test any design, from a sketch on a napkin to a fully-functioning web site or application
• Keep your focus on finding the most important problems (because no one has the time or resources to fix them all)
• Fix the problems that you find, using his "The least you can do" approach

By paring the process of testing and fixing products down to its essentials (A morning a month, that's all we ask ), Rocket Surgery makes it realistic for teams to test early and often, catching problems while it's still easy to fix them. Rocket Surgery Made Easy adds demonstration videos to the proven mix of clear writing, before-and-after examples, witty illustrations, and practical advice that made Don't Make Me Think so popular.

Writing Successful Technology Grant Proposals

Writing successful technology grant proposals : a LITA guide, by Pamela H. MacKellar. New York : Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2012.

From the publisher:

When you win a grant, you help your community by providing great technology-driven services.

Technology grants provide the crucial funding to implement the latest technology projects so you can meet your community’s needs. But how can you write a successful grant proposal? How can you be sure that your technology grant will be approved? Here is the only book that covers technology grants for libraries.

This comprehensive book on grants for libraries focuses on technology, technology planning, designing technology projects, specific sources and resources for technology grants, how to create a technology budget, and technology project success stories so you get real life examples of how others like you made their libraries stronger through technology grants.

Pamela MacKellar shows you easy-to-understand graphics and examples that make writing proposals for technology projects simple and easy. You get chapters explaining how to design your project, work with a team to save time and money, and, of course, how to write and submit your project. This one-stop shop is both a guide and a resource, with sources for technology projects and helpful hints on finding the right technology grants for you.

This is your step-by-step guide to turning your library into your community’s technology hub.

Neal-Schuman library technology companion : a basic guide for library staff (third edition)

Neal-Schuman library technology companion : a basic guide for library staff, by John J. Burke. New York : Neal-Schuman Publishers, c2009.

From the publisher:

Improve performance, boost productivity and stay connected with this quintessential guide to the latest library technology topics and tools. Newly revised to include the most recent advancements in the field, this all-in-one resource will guide you on how to successfully conceptualize, purchase, implement and maintain your library’s invaluable “tech” assets. Booklist’s Editors concluded that the prior edition: “...truly succeeds in elucidating the complexities of library technology and should prove a welcome addition to all libraries.”

Author John J. Burke includes updated sections on computers and networks, software and systems, storage devices, electronic resource references and online searches, and provides expanded coverage of increasingly popular tools including blogs, wikis, MP3s, open source software and distance learning. Burke adds new explanations of social networking, mashups, Second Life and Skype, digital cameras, video cameras and podcasts. There is also a new chapter with suggestions for keeping up with technological developments and locating instructional resources plus a forward-looking exploration of the potential for and composition of a next generation library catalog. An extensive glossary of terms, figures and screenshots are provided to help reinforce concepts and aid with practical application.

This comprehensive resource should be at the top of the list for any current or future library professional looking to stay at the forefront of technological advancement.

Google This! Putting Google and other social media sites to work for your library

Google This! Putting Google and other social media sites to work for your library, by Terry Ballard. Oxford [England] : Chandos Pub., 2012

From ALA: Many libraries and museums have already adapted to the current information climate and work with Google, Facebook, Twitter and iTunes to deliver information to their users; however, many have not.  In this book librarians or museum professionals interested in developing a greater web and social media presence for their institution will find a wealth of material to justify these actions to directors and administrative boards. Ballard, an award-winning author with more than 20 years' experience as an academic systems librarian, has conducted more than two dozen interviews with professionals who have created exemplary work using social media, and shows how their experiences can create success for your institution’s library. His book:

• Describes the variety of free (or nearly free) options for social media and shows how libraries from the Library of Congress to small public libraries are adapting them
• Provides step-by-step instructions for creating iGoogle gadgets in XML, iGoogle themes, Google Maps with community locations, and Google Earth links to archived library data
• Describes the full process for creating a Google Custom Search engine

The result of more than two dozen interviews with professionals who have created exemplary work using social media, Ballard shows how their experiences can create success for your institution's library.

Picturing the World: Informational Picture Books for Children (book)

Isaacs, K.T. (2013). Picturing the World: Informational Picture Books for Children. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

Enrich your library collection with outstanding informational books that children really want to read. This annotated resource by veteran children’s book reviewer Isaacs surveys the best nonfiction/informational titles for ages 3 through 10, helping librarians make informed collection development and purchasing decisions. With information on 250 books, this volume

• Features an introductory chapter which takes a close look at what makes a successful informational picture book
• Provides thoughtful descriptions for each title, including complete bibliographic information, age-level guidance, and notes on book awards won
• Works as curriculum support as well as a tool for elementary RA, with easy-to-use topical organization and a separate subject index

Picturing the World is an invaluable aid to librarians and educators in their ongoing search for high quality informational children’s books.(book description)

The Art of Storytelling

Spaulding, A.E. (2011). The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths through Telling Stories. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.

Storytelling is an art, as well as a skill. It allows the listener to take an idea and shape it into something that is relatable on a personal level. In The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths Through Telling Stories, Amy E. Spaulding enables the reader to learn how to develop this skill, while also discovering the tradition of storytelling.

Spaulding covers a wide array of important storytelling elements, from advice on choosing, learning, and presenting the stories to discussions on the importance of storytelling through human history and its continued significance today.

This book includes an annotated list of stories, as well as a bibliography of collections and a brief list of recommendations for online sources. Designed for anyone who wants to develop the skill of telling stories, The Art of Storytelling is a resource for drama students, teachers, librarians, and for those learning on their own without a formal class setting. (book description)

E-Reference Context and Discoverability in Libraries (book)

Polanka, S. (2012). E-Reference Context and Discoverability in Libraries: Issues and Concepts. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

E-Reference Context and Discoverability in Libraries: Issues and Concepts consists of over 20 informative chapters by librarians, publishers, and other industry professionals that propose new ideas for reinventing reference collections and interfaces to fit the needs of today’s researchers. The chapters examine the issues of reference context and discoverability in school, public, and academic libraries, as well as within the reference publishing community. Librarians, publishers, and those studying library and information science are the book’s primary audience, but others in the information industry, particularly those with an interest in reference, will find significant value here as well. (book description)