Crash Course in Storytime Fundamentals

Peck, Penny. (2015). Crash Course in Storytime Fundamentals, 2nd Ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. 978-1-61069-783-5.

This beginner's guide to storytelling traces the developmental stages of very young children, illustrating how to present storytime for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers as well as in family settings to be most effective. Author Penny Peck will teach you the fundamentals of reading with the intent of capturing children's imaginations, showing you how to incorporate music, play, and hands-on activities into your routine. She offers expert advice on how to choose the best picture books and provides lists of books for addressing particular literacy needs.

A perfect primer for those new to the task, this guide illustrates how to make this activity a favorite of children and provides tips for progressing in the role of storyteller, with ideas for engaging your audience and enhancing enjoyment. Beginning with the basics of performing a library storytime, each subsequent chapter builds on that knowledge, offering ways to infuse technology, special needs adaptations, and music into the story. The revised edition addresses such current topics as iPads, apps usage, online options, and dance programs.

(book description)

The Handbook for Storytellers

Freeman, Judy & Bauer, Caroline Feller. (2015). The Handbook for Storytellers. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions. 978-0-8-8389-1100-6.

Ideal for both beginners and more experienced storytellers, this exhaustive primer includes everything adults need to start sharing the wonder of stories with children, from babies to tweens. The lively text imparts easy-to-follow guidelines and practical advice on how, when, where, and why to tell stories. Each chapter incorporates a wealth of delectable folktales to read and tell, plus the authors’ hand-selected, annotated lists containing hundreds of classic and cutting edge children’s books, professional books, and relevant websites. Demonstrating the joy of stories and storytelling, this book

• Provides an overview of the history and types of storytelling
• Shows how to select, learn, prepare, and tell stories
• Begins with more than two dozen easy-to-learn stories that adults can read today and tell to children tomorrow
• Looks at the major types of folk and fairy tales, including many sample stories and booklists
• Offers a comprehensive list of stories reworked, reimagined, reinvented, parodied, satirized or recreated from folk and fairy tales
• Includes “Favorite Stories to Tell,” a compendium of more than 500 suggested tales, easily accessible by subject and theme, from which tellers can find the perfect stories to fit every occasion and begin to build their own repertoire of wonderful tales to tell
• Provides tips for publicizing and promoting storytelling programs

This handbook instructs, inspires, and entertains like no other resource of its kind.

(book description)

Wordplay for Kids

Wadham, Tim. (2015.) Wordplay for Kids: A Sourcebook of Poems, Rhymes, and Read-Alouds. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions. 978-0-8389-1266-9.

Instilling a love of reading in a child pays dividends long after early literacy skills have been mastered. The key to successful programming is to make children become participants, encouraging a “literary ear” and love of the beauty of language itself. To help children develop artful language patterns, correct grammar, and a large and rich vocabulary, Wadham offers a range of complete programs for children ages 5-12 that introduce literature in a systematic way. Organized by age, each program 

• Begins with a list of suggested age-appropriate poems, ranging from choral poetry and nursery rhymes to short, humorous selections and longer narrative poems, all designed to be shared orally
• Includes read-alouds that encourage engagement, such as folklore, fairy tales, mythology, and fables
• Suggests an activity directly based on each read-aloud, with handy information about target audience and size, program length, setup time, and materials and supplies needed
• Comes with a planning calendar showing the length of time necessary to complete the program
• Features a booklist of additional titles that can be used to create even more programs

A fun way to transmit cultural literacy while helping to create a love of poetry, the rhythm of language, and verbal skills, Wadham’s programs help children’s librarians, school librarians, and storytime leaders encourage all children to be lifelong readers.

(book description)

*Many of the nursery rhymes and some of the poems are appropriate for preschool children. Most are great for developing phonological awareness! (Katie)

Cultural Heritage Information: Access and Management

Ruthven, Ian and G.G. Chowdhury (eds.) Cultural Heritage Information: Access and Management. Neal-Schuman, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1347-5

Description

This collection of essays covers a wide range of topics associated with the management of digital collections for digital humanities and culture programs. Essays look at policies and infrastructures, consider the interaction, access and objects, and provide numerous examples of concrete system implementations. Please note that most essays and authors have a United Kingdom perspective.

Table of Contents

1. Cultural heritage information management issues and challenges

G. G. Chowdhury and Ian Ruthven

2. Cultural heritage information: politics and policies 

Rachel Bruce and Stuart Dempster

3. Cultural heritage information: artifacts and technologies 

Melissa Terras

4. Managing cultural heritage: information systems architecture, indexing and access 

Lighton Phiri and Hussein Sileman

5. Cultural heritage information users 

Claire Warwick

6. Digital humanities and digital cultural heritage (alt-history and future directions) 

Chris Alen Sula

7. A framework for classifying and comparing interactions in cultural heritage information systems

Julianne Stiller and Vivien Petras

8. Semantic access and exploration in cultural heritage digital libraries 

Ali Shiri

9. Users and usability studies of Europeana 

Sudatta Chowdhury and Milena Dobreva

10. Managing cultural heritage information: the PATHS project 

Paul Clough

11. Trends in cultural heritage information management research 

G. G. Chowdhury and Ian Ruthven

Our Enduring Values Revisited: Librarianship in an Ever-Changing World

Gorman, Michael. Our Enduring Values Revisited: Librarianship in an Ever-Changing World. ALA Editions, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1300-0

Description
"In the almost 15 years since Our Enduring Values was published, there has been a sea change in the way much of the world thinks about and uses libraries. Young librarians and seasoned LIS professionals alike are experiencing increasing pressure to adjust to new economic, societal, and technological demands amidst the often-dire rhetoric currently surrounding the future of our institutions. In this stirring manifesto, public intellectual, librarian, and philosopher Gorman addresses head on the “existential panic” among library professionals caused by the radical shift in how libraries are viewed." [from publisher web site]

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter One

Values

Chapter Two

History and Philosophy

Chapter Three

Value

Chapter Four

Library as Place

Chapter Five

Stewardship

Chapter Six

Service

Chapter Seven

Intellectual Freedom

Chapter Eight

Rationalism

Chapter Nine

Literacy and Learning

Chapter Ten

Equity of Access

Chapter Eleven

Privacy

Chapter Twelve

Democracy

Chapter Thirteen

The Greater Good

Chapter Fourteen

Keeping Faith