CE NEWS

May 4, 2018

Table of Contents

• Congratulations Strategic Staff Development Graduates
• Gearing Up For Summer Reading
• Fun Hands-On Learning Activities for Your Summer Reading Program
• Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit
• New Health Literacy Toolkit
• STEM Resource Clearinghouse: Professionally Tested STEM Activities
• Webinars You Don’t Want to Miss  

Congratulations Strategic Staff Development Graduates

The following librarians have successfully completed the Strategic Staff Development online course. 

• Christie Burke-Tuzzy Consortium Library
• Julene Brown-Skagway Public Library
• Katja Wolfe-Soldotna Public Library
• Rachel Nash-Soldotna Public Library
• Sue Crew-Edna Bay Community Library
• Valarie Kingsland-Seward Community Library & Museum

This five week course created by Alaska State Library staff, and offered twice,walks participants through the process of aligning staff resources to their library’s mission and goals and requires about 20 hours to complete. The Alaska State Library will be offering the course annually.

Gearing up for Summer Reading

Spring is a busy time of year for youth service librarians as they gear up for their summer learning/reading programs. In addition to ordering and gathering supplies, scheduling special guest presenters and planning activities; they are busy making plans to visit schools to promote their program. To help youth librarians spread the word about the upcoming summer reading theme the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) has created several versions of video public service announcements (PSAs) librarians may use to build excitement about this year’s Libraries Rock! summer reading theme. Links to the 2018 PSAs files are located under the PROGRAMS heading on the CSLP webpage.

If you are looking for some summer fun inspiration you may want to subscribe to the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) monthly online newsletter.  April’s newsletter https://www.cslpreads.org/cslp-newsletter-april-2018/ contains a list of suggested music titles, information about the 2018 PSAs and upcoming artists, themes and slogans.   To subscribe visit https://www.cslpreads.org/ and click the Sign Up for the CSLP Monthly Newsletter button.

Fun Hands-On Learning Activities for Your Summer Reading Program

Children learn best when they are creatively engaged in hands-on activities and allowed to problem solve. Young digital natives may enjoy learning how sound was produced on vinyl records by creating their own Makedo Pizza Box Gramophone. Instructions for making the gramophone are found on instructables webpage.

One fun way to incorporate music into your summer reading program is to allow children to create their own musical instruments.  The following activity which was posted on the Buggy and Buddy website by Chelsey on February 5^th teaches children how to create a pan flute and record their own music.

Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit

Have you ever wanted to partner with your school librarian but weren’t quite sure how to go about it or who you should talk to?  The Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit, created by the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School/Public Library Cooperation can provide you with some excellent recommendations. The toolkit includes information on the benefits of school-public library partnerships, suggestions and templates for getting started and a list of successful partnerships between schools & public libraries. 

New Health Literacy Toolkit

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) and The American Library Association (ALA) have formed a partnership through the Libraries Transform public awareness campaign to create a free toolkit to promote Health Literacy Month in October and throughout the year.

NNLM and ALA’s partnership provides library professionals with customizable tools to raise awareness of how libraries support health literacy in their communities. The toolkit provides key messages, program ideas and downloadable marketing materials, including bookmark templates and social media graphics, for libraries to use as they promote health literacy.

Libraries can also join the NNLM (membership is free!) and be eligible to apply for grant funding and promotional materials to support health literacy outreach activities. 

STEM Resource Clearinghouse: Professionally Tested STEM Activities

If you are looking for high quality and evaluated Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities check out the STEM Resource Clearinghouse, a database of STEM activities appropriate for libraries.  The database allows you to browse the entire collection of 159 activities or select one of the featured collections such as Span-tastic Bridges, Playful Building or Expanding Your Senses. Each activity includes information on the content area, age group, time to complete and associated costs. 

Webinars You Don’t Want to Miss

• Institutional Politics: Be more influential in terms of your career, your library and the organization
• How to Use Design Thinking to Innovate Faster, Better and More Effectively
• Visual Merchandising for Public Libraries: Practical Strategies for Applying Bookstore Insights to Library Collections