News January 18, 2008 (mp3 file: 4 MB, 4:13 min.)
Early Childhood Literacy; Week of the Young Child.

We’ve been talking quite a bit in our podcasts about early childhood literacy, for two reasons: first, because it is importnat, and secondly because it is a particular focus of the Library Service Areas this year, and our initiative continues in this new calendar year. I’d like to remind you of resources and workshops coming up, and let you know about some things planned for the next few months.

Some of you have started using the storytime kits that Marcia and Sue are putting together—and they’re getting rave reviews! These kits have all you need to do a storytime, including information and a script to help parents and caregivers understand what you’re doing in the storytime, why it’s important to the child’s development, and how they can continue with that at home. And they have take-home sheets that you can copy and give out. The kits have activities for 2 different age groups within the 0-5 age. There are kits for storytimes in the library, and kits to loan to day cares. There are a couple of bilingual kits (in English and Spanish) and more in the works. Please check the Early Childhood Literacy website for a list of the kits, or to download the kits and put them together yourself.

Speaking of those kits, we’re going to have a “kit work day” on our Children’s Book Discussion in May this year. In addition to the usual review of books by participants, we’ll be learning about what makes a good kit, what to include—and planning more kits urselves!

Workshops about early childhood literacy are in the works. Saroj Ghoting, co-author of Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library will be doing a workshop, “The Fun and Facts of Early Literacy: Communicating with Parents Through Storytimes” in four locations in the state. For those of us in SW the nearby workshops are in Denison on March 3 and Indianola on March 7. Mark your calendar, and watch for more information and registration in the CE catalog.

Jerri Heid from the Ames Public Library will be doing a workshop on lapsit programs on April 11, so mark you calendar for that date, too. You’ll remember Jerri from her wonderful workshop on music in storytimes.

Plans are in the works for Toddler Fests and Grandparents Fairs around the state, and we want to work with counties and other groups of librarians to collaborate on projects and promoting early childhood literacy. Let’s all put on our thinking caps, and help Iowa’s children be ready to learn! --Karen

Links from today's podcast:

• Early Childhood Literacy website
• Week of the Young Child
  

Online Conference; Facilitating the Use of Technology;

News January 18, 2008 (mp3 file: 5.3 MB, 5:33 min.)
Online Conference; Facilitating the Use of Technology;
We had an exciting day on Wednesday--the first Iowa Small Libraries Online Conference. I hope that many of you were able to attend at least part of the conference. More than 100 librarians and trustees registered. In spite of the snowy weather--after all, everyone could just attend from their computer desktop--the turnout was terrific for our first online conference. Eighty-four attended Michael Stephens' presentation on "The Hyperlinked Library," and seventy-three attended Pat Wagner's "Improving Library Co-Worker Relationships--Getting Along with Nice People in Stressful Times." Concurrent sessions included "Cool Tools, Gadgets and Widgets," "WebJunction," "The Buddy System: Collaborating with Colleagues Online," and The Interactive Library: Promoting Library Services Online." Over the lunch hour there was a conversation lounge where colleagues could do some talking and informal networking, and a game room, where librarians and trustees learned about games in the library. And all day long there were vendors in the Virtual Exhibit Hall. In the evening trustees (and librarians) gathered in a Wimba classroom to learn about Trustee 2.0--where trustees fit into all this Web and Library 2.0 world.

We're still absorbing and processing as we think about the next online conference because, yes, we think we surely must do more! I hope, if you attended the conference, that you'll take some time to write down what you learned, maybe make a little list of things that you want to do after the conference--try a new tool, try one of Pat's tips for getting along with each other just a bit better, explore some new services or communication methods, and talk to your board (or trustees--be talking with the Director) about what you learned. What did I learn? Well, I learned many things in the excellent concurrent sessions--thanks to all the great presenters--but I learned some other important things, too; or rather some things were just reinforced for me. Most of all, it was clear that you want to have online learning available to you--not that you don't still want face-to-face workshops and meetings and conferences--but how great is it to be able to ALSO have the opportunity to stay at home (especially during the winter in Iowa!) and expand your knowledge and experience.

The conference team met this morning to "debrief," we're looking at the evaluations and suggestions, and we've already started to talk about next year's conference, so stay tuned! And, of course, send us your comments and suggestions. In fact, you can share your experiences and ideas as comments on this SWILSA News & Views blog. Thanks to the planning team, who did an extraordinary job of planning and implementing the conference; thanks to the presenters for their willingness to embrace this new conference format, and thanks to all of you who attended. Those of you who didn't have a chance to attend, we hope to see you next year--and in the meantime, don't forget to check out other online opportunities in the CE catalog. --Karen

Links from today's podcast:

• Iowa Small Libraries Online Conference
• Google Search Guide
• Google Scholar
• Metacrawler
• National Geographic Maps

Finding Reliable Internet Resources; The Storyteller's Guide

News January 11, 2008 (mp3 file; 4:42 min.)




Websites from Today's Podcast:

• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
• THE Pathfinder Project
• Web Index Sites:
  Librarians Index to the Internet
  Internet Public Library
  Digital Librarian
  

Book Reviewed by Marica on Today's Podcast:
The Storyteller's Guide: Storytellers Share Advice for the Classroom, Boardroom, Showroom, Podium, Pulpit and Center Stage by Bill Mooney and David Holt

Upcoming Events; "Flannelboard Stories for Infants and Toddlers: Bilingual Edition"

News January 4, 2008 (mp3 file; 3:58 min.)




Upcoming Events for Early 2008:

Well, we’re taking down the Christmas tree here at SWILSA and getting excited about the events and promotional ideas for the coming months of the new year.

First, I hope that many of you are registered for sessions of the Iowa Small Libraries Online Conference with keynote speakers Michael Stephens and Pat Wagner on January 16^th. The entire “conference” takes place in Wimba classrooms, so all you need is a computer with a broadband Internet connection. If you haven’t used Wimba before, don’t let that stop you – just give us a call and we’ll make sure that you get set up before the conference date.

The All Iowa Reads books for discussion groups are here and the schedule shows only a few months already taken. Be sure to attend the ICN session on January 17^th with Dale Ross and Susan Craig to help you plan for your own discussion group. I finished the book Digging to America over the holidays and it is an interesting study of the way relationships develop and something of what it is like to live as an immigrant in this country.

One of the most fun activites of the year for us is planning for the Summer Library Program. We are getting started on bulletin board ideas and so on to be ready for the Summer Library Program workshop on February 14^th at the Red Oak YMCA. Register to attend through the State Library’s CE Catalog.

Our Early Childhood Literacy project will get a boost in early March with workshops presented by Saroj Ghoting. Saroj spoke at last year’s Kids First Conference and her book Early Literacy Storytimes @ your library with its focus on six early literacy skills has formed a basis for our Early Childhood Literacy materials – especially our new Storytime Kits. Watch for details about these workshops soon and check out the new ECL website for materials you can use right away!

And March 2-8 is Teen Tech Week. We will be doing a bulletin board kit for this event in the near future. For ideas that you can use to celebrate this week at your library, see the link posted on today’s blog.

These are just a few of the highlights – be sure to check the CE Catalog for more online CE opportunities, and browse the SWILSA website for additional program and display ideas.

~Sue

Links from Today's Podcast:

• Iowa Small Libraries Online Conference
• CE Catalog
• Early Childhood Literacy
• Teen Tech Week (YALSA website)

Book Reviewed by Marcia on Today's Podcast:
Flannelboard Stories for Infants and Toddlers: Bilingual Edition by Ann Carlson and Mary Carlson; American Library Association; 2005.