• Activities

    Sensory-Friendly Storytime Theme: Polka-Dots

    Today I have four storytimes at the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit where children with disabilities go to preschool.  I see a wide range of disabilities, so the best thing for me to do is bring great tried and true storytime books that are interactive and fun!  The kids really loved…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Purple – Part 2 (Yoga)

    Today’s storytime used the same books from my toddler storytime on Monday and Tuesday, but were much more successful, even with 22 kids (ages 2 – 5) doing yoga!  The storytime as a whole tended toward the crazy side, but the kids did a fairly great job with the yoga poses…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Purple

    This was the first storytime of the fall session and I had far, far too much planned.  Because it was the first one, I had to explain a lot of who I was, how storytime works, and our storytime rules.  This took up so much time that we didn’t even…

  • Lifestyle

    Cybils Nominations

    Nominate your favorite books published between October 16, 2013 and October 15, 2014 in the following categories: Young Adult Non-fiction Young Adult Speculative Fiction Young Adult Fiction Poetry Book Apps Middle Grade Fiction Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Elementary/Middle Grade Non-fiction Fiction Picture Books Graphics Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books for the…

  • Lifestyle

    Marketing Your Library

    Marketing has been on my mind for awhile, maybe because it’s such a prevalent topic at conferences, but while I was sitting in on a session about branding your library, I realized that a great program to offer at a conference would be “How to Write an Elevator Speech.”  I’ve…

  • Lifestyle

    National Poetry Day

    Contrary to what I believed (Poetry Month being April), National Poetry Day is on October 2nd.  Upon further research (because that’s what I do)… it’s National Poetry Day in England!  That being said, I’m going to share a few of my favorite poetry books that are accessible to all ages.…

  • Lifestyle

    Conference Musings

    I’m sitting at my desk, back in the library after a very busy state conference.  There were some absolutely amazing programs this year and I’m so excited and grateful for a supervisor who is willing and excited to try some new ideas this fall/winter.  I’m going to spoil any surprises,…

  • Lifestyle

    PaLA Annual Conference

    From Sunday to Wednesday, I get the chance to hang out at the Pennsylvania Library Association’s Annual Conference – networking with librarians across the state, learn about programs, resources and getting re-energized about being a librarian. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE being a children’s librarian, but its amazing…

  • Lifestyle

    Youth Services or What I Do at Work

    I came across this blog post today and wholeheartedly agree with JustintheLibrarian.  He explains that children’s librarians need to simplify how they create programs and I believe that in doing so, we actually provide even stronger programs.  We’re less stressed, we have the supplies and the resources, and our community…

  • Activities

    Butterfly STEAM Event

    Today is an exciting day in our library!  We are hosting a butterfly pavilion where children as young as two can experience real-live monarch butterflies.  We’re hosting a story time this morning and an afternoon program for elementary school children this afternoon.  Throughout the day, the pavilion will be open…