A Few More Displays

In Durand:Kids register on groundhogs, ants or worms and they are added to the tunnel (created out of paper towels!)In Pepin, kids who read decorate a piece of the bookworm growing daily:In Bloomer, capitalizing on Badger-fever (and drawing talent!), here’s a...

Managing groups

This blog post from Marge Loch-Wouters has some marvelous ideas for making the summer visits from daycare centers, camps, and other organizations more manageable.  And if your summer is turning out to be full of mayhem from visits like this, it isn’t too...

Spring Valley Springs Forth!

After several years of declining Summer Library Program in Spring Valley, new director Elizabeth Steans and her fabulous staff are making up for lost time!  School visits, lots of talk, fun programs, and inviting decorations all added to the increased...

3 Great Early Literacy Opportunities!

1.  Some of you have already contacted me about the Early Literacy Minigrants being administered by the state this year, to help you create a 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program or develop an early literacy space in your library.  In case you...

Digging in to Decorations in Somerset

 What do you do with a bunch of kids who are hanging around in the library when you’ve got so much to do–like decorate your space for the summer library program?  Hmmmm….well, if you are Mariah in Somerset, this is a match made in...

Games and Fun in Luck

Gamers converge in Luck Colleen Allen from Luck had her first successful board game night earlier this summer.  Here’s what she had to say:  “I must say,  I love having a job where I can do things I love and invite other people to join...

Terrific STEM Resource

If you are looking for ways to incorporate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activities into your programming for kids, here is another great resource!  A Wiki, set up to collect ideas for programs.  The submissions I sampled were great, with...

Harry Potter Promotion

New paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, due out August 27 In celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Scholastic is inviting public libraries all across the country to enter to...

Backpacks to Go at the Library

Many thanks to Christy Rundquist from Pepin for this article about the power of adaptation!A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away…….Not really.  It was 2006 and Pepin was participating in an IFLS mini-grant for early literacy.  We partnered with the...

Free Audio Book Downloads

Maybe you’ve already heard about this, there have been lots of other posts and notices about it, but just in case you didn’t, it is too cool to miss!  SYNC audiobook titles are given away in pairs–a Young Adult first-in-series title is...

Conversation Sparks

A happy kid enjoys the docked iPad at the Rice Lake Public Library Here’s a cool thing that a library system in Maryland has put together, open to librarians from around the country!  Check it out: Do you want to know what others in the country are doing in...