The Goldilocks Sweet Spot for Kids’ Brains

Arthur Rackham illustration from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, from PixabayA recent study from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital showed that reading aloud, combined with pictures, is the sweet spot for developing children’s brains. ...

Free Is Key TEDx Talk

Many people from IFLS-land will remember Dawn Wacek as the library director (and before that, the youth services manager) at the Rice Lake Public Library.  She left our system, but thankfully didn’t leave the state, she is currently the youth services...

Maintaining Equilibrium During Summer

image from PixabayI read a really great blog post on Teen Librarian Toolbox about the Summer Library Program this morning–I highly recommend checking it out.  In it, she talks about how important summer programming is, how good it is to capitalize on...

Make & Take Table in Rice Lake

Many thanks to Erin Hunter from the Rice Lake Public Library for this guest post!Teens, tweens, and young kids all enjoyed making a superhero maskRecently, the Rice Lake Public Library turned a small table in its Youth Services department into a fun space for kids,...

Books on the Bus in Durand

Photo credit, pixabayIn January, a school bus driver contacted Patti Blount, director at the Durand Community Library and asked if there was a way to get some books on the bus so that kids with long rides would have something fun to do.  The library worked with...

Let’s Talk About Race Toolkit

We already have a lot of Jbrary fans here in IFLS-land–I know a lot of people who rely on Dana and Lindsey for friendly demos of rhymes and songs that are great for storytime.  They also have a blog full of thoughtful and thought-provoking ideas and...

Newborn Packs in Ellsworth

Ellsworth’s Baby Bag ContentsMany libraries, in conjunction with their Friends group, provide a pack of books and information for babies born in their area.  If you don’t do it yet, you can take inspiration from Ellsworth, where they recently started...