24th Annual Wisconsin American Indian Studies Summer Institute

Thanks to Maureen for passing information about this worthwhile and interesting learning opportunity!  If your summer is less busy than you planned, maybe this Institute would be worth looking into! 24th Annual Wisconsin American Indian Studies Summer Institute Dates:...

Two Great Chances to Listen to Authors

Oh, my, I do love  book award celebrations!  Hearing from authors and illustrators and narrators I admire never ceases to excite me.  So this year, the fact that the ALA Book Awards are going virtual so that anyone will be able to take advantage of them (FOR FREE!) is...

Making Services More Accessible to Kids and Teens with Disabilities

It is ALWAYS time to be thinking about how to make our environments and our services accessible and welcoming to kids and teens who have disabilities.  This is something I find that I can always use a reminder of, even though I’ve been trying to think about it...

Booklists, Booklists, Booklists!

Summer is a great time for recommending books.  And also a time when you might not have as much time as you’d like to collate your own lists!  SO–here is a compilation of lists and list resources that may be of use/interest for you: We Are Kidlit...
Virtual Storytime and Copyright

Virtual Storytime and Copyright

This is a topic that has been around the block a few times!  Most of you already know about the excellent and complete resource created and maintained by School Library Journal about publisher permissions during the time of COVID 19–many of those publishers have...

Diversify Your Storytime

I have had a lot of questions recently from people who are noticing that their storytimes mainly feature white creators and are looking for ideas and resources and booklists to help them feature more diverse authors and musicians.  Here are some resources that might...
Some Excellent Youth Services Recorded Archives

Some Excellent Youth Services Recorded Archives

After yesterday’s blog post, which took 2 hours and a lot of contortions to write (and probably a few contortions to read!), I’m going to make this short and sweet.  Just a few quick excellent youth services archives to share with you: If you haven’t...

Antiracism Is Our Job

We were all horrified to learn about the recent murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis last week, and along with a long list of other recent racist incidents and the disproportionate affect of COVID 19 on African American communities,...
Some great resources and ideas

Some great resources and ideas

It’s still a pandemic.  It’s ALSO Friday. And sunny.  I hope you will find these few reminders about great resources a good Friday diversion.  Hopefully you have also heard the calming voice of Tessa Michaelson Schmidt on this week’s FAQ Friday...
A Treat: Everywhere Book Fest

A Treat: Everywhere Book Fest

I didn’t know about the Everywhere Book Fest before it happened (May 1 and 2), maybe I heard about it but it got lost in the flood of information and resources (I’ve heard it described as a fire hose many times!).  But yesterday, someone smart forwarded...

RAILS webinar and IFLS Collaboration

I’ve been promising to share the RAILS webinar Beyond E-Storytimes I’ve been raving about in the past couple of Youth Services Check-Ins.  Here it is!  There are some technical challenges in the first part, but the first part has some of my favorite...

Kids Can Help Jim Gill Create Music

Jim Gill, early childhood expert, children’s musician, and author, is co-creating videos with kids!  Children can send illustrated ideas to complete the phrase “May there always be…” and Jim will put them in a song with a video.  He’s...