Category: stories

• Out of STEAM

  

  I have a confession to make: I don’t care about STEM. Or STEAM. Or even STREAM. I just don’t care. .fin.  Ha, no, just kidding. Here’s what I love: The Boombox at Skokie Public Library. They had a ton of middle schoolers who needed something to do and exposure to teach, so they decided the library…

  Miss Julie

  August 17, 2016

  diagrams & charts = science!, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries…of the FUTURE, OPINIONS!, programming, school libraries, schools, stories, technology, teens

  innovation, librarian, outreach, technology, teens, youth services

• libraries are not neutral spaces, and neither is the human heart

  

  I’ve heard it in more than one training and workshop that part of customer service is when you’re faced with an unhappy or even irate patron, you should consider what has happened in their day, their week, their life, up until that very moment, that might be causing their distress. If there is an outburst,…

  Miss Julie

  July 19, 2016

  be the best you can be, bibliotherapy, color, ethics, families, kidlit, kids, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries…of the FUTURE, libraries…of the PAST!, OPINIONS!, random, reference, stories

• Wondrous Pitiful

  

  My story being done She gave me for my pains a world of sighs. She swore, in faith, ’twas strange, ’twas passing strange, ‘Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful. – Othello, Act 1, Scene 3 The stories of Othello’s youth moved Desdemona to love; they intrigued her, inspired her, incited her to action and emotion. The…

  Miss Julie

  January 25, 2016

  authors, books, kidlit, kids, Librarians, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, OPINIONS!, picture books, politics, publishing, stories

  books, diversity, librarian, libraries, literature

• Talk the Talk

  

  Talk the Talk: The Art of Booktalking to Young Adults Whether you’re talking to a single 12-year-old or an entire classroom of high school seniors, an effective and engaging booktalk can be a challenge. Learn best practices for presenting to young adults and how to find your finest booktalking voice. Try your hand at constructing…

  Miss Julie

  October 22, 2015

  books, booktalks, conferences, librarians…for TEENS!, library school vs. real libraries, outreach, personal experience, professional development, reader's advisory, school libraries, schools, stories, teens, ya lit

  books, community, education, librarian, libraries, literature, outreach, youth services

• Storytime Opera

  Singing is one of those things that every human can do, but many avoid doing because they think they’re not good at it or that they have bad voices. There is no such thing as a bad voice. There are voices that people prefer to hear, but breaking things down in to good and bad–especially…

  Miss Julie

  March 5, 2013

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, different ways to read, early childhood, early literacy, kids, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries-everywhere, minimovers, music, OPINIONS!, participation, personal experience, professional development, programming, rhymes, stories, storytime, toddlers

  children, dancing, five little monkeys, kyle harter, librarian, libraries, music, programs, singing

• Your silence is protection that they do not deserve

  If she had lived, my mother would be turning 66 on March 2nd, 2013. She died in 2007 of an enlarged heart, which, to me, has a poetic justice to it. My mother did not give love easily, but she gave it fiercely. My mother spent much of her life married to a man who…

  Miss Julie

  February 28, 2013

  be the best you can be, personal experience, politics, professional development, stories, storytime, technology, teens

  community, controversey, education, librarian, love, mothers

• ego, thy name is librarianship

  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a bit of an attention problem. No, not attention deficit– I have a need to be, if not the center of attention, at least left of center. Even though I am an introvert at heart who needs significant alone time to recharge and prepare, I…

  Miss Julie

  January 13, 2013

  awards, awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, conferences, early literacy, ethics, kidlit, largely unsubstantiated, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries…of the FUTURE, libraries…of the PAST!, library school vs. real libraries, library workers, marketing, OPINIONS!, participation, personal experience, professional development, reading, reading programs, stories, storytime, technology

  advocacy, books, community, librarian, libraries, literature, outreach, research, technology

• Stifled: or, the exact wrong way to think about storytime

  Oh, dear sweet baby Picard Jebus, there’s a rage making thread on pub-yac about a children’s department being forced to do all of their storytimes the same. Here’s a quote: […A]ll the storytimes for one age group should be the same because: Patrons get disappointed when they can’t get into a certain storytime because its…

  Miss Julie

  May 17, 2012

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, early childhood, ethics, kids, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, library school vs. real libraries, OPINIONS!, participation, professional development, programming, stories, storytime

  community, creativity, culture, education, literature, politics

• Boundtracks: Pete the Cat and “New Shoes”

  Oh, Pete the Cat! I can practically recite you from memory, and there isn’t a group of kids and adults in existence who aren’t magically swept up in your bouncy tale of sloppy shoes. (Although some more savvy color mixers insist that first your shoes should turn pink then purple but I call it a…

  Miss Julie

  May 17, 2012

  authors, awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, boundtracks, different ways to read, early childhood, early literacy, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, OPINIONS!, participation, picture books, preschool, programming, reading, stories, storytime, toddlers

• Listen, I’m Telling You Stories

  Funerals are not for the dead, they are for the living. They are for those left behind, to act as a comforting play in which we know all the roles and there is no twist in the second act. My mother would have hated her own funeral. It was a maudlin, religious, church bound affair,…

  Miss Julie

  May 3, 2012

  be the best you can be, bibliotherapy, largely unsubstantiated, mothers, OPINIONS!, personal experience, stories

  love, mama cass, mothers, music, songs