The 2019 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National Conference was held in Louisville, Ky., in November. While the weather in Louisville was decidedly frosty, the atmosphere in the convention center was warm and enthusiastic.Â
As school librarians, we want our students and patrons to feel welcome in our space. We want to build community — and programming is a great way to do it.
The new American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards expressly address inclusivity in the standards with "Include," one of the Standards' six Shared Foundations. "Include" states that students, librarians and libraries will be able to “demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to inclusiveness and respect for diversity in the learning community.”
Last month, our blog provided an introduction to deepfakes, a technique in which artificial intelligence-based technology is used to alter or produce video content, tricking viewers into believing that something happened when it actually did not.
This month, we follow up with more on this important subject, including resources and programming ideas for all ages.
The 2019 ALA Annual Conference was held in Washington D.C. from June 20 to 25. This year, we set out with the intention of sharing some of our favorite takeaways from the conference for our July blog post — and the program ideas they've inspired now that we're back home.
Between the two of us we have over 45 years of teaching experience. (Yes, we are stunned by that, too!) From the beginning, our library programming has taught students to responsibly and critically select and evaluate their resources. It’s the very foundation of media and information literacy and a critical skill for students to master in their K-12 education.Â
As librarians, we are continually challenged and tasked with creating programming that teach multiple literacies — including information literacy, digital literacy, news literacy and media literacy — in fun, engaging and interactive ways.Â
In honor of Star Wars Reads Month in October, our library held programs related to the iconic movies. We capped it all off with a Star Wars Spelling Bee at the end of the month, at 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday.
We picked specific words related to the movies and provided example sentences related to the movies to provide context. The event ended with a costume contest.
In 2016-17 and 2017-18, Montclair Community Library hosted a YA Digital Book Trailer Contest for students in grades 9 through 12. Students read a YA book, then created and produced a trailer to inspire others to read the book. The trailers could be live action, animation or stop-action, with voiceover, music, narration and special effects.
Wonder Time is an engaging program that encourages curiosity and self-expression. Children discover that learning is fun!
Each Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m., kids have an opportunity to “wonder” about something. The program is geared toward (but not limited to) children ages 6 to 14.
The exchange goes something like this:
Librarian: “I wanted to let you know about some great resources that I have available for research with your students.”
Teacher: “I just send my kids to (insert well-known search engine here).”
Most of us are familiar with TED Talks, a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas through short, often powerful, talks. As librarians, we can use the format of a TED Talk to engage students and teachers with research and encourage them to spread their ideas.
We chose to incorporate TED-ED into our ninth-grade programming — with excellent results. In fact, we are now hoping to spread it to eighth and fifth grades as culminating projects during those capstone years in our district.
“Students are too busy nowadays.” I’m sure we’ve all heard it. So here are a few tips — from my own experience and crowdsourced from other very helpful librarians — to break through the haze of busy-ness and reach students.
A few months ago on Programming Librarian, I talked about asking a trivia question as part of your passive programming. Now, I've taken it a step further to create a Trivia Master Challenge that encourages students to search the library’s catalog, explore our nonfiction section, and learn how to search successfully within a book.
Passive programs can be a great way to regularly attract students into the library without having planned, specific events. Pick a corner of the library that can be designated for these drop-by activities, set out the supplies and some instructions, and let it go! Here are a few of my go-to passive programs.
School librarians are invited to apply for a $5,000 award recognizing outstanding humanities programming in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Nominations for the 2023 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award will be accepted until May 5, 2023.Â
Community engagement is a key component to the work of all library types. In fact, knowledge of the community is one of the 9 Core Library Programming Competencies as identified by NILPPA (the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment).
School librarians are invited to apply for a $5,000 award recognizing outstanding humanities programming in kindergarten through eighth grade.
In 2015, the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with the intent that these goals be met by 2030. In May 2019, the UN began an SDG Book Club for young people. The UN encourages young people to read the books that they hope “will inspire the children to help make the world a better place for everyone.”Â
As we look to fall 2020 and our start to the school year, one thing is certain: it will be like no other start we have experienced before. Many districts have already decided to begin the year virtually, and others are sure to follow. Districts starting with a hybrid model of mixed virtual and face-to-face learning will also face challenges that we have not yet encountered.
National History Day (NHD) projects have been part of our collaborative library programming for years. They are a great way for students to learn the research process in a deep and meaningful manner, meeting many National School Library Standards. It's also a great way for students to practice the various literacies: news, information, media and digital.Â
