33 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important

Just in case you’ve missed this article floating around the Internet, you might be interested in the 33 reasons librarians are irreplaceable.

http://www.degreetutor.com/library/adult-continued-education/librarians-needed

 

Booktalks Quck and Simple

Booktalks Quick and Simple now has a podcast! In addition to the website filled with booktalks and the blog with a sneak peek at the new booktalks, now you can hear the booktalks by Nancy herself.

http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/podcast.htm

Also be sure to click on the links at the bottom of Nancy’s webpage to go to some excellent bibliographies.

 

Best Library Books of All Time

Grab a piece of paper and test your knowledge of children’s literature.

Question: What are the10 best picture books of the past 25 years and the top 25 chapter books? Now check your answer at http://tinyurl.com/29k4hk

 

A Promise to Teri Green

During the Blooging @ Your Library workshop this week, I told Teri Green, librarian from Brownsboro ISD, I would renew my efforts to post entries on ESC7Libs. Thanks Teri for encouraging me to share the tidbits of library news I read on the web.

 

Library Use Value Calculator

http://www.maine.gov/msl/services/calculator.htm The Maine State Library offers this handy tool which helps library patrons understand the monetary value of the library materials, programs,meeting rooms, computers, and reference services they use. Source: Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies. http://marylaine.com/exlibris

 

Jack Prelutsky – Poet Laureate

CHICAGO — Jack Prelutsky is the inaugural winner of the Children’s Poet Laureate award from the Poetry Foundation. The announcement was made at the third annual Pegasus Awards ceremony last night on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park in Chicago.

The new award aims to raise awareness that children have a natural receptivity to poetry and are its most appreciative audience, especially when poems are written specifically for them. Findings from the Poetry Foundation’s recent research study—Poetry in America—demonstrate that a lifelong love for poetry is most likely to result if cultivated early in childhood and reinforced thereafter.

Prelutsky, the beloved author of more than 35 books of verse and editor of several poetry anthologies, has been charming children and adults with his witty, musical poems for nearly 40 years. His books have combined to sell well over a million copies, and his work has been translated into several languages. His anthology, The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, is a perennial favorite of librarians.
Source: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/release_092706.html

 

13 Digit ISBN

Have you heard the news? Beginning next year the old 10-digist format for ISBN will change to 13 digits. For an overview of the change in ISBN, follow the following link.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6308665.html

 

Grant News

The American Library Association (ALA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are pleased to announce the newest We the PeopleBookshelf. This year’s theme is “The Pursuit of Happiness.” Part of the NEH’s We the People initiative, this annual collection development grant project will award sets of 15 classic books for young readers to 2,000 libraries across the country. Selected libraries will also receive 4 of the Bookshelf titles in Spanish, a bonus CD (Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder performed by various artists), posters, bookmarks and programming resources. Libraries interested in receiving the collection are required to develop and host a program to introduce the collection and its theme to students and/or patrons. The list of “Pursuit of Happiness” titles has just been posted at http://www.ala.org/wethepeople. Guidelines and applications will be available online at http://www.wethepeople.gov or via http://www.ala.org/wethepeople from September 19, 2006 through January 31, 2007. All applications are due by January 31. To start planning your application today, visit http://www.ala.org/wethepeople for a list of programming ideas

For questions contact, ALA Public Programs Office 800/545-2433, ext. 5045 or publicprograms@ala.org
Source: ALA Public Programs Office

 

School Librarians Struggle to Keep Collections Up to Date

Jane Jenkins discovered a startling problem when she became the librarian at Jonathan Valley Elementary School in Haywood County four years ago. In the science section, a book on space exploration ended with the 1969 moon landing. A book on U.S. presidents ended with the Eisenhower administration. A science book called “The Universe” was printed in 1962. A title on religion had a copyright date of 1920.

And that’s not to mention the 1960s-era “Hardy Boys” books in the non-fiction section with the same cover artwork that primed the imagination of fifth-graders 30 years ago. “It was horrible,” she said. So to combat a problem faced by schools nationwide, Jenkins used a master’s course at Appalachian State University to produce a survey of the school’s titles. She presented the survey to the Waynesville Kiwanis Club with the hopes of getting a $5,000 grant to buy a few new books. Instead, the group gave her $20,000 and volunteered to come out Tuesday to help shelve the new titles.

“I think this grant was used as seed money, as a challenge to other schools to focus on improving their libraries.” said Theresa Morgan, president-elect of the Kiwanis.

See complete article http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/NEWS01/60913001/1011

 

BrainPOP Launches BrainPOP Junior for Kids K-3

BrainPOP http://www.brainpop.com> has announced the launch of BrainPOP Jr., a learning program specifically geared for children between 5 and 8 years old. Topics in BrainPOP Jr. are chosen to correlate with national standards and testing mandates but are written in fun and understandable language for children.

The newly created movies on BrainPOP Jr. range in topic from the food pyramid and allergies to animal hibernation and telling time. The audio-assisted, kid-friendly navigation allows young children to move through various sections, including science, health, reading, writing, social studies, and math. Each animated movie is also supplemented with quizzes that are read aloud, as well as games and other features to assist teachers and parents.

Developed to be used by families at home and as part of lesson plans at school, BrainPOP Jr. allows users to customize the pacing of the movies and to give children the chance to answer questions independently or make predictions before proceeding, according to the announcement.

For a limited time, BrainPOP Jr. http://www.brainpopjr.com> is offering a free subscription to view and experience its content, which includes five-minute movies and a notebook feature corresponding to the content. The Web-based product will be updated continuously.

Source: Multimedia & Internet @ Schools Xtra, accessed August 12, 2006