by Leah Langby | Nov 21, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
I talked with Regina Arndt, the long-time youth services librarian in Altoona recently and got inspired by some of her programs. Teen programs can be tricky, and some of these ideas seem like they might work well for other libraries! Ping Pong and Pizza Nights Every...
by Leah Langby | Nov 20, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
Great questions were asked, great ideas were swapped! Here are a few highlights (sorry if I’m forgetting something): Karen Magnusson (formerly of Woodville, now of Baldwin) gave a report about her experience at the Play, Make, Learn Conference in...
by Leah Langby | Nov 5, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
Thanks to Linda Johnson, the new youth services librarian in Phillips, for sharing this fun collaboration. Leveraging her existing connection with the school and with the Family and Consumer Education teacher, Linda organized a Great Halloween Cupcake Bake-Off for...
by Leah Langby | Oct 29, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
I had a great chat with Valerie Spooner, the youth services librarian in Ladysmith, this afternoon. I LOVED hearing this story about the ways putting in the time for partnerships and relationships can pay off! In 2020 I was able to fulfill one of my library dreams...
by Leah Langby | Oct 21, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
I recently got a question from a librarian who had weeded a lot of Thanksgiving books that perpetuate myths about Thanksgiving that are both historically inaccurate and promote harmful ideas about the Indigenous people already here when the colonists celebrated their...
by Leah Langby | Oct 11, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
Thanks to Reb for passing along this sound advice from Angela Hursch about marketing to what can be a very tricky audience: teens. Take a look at this short video, Boost Teen Library Attendance, and see how many of these things you are already doing, and if there...
by Leah Langby | Oct 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
Tuesday, November 12, 1-2 pm According to recent data, only 37% of Wisconsin third-graders ranked as proficient or better at reading. There has been a lot of discussion nationally and statewide about the ways literacy instruction has been failing kids, especially...
by Leah Langby | Sep 19, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
I attended an excellent webinar yesterday through Early Childhood Education Webinars with Anna Reyner, an art therapist who is also an early childhood expert. Wow! So many wonderful ideas. The Early Childhood Education Webinars are almost always thought-provoking,...
by Leah Langby | Sep 16, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
If you don’t already follow the Wisconsin Library Association’s Youth Services Section Youth Services Shout-Out Blog, I highly recommend starting. A few updates about what is happening in the world of YSS: YSS is planning a Virtual Performer’s...
by Leah Langby | Sep 12, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
On Tuesday, youth services folks from IFLS and Wisconsin Valley Library System libraries had a joint virtual check-in to de-brief summer wins and losses. It was fun to work with my colleague Kristie Hauer from WVLS on this project! We tried a new format, breaking...
by Leah Langby | Aug 30, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
Wow, three blog posts in a week?! I guess the webinar More Than Welcome: Libraries Serving Families of Young Children with Disabilities was inspiring! Community Awareness and Communication It is important to let families affected by disabilities know they are...
by Leah Langby | Aug 28, 2024 | Keeping Up With Kids
Following up on my last post about the webinar More Than Welcome: Libraries Serving Families of Young Children with Disabilities! Today we are covering Programming. Many early childhood experts are very focused on the importance of inclusion instead of offering...
