Sturdy for Common Things

How to Host a Virtual Author Talk

How can you take the joy of reading one step further for kids?

Introduce them to the brains behind the magical worlds of children’s literature! The authors and illustrators!

What if you don’t have the budget to bring authors to your public library?

Host a virtual author talk!

I’m a huge fan of hosting virtual author talks at the library. It’s low cost, low maintenance programming that’s inspiring, promotes interest in reading, and is SO MUCH FUN! Some of my favorite things about reading are the connections that occur between the reader and the book, between readers, and between the reader and the author. It is an intimate connection. I’ve hosted author talks as a highlight of large programs like Read Across Lawrence for Kids, and I’ve also hosted them as one-off fun events during the summertime.

The preparation consists of reaching out to the author, a test call, and the actual event. That’s it!

I’ve put together a simple step-by-step of how to host a virtual author talk at your library, with a few tips along the way:

1. Pick an Author 

Take note of what books kids are checking out. Take note of what books are coming out around the time you would like to schedule a virtual author talk. If an author has a book coming out, there is extra motivation to promote their new title. Even if they don’t have a new title out, schedule permitting they’re usually down with talking books with young people. Children’s authors are cool like that. Instilling the joy of reading with kids? They’re all about it! We librarians and kid lit people are a team!

2. Contact the Author or Publisher

I’ve found that more often than not it is easier to reach out to the the author directly. That has been my experience at least.  They’re usually quicker to respond than the publisher, too. You can find an author’s contact information on their blog or author website. If you would like to reach out to the publisher, visit the publisher’s website. There is usually a contact for the point person that handles school visits and author talks.  The ‘big time’ kid lit authors usually have a fee attached when it comes to virtual author talks, and you will have to go through the publisher to book that event. If you can afford it, GREAT! If you are purchasing their books in bulk to give away for say a One Book, One Community program like Read Across Lawrence for Kids, they may waive the fee. If you have no $$ and aren’t purchasing books, fear not. Many authors do not require a fee at all. Email and ask! They will be delighted to hear from you. If they come back and say there is a fee attached, kindly thank them and say you will keep them in mind when you have the budget. No harm, no foul. And if they agree to the event for free? Yippee!

3. Event Format

After you have an author that is interested in participating, figure out what the format of the event will be. The author might have a presentation they would prefer to use or you can do an interview style program where you ask questions that the author answers. If you choose the later route, send the questions the week before so they can be prepared. I like to keep the questions more about the author and the type(s) of books they write rather than the actual stories, in case audience members haven’t read the books. In the programs I host, the kids are in no way obligated to have read books by the author. A few examples of these types of questions include:

“What books did you like to read when you were a kid?”

“When did you know you wanted to be an author?”

“Where do you get your ideas for the books you write?”

“What advice to you give to kids that want to become writers?”

“What is your favorite trick off the diving board?”

I’m happy to send a list of questions I’ve used if you’re interested. Also, VERY, VERY, VERY important–> Budget time for Q&A with the kids! This is by far the best part of virtual author talks. I usually propose 20-30 minutes (depending on the audience age) of presentation/interview followed by at least 15 minutes of Q&A. Whether you went through the publisher or the author, don’t hesitate to ask if they have any books or swag they would be willing to give to the kids. At the end of the virtual author talk, I usually raffle away free goodies. Everyone loves FREE.

4. Promote the Event

Hang up fliers in the library, add the event to your web and paper calendar, post on social media, do whatever you do to get the word out.

Optional step: Hook up with your local bookstore! They might be willing to throw in a few books to give away to the kids. Let them know you are hosting an author talk, because they will want to purchase a few extra copies of the books the featured author wrote. They might even want to hang up a flier for the event (if you have one) so they can stir up interest in their customers.

5. Test Call

Make sure you have a quick test call with the author a day or two before the event. Do the call at the same time and in the same room as the event to make sure there isn’t connectivity issues. And if there are issues, this will give you time to resolve them.

6. The Big Day!

Set up the room. Display books by the author for patrons to checkout afterwards. I usually call the author 5-10 minutes before the event and then turn the audience screen off. When It’s time to start, I turn the screen on, introduce the author, and start. I like to leave lots of room for Q&A and also a minute or two to raffle away goodies. Seeing an author or illustrator in their own environment is unforgettable. The library kids have met an author’s kids and they’ve taken a tour of where an author works. Meeting an author’s pet is also a very popular perk.

This last part is mandatory. Be sure to send the author a big THANK YOU email afterwards. More often then not, kids will talk about these types of events well after they have happened. They check out the books the author mentions, and they devour books that the author has written. For the few hours it takes to pull a virtual author talk together, the impact it has on kids lingers for days, weeks, months, years…

If you have any questions about hosting a virtual author talk at your public library, please feel free to email me at sturdyforcommonthings (at) gmail (dot) com.

In The Field: Meet Anne Clark

 

The latest In the Field post is up on the University of Washington iYouth Blog featuring librarian Anne Clark! Anne is the children’s department head of Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library, the main branch of the Bay County Library System in Bay City, Michigan. It was announced just a few days ago that Anne will be receiving the Frances H. Pletz Award from the Michigan Library Association for exhibiting “the same outstanding quality of service to teens during the past year or years as the award’s namesake”. Total rockstar status.

Please be sure to check her interview here: In the Field: Meet Anne Clark

“In the Field” is a monthly series that introduces library students to innovative, awesome librarians rocking the library world and providing amazing services to kids and teens across the country.

Thank you Anne for being the featured guest on iYouth!

HeARTs!

 

Oh my heart! I’m over at Library as Incubator Project today with the latest Pages to Projects post, HeARTs!

Pages to Projects is a series on how to incorporate art education and art appreciation into library storytime. This Valentine’s Day inspired post focuses on teaching kids about the heart shape, as well as simple collage construction and color theory, by reading the book My Heart is Like a Zoo, and creating this lovely Suncatcher Heart Collage. I’m still on maternity leave, so my artist-in-residence demonstrated how to construct the featured craft. Here’s the link:

Pages to Projects: HeARTs!

If you enjoy the Pages to Projects series, be sure to check out the Pages to Projects Pinterest board for more art-infused storytime ideas!

And if you’re looking for more Valentine’s Day ideas, my Valentine’s Day Storytime post has a few fun books and craft ideas. Also, the amazing duo from Jbrary have put together this rocking Valentine’s Day Pinterest board full of songs, rhymes, books, and more!

iYouth Conference 2014

Get ready for the [R]Evolution!

iYouth -The University of Washington iSchool student organization dedicated to youth services- is hosting it’s 6th annual iYouth Conference on Saturday, February 8th from 9am-5pm PST at the University of Washington. It is a professional development opportunity with a variety of themes including: Change and innovation in youth librarianship, early literacy, digital badges, app advisory, multicultural programming, teaching gender and sexuality, and much more!

[R]Evolution is this year’s iYouth Conference theme as it “reflects the ways in which the face of librarianship is adapting to meet the evolving needs of our young patrons and to help them develop the tool kits to advocate for themselves.”

Are you a library student, teacher, school librarian, public librarian, youth services professional, children’s literature and/or YA book enthusiast? Or are you interested in any or all of the interests just mentioned? Do you live in the Pacific Northwest?

Join the (R)Evolution!

Continuing education credit is available.

iYouth is currently working on simulcasting the event for UW students.

More information can be found HERE!

And HERE!

Tickets are available to purchase HERE!

[R]Evolution!

Yeah!

(karate air kick)

 

 

Found in a Library Book: A Tumblr of Lost Treasures

So…

The other day I was going through old photos and found a few images of items I had found in library books.

So…

I thought it might be fun to create a public exhibit of these forgotten mementos as well as items found by others.

So…

I made a tumblr!

http://foundinalibrarybook.tumblr.com/

Shazam!!

My hope is Found in a Library Book becomes a community archive of lost treasures, brief messages, and underlined passages found between the pages of library books.

Have a finding you’d like to submit?

I hope you consider contributing to the collection!

 

 

Mocking It Up

It’s the time of year that puts me in the spirit of the season. And when I say “spirit of the season”, I’m not talking about Hannakah/Kwanzaa/Christmas/Eid/New Year’s. I’m talking about the Youth Media Awards. Librarians, teachers, and children’s book enthusiasts find they have an extra pep in their step as we countdown the days until the American Library Association announces their annual book awards on January 27th, 2014. Until then, while the official awards committees debate the winners in private, lists of favorite children’s books have been organized across the country to openly discuss probable winners of the awards. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this practice, these discussions and lists are referred to as “mock awards”. Yesterday, Betsy Bird posted a few mock lists on her blog and I found myself checking to see which titles were the most favorable listed. Specifically, I had my eye on the Newbery.

Now, here I’m going to let my nerd show.

I’ve complied a list of Mock Newbery nominations that were mentioned in Betsy’s post as well as a few others from various organizations that were not. Here are the goods…

Doll Bones is the clear favorite, followed by The Thing About Luck, Counting by 7’s, P.S. Be Eleven, and The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp.

I bet you’re wondering who the runner-ups are that just missed the Top 5 cut-off…

They are:

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool (47%)

Once Came Home by Amy Timberlake (42%)

The Center of Everything by Linda Urban (42%)

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (42%)

The Water Castle by Megan Frazer Blakemore (37%)

Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal (37%)

These are the Mock Newbery lists I used to compile this info:

Mock Newbery lists highlighted on Fuse 8 Production:

Berkeley Carroll School

Brooklyn Public Library

Children’s Librarians Association of Suffolk County

Dayton Metro Library

Packer’s School

Sacramento Public Library

Saint Anne’s School

St. George’s Independent School

The Suffolk Cooperative Library System

Additional Mock Newbery lists:

Allen County Public Library

Anderson’s Book Shop

Daniel Boone Regional Library

Eastern Shore Regional Library

Global Mock Newbery

Kansas City Public Library

Michiana Mock Newbery Club

Rhode Island Office of Library & Information Services

San Diego County Office of Education

South Central Kansas Library System

Wake County Public Library (Eva Perry Mock Newbery)

 

How about you?

Do you mock?

Have any 2014 Newbery predictions?

In the Field: Meet Laura Perenic

A new “In the Field” post is up on the University of Washington iYouth Blog! Today’s featured youth librarian is Laura Perenic from the Middletown Branch of the MidPoint Library System. “In the Field” is a monthly series that introduces library students to innovative, awesome librarians rocking the library world and providing amazing services to kids and teens across the country.

Please be sure to check out it out: In the Field: Meet Laura Perenic

Thank you Laura for being this month’s special guest!

*If you’re a youth librarian that would be willing to rock the “In the Field” interview, shoot me an email at sturdyforcommonthings (dot) gmail (dot) com.

Life in Library School: First Quarter Cluster

This week ends my first quarter in library school.

Success!

The beginning was overwhelming to say the least, but I have a feeling that was the case for the majority of my cohort, especially those that don’t live in the Seattle area close to UW. At first I felt like a little island on my own, far far away, without a clue of how to survive. It took a few weeks to get into the swing of things. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been on the academic scene. What helped the most was staying in touch with my cohort and realizing that I wasn’t the only one flailing around trying to figure the whole self-directed, online grad school thingy out. Cyber bridges kept me sane. I’m lucky too, because I’m in school with some energetic, friendly, brilliant people. But I should have expected that… After all, these are future librarians.

All I have to say is, Rebecca-from-two-months-ago deserves a major fist bump. I front loaded a lot of my course work before Mira was born, so when she arrived, despite all the complications, I still managed to finish all my work on time. I didn’t turn in one late assignment. For reals. I might be kidding myself, but I have a feeling if I survived completing my first quarter as a graduate student with a new baby and a husband also in school, it’s downhill from here.

Something I reflected on quite a bit during this quarter was how I’m going to harness this degree and get the most out of being in school.  What does that pathway look like? What classes are going to get me there? So, I started thinking about traditional and non-traditional LIS classes I want to take. Writing code, special education, technology education in the classroom, collection development, early literacy, public spaces (check out THIS course description), music therapy, graphic design… And the list goes on. I won’t be able to take all these classes, so I have a question for you seasoned youth services librarians out there:

What classes are you glad you took in library school AND/OR what classes do you wish you had taken? What skills will be necessary for future librarians?

I’m looking forward to these future decisions. Learning theory is necessary, but I get antsy. I like to keep my hands moving and looking forward.

Any advice you have would be oh, so helpful.

Onward ho!

In the Field: Meet Kendra Jones

Hop on over to the University of Washington iYouth Blog today for an interview with storytiming extrodinare, youth services librarian Kendra Jones from the Vancouver Community Library in Vancouver, Washington! This is the second edition of a new monthly series I’m contributing to titled “In the Field”, where I interview innovative youth services librarians across the country. Thank you Kendra for your inspiring contribution to the youth services library profession!

In the Field: Meet Kendra Jones

For more amazing people doing amazing things in the library world, check back around this time next month!

Also, if you’re a youth librarian that would be willing to rock the “In the Field” interview, shoot me an email at sturdyforcommonthings (dot) gmail (dot) com.

In the Field

Hop on over to the University of Washington iYouth Blog today for an interview with amazing teen librarian Justin Hoenke from the Chattanooga Public Library! It’s all a part of a new monthly series I will be contributing to titled “In the Field”, where I interview innovative youth services librarians across the country. A big THANK YOU to Justin for kicking it off!

In the Field: Meet Justin Hoenke

For more amazing people doing amazing things in the library world, check back around this time next month!

Also, if you’re a youth librarian that would be willing to rock the “In the Field” interview, shoot me an email at sturdyforcommonthings (dot) gmail (dot) com.