As seen in ALA blogs on Saturday, June 25:
Heather Acerro reported that “The poopiest place to be at #ALA11 tonight was the Super Diaper Baby 2 party. Here are some highlights: Tinkle tinis and hot dogs were served. Yes, tinkle tinis—get it? The super-awesome and talented Dav Pilkey signed copies of Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers and let us take them home with us even though the book hasn’t been released yet! He also showed us a moving video about his inspiration for the book—it will be available on his website in a week or so; take a few minutes to watch it, it will squeeze a few tears out of you. There were plenty of red cape–wearing librarians in attendance.”…
There’s a Map for That—ALA Membership Blog
Alison Ricker wrote, “No fewer than seven librarians gave a whirlwind tour of map sources and mapping tools during the Map and Geography Round Table(MAGERT) sponsored session, generously supported by SimplyMap. Intended for the non-specialist (especially the general reference librarian who may feel slightly panicked when leading a patron to the library’s map collection), the session organizers brought together experts with excellent suggestions for finding maps, with information on freely accessible resources and step-by-step demonstrations and handouts. Three types of maps were covered…”
How Audiobooks Have Been Successfully Used to Engage Readers—The PLA Blog
Stephanie Hill shared her experience at a session about audiobooks, reporting that “It was a panelist format where three knowledgeable librarians did a Q&A where either the host of the session asked the questions or audience members posed the questions and that is what the presenters encouraged mostly—audience participation. I like these kinds of sessions because instead of someone lecturing to you, you are now engaged and obtaining the information and questions you have. Basically, the take-home message for me was that audio books are no less important than regular books. So many of us librarians may focus on the act of reading so much that we forget listening is also a very important skill we need to help our children and adults with.”…
Learning about Sensory Storytimes—ALSC Blog
Mary Voors wrote, “Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are visiting our libraries. Many more families of kids with ASD want to feel welcome in our libraries. Current statistics show that one in every 110 children is diagnosed with autism, and some studies suggest that the prevalence rate of autism is increasing 10–17 percent annually—statistics that clearly show that families needing this type of storytime are in our communities. How we can best work with these kids and their families was the focus of a session today called “Sensory Storytime: Preschool Programming that Makes Sense for Kids with Autism.”…
Jessica Horvath reported, “Friday’s ALA Unconference presented a unique and rewarding opportunity for librarians to share experiences. Free of agendas, the group dictates the flow of conversation. The morning’s group consisted of divergent perspectives, leading toward a wide scope of discussion topics. One may assume this on-a-whim approach would lead to chaos, the moderators Young Lee (University of La Verne Libraries) and Erin Dorney (Millersville University Libraries) kept the conversation lively, organic, and productive.”…
Abbylibrarian wrote about that conference favorite, ARCs. “Books on the tables. Books on the floor. Books on the ceiling…Okay, maybe I made that last one up, but there were definitely books pretty much everywhere at the opening reception for the Exhibit Halls last night. While the highlight of the conference is definitely the personal connections I make with other librarians, I love to get my hands on some ARCs (Advance Reader Copies, a.k.a. galleys). Reading ARCs helps me keep up with what’s new and hot in children’s and YA lit. And the teens in my teen advisory group love to read pre-publication books and write reviews for me so that I know what THEY think is hot.”…