I am approaching the end of my second year as Children’s Librarian, and I am so proud of the work that my coworkers and I have put in over the past few years. The library is warm, colorful and inviting, and our circulation and program numbers reflect that work. But most importantly (in my opinion), the feedback from our community has been positive, and encouraging. I am fulfilled and proud, but, boy, am I tired.

How do you balance the desire to do all the things for your community when there is such a need, with the necessity of sustainability? How do you provide resources to so many people with vastly different needs without making yourself miserable?

Small and rural libraries often operate with limited resources and a small staff. That staff has to become experts on “whatever needs doing.” There usually isn’t a designated person for marketing, tech-support, or programming. Combining that fact with the shift in libraries across the country becoming community hubs, and the push for more third places, in my opinion creates the perfect environment for burnout to run rampant amongst small-town library workers.

If you are like me, and weren’t familiar with the term ”third place”, the University of Chicago English Language Institute published a blog post that was a great jumping-off point for me to do more research about the importance of shared, public spaces. Essentially, the “first place” is home, and the “second place” is work or school. The “third place” can be any public place that individuals visit voluntarily and that encourages a sense of community.

While libraries are not the only shared space in most towns, rural and smaller communities face the challenge of having fewer shared spaces than larger cities. While many libraries share the same struggles, for smaller libraries, it has been a harder transition from the quiet, academic settings we have come to expect. Libraries want to be everything to everyone, but one person’s ideal library experience can be the complete opposite of someone else’s. How do you have a shared space where everyone feels welcome and respected?

This has been a huge struggle in our library over the past year. Like many libraries, we have intentionally moved away from the traditional “shh” mentality and worked to create a space that feels comfortable, welcoming, and accessible to everyone. However, as our library has become more comfortable and inviting, we have also seen a significant increase in behaviors that make it difficult for staff to accomplish their work. These behaviors can also be disruptive and disrespectful to other patrons.

I want patrons to be able to read in a peaceful environment, but I also want kids to be able to play computer games with their buddies. I want preteens and teens to hang out here after school instead of getting into trouble, but not at the expense of a college student losing a quiet place to study. I love when younger kids utilize everything there is to offer in the Children’s Area, but I am not free childcare for unattended kiddos.

Fellow librarians, please know the irony is not lost on me that in trying to create a safe and welcoming space for everyone, I may have helped create an atmosphere that has become less welcoming for others. It is difficult for me not to feel personally responsible for many of the challenges our library is facing. After all, I have been pushing for this environment.

So, again, how do you find a balance?

I guess I will let you know when I figure it out.

“Wow, what helpful advice!” you think to yourself, staring at your overflowing inbox and stacks of books waiting to be cataloged. I may not have the fix-all answer, but I will share a few things I am still learning:

• A welcoming space does not mean a space without boundaries or rules.
• Recognizing that adjusting our expectations does not mean we have failed.
• Finally, ask for help and support

We are reaching out to the people of the Lake Region by hosting a Community Dialogue about the ongoing issues we are seeing in hopes of finding tangible solutions that everyone can support. Our library needs and deserves the community’s support.

My senior superlative was Most Likely to Trip on Her Gown at Graduation so clearly, balance has never been my strong suit. I may not be graceful, but I am trying to give myself–and the patrons whose behavior has contributed to these challenges–a little grace. I have faith that we will stretch through these growing pains and successfully expand to meet the needs of all our patrons with the help and backing of our community. That, my fellow tired librarians, is at least a place to start.

(All photos courtesy of Samantha Bischof)

Today’s guest contributor is Samantha Bischof. Samantha is the Children’s Librarian at Lake Region Public Library in Devils Lake, ND. When she’s not working, she’s chauffeuring her two kids around, tending to her small jungle of houseplants, picking up pretty rocks, or reading—duh.

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you are interested in submitting a guest post, please read and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form. We would love to hear from you!

The post Balancing Act: Third Space VS Burnout in Libraries appeared first on ALSC Blog.

I found your backstory and education so interesting, and it felt fundamental to how your career has turned out. Would you be willing to share your story of how it all started?

When I was a teenager I worked at an arts camp for children and teens with special needs. It was THE BEST part of my teen years. When I moved to Chicago, at 20, to go to college I was asked if I might be interested in leading weekly play groups for families with young children with special needs for a therapeutic play program in one of the Chicago suburbs.

The women who ran that program, which was called Lekotek (Swedish for “Play Library”), envisioned a weekly developmental play group that would include children with special needs, Birth thru 8 years old, as well as parents, grandparents and typically developing siblings. Many of the children that attended had some pretty significant delays, and although the program was not specifically a music program, I shared a lot of musical games as part of the content. I shared songs that I knew from the arts camp as well as songs that I learned from children’s records and folk records…that I borrowed from the library!

After a year of leading Saturday morning play groups for this program, I was asked to lead weekly play groups for another therapeutic program in a different suburb. This program was a speech and language clinic that served, primarily, children on the autism spectrum. It is important to note that I was studying education at the time and had no musical training. I led the playgroups by simply singing songs and finger plays and, at times, playing other people’s recorded songs on a cassette-playing boom box!

But I was learning to play the banjo at the time. I was taking lessons on finger picking and, after practicing, would spend time strumming some of the songs that I was singing at the play groups. Soon I started making up some of my own simple musical games that I could use in my play groups. At some point I was asked by preschools and elementary schools if I could visit for concerts. These kept me busy, but I did not really enjoy them because they were different from my play groups, where the children and adults all gathered together and worked together towards the goal of developmental play.

I expected that, upon graduation, I might pursue some further studies that would, perhaps, allow me to become a therapist of some kind. But my mentors at graduate school encouraged me to continue doing what I was doing, leading the play groups and trying to structure my concerts in a way that would make them more like my play groups: joyful, but purposeful. I led the weekly play groups for 20 years for various therapeutic, developmental and educational agencies, I led more and more concerts, and began recording the songs that I created through my play groups. And I published a couple of musical books. At some point I realized that it had become “a career!”

When did you realize that you “made it” as a performer?

I love this work and I appreciate every opportunity to share my songs and books with young children and families. But I don’t really think of it as “performing.” And I don’t ever really think that I have “made it!” I approach my concerts in the same way that I approached my family play groups for all of those years. I don’t really “perform” my songs. My goal is to get everyone – children, parents, grandparents and other caring adults – joining in and playing together.

I do lead some concerts in theaters around the country, and those are wonderful opportunities. But my favorite spots to lead concerts are in library meeting rooms. Most families gather on the floor together and sing and dance and play together. These concerts are like bigger versions of my family play groups.

In my work, I end up in some pretty unconventional spaces. For the past couple of years, a community group in Burlington, Iowa has invited me to lead concerts in a shopping mall. I typically refuse to lead concerts in shopping malls, but most of the stores in this mall are closed. This past year we used an abandoned store to carry out a follow-up literacy project after my concert. No typical person would consider this an example of “making it” as a performer. But I love it, and I suspect that librarians, who lead story times in some unconventional spaces, will understand my enthusiasm for those events.

You kept stressing “the words are the motions” during your workshop, meaning what you say, sing, or do in a performance should keep kids engaged. Why is interaction so important as a performer?

This is something that applies most to folks who do programming, such as librarians who lead story time programs or preschool teachers who are leading a circle time. I developed a style of writing songs that combined word play and rhymes in the context of active movement games. Not every song of mine is like that, but the songs of mine that people like best are those songs, like “Hands are for Clapping” and “Jump Up, Turn Around.”

I don’t believe that every song should be like that. A song like “Baby Beluga” is so sweet and I love it, just as it is. When preschool teachers share that song in a circle time, however, they end up adding motions to the words to keep the children engaged with the song. But a hand motion for “a whale” can get tricky for young children in general, and certainly for children with special needs.

So my song “Spin Again” is about a game in which we all spin. I am not asking children to pretend that they are spinning tops or on a merry-go-round because frankly, most of the children that I was working with at the time weren’t very good at pretending and a “pretend game” would have left them out. But they loved sensory play like spinning. In my own way I was honoring their abilities by writing a song that met their special needs.  We might say this is “honoring their neurodiversity”, but this was 30 years ago. But I ended up with a song that works well for ALL children.

One of the key takeaways from your workshop was a kind of “show, don’t tell” philosophy. That demonstrating early literacy skills within a performance is more beneficial than stating them. Can you elaborate on that and explain your rationale?

I began doing this work before I had even graduated from college, so I wouldn’t have had the knowledge or inclination to tell adults why it was important for them to be involved and engaged during the program. In graduate school I also had the opportunity to visit and study programs that did a wonderful job of intentionally creating environments that helped young children sustain focus while providing opportunities for them to learn.

Unfortunately (and I am embarrassed to admit this) I did go through a phase after graduate school where I became a little “preachy” about HOW and WHY the adults needed to interact with their children at my concerts. And, interestingly, my clients seemed to like it! The preachier I was, the more serious it seemed. This did not last long because one of my favorite professors from graduate school attended a concert and told me that she thought I was “more successful when, instead of TELLING people WHAT to do, you just got them doing it.”

I knew exactly what she was saying and the “preachy” phase did not last long. I returned to the lessons that I learned, in my 20s, about family support and put that together with what I learned in graduate school about environments. I started thinking more about how I could achieve my goals about family engagement by working, more purposefully, to make that happen. All without saying it.

It’s clear that you love performing, whether it’s for a room of librarians or a group of children. Whether the turnout is a huge concert or just a small classroom. How do you adjust your approach, and how do you make sure everyone stays engaged?

I love to share my songs and books, but I really don’t think of it as a “performance.” My goal is to get everyone, the children and the caring adults with them, joining in. Of course there are different strategies for a concert hall with 600 seats, or a library meeting room, or a school cafeteria. And that is what I think about when I arrive at a venue. What is my strategy for THIS room? And what is my back-up plan?

I visited a program in Arizona last year and the host had reserved a LARGE auditorium. Probably 600 seats. But I immediately noticed that the lobby was also large and carpeted and would make a great space for a concert of up to 150 people. At a certain point it was clear that attendance was going to be about 100, so we quickly moved a portable PA system into the lobby and had a GREAT concert right there, in that space.

The Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, MO invited me to lead a concert earlier this year at a big, beautiful theater in town. I was all set up and, as families arrived at the theater, I stood in the lobby with my banjo and greeted everyone. I was thrilled that so many people showed up, on a rainy night, and I wanted to convey that. And I think everyone is more prepared to sing along if they have already met me! Greeting everyone also allows me to see how many toddlers, preschoolers, or school-agers are there. Because I adjust my concerts a bit, depending on who is attending. I think most “performers” would have been in the dressing room until the last moment, unaware that it was raining outside.

Mental health and workload are real concerns right now among librarians, and public service workers in general. Between your library workshop and your evening concert, you basically did two high energy shows back-to-back. What helps you recenter and keep showing up for a community like this, and do you have any advice for anyone dealing with burnout?

As a child I spent LOTS of time at the branch library in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. In 5th and 6th grade I repeatedly checked out all of the books on magic and magicians that were on the shelves and the librarian taught me how to order more books from the main library. And, in high school, the library even hired me to do a few magic shows!  The librarian also created a “neighborhood newspaper” so that a couple of friends and I, who were there almost every day after school, would stay busy writing and reading. She didn’t have to do that extra work, but she did. I am so thankful for having that community space and the caring staff available to me as a child.

When I am at my best, my approach to work reflects that appreciation. At my last training workshop, there were some people that had driven hours to be there. Others had worked that morning and made their way there for the afternoon. And LOTS of those people use my songs in story time! I wanted the workshop to reflect my appreciation for all of that. And that same day, I led a concert for families. Again, folks had worked all day and brought their children to the library and I wanted to honor that. The way that I can best honor that is by bringing my best energy to the event and get everyone singing and dancing and playing together.

Earlier I used the expression “when I am at my best.” None of us are always at “our best.” On those days or at those times within a day when I am not “at my best,” I try to take a private moment -in my car, anywhere – and acknowledge to myself how I am feeling, but remind myself that it is not fair to my clients or the children and families to have that be reflected in my work. I think that I am, in general, a kind, caring and conscientious person. But sometimes I need to remind myself that I can and should be kind, caring and conscientious even if I am feeling challenged on that day.

You come across as an extroverted person and a natural performer. What would you say to someone that wants to incorporate some of your style, but is perhaps more introverted or doesn’t have that natural flair?

I spend A LOT of time thinking and working with my band members and other collaborators about how those songs and books can convey. So if someone is more introverted than I am – which is almost everyone – they can use a song of mine, like “Silly Dance Contest” as a resource to bring silly energy to the program. You can say something like, “I think it is time to play a song by a very silly man named Jim Gill. I am excited to see how silly everyone can dance and how EXTRA silly everyone can freeze!” During the song, that person should dance a bit to the music, but does not need to be the silliest dancer in the room. The recording will provide the musical energy and if the children and families are encouraged, the game will be about THEM, not the story time leader!

The same is true with my book, “A Soup Opera.” The accompanying soundtrack provides energizing orchestration and the silly voices. With encouragement, the children and families will soon be joining in. Honestly, I think it is best if folks develop their own style of how to lead programming and, if they care to, use my songs and books to bring some silly energy every now and then. I am honored when folks put my songs and books to use in that way!

Reach Jim at jimgill.com.  Find his music on Spotify, Amazon, and all other major music streaming services. You can find our 2008 Jim Gill interview here.

Peter Blenski has been a children’s librarian in the Milwaukee and Waukesha area for over a decade.  He runs the popular library blog, Lego Librarian, where he talks about library programming and marketing.  In 2021, he served on the 100th Newbery Award Selection Committee, which gave the award to “The Last Cuentista” by Donna Barba Higuera.  He recently served on the 2026 Geisel Award Selection Committee, which gave the award to “Stop That Mop!” by Jonathan Fenske. 

The post Jim Gill: The Children’s Music Icon on Play, Early Literacy, and Avoiding Burnout appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Apples

Bad Apple by Huw Lewis Jones and Ben Sanders

Meet Bad Apple who causes problems for everyone he encounters until he meets a snake who puts him in his place. The sequel Apple Grumble is equally charming and funny. (Fans of Jory John’s Food Group books will enjoy these read-a-likes).

Apples Here! by Will Hubbel

This beautiful illustrated book follows the entire growth cycle of an apple tree from the bare stems of Winter to late Fall after all the apples are harvested.

Apple Cake: A Gratitude by Dawn Casey

This beautifully illustrated book thanks all the things in nature that led to the creation of a delicious apple cake. Recipe included.

Pumpkins

The Great Pumpkin Contest by Angie Rozelaar

Two feline neighbors work hard to grow pumpkins in their yards, but learn that being friends is even more important than winning.

Pumpkins by Ken Robbins

A non fiction title that clearly shows the growth cycle of a pumpkin from seed to fully grown. Illustrated with photos taken from working farms it nicely balances factual information and large scale photographs.

It’s a Pumpkin by Wendy McClure

This book starts with a group of animals who find a pumpkin in the road, but they have no idea exactly what it is. After many interesting ideas and iterations they still don’t figure it out, but readers will have plenty of funwatching the pumpkin change from pumpkin to seed and back again.

Vegetables

The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin

While all her neighbors plant gardens full of flowers the unnamed girl of this story helps her mother plant Chinese vegetables. While they are not the prettiest they make a delicious soup that brings all the neighbors together.

Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

An urban rooftop garden provides the perfect spot for growing vegetables.Follow along as each veggie is sent off to sleep by worm so they can rest and grow another day.

Goodnight Veggies by Diana Murray

An urban rooftop garden provides the perfect spot for growing vegetables.Follow along as each veggie is sent off to sleep by worm so they can rest and grow another day.

Sweet Potatoes

Little Sweet Potato by Amy Beth Bloom.

Poor Sweet Potato finds himself separated from all friends. He goes all around the farm trying to find a place to fit in, but is rejected for being lumpy and bumpy until he finds friends who accept him exactly as he is.

For those looking for a crafty tie in, teach your young patrons a magic trick: transform apples into pumpkins. Slice apples in half and dip them into orange paint and print them on paper to make an apple into a pumpkin.

Today’s guest contributor is Monica Williams. Monica is a Children’s librarian at the Port Jefferson Free Library located in Port Jefferson, NY Long Island. She received both her BA and MA in Art History from SUNY Stony Brook.  She has been working as a librarian for over 17 years.She loves being creative and crafty and sharing those skills with others through her library programming.

Core Competencies: This post addresses the core competencies of ALSC III- Programming Skills and IV-Collection Knowledge and Management

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you are interested in submitting a guest post, please read and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form. We would love to hear from you!

The post Fall Harvest Stories – These Books Look Good Enough to Eat! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Many years ago, when I was regularly doing outreach to juvenile detention centers as a teen librarian, I arranged a summer schedule with an intake center nearby. The site served teen boys who were waiting for their placements—they might be released to their parents or assigned to a non-secure or secure detention facility. The center was very short-term; the boys were there no more than a week so planning programming meant something that was contained to that hour-long visit but couldn’t be the same week-to-week because there would be some overlap.

That year, the summer reading theme was Get a Clue/You Never Know (I did say this was many years ago!) and as I struggled to come up with an activity for my first visit, I looked at the elementary school booklist my system had prepared. One of the books on the list was Stories to Solve: Folktales from Around the World told by George Shannon (illustrated by Peter Sis). I read through it and picked out some of the riddle stories that I thought the teens might be able to solve and hoped for the best.

It was a small group, five or six teen boys, ages 14 or 15. We met in a semi-outside classroom space at the site. The teens were understandably unimpressed when I arrived and I prepared myself for what was about to be an epic failure.

With the very first story, the boys were enthralled. Even though they didn’t solve the riddles, they loved hearing the stories and the solutions. “Miss, miss, do another one!” they kept saying and I ended up reading almost every story in the book.

I returned to the library and a couple of hours later, my phone rang. It was the site director. She said, “I don’t know what you did, but you made some impression!” She went on to say that she had arrived after I left and as soon as they saw her, the boys started peppering her with the stories, trying to stump her. She was shocked and impressed that they’d paid close enough attention that they remembered the stories and solutions and were still excited enough about them to share them with her. It was one of those rare moments as a librarian when I could actually know the impact I’d had.

I share this story a lot because it is (still) one of my career highlights, but more because it goes to show you never know what might work with teens if you give it a try. By any measure, this was a challenging group—a bunch of teen guys I’d never met, waiting to see what their life was going to be like in the most serious of circumstances, forced to listen to some library lady on a warm summer morning. And I showed up with a book of folktales for kids. But it worked.

Today’s blog post was written by Dr. Vikki C. Terrile, Associate Professor at the School of Information Studies at Queens College, CUNY, on behalf of the Library Services to Underserved Children and Their Caregivers Committee.

The post Sometimes, It Works appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Give me colorful bulletin boards, giant cardboard creations, characters peeking out from bookshelves, seasonal decorations, interactive displays, and something slightly ridiculous made out of butcher paper.

Maybe it’s the ’90s library kid in me.

I know that aesthetic isn’t for everyone. Modern library design often gravitates toward clean lines, neutral colors, open spaces, and carefully curated displays. Those spaces can be beautiful.

But when it comes to Youth Services, I’ll take a little creative chaos.

I don’t want the children’s department to feel like a hospital waiting room.

I want kids to walk in and immediately start looking around.

For me, that’s what creative Youth Services spaces are really about: creating an environment that invites kids to notice, wonder, explore, and feel like the space belongs to them.

“Whoa! What’s That?”

That’s one of my favorite reactions to hear in Youth Services.

It means something caught a child’s attention.

They noticed.

They’re curious.

They want to investigate.

As adults, we can get caught up in whether a space looks polished, cohesive, or aesthetically pleasing. Kids are looking at it differently.

What’s hanging up there?

Why are there footprints on the floor?

Is that a dragon?

Was that there last time?

A creative Youth Services space gives kids something to wonder about before they’ve even pulled a book from the shelf.

Think about the children’s libraries many of us remember: construction-paper bulletin boards, hand-painted signs, stuffed book characters, seasonal decorations, and giant paper creations.

Was everything coordinated? Probably not.

Was it minimalist? Definitely not.

But it was fun.

The children’s department was allowed to have its own personality—and I think there’s something worth preserving about that.

Give Them Something to Discover

Instead, handmade spaces can send a message: creativity happens here. Imagination is welcome here.

Try crouching down and seeing the department from three or four feet off the ground. Could something be hiding on a bottom shelf? Could a tiny door appear along a baseboard? Approaching the room with these questions in mind leads to imaginative and engaging creative Youth Services spaces.

There’s something magical about creating details that kids might discover while the adults with them walk right past; that’s the spirit of well-designed Creative Youth Services spaces.

A Space That Says, “You Belong Here”

This space was made with you in mind, reflecting the power of truly creative Youth Services spaces.

Because when a child walks in, stops, points, and shouts, “LOOK!”

They’re not worried about whether the space is aesthetically cohesive, especially when they’re in truly creative Youth Services spaces.

They’re too busy experiencing it.

Jessica Brownley (she/her/hers) is a Youth Services Librarian at the Bartlett Public Library District in Bartlett, Illinois. She is dedicated to developing creative and immersive programs that spark curiosity and joy among children in all types of Youth Services spaces.

All photos by Jessica Brownley, ALSC member

The post Making the Library Feel Magical: A Case for Creative Youth Spaces appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Why Program Evaluation Matters

Our programs are only successful when they meet clear community needs and align with our vision and goals. However, those are often moving targets. Libraries exist in constantly changing environments. Community needs evolve, staff capacity shifts, strategic priorities change, and budgets fluctuate. Even the best programs reach the end of their lifecycle, and honestly reflecting on this means we adapt more quickly. Regular evaluation helps ensure programming evolves alongside our realities rather than responding to outdated assumptions. Intentional decision-making with our time, energy, and resources helps us steward limited resources to maximum effect. Evaluation is not about cutting programs. Rather, it’s about making room for more of what works by thoughtfully evaluating what doesn’t.

Define success before you evaluate.

After a program, how will you know you’ve succeeded? Different programs require different standards. Attendance is only one metric, and it may not be the best metric for every program. Having 10 teenagers show up may resonate more than having 50 storytime families. Consider additional metrics such as repeat attendance, learning outcomes, patron engagement and feedback, and your overall program goals. My library’s Programming Manager creates an operational plan each year where she identifies programming goals and standards. With infant programs, success starts at 10 attendees, because programs with lower attendance often create more meaningful interactions. However, toddler and preschool attendance success starts at 20 attendees, since we have proven attendance. Scheduling for early learning programs focuses on weekly options, while teen programs focus on a few, high-impact options with emphasis on summer engagement. At the end of the day, measure programs against their purpose, not each other.

Review programs using consistent criteria.

Once you’ve defined success, you must establish your review criteria. Even with different success metrics, your evaluation should be consistent, in both frequency and the questions asked. Consider scheduling a regular program review period using those consistent questions. Ensure that everything from your definition of success appears on the evaluation. If it’s important when planning, it should be important during evaluation. Without a good idea of what worked and what didn’t, you can’t make meaningful changes. My library uses a program evaluation form that includes questions for documentation, supplies and preparation, the program’s content, and patron impact and engagement. I send monthly reminders to staff who facilitated early learning programs. We combine this information with attendance statistics to consider what’s working and not. Qualitative feedback helps guide our content creation team in program revisions and updates. Build evaluation into your planning process rather than treating it as an afterthought.

Give programs time to grow.

While reviewing programs with consistent criteria on a consistent schedule is important, there are additional considerations. Having low attendance once doesn’t mean the program is a complete failure. Consider whether other factors, such as marketing, weather, or competing events, might impact attendance. Make note of these circumstances with your initial evaluation. Then, try the program again and see if its success changes. New programs often need multiple iterations before you see trends. Give the program a chance to grow and for your (and your community’s) marketing efforts to pay off. How often you offer the program may also impact your timelines. A program offered weekly will show trends much more quickly than one offered once per season. Establish an intentional pilot period based on the target audience, frequency, and overall programming goals. However, once that period ends, move forward with your intentional evaluation and decision-making.

Revise before you retire.

Before completely retiring a program, it’s important to consider whether changes might boost its success. Once you know a program isn’t working, consider why, using both patron and staff feedback. Then, look at specific revisions. Do concerns fall into the program’s concept or execution, audience, timing, or delivery method? Next, choose one or two intentional changes. If content seems too hard for the audience, adjust either the age range or your approach. For low attendance, consider improving marketing, offering programs at a different time, or switching formats. From there, give the program another chance and reevaluate. Last year, our system undertook a massive review and revision of our puppet shows. We found content needed to be more interactive, shorter, and geared toward a younger audience. This year, we’re intentionally scheduling our revised show to evaluate the changes. Make reasonable adjustments before giving up on a program.

Know when it’s time to let go.

Identify clear criteria for when programs fully retire. This isn’t always a program failure. Community interests shift, staff capacity changes, and strategic priorities alter. In those cases, programs reach a natural conclusion. In other cases, revisions and updates aren’t enough to garner the interest or success the program needs to remain sustainable. For concerns related to cost or capacity, temporary retirement provides opportunities to consider partnerships or alternative materials. However, removing programs entirely creates space for better alternatives. Use your data and honestly identify what isn’t working, then be okay with moving on. My library previously offered Storytime Around the World, which introduced different languages in a familiar storytime environment. However, staffing changes meant we didn’t have sufficient language skills to sustain it. Retiring the program made space to consider partnerships for language storytimes. Remember, retiring a program doesn’t erase its value as part of the library’s history.

Picture Book Tie-In: The OK Book

As you consider your programs, it’s important to remember that not every attempt is perfect. The OK Book by Amy Krause Rosenthal, featuring illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld, is a great reminder of this. The perfect pick for storytime, this title reminds readers that sometimes being okay is good enough, and it’s a great way to learn more. Readers may enjoy the details and that the word OK features prominently in each illustration. No matter what you’re trying, growth comes through experimentation. Programs don’t need to be perfect to teach us something.

As you build program evaluation practices, continually revisit your definition of success to ensure that your evaluation is honest and appropriate. Consider not only this year’s success but also success in the years to come. Healthy libraries aren’t ones that never change. They are willing to continually learn, adapt, and improve. Thoughtful evaluation helps us revise what we can improve and retire what no longer works, building programs that grow alongside our communities. For more inspiration, learn how to check on new services, evaluate programs, and ask questions. Stay tuned next month as we reduce stress by evaluating balance, staff needs, and internal processes. What program will you evaluate this month?

This post addresses ALSC Core Competency #3: Programming Skills and ALSC Core Competency #6: Administrative and Management Skills. Featured image created by Jaime Eastman, ALSC member.

Jaime Eastman is a senior Public Services Librarian and Early Learning Coordinator at the Harrington Library, one of the Plano (Texas) Public Library locations. Jaime is also working on at least two ambitious cross-stitch projects, dreaming of future travel plans, and reading far too many books. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be an author. Writing for the blog and publishing with Children and Libraries feels like a good start, and she regrets nothing about her adult decision to be a librarian doing storytimes, who didn’t have to grow up too much.

The post Reduce Harmful Habits: Evaluating Library Programs appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The Triage Strategy 

A few years ago, I took a Professional Development course titled “Be Well” which explored strategies to improve your personal workplace wellness. In that course, we watched a TedTalk featuring Dr. Darria Long titled An ER Doctor on Triaging Your Crazy Busy Life. This short video, just about 10 minutes long, has managed to stick with me for years after watching it. While there are many references to working in a hospital, takeaways can be applied to any profession. 

Essentially, Dr. Long shares how we can switch our workflow perspective from “crazy busy mode” to “ready mode” by triaging. This means to prioritize by degree of urgency and involves being able to differentiate between tasks that are time sensitive versus tasks that are not. She shares an analogy of “red”, “yellow”, and “green” to separate our tasks: “red” is urgent, “yellow” is serious but not urgent, and “green” is minor. The best way to start with triaging is to know what your reds are, and go from there. 

Dr. Long also makes a point to mention the “black” triage category. This category includes tasks that simply cannot be done and must be taken off your list. It may be hard to do so, and may even involve uncomfortable conversations or setting boundaries, but we have to remember that we cannot do it all. 

Positive Effects

I have personally followed this triaging method as a way to organize my to-do lists for work as well as at home! When I’m feeling overwhelmed by a large project or multiple tasks at once, it’s a great way to “zoom out” and objectively categorize what needs to be done so that I can work efficiently and effectively. All it takes is a little organization and awareness! 

Would you try this method?

This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competency of VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.

Joannie Lauria is the Youth Services Consultant at the Suffolk Cooperative Library System in New York and is a current member of the 2025-2027 ALSC Membership Committee. 

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If you’re a current YALSA member, your membership will automatically roll over to ALSC. There’s nothing you need to do to stay connected. If you belong to both divisions already, you’ll simply be part of the combined membership going forward. [Photo credit: ALA]

Milestone, Not Finish Line

Committees and award juries are also transitioning to operate within ALSC. For a fuller picture of what’s ahead, read the September 1st Press Release and visit the Reunification webpage.

One quick housekeeping note: if you feel like you haven’t been getting email updates, please check your communication preferences on your ALA account page to make sure ALSC is selected. Laura Schulte-Cooper also wrote a helpful and detailed ALA Connect post walking through exactly how to check this, and it’s worth a look if your inbox is a little quieter than expected.

How to Serve

I’m working towards building the committees, task forces, and award juries that will carry this reunified division forward, and if you’re headed to Buffalo in October for our National Institute, please do connect!

Being in-person is a great way to meet with a Morris Seminar participant, a presenter, an ALSC staff member, Board members and past leaders, or me! We’re happy to hear about how you would like to get involved, whether it’s volunteering for process or award committees, an interest group you are hoping to start, or an idea you are thinking about presenting at our next Institute in Chicago in January 2028.

And of course, you can share your interest anytime through the volunteer form, where you can let us know what ages you serve and what shapes your work. Note that if the form gives you trouble, opening it in a private or incognito browser window usually clears it up. [Photo credit: ALA]

Thank you for being part of this moment. September 1st begins a new chapter for our division, and I’m looking forward to continuing on this journey with you all.

Ariana Sani Hussain

2026-2027 President, Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)

The post Reunification! September 1st is Almost Here appeared first on ALSC Blog.

As an 80s baby, I grew up in the height of mall culture. The time I spent in malls, “window shopping” with my friends, rivals the time I spent in the library. The irony is not lost on me. Or perhaps it’s not irony, but a trope. A rivals-to-romance tale of two American institutions. (Tentatively titled A Court of Food and Beverages.)

Or a tragedy, depending on who you ask. While malls have more than survived in cities like the one I was born and raised—Miami, Florida—they’ve struggled in places like the mid-sized North Central Florida college town I’ve called home for nearly twenty years. The Forever 21 was not, in fact, forever. The Sears is now doctors’ offices. Then, more recently, a storefront became a “book nook”—essentially a Little Free Library at the mall. However, I prefer the term “S’mall Free Library.”

And while a library in the mall is nothing new—Dallas even boasts one fashioned like a bookstore—it’s new to us in Gainesville, Florida. In addition to shelves and book displays, the storefront it currently occupies offers armchairs and cafe tables. On my most recent visit, several folks were working on computers. Unlike a public library, no one staffs the space. However, the shelves and displays betray its stewardship.

Which is quite the happy ending. Quite like my visit to Fairyland’s library last month.

Have you encountered a library—little or otherwise—in an unexpected place? Drop a line in the comments or at ktaksier@ufl.edu. 

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I’m lucky enough to live in Ohio, which offers the Imagination Library on a state level. My library system works closely with our county’s Imagination Library lead.  We have registration forms at our branches and regular mention registering in our programs and outreach. 

The Imagination Library is in five countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Australia.  An international study of the impacts of the program yielded some interesting results that were steady across all five countries:

• The program closed literacy gaps that persist throughout the school years.  In fact, after just receiving 10 books—not even a year into the program—children in the program were four times more likely to demonstrate stronger early literacy skills.
• Participating children were nine times more likely to be read to four or more days per week.
• Children were more likely to enjoy books and engage in meaningful interactions surrounding books.
• The Imagination Library encourages family reading and builds a reading culture inside the home. 

In 2022, Parton was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy for all her philanthropic work, including the Imagination Library.  On the website entry for this award, the Carnegie Family of institutions stated:

In The Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie urges us to ponder this question: Because of the life you are living, has “one small part of the great world … been bettered just a little”? The Selection Committee of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy salutes Dolly Parton, who has done more than “a little.” With her philanthropy and her artistry, she has empowered and lifted up the citizens of her Tennessee home county as well as millions more around the world. We believe that her many philanthropic achievements embody the values of our founder, who, with us, would surely greet Parton with “affection, gratitude, and admiration.”

Thanks, Dolly.  Rest well.

This post addresses the core competencies of I. Commitment to Client Group and V. Outreach and Advocacy.

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