Category Archives: Public

Books, Children's services, Programs, Public, School Media Specialist

New study says toy “sleepovers” can help kids’ literacy

Getting young kids involved in activities that involve reading is important to encourage their literacy skills. And when the kids can bring their favorite stuffed animals along, everyone can participate in the fun!

You may remember a few months ago CMLE’s office mascot Orville got to take part in a great Stuffed Animal Sleepover program offered by the St. Cloud Public library.

These events are becoming increasingly popular all across the world, and thanks to a new study, can even promote early literacy skills. This article from School Library Journal explains just how useful these events can be to get young kids interested in reading!
Continue reading New study says toy “sleepovers” can help kids’ literacy →

Books, General, Public, School Media Specialist

What teen magazines are you offering?

Magazines in Prague DSCN5008
A library person recently asked about the most popular teen/YA magazines. There were a lot of answers, so we are sharing them with you here. Feel free to add in some of the magazines that are popular in your library!

    • Teen Vogue
    • Alternative Press
    • Game Informer
    • Girl’s Life
    • ​Mad
    • ​Otaku USA
    • Seventeen
    • Transworld Skateboarding
    • J-14 (formerly Twist)
    • Otaku USA
    • Game Informer
    • Rolling Stone
    • Sports Illustrated
    • Cicada
    • Sesi
    • Justine
    • X-Box the Official Magazine
    • Scholastic Art

A few comic suggestions

  • Avengers
  • Batman
  • Spiderman
  • Star Wars
  • Superman
  • Teen Titans
  • Ultimates
  • X-men
Programs, Public

Teen cooking program suggestions!

US Navy 090818-N-6326B-001 Staff and patients participate in a healthy cooking class at Naval Medical Center San Diego
These are suggestions for teen cooking programs from assorted libraries – but they could easily be done for all ages! The library people running these programs report they get a very good turnout; so might be a fun (potentially messy – never wrong) way to bring some new life into your programming.

Note: If your library does cooking programs, know that the CMLE HQ staff is ready and willing (even eager!) to come help with the taste testing! (And if you were not planning to include taste testers – we still volunteer!)

  • Teen Iron Chef
  • Cupcake Wars
  • Cake Boss
  • Fruit Bouquets
  • Stranger Things Cookie Bake-Off ( teens stop by the teen room to pick up a mystery ingredient that they have to incorporate into their cookies; since our theme is Stranger Things/80’s, we’ll be asking teens to use ingredients like Marshmallow Fluff, Teddy Grahams, and other snack foods that were released in the 80’s)
  • Make pasta from scratch – with rolling pins, the way my grandmother made it, not with a machine
  • A culinary school near by and the owner and an assistant (possibly student) came and did a pizza making program
  • Hunger Games Cornucopia themed food program where teens had to rush into the Cornucopia and grab an unmarked bag. They then had a certain amount of time to create a food creation using all of the ingredient.
Communication, General, Public

Libraries can be mysterious places…

Avon Lake Public Library

“Someone has been hiding empty A.1. steak sauce bottles throughout the Avon Lake Public Library and no one knows why.

Dan Cotton, the library’s page supervisor, said 28 of the 10-ounce bottles have turned up since he found the first one Jan. 11 hidden among the library’s newspapers.

No one has been spotted hiding the bottles, but it’s become almost a game among library staff to locate the bottles, which are typically left lying on their sides behind books on the shelf.

“It became something everyone wanted to find,” Cotton said.

The library’s security guard and pages, who shelve the books, have found most of the dark glass containers among the magazines, the fiction section, the children’s section and elsewhere. Although the bottles appear at random, the most popular location seems to be in the nonfiction section, Cotton said.

“We mapped the first 12 to see if we could find a pattern, but we couldn’t find a discernible pattern,” Cotton said.

Jill Ralston, the library’s public relations and marketing coordinator, said there doesn’t appear to be any malicious intent from whoever the culprit is. The labels have been removed and the bottles have been thoroughly cleaned.”

(read the rest of this library mystery article here!)

Programs, Public, School Media Specialist

Summer reading time approaches!

Kids painting flowerpots during the Summer Reading Program
Everyone in the library world knows that summer is a time for kicking back with some new reading, trying out some new programming, and (hopefully!) bringing in more people to your library! It’s a lot of work, but the results are fun for your patrons.

Thinking up these fun things to do can be the hardest part!

Fortunately, many library people face the same issue; so we can all work together to share ideas. One librarian asked for help in making teen craft programs over the summer, and there were many suggestions from other library people. See if any of them would work in your library! Continue reading Summer reading time approaches! →