Tag Archives: monthly topic

Children's services, Programs, Resources

Reader’s Advisory: Dial A Story!

Ericsson Dialog in green
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could just read you a story?

For kids, it’s an ultimate treat to get storytime! And now it’s even available while patrons are away from the library: Dial a Story! Kids love to use the phone anyway – letting them hear a story can be an additional fun activity.  Dial a Story programs are going strong in many libraries around the country!

The Broward County library offers one of them: “Convenient, quick and always available – that’s Broward County Library’s Dial-A-Story, a free storytime-by-phone service that’s available 24/7 to anyone with access to a telephone. Dial-A-Story features four different stories at a time, and the stories are changed every other week. Geared toward younger children, the stories are a mix of contemporary tales, timeless classics and favorite fairy and folk tales. Professionally recorded, the stories are easy to access and loads of fun. To hear the latest stories, just call 954-357-7777.”

Professional storytellers are in on this action as well! “The Dial-A-Story program is an outreach service of the Jackson County Library System and the Storytelling Guild for pre-school age children. Guild members record stories on the phone for children to listen to from home. Stories change every two weeks, or more, depending on the storyteller. Children call the library at 541-774-6439 and hear the stories.”

A few other libraries offering Dial a Story programs:

Have you provided a service like this? Have you recorded stories?? This could be a great way to provide some Reader’s Advisory services to patrons – sharing suggestions for some fun books kids would love!

Books, Children's services, Programs, Public

Reader’s Advisory: Storywalk titles!

blue skies
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Have you run a StoryWalk?

Have you been to a StoryWalk?

They sound amazingly fun! And they are a great way to involve kids in a book – and  hopefully interest kids in many more books!

“StoryWalk® is an innovative and delightful way for children — and adults! — to enjoy reading and the outdoors at the same time. Laminated pages from a children’s book are attached to wooden stakes, which are installed along an outdoor path. As you stroll down the trail, you’re directed to the next page in the story.”

“If you are interested in having a StoryWalk® in your community, The StoryWalk Project- FAQ March 2017 Update.doc.“

A library person was recently talking about StoryWalks on the ALSC listserve, and asked for suggestions on other titles to use. She collected the responses, and we are sharing them with you here:

  • Life on Mars by Agee
  • The Three Little Aliens & the Big Bad Robot
  • Seymour Simon has several NF space books
  • The Aliens are Coming
  • Company Coming
  • Postcards from Pluto
  • Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
  • Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman
  • I Want To Go To The Moon by Tom Saunders
  • The Darkest Dark
  • Oh No, Astro!
  • Star Stuff

Clearly, this would be a fun program in itself. You can also expand on that by involving some Reader’s Advisory work.

  • Add in signs with additional books on topics for each page. Picture of an ant on one? Recommend an ant book! Ms. Frizzle stops at Jupiter? Have a Jupiter book ready to go!
  • Create a bibliography you can give to parents and caregivers at the end, with similar books to the StoryWalk book you just had fun reading. Also put this online, so everyone can find it!
  • Have kids yell out their favorite books! We are already running (fun!), and adding in a yelling component could be even more fun! Keep track of their suggestions, so you stay in touch with the books important to this community group.

Check out some of the photos of StoryWalks on Pinterest!

Books, Resources

Thinking about manga titles?

Manga coloredMost libraries now have manga titles added to our collections, and they can be very popular with patrons!

If you do not regularly read these titles, it can be hard to know what the best ones might be for your patrons. Asking your patrons about the best, or the titles they most enjoy, is a great way to find good titles. You can also subscribe to listserves for manga fans, check out websites, or follow journal recommendations to get suggestions your patrons would enjoy.

The best way to get familiar with these titles is the same as all Reader’s Advisory suggestions: read them. Flip through the books and look at pictures. Pay attention to characters who appear throughout a series. Continue reading Thinking about manga titles? →

Books, Resources

Audiobooks and Reader’s Advisory: Listen to your books – and patrons!

someecards-ebooks
Pinterest: the source of all kinds of library fun!

Back in the olden days, books in the library were available only in paper format.

This is a wonderful format for transmitting ideas in many situations – doesn’t require battery recharging, easy to see in bright sunshine, less likely to be destroyed if accidentally dropped into the tub when reading. It’s stable, and with proper handling can last for many years.

But now we have all sorts of good opportunities to help people read books!

Content is the key; format is a choice. Books are more than their formats; format is just a way to transmit ideas.

I am an enormous audiobook reader. A format more ancient than paper for transmitting stories, sharing ideas verbally continues to be a good way to read books.

When you are doing Reader’s Advisory (RA) work in audio formats, it’s important to know about the reader. A good reader, or a group of readers, can make the book come to life; a bad one can kill any hope of enjoying a book. I don’t know that I would have stayed with Ender’s Game if I was reading in on paper; but the audio version definitely kept me going! I have listened to books I would not have considered, except they were read by Scott Brick, Lorelei King, or George Guidall – award winning readers, and voices I really enjoy across all kinds of books.

You can listen to books as you walk your dog, as you do dishes, as you drive to work, or as you set at your computer doing monotonous and repetitive work. The flexibility of audiobooks means you can get more reading done than if you had to just sit in one place and read. For an omnivorous book reader (raising my hand here!), audiobooks have a good place in my daily reading schedule.

A few audiobook RA tools and some advice:

Check out Overdrive’s services through your local library, or buy books from  audible.com (or other sources); and discover the joys of reading audiobooks today!

Any suggestions for good places to start in reading? Any RA tips for audiobooks? Share them below!

 

Books

Get in touch with your collection!

This month we are looking at Reader’s Advisory tools and ideas. One of the best tools for recommending good books is the simplest one to do: Get in touch with your collection!

Knowing what books you have, what is available on your Overdrive account, and where you can ILL books makes everything so much easier for you.

Several years ago in one of my research studies, I looked at different ways library staff provided service. To look at RA work in public libraries I would go to the desk, tell them I had just read the newest Sue Grafton book and really enjoyed Janet Evaonvich’s books, and ask for suggestions on other books to read. Most people responded just as you would expect: they showed me to their mystery collection, or they offered some basic selections.

However, one library provided the most (unintentionally) example of “what not to do” that I have ever seen! Continue reading Get in touch with your collection! →