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When Antwon’s kids get a little older, he plans to tell them what he’s been through. A 25-year-old father of three, he’s working hard to give them all a better life.

Today, he is employed as a plumber, studying to get his GED and has completed a leadership and empowerment program for young fathers… twice. But this is a life he never imagined.

Antwon grew up in the Woodland Terrace housing development in Washington, DC where many families live off an annual income of $7000 per year.

“My mother worked on and off. She was raising five kids. She was struggling.” When his siblings’ father, who his family relied on for financial support, passed away, “everything changed.” As the oldest child, Antwon felt a tremendous sense of responsibility.

“The only thing I cared about was taking care of my family, but my mind wasn’t thinking that I could get a job. I wasn’t old enough to get a job. I was 13 at the time, and I got into street life. I was selling drugs.”

Antwon faced time in prison. While he was incarcerated, his mother passed due to a stress induced seizure.

A few weeks before returning home, something hit Antwon. “I had children, and I couldn’t do nothing for them but stand on the block all day. I needed a job. I needed to stay off the streets.”

That’s when Antwon connected with Smart from the Start, a family support, community engagement and school readiness organization. As a First Book partner, the nonprofit helps parents and caretakers become their child’s first teacher by supplying them books to help break the cycle of chronic school underachievement.

“I read to them. They like the sticker books, but I read,” he shares with a smile. “My oldest son, he is in school now. He’s got good grades. I sneak up on him sometimes, but I never let him know I’m coming. I just peek in the classroom. He’s doing good.”

Antwon knows there is work ahead, but he’s incredibly motivated. He needs to earn his GED to get an apprenticeship. Eventually, he wants to become a firefighter. But above all else he wants his kids to have a better life than he had.

“I want to motivate them to do better than I have done – finish school, get a good jobs; if they have kids, take care of their kids, be responsible.”

“It’s crazy,” he tells us, “I’ve seen a lot of things, but now I don’t even look back… My whole life has just changed.”

The post This is a Life He Never Imagined appeared first on First Book Blog.

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I'm just back from our WI state library conference.

I find all conferences valuable but I especially love our state conference. Like ALA, it brings together librarians from all sizes and types of libraries. But it's a more intimate atmosphere (800 attendees) that lends itself to deeper and yet wider networking and learning.

The impromptu hallway conversations, before and after hour meet-ups and catching up; and the promptu fun group activities like battledecks, cards (for and) against librarianship, gaming, dances and trivia make conferences a warm and inviting place to connect and laugh. On a small scale you get to meet and re-meet people for a couple of days of library-celebration.

Programs are often the meat - or tofu - around which the whole conference sandwich is made up. They attract non-members, sustain members and give us food for thought or content that spurs us to action.

Since the state conference is put on by a phalanx of volunteers that changes annually, you never know exactly what shape the programs will ultimately take. Not enough youth programs; too much technology; not enough academic library content - each year the winds of content shift.

And why? Because, like many conferences, outside of keynoters that the conference committee engages, programs are us. Content is dependent on those who come up with a plan and submit an idea. Anywhere from 95-100% of proposed programs get accepted.

This year, we had a boatload of youth content, from babies to teens, technology to hands-on. In terms of content, some of this stuff was as good as or better than what I see at national conferences (go WI!).

I always find panels of librarians from different sized libraries my favorites. Rather than an individual or a couple of people from one institution discussing "how I run my library good", panels from multiple library-size/library-type perspectives suggest how all libraries can find a pathway to change or better service, regardless of size or type.  It helps library staffers think, "How do I bring this back to my library?" and I think overcomes the feeling of "My library could never afford staff/budget/time of the speaker's library to do this marvelous thing."

I love hearing new voices too. Encouraging people who have never presented to be on a panel or join on a panel gives everyone a chance to lead and bring their insight to the table. We were so fortunate to have many many new voices join conversations and presentations this year (thank you iLead and DPI especially).

I also like perspectives from outside our state. I appreciate program planners who invite a colleague from MN, IA, MI or IL to border cross and share their passion and expertise. Our Youth Services Section is looking to do more of this. This year, IL's Jenna Nemec-Loise shared ALSC's Everyday Advocacy message and it was wowza!

For those of us who think about proposing programs for a national audience at PLA, ALA, symposiums and institutes, I hope we also propose great programs for our local and regional conferences. And I hope we look for new voices in our states and invite them to present with us - or instead of us. Everyone needs great CE and sometimes the gift of a great program is no farther than our own backyard.

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The last few weeks have given me a chance to celebrate and network with librarians working in small libraries at two special events that reminded me again of my abiding respect and enthusiasm for those working in libraries serving small communities.

In September, I was one of the teaching facilitators for an intensive three day Wisconsin Youth Services Leadership Institute. Twenty-five library staffers involved with youth work, almost all from small libraries, were selected from over sixty applicants.

At the beginning, many felt that they didn't deserve to be called librarians because they lacked a master's degree. Over the course of the three days, through workshops on history, advocacy, leadership and more; through many individual and group conversations and expressions of mutual support for each other; and through some eye-opening goal setting, all the participants claimed their title as librarians and leaders doing great things for their communities in libraries.

Then I attended the recent Association of Rural and Small Libraries conference. I had long heard that this was one of the best library conferences out there and I can't disagree. Fifty-nine break-out session presentations; five major speakers at meals throughout the 2.5 day conference; and plenty of support for everyone to network and talk together during breaks, dine-arounds and receptions. The organizers made sure everyone felt welcomed.

I heard over and over people talking about colleagues they met from all over the country with similar situations (both triumphs and tears) and how great it was to touch base and connect. The focus on issues and concerns specific to the those working in small libraries had alot of meat for people from larger libraries and I found myself tugged between many great sessions scheduled opposite each other (eight programs per time slot!!).

Perhaps my favorite part was how many presenters were from small libraries sharing their expertise. It was great to hear new voices and ideas and perspectives and worth the price of admission. When I go to conferences, I love to hear from people working in many different library situations and my favorite panels are those that are made up of voices from multiple libraries of various sizes and regions.

As a longtime freelance storyteller in my state, I had the opportunity to go to many, very small libraries over the years. Each time I learned some new cool idea, some tip or trick, an arrangement of collections or services that was, well, completely brilliant. The creative librarians at many of these libraries became my role models, my go-to inspiration and pals.

Their work was echoed again in these two conferences and reinforces one of my deep and abiding beliefs. We are all librarians - regardless of education, all community advocates, all dedicated altruists who believe in the power of reading to change lives and that librarians from medium and large libraries have a TON to learn from our colleagues in small libraries.

Small is beautiful!

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When Antwon’s kids get a little older, he plans to tell them what he’s been through. A 25-year-old father of three, he’s working hard to give them all a better life.

Today, he is employed as a plumber, studying to get his GED and has completed a leadership and empowerment program for young fathers… twice. But this is a life he never imagined.

Antwon grew up in the Woodland Terrace housing development in Washington, DC where many families live off an annual income of $7000 per year.

“My mother worked on and off. She was raising five kids. She was struggling.” When his siblings’ father, who his family relied on for financial support, passed away, “everything changed.” As the oldest child, Antwon felt a tremendous sense of responsibility.

“The only thing I cared about was taking care of my family, but my mind wasn’t thinking that I could get a job. I wasn’t old enough to get a job. I was 13 at the time, and I got into street life. I was selling drugs.”

Antwon faced time in prison. While he was incarcerated, his mother passed due to a stress induced seizure.

A few weeks before returning home, something hit Antwon. “I had children, and I couldn’t do nothing for them but stand on the block all day. I needed a job. I needed to stay off the streets.”

That’s when Antwon connected with Smart from the Start, a family support, community engagement and school readiness organization. As a First Book partner, the nonprofit helps parents and caretakers become their child’s first teacher by supplying them books to help break the cycle of chronic school underachievement.

“I read to them. They like the sticker books, but I read,” he shares with a smile. “My oldest son, he is in school now. He’s got good grades. I sneak up on him sometimes, but I never let him know I’m coming. I just peek in the classroom. He’s doing good.”

Antwon knows there is work ahead, but he’s incredibly motivated. He needs to earn his GED to get an apprenticeship. Eventually, he wants to become a firefighter. But above all else he wants his kids to have a better life than he had.

“I want to motivate them to do better than I have done – finish school, get a good jobs; if they have kids, take care of their kids, be responsible.”

“It’s crazy,” he tells us, “I’ve seen a lot of things, but now I don’t even look back… My whole life has just changed.”

The post This is a Life He Never Imagined appeared first on First Book Blog.

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I somehow managed to screw up the hashtag for my Connecticut Library Association slides so they’re at librarian.net/talks/cla15 instead of findable collocated with the CTLibs15 tag. I’ve rectified that here. I took some time off from public speaking in the last six months. Wanted to get some new ideas percolating. Was doing more writing and less speaking andtrying to do more listening. It was useful. I’m now back around. I filled in for a speaker who cancelled lateish at CLA last month in Groton CT and I’ve got a few more speaking gigs coming up including another CLA in California later in November. I’ve never spoken at that conference before and I am excited.

So here are my slides for my talk that I gave in Connecticut. Unlike past talks, I didn’t make a list of links to go along with it because I felt like most of them are Googleable if you need them (and I was pressed for time). Title, which I love, is Attitude: How to bring the empowerment divide by being more like Vanilla Ice. Enjoy. Feedback welcome.

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Kylie Westaway is the author of her popular debut picture book, Whale in the Bath. She has literally travelled far and wide, worked in foreign schools, events and in theatre. But there’s one thing that has remained constant in her life; her love of writing. Here, I’ll give you the brief run-down of her captivating […]

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Hafuboti expresses what everyone feels in the CE class

Two things are happening that make me happy and excited and proud and want to run in circles of OCD happiness (I am controlling myself).

Thing 1.
I am teaching an online CE course for UW-Madison on issues in youth library management. In the description I lay out the narrow set of issues we can address in a four week course - some good stuff but by no means ALL. THE. THINGS. I also, as in all my CE classes, made it known that this isn't a guru-to-grasshoppers paradigm: "The course will be collaborative as you share your experiences and ideas that have worked in managing your youth services area."

Bless the participants. They are taking me seriously! In our first week, over 300 posts flew back and forth. Questions, answers, ideas, sadness, happiness, problems, solutions, thoughts and support, support, support for each other. It is clear that a community of practice is budding. We are all learning a ton. And I think we are all learning to be unafraid to put our thoughts and fears out there. The graphic in this post is from Rebecca Brooks who blogs at Hafuboti. It's her meme on how she feels about wanting to jump in. That's what I'm talking about!

Thing 2.
Our state youth library consultant, Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, is deservedly being named Wisconsin Library Association Librarian of the Year in a few weeks. Right there that is a Thing 2. It is very rare to have a youth person win this award and it makes my heart very happy.

Happier still, though, is what brings Tessa to this award. In just 2.5 years on the job, she created a statewide initiative, Growing Wisconsin Readers, that supports early literacy throughout our state with ready-made materials. She planned a Youth leadership Institute in 2013 that brought non-MLIS children's librarians together and gave them information and power that have made these people mighty. She has created shared system workshops and powered a new look at youth statistics that honors not just active programs and SLP statistics but all the ways we program and bring children to literacy.

But best, best, best of all??? Tessa has been a mighty person who has given voice and power to youth librarians (whether MLISed or not) throughout our state. She has empowered staffers from our smallest libraries to share their amazing work - through blog posts, through invites to present at statewide conferences and as part of webinars. She has opened the door and invited everyone through. As she says, "You're only leading if you're extending forward as much as you are reaching behind and pulling up others."

Word.

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One reason I love my high school  library job is that I don’t have to tell people what to do all day.  Sure, I’m always checking passes, giving instructions and directions, or pointing the way to obtain the desired outcome.  But, when a teen walks through the doors of our school library the decision about what to do next is totally up to them.  It is so unlike walking into a classroom where the next 90 minutes are highly structured and choices are circumscribed.  The ability to provide an intellectually stimulating environment where teens get to make the choice of what to do next is empowering for our young people and deserves to be protected.

The high school library is one of the few places where students are given decision-making power.  Sure, it is the decision-making power over their own actions, but, that is where empowerment starts.  When they walk through that library door, decisions await.  Where to sit, computer or table?  Do they need to work, or socialize a bit?  Should they listen to music while they work independently, or work with a group of classmates? Do they want to work with a group of our coders on the 3D printer or lounge in a comfy chair and read a magazine?  Perhaps they stayed up late studying last night and just need to take a nap. The library is one of the few places on the high school campus where students can be self-directed.

The library is the third place for our teens.  Described by Ray Oldenburg as neither work (classroom) or home the third place is where community building and a sense of place are fostered and nourished.  I say it is also a place where youth empowerment occurs.  In our library, where teens have choices and can create their own culture we have helped to foster this third place.  It is the place where the 3C’s of the 21st Century learning paradigm come together: communication, collaboration and creativity.

In a time when school and district administrators, as well as city government, want to defund  libraries, eliminate staff and cut hours it is time for librarians to show that keeping libraries open and accessible is valuable. Just because many of our students research online and are collections are more digital than ever, school libraries remain that third place where students can become creators rather than just consumers.  School libraries and teen libraries are that place where kids can meet, create, and communicate.  In fact, it is one of the few places left for students to be able to do this and we owe it to them to keep our libraries open and staffed.

 

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“BE A CHANGEMAKER is a how-to guide for young social entrepreneurs who want to effect social change in their communities and around the world. Equal parts instruction and inspiration, the book will include tools and tips, exercises, and profiles of teens who’ve already been there, done that.”



JLC - Welcome Laurie! It’s good to have you’re here. Tell us what inspired you to write this book.


JLC - What can readergirlz learn from these committed teens? 

LAT - I hope they can start to see themselves in the various profiles included in Be a Changemaker. I interviewed young people from age 9 through young adults, from across the United States and around the world, and from a variety of racial and economic backgrounds. If they can do it, readergirlz can, too!

JLC – I agree! Anything else you’d like to add about the book?

LAT - In addition to the inspirational profiles of young people who have already created change, Be a Changemaker is loaded with practical advice, templates, examples, anecdotes, and resources to help readergirlz jump right in and start making their change.

JLC – Can you share some excerpts? 

 “How many times have you complained about something but done nothing to fix it? Or noticed something and thought, Someone should do something about that? We all have those thoughts sometimes. And it’s okay, because none of us can solve every problem we encounter. But guess what . . . you’re someone. And when you set your mind to it, you absolutely can do something that matters.” (Chapter 1)

“‘Even though I can’t [completely] stop poverty, war, or rainforest destruction,’ Change the World Kids co-founder Phebe Myers says, ‘I’m a changemaker.’ As their motto goes, ‘No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.’” (Chapter 15)
Change the World Kids 

Everybody Dance Now
 

LAT I’d like to invite readergirlz to come and participate in the Q&A section on the Be-a-Changemakerwebsite where we’re hoping to have an ongoing conversation between young changemakers at various stages in their journeys. Even if you’re just thinking about it, and you’re at the brainstorming stage about what you’d like to do, we would welcome your ideas.

JLC Thanks for this book highlighting innovative teen changemakers, Laurie. May their example inspire a wave of teen outreach worldwide.

Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters   
By Laurie Ann Thompson
Simon Pulse/Beyond Words, 9/14

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I contribute to a statewide youth services blog and in the process of sharing a link recently and tagging the blog post, I used the label "reference". To my surprise, even after 578 posts on that blog, this was the first time that term had been used. I checked my own blog of 418 posts. Same thing.

It really stopped me short. And it made me think about whether and why- with all our discussion, posts, sharing and chat on programming and children's literature in the youth librarianship blogosphere - as practitioners we don't give props to youth reference, a less glamorous but very vital part of our work.

We are not alone in this.

When I first came to my present job, I know staff around the library didn't really respect the skills our youth services team had in the youth reference area.  I consciously began to look at what we did at our stand-alone youth services desk and compare it to our stand-alone adult information services (we have a separate circulation department).  What I discovered was...disconcerting.

Our Youth Services desk staff were expected to do many circulation functions (renew books; pursue missing pieces; decide on lost book and large fine forgiveness issues; hire and oversee shelvers of our collections). Adult Information services were not expected to do any of this.  Their desk time involved reference, reader's advisory, research - so did ours. But on top of that were layered functions that took time away from our programming, collection development, planning and RA and ref.

I began to ask at management meetings why there was this tremendous discrepancy in job duties between the adult and youth reference desks. It surprised my management colleagues. Those were questions that hadn't been asked before. The more I probed and brought up the subject, the clearer it became to my colleagues that there was a fundamental inequity in the perception of youth service librarians' skills and work expectations for the service desks. "Do you do this at the adult reference desk?" became a question that was answered by realigning job duties to create parity between the two reference desks and returning circ functions to the circ department.

During this process, I also had to ask myself if a lack of respect among our own YS team for our professional skills and perhaps our acceptance of the "you work with kids, you are therefore a child and less powerful" paradigm, fed into expectations of our reference work being perceived as less valued. Certainly the team loved and adored programming and collection development work. But did we love the dig-into-the guts reference work we did with kids, teens and caregivers as much?

The YS team has worked on this over the years and I have seen a definite but subtle shift away from seeing themselves as a adjunct Circ point and more as the MLIS librarians and reference/reader's advisory superheroes that they are. But again it strikes me that we are not alone in struggling with this part of our professional lives in youth services.

What value do we - and our colleagues serving adults in the rest of the library - place on our reference and research skills in youth services? What do you think?

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You may be familiar with Mary J. Blige's work as a singer/songwriter, with hits like "Real Love, "No More Drama," and "Just Fine." You may also have seen her work as an actress in movies (I Can Do Bad All By Myself) and her personal appearances on TV shows such as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Entourage. But did you know about her charity work? Check out FFAWN, The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, Inc. In their own words:

"The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, Inc. (FFAWN) was created and funded in 2007 by recording artist Mary J. Blige and marketing pioneer Steve Stoute in order to use Mary's personal story and success to inspire women from all walks of life to reach their individual potential. Mary hopes to help these women overcome the difficulties they face in their lives and to provide them with the drive and confidence to pursue – and realize – their goals and dreams."

This is the kind of thing that makes me want to yell, "YES!" I am extremely happy when people realize their potential. Are you with me?

FFAWN's programs and projects include The Mary J. Blige Center for Women, a career, education, and life skills resource center in Yonkers, New York (Mary's hometown!), and the 3E Workshops, monthly workshops and open forums for women. FFAWN also gave scholarships to graduates of The Women's Academy of Excellence in the Bronx. The FFAWN website says they will offer more scholarships this year, but they haven't posted the information or applications yet, so bookmark their site and check back later for updated info.

Fast facts:
Mary will play Justice Charlier in the upcoming film adaptation of the musical Rock of Ages. The MJB Center is associated with Westchester Jewish Community Services.
3E stands for Empowerment through Education and Encouragement.
The J. in Mary J. Blige stands for Jane.

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Welcome to Day 4 of this 6-day virtual tour to promote the wonderful books I am fortunate enough to publish. I'm Victor Volkman, CEO of Loving Healing Press, the fastest-growing publishing company devoted to self-growth, recovery, psychology, and social work books.

Today I'd like to tell more about our abuse recovery books for children. We have a variety of authors contributing several different points of view. There are usually a few key goals of the literature. First of all, to make sure the child reading the book (or having it read to him) knows that the abuse was never his fault, he is not to blame for what happened to him. Secondly, to let him know that he is not the only person in the world that this has happened to; he is not somehow uniquely bad or different. Thirdly, to focus on prevention of further incidents, for example by educating about boundaries and what to do if they are not respected. Last, there is an emphasis on discovering feelings, recognizing them, and building on self-image through affirmations and recognizing the positive.

Some of our books build on specific incidents or scenarios. Annabelle’s Secret deals with abuse from an older neighborhood boy. Reena’s Bollywood Dream features an uncle who grooms a girl to make inappropriate movies of her. REPAIR for Kids aged 6 to 12 and the brand new REPAIR for Toddlers are a pair of books by Marjorie McKinnon, a leader whose abuse recovery network has more than 50 chapters worldwide. Her books are largely educational in terms of prevention, what to do in an emergency, games and activities to restore self-esteem and optimism all within a prescribed seven stage program.
I could write or talk about our wonderful books all day. But several of our new books are showcased all this month at the National Writing for Children Center. Please visit the center at www.writingforchildrencenter.com to learn more about them. And, to find out more about ALL of our books, please visit our website at www.LovingHealing.com.

Follow Day 5 of my tour tomorrow at babiestotschildren.com Leave a comment every day of my tour and your name will automatically be entered to win a Gift Box Bundle - filled with books and other goodies - at the end of the month, provided by the National Writing for Children Center.

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