When COVID-19 hit, librarians around the world started offering virtual storytimes: some prerecorded, and some live. Many of us who opted for prerecorded have now shifted to live virtual storytimes, due to having less time to edit, changes in publisher copyright allowances, or because our website now has a full roster of storytime videos and… Read More How to Make Your Live Virtual Storytimes Sparkle
Middle Ground Book Fest is one bright, shiny, happy thing that’s in our library world right now. Let’s appreciate it, celebrate it, and lift it up. … Read More Middle Ground Book Fest: what is it, and why should you be excited?
Looking for a cozy, non-Christmas winter bulletin board display, with a sprinkle of audience participation? Look no further than my new Spot The Difference Snowpeople Display! If you follow me on Instagram, ontarianlibrarian, you already know that I am in love with the Cricut Explore Air 2 machine at my desk! I’m in change of… Read More Spot the Difference Snowpeople Display
Oh gentrification. The inevitable machine, the mysterious monster, the impossible crawl. A lot of the time when powerful people talk about gentrification, it sounds the same. Repackaged spooky vagueness, either diminishing the issue or shifting the focus. Variations of “there are so many factors at play it’s impossible to pin down,” or “it’s an issue… Read More Libraries and Gentrification
Province cuts Ontario Library services funding in half Ford government cuts Ontario Library Service budget in half Province slashes Ontario Library Service funding by 50% These headlines caused a panicked outcry on social media. People read the headlines and thought that all Ontario libraries were losing half their budget. Rightfully, they were extremely concerned. But… Read More In Response to Ontario’s Library Services Cuts
It’s small town front page news! Kids can learn how to play the ukulele at the library. Teaching ukulele skills is a fun way to engage children with music education – and it might even inspire a life long passion! Parents are so appreciative for a cheap and casual alternative to expensive and intense music… Read More How to Teach Kids the Basics of Ukulele Playing
If I had the time, I would LOVE to start a whole new blog devoted only to serving tweens in the library. Instead I will work towards presenting at a conference on the topic (!!!), and in the meantime I will continue writing about it here. Tween Club, for grades 5 – 8, is all… Read More Tween Club: Zombie Barbies
Cool craft alert! Out of all the many many summer programs I’m running this year, the Galaxy Jars registration filled the fastest by far. I personally love the craft – it’s imaginative, beautiful, fun, and just the right amount of messy. When I brought my galaxy jar examples during my class visit blitz, they… Read More Galaxy Jar Workshop in the Library – Program Outline
In my mind, makerspace has two sides: the tangible creation and the design work. Tangible creations draw from DIY/mechanical skills, and design work draws from digital skills. Most makerspace activities are a combination of both: in 3D printing you use digital skills to design a 3D model. Then you use mechanical skills to load the… Read More How to Run a Robot Club in your Library
I have really come to love the Station model for tween and teen programs. Teens need the flexibility and autonomy when it comes to activity choices. Some teens will appreciate the option to drift from group to group when they start to feel uncomfortable. This was the first in a new Teen Night series I’m running… Read More How to Run a Station Based “Minute To Win It” Teen Night at the Library
Ontarian Librarian 