Online Workshop: Children’s Services Fundamentals

adrienne — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:57:19 +0000

Rural Library Initiative

Title: Children’s Services Fundamentals

Format: Online

Dates: January 5, 2010 – February 1, 2010

To register for this workshop: Use the online registration form at

http://infopeople.org/rural/workshop/440

Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others.

Does your work in the library include service to children and their families? Are you new to your responsibilities for children’s services or returning after a long absence? Do you want to do a better job in providing homework assistance, readers’ advisory, library tours, or family programs?

Expert children’s librarian and author Penny Peck will help you to acquire knowledge and skills to make you more comfortable and confident about providing fundamental children’s services. As a result of the course you will be able to:

Conduct a reference interview to match grade-appropriate resources with children’s information needs
Determine children’s reading interests, including those of reluctant readers, and find books to meet those interests
Plan and host entertaining programs that attract families to the library
Conduct a book discussion group for school-age children
Promote books and reading through booktalking, library tours, and displays

Whether you are new or not-so-new to children’s services, you’ll come away with resources, best practices, and useful tips and techniques that can be applied immediately in your library.

Because the topics of children’s storytime and collection development are covered in other Infopeople courses, they will not be covered in this course.

Course Description: This four-week online course begins with the basic services of reference, homework help, and readers’ advisory, then builds on those skills with library tours, booktalks, and basic youth programming. You will develop a booklist, record a booktalk, plan for a library tour, and do other assignments to practice the skills learned. The instructor will provide a variety of online resources and handouts as a toolkit to use whenever you are serving children and families in the library. You will also participate in discussion forums and online meetings as part of the online learning process.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

Week 1: Children’s Reference and Homework Help

What is reference? How a child’s developmental level affects reference

Reference interview questions and techniques, including body language

Homework: finding what children need, which may not be what they ask for initially

Math questions and homework

Useful online resources for information and homework

Week 2: Readers Advisory for Children

What is readers’ advisory? Overview of recreational reading for children

Recreational reading by grade level and by genre of fiction

Readers’ advisory interview questions and techniques

Finding read-alikes and books for reluctant readers

Online resources to assist with readers’ advisory

Week 3: Programming for School-Age Children

Overview of library programming for youth (excluding storytime)

Entertainment programs from planning stage to delivery

Book discussion groups for older children and “tweens”

Summer reading programs

Do-it-yourself programs and films

Online resources for planning library programs

Week 4: Tours and Book Promotion

Conducting exciting tours for classes visiting the library

Booktalking as a way to promote recreational reading

Other forms of book promotion including booklists and online book promotion

Simple library displays.

Online resources for tours, library instruction, booktalks, and book promotion.

Instructor: Penny Peck. Penny Peck has been a children’s librarian for 25 years. Her experience includes performing thousands of children’s storytimes, leading hundreds of book club discussions for students in grades 4-12, conducting hundreds of school tours and assemblies, reviewing children’s books and media, and conducting the Performers’ Showcase for auditioning library entertainment. She is editor of BayNews, the newsletter for the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California. Since 2002 she has been a part-time instructor at San Jose State University, specializing in classes on youth and teen services and programming.

Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 3 hours per week. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, it is recommended that you complete each week’s assignments within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: Any library staff who provide service to children, including reference librarians or other staff who substitute at the children’s desk; new children’s librarians or other library staff who are relatively new to serving children. This course is particularly valuable for support staff whose work includes children’s services responsibilities.

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at

http://www.infopeople.org/training/learning_details.html

If you would like to subscribe via RSS and be notified whenever new Infopeople training events are available, you can use these links:

**For new on-ground or online workshops: http://infopeople.org/workshop/rss

**For new podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InfopeoplePodcasts

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information about Infopeople Training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople Workshops page at http://infopeople.org/workshop

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at assist@infopeople.org or by phone at 650-578-9685.

CYA: Children & Young Adultsservices

Online Workshop: Children’s Services Fundamentals

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