Recap of Presentations at #alaac14

This past weekend, I attended the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas. I attended in multiple capacities--as a member of the 2014 Newbery Committee, as the incoming chair of the ALSC Public Awareness Committee, and as a staffer at my library looking for professional development. I also had a few opportunities to present and contribute to sessions, which I'd like to share here.

Storytime: Not Just Reading Out Loud

My fellow Storytime Underground Joint Chiefs and I put on this panel-style Conversation Starter, a 45-minute event in which we explored the other 80% of storytime activities: singing, playing, talking, and writing. We aimed to include lots of ideas for resources to support these practices; resources we mentioned, as well as our slides, are available here:

Sing:

• Jbrary
• Dr. Jean
• Learning Station Music
• Songs for Teaching
• Hatch Early Learning
• Early Childhood News

Play:

• Lisa's Libraryland
• So Tomorrow
• Future Librarian Superhero
• Read, Sing, Play
• Read, Play, Grow

Talk:

• All Things STEAM
• Notes from the Story Room
• Beyond the Book Storytimes

Write:

• Miss Meg's Storytime
• Flannel Friday
• It's a Library Bonanza
• Reading with Red

Storytime: Not Just Reading Out Loud from Amy Koester

We Make Everyday: How you're (most likely) already doing the makerspace thing

The term "makerspace" seems to be on everybody's tongue, but more often than not, we hear "makerspace" and think high-tech, like 3D printers. And while 3D printers are great, they aren't the only want to do a makerspace. Fellow advocate for the maker mentality Claire Moore and I talked about some of our successful low- and medium-tech maker activities, easily adaptable by libraries with any range of budget and space. Justin Hoenke also participated virtually, as he couldn't attend the conference live, to talk about what's happening with making in Chattanooga--especially their partnership with Dev Dev. Check out our slides and Justin's video below, then head over to our Pinterest board for full info on the maker activities we mentioned.

We Make Everyday: How you're (most likely) already doing the makerspace thing from Amy Koester

Guerrilla Storytimes

I co-facilitated four (!) Guerrilla Storytimes in the Uncommons space throughout the conference, and the idea-sharing that occurred in these sessions was sensational! Head over to the Storytime Underground site for full recaps, which will include videos.

• Friday Guerrilla Storytime
• Saturday Guerrilla Storytime
• Sunday Guerrilla Storytime
• Monday Guerrilla Storytime

Common Core IRL: In Real Libraries 2014

Mary Ann Scheuer, Aly Beecher, Cathy Potter, and Louise Capizzo recently asked me to join their library blog initiative Common Core IRL, a project to assist teachers, librarians, and caregivers in demystifying what Common Core means for their kids' nonfiction reading. These four put on a program session delving deeply into this topic in Vegas, and while I couldn't be present due to a conflict, I heard outstanding things about their program. I did a bit of help looking over their slides, and I wanted to post the presentation here, too. You can find lots more information on the presenters' blogs.

Common Core IRL: In Real Libraries 2014 from Mary Ann Scheuer