Library Stuff

“When the clock strikes 3:30 on weekday afternoons, librarians at the Lincolnwood Public Library bid farewell to their so-far quiet day and brace for chaos. That’s when the hectic after-school period begins, when more than 100 youngsters swarm across the street and into the doors of the library to burn off pent-up energy, socialize, and play computer games. Sometimes, they do a little homework.” (via Lincolnwood Review)

NY Daily News – “It’s hard to remember to use your library voice when examining bugs up close with a giant magnifying glass. Then again, the Children’s Library Discovery Center isn’t your typical library. Designed for kids under 12, the two-story, 25,000-square-foot addition to the Queens Central Library in Jamaica aims to bring science to the stacks. With 19 interactive tabletop exhibits – including the popular bug viewer, fossil replicas and brightly colored 3-D animal cell diagrams – the Discovery Center encourages hands-on learning about science, technology, engineering and math.”

NYT – “The stylistic eccentricities of Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein and Theodor Geisel, a k a Dr. Seuss, are so much a part of the childhood vernacular today that it’s hard to imagine their books were once considered by some to be wholly inappropriate for children. Yet these three authors — who each have a new book coming out this month in what can only be described as a Seussian coincidence (“But, see! We are as good as you. Look! Now we have new books, too!”) — challenged the conception of what a children’s book should be. And children’s literature, happily, has never been the same.”

Opinionator – “When we imagine people without books, we think of villagers in places like Afghanistan. But many families in the United States have no children’s books at home. In some of the poorest areas of the country, it’s hard to find books for sale. A study (pdf) of low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia, for example, found a ratio of one book for sale for every 300 children. Tens of millions of poor Americans can’t afford to buy books at all.”

NY Post – “Northrup is one of four commissioners at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. She is also a former Republican congresswoman from Kentucky. And right now she wants people to know about a crazy law that will soon — among other things — make it illegal for libraries to lend old books to children under 13 years old.”

FTC – “The Federal Trade Commission today reported to Congress that it is getting the word out about Internet safety for children by aggressively promoting a new booklet, Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online, to schools, police and sheriff’s departments, and PTAs nationwide.”

Access the report

Seattle Times – “Up close with the winner of the Caldecott Medal for best-illustrated children’s book of the year.”

Seattle Times – “A chat with UW professor Eliza Dresang, who chairs a national committee that chooses the American Library Association’s list of notable children’s books.”

Cnet – “A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows a “dramatic” rise in the amount of time children and teens spend using entertainment media, “especially among minority youth.” The study, “Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-year-olds,” only focused on recreational use of media, not homework, school-related online research, or reading books for school.”

Direct to the study

Seattle Times – “Northwest author Bonny Becker has hit the big time with her children's book “A Visitor for Bear.” At least as big as big time gets in the world of children's publishing.”