Author: Deborah

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Beacons of Strength-Library–How??

The Institute of Museum and Library Services recently blogged about Libraries being a Beacons of Strength, providing mental health resources to cope with COVID. We are all experiencing the mental health fall out of Covid-19 in one way or another, be it how we operate our libraries, the interactions with our staff and patrons, and experiences within our own personal lives. How can I be a Beacon of Strength to my library, my staff, co-workers , patrons and family when I am struggling?

You are NOT alone. We are Librarians. We have resources. The National Library of Medicine provides free, research based resources to public libraries. Katie Scherrer, who was here to train NH Librarians in 2019 in her Stories, Songs, and Stretches!® program writes about Mindfulness in Times of Extreme Stress. The Mighty recently posted It’s OK Not to Be OK: A Digital Toolkit for Prioritizing Your Mental Health with some great resources. My library friend Richard Moniz, co-author of The Mindful Librarian has updated his Annotated Mindful Resource List. (Side Note: He is a co-author of The Dysfunctional Library – Challenges and Solutions to Workplace Relationships that might be of interest to some.)

Annotated-Mindful-Resource-ListDownload

One of the best resources we have is each other! Explore online mindful librarian groups. Regularly talk with other like Librarians via zoom or telephone. I don’t have to tell you the amount of self-help material on the market right now–again–we are librarians. Even before Covid-19 entered our lives, what was the number one prescription for failing mental health–Get Outside–Get Moving and we just happen to live in a most perfect state to do that. I dug my cross-country skis out and took a brief run around the house just last night. We are hardy Northern New England folks. A little snow and cold doesn’t shut us down. But, if it does–I am never one to say no to the hot chocolate and good book by the fire scenario.

If you would like to join the Mindful NH Librarians group, drop me a line. We meet via zoom every other Wednesday for discussion, sharing of ideas and good old support. These are closed non recorded zoom session where privacy is one of our top agreements. We have been working on material in the free Palouse Mindful Based Stress Reduction program online which even in a group has been a bit daunting. Therefore, the group will be exploring other practices in mindfulness and stress reduction and finding little ways to incorporate mindfulness in our lives everyday. If you are more interested in just the resources from the group, I recently started a Mindful NH Librarians Facebook page where I post links to resources such as the Mighty’s digital tool box and inspirational meme’s. I am currently scheduling a workshop for Mindful NH Librarians with Liz Korabek-Emerson, Korabek Training, Building Resilience Through Mindfulness for mid January.

I want you to know that I appreciate how hard you are all working to continue to meet the needs of your community under the terms of Covid-19. It is Not easy! If you feel like you need help, direction or just a sympathetic ear for a bit–Get it!!! We may pride ourselves as The Strong Librarian, but like everything, that is just a label. As one of my Mindfulness coaches Kain Ramsay eloquently said yesterday, “Label’s are for tin cans..not for human beings.” Do not restrict yourself to a label. You are human. Seek help and support when necessary.

You can't pour from an empty cup (Daily Thought with Meaning) - Best Daily Thoughts (With Meanings)

Best,

Deborah Dutcher

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Staying Grounded In & Out of the Library: Practical Applications of Contemplative Practices for Librarians

Kristina S. Lang – Georgia State University

Description

The benefits of mindfulness have been demonstrated in a variety of settings, and it has been utilized in different types of therapies for decades. From Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in the 1970s to newer incarnations such as Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT), there is much to be gained from mindfulness-based treatments. This poster will touch on the major aspects of mindfulness as a therapeutic element and explore what this means for librarians as we focus both on self-care and the application of contemplative practices, helping participants to gain a better understanding of self-reflective activities.

Watch the presentation:

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glc2020posters/posters/2020/7/?fbclid=IwAR2z2FVy4apJNQNGWHjtjx4obe7RTc8D0VN3b_lSgAB-lq1yalP3_2h5ll8

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New Year New Ways

Hello NH Librarians. There is not a single one of us operating in the same way we were at the beginning of this year. I am so proud to be part of a profession that despite all its difficulties, has quickly risen to the challenge and been very creative in continuing to meet their communities needs. Just because it is Not business as usual,we can still continue to train and deliver research based programs to our families. 

I am happy to announce the sign-up to join one of the Reimagining School Readiness cohorts starting next spring. In 2021 NH joins 12 other states in Year 2 of the The Bay Area Discovery Museum (BADM), in collaboration with the Pacific Library Partnership (PLP) and the California State Library (CSL), in a train-the-trainer program to equip librarians with the resources to help families and children ages 0-8 prepare for success in school and inlife. 
The Reimagining School Readiness Toolkit is a set of free, online research-backed school readiness activities and resources designed to provide librarians with strategies and downloadable content for caregivers to prepare children for school.

This research based program aligns with NH’s play-based model of learning for Kindergarten adopted in 2018. Our goal in offering this program to NH Librarians is to:
•provide training in current school readiness research and
strategies to modify programming to align with research
• Supply free research-backed activities and tools online that
can be adapted by any community
• Provide ongoing professional development opportunities for
library staff

Our first cohort of NH Librarians will begin around March/April 2021. We are being granted some funds to help us provide participating libraries with some resources and would like an estimate of interested libraries to enable us to order enough supplies. The training for NH Librarians is estimated to be a half-day training (offered virtually) and actual participation will be required. May more than one person participate in the training from one library? Absolutely! We also anticipate offering a second cohort in May/June. Sign up HERE

Don’t forget to sign up for the special Youth Services Tuesday Together Talk with Cellissa Hoyt, State Director, State Early Learning Alliance of New Hampshire & State Director, Vroom and Mind in the Making on January 12, 2021@ 10 am. Fill out this Registration Form and shortly before the event you will be sent the zoom log in. Sign up HERE


I have enjoyed our Together Talks this past year but next year starting in March I will be holding an every other month YACHT (Young Adult/Children Hot Topics) club. The idea comes from my counterpart in Iowa and is being now used in Washington with great success. Participants will read/listen to/watch the resources, then we’ll get together to discuss them and how they can apply to our work as Children & Youth Librarians in New Hampshire. On the opposite month will be a similar group for Adult & Senior Librarians. I do not have a catchy name for this group yet–suggestions appreciated. 

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Digital Librarian’s Survival Toolkit & Epic Ebook of Web Tools & Apps–FREE crowdsourced guides.

The Epic Ebook of Web Tools & Apps is a 250+ page FREE guide crowdsourced by 50+ educators. Please use this static link to share the ebook:https://librarian.rocks/epicebookofwebtoolsandapps

The Digital Librarian’s Survival Toolkit is a 200+ page FREE guide crowdsourced by 35+ school librarians. Please use this static link to share the ebook: https://librarian.rocks/digitallibrariansurvivaltoolkit

Both resources are filled with video tutorials, text, screenshots, and links.You can find more free resources on Kristina Uihlein Holzweiss’s website: http://www.bunheadwithducttape.com/

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Keep them Curious–Asking the Right Questions

Nurturing a Child’s Curiousity

New research shows that the more curious children are, the better they do academically in reading and math once they enter school.

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/3505-nurturing-your-young-child-s-curiosity

Ask Open-Ended Questions

The why and how to use open-ended questions with children.

https://aussiechildcarenetwork.com.au/articles/teaching-children/using-open-ended-questions-with-children

https://www.under5s.co.nz/shop/Hot+Topics+Articles/Child+Development/Benefits+of+asking+young+kids+open-ended+questions.html

Gain Language Skills and Learn About STEM Through Storybook Conversations

Check out a great guide for using dialogic reading practices to do just that with Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/sites/stemie.fpg.unc.edu/files/Storybook-Very%20Hungry%20Caterpillar-Carle.pdf

This is just one resource available at Stemie website: https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/

Leading Children in Hands-On Exploration

http://resourcesforearlylearning.org/educators/module/20/15/75/#:~:text=Because%20they%20usually%20cannot%20be%20answered%20with%20just,observations%20and%20ideas%2C%20and%20to%20extend%20their%20investigations

BE ENGAGING – Help them to use their words!

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Navigating Youth Media

As the forward in this report states, “Young people are navigating their developing
identities in the midst of tremendous social and technological change. They are increasingly relying on digital media to connect, learn, and play.” This initiative is seeking to identify current media habits, gaps and ways media can better benefit youth.

This report is the first publication of an initiative called By/With/For Youth: Inspiring Next Gen Public Media Audiences. Media production by youth, with youth, and for youth describes approaches to engaging public media’s “missing audience” of tweens and teens
who fall between content offerings for young children and adults. This literature review is a precursor to the full report, which will represent the ideas of a diverse group of youth ages 10-17 being interviewed at the time of this publication.

Navigating-Youth-MediaDownload

Blog post: Let’s Talk About Public Media and the Next Generation

More about By/With/For Youth: Inspiring Next Gen Public Media Audience

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Media Literacy in Early Childhood Report

Now that living in a virtual world seems to be a part of this so called new normal–media literacy is even more important to even our youngest.

Executive Summary

The TEC (Technology in Early Childhood) Center at Erikson Institute in partnership with the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), and the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) was awarded a grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) in 2018 to host two national forum meetings to discuss media literacy in early childhood with experts and practitioners with the objective of developing materials to support the understanding and teaching of media literacy in early childhood.

This report recognizes and builds upon the extensive media literacy educational materials, books, research, and policies that have been developed to date. The framework builds upon many existing media literacy-focused frameworks including Teaching Tolerance’s Digital Literacy Framework (2017) and Project Look Sharp’s Process of Media Literacy (2018). The child development and children’s media use findings bring together decades of research from various fields in order to understand media literacy in early childhood. The cultural considerations, activities, and tips highlight existing educational materials and concerns raised by practitioners who serve children in a variety of settings. The barriers and solutions to sustaining this work shed light on the challenges practitioners and caregivers face daily. The intention of this Media Literacy in Early Childhood Report is to utilize media literacy, child development, and early education knowledge to develop educational materials and advocate for support for media literacy education in early childhood.

This report provides:

1. an updated definition of media literacy in early childhood;

2. an explanation of developmentally appropriate media literacy education for children under age 8;

3. background on the developmental abilities and expectations of young children with regards to media use and media literacy; and

4. guidelines to support media literacy in early childhood.

TEC-MediaLiteracy-ReportDownload