- Teachers ‘Not Reading Children’s Books’ Research by the Centre for Literacy and Primary Education (CLPE) in the States has found that many teachers do not regularly read children’s literature. In addition, they tend to choose books from a narrow band of authors. I wonder if it’s true for teachers in Singapore as well. (via LISNews)
- Report: Women Increasingly Choosing Dead-End Careers Over Dead-End Relationships Although on the surface the report seems to have nothing to do with the library, there is a part in the report and I quote “… an overall increase in those settling for absolutely futureless secretarial or librarian positions …”. Hmmm … I wonder how many of my colleagues will agree with that. However, there is a need to take this article with a big pinch of salt as The Onion is a satirical news website. (via LISNews)
- This is not your parents’ library, or yours either The Toronto Public Library has opened the first of several planned KidsStops - an indoor interactive literacy playground - to promote literacy development in children up to age 5. Hmmm … wondering if any colleagues will be going to Toronto after the IFLA Annual Conference in Quebec. (via LISNews)
Super cool video on a summer reading programme at the Worthington Libraries. Maybe we can do something similar for promotional activities for READ! Singapore or our upcoming Teens Holiday Programmes.
StoryTubes 2008 is a US-wide competition where children, aged 6 to 12 years old, can submit a video review of 2 minutes or less of their favorite books through YouTube.
StoryTubes is organized by a number of libraries spread across the US and this is the second year that they are holding the competition. The competition is also divided into different genres such as “Hair-Raising Tales”, “From or For the Heart”, “Of Heroes and Heroines” and “Facts, Fads and Phenoms”. You can view some of the already reviewed videos here.
What I found interesting is that the use of social media tools such as YouTube to engage the community in submitting the videos. In addition, they also a simple guide to the children on how they can video themselves.
A positive note from last year’s competition was that the videos generated online book discussions between the children. And this made other children interested in reading the books that were reviewed.
Maybe we can do something similar at MPOW. Think I’ll highlight the StoryTubes site to my children services colleagues.
- The Great Library Card Collection A 15-year-old boy in Suisun City, California has amassed over 3,000 library cards from all 50 states in the US as well as 74 countries. However, he has only managed to scan in library cards from Northern California, Southern California and Western United States. Not too sure if he has one from MPOW.
- No more ginger beer as Famous Five updated The good old days of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five have been changed forever. They drink ginger beer when they meet up or eat cream buns. They have moved on to pizzas and mobile phones. Even the make-up of the Famous Five have been updated to fit the more contemporary look of our world now with a more international cast of characters. Even te storyline has been updated to the more current issues such as pirate DVD operations.
- Teachers are using comics, now called ‘graphic novels’, to captivate reluctant readers If you think graphic novels are just full of superheroes, then think again. There are now graphic novels of every subject including the complete works of Shakespeare as well as many other classics. Even in MPOW the demand for our graphic novels far out-stripped supply. But I guess we need to bring in more than just superhero-related ones. One of my personal favorites is the Bone series by Jeff Smith. I’ve got the 1000-page tome of the entire Bone series that was released a couple of years back though I’ve also got the single issue ones when it was re-published by Image Comics. (via Library Stuff)
- Bookhunter by shigabooks A webcomic about Bookhunters searching for a priceless book that was stolen from the Oakland Public Library in the year 1973. Very interesting storyline!
- Every issue of Elfquest free One of the oldest independent comics, Elfquest, has now made every issue of the comics available online. Go read it! (via Boing Boing)
- 100 books every child should read A pretty long article that has been broken up into 4 parts. This first part is just an introduction into the joys of reading, particularly when you start at an early age. The other three list the books according to the age of the child: early years, middle years and early teens.
- Kerpoof What’s this you ask? Well, this is the children’s version of Facebook without the deluge of ignoring application invites. The site is for children to communicate and collaborate with each other online. And the site only allows kids that know each other to interact online. Interestingly, the company that runs Kerpoof says that more and more schools are using it in the US. I guess teachers are also making of online tools as much as librarians in engaging kids. (via Techcrunch)
- Bookchase® Ever wanted to run your own little bookshop, but without laying out the actual capital? Well, now you can! A company in the UK has developed the world’s first board game about books. And it does look really interesting. The price is a little steep for a board game at S$90 before shipping, but I know who would be interested in playing it. (via LibrarianInBlack)
- MCL Learning 2.0 Chance upon this site when I was doing some search on Web 2.0 usage in libraries. Very interesting and I’m sure we can use some of this to encourage more staff to dip their toes into the giant pool of Web 2.0 tools and technologies. I think I’ll also be using this to prepare for my talks to teachers on the use of Web 2.0 tools for schools.
- Librarians at the gates Although this news article is about the striking library staff in Victoria, Canada, I particularly like the quote from one of the reference librarians, Peter Thompson, who says, “If you don’t like working with people, you won’t like librarianship.” How true!!! Read the article for more inspiring quotes from this same librarian. (via LISNews)
- Public Transportation Meets Public Library Very interesting concept to put book vending machines at BART stations (that’s like our MRT stations). However, the concept might not work in Singapore given that most libraries are at close proximity to the MRT stations. But maybe we can put it at, say, Changi Airport for travelers to pick up a book on their way out of the country. (via Library Stuff)
- A hunger for books Unless you have been leaving under a stone or kept away from all news, then you would know that Doris Lessing has been awarded the “Nobel Prize for Literature”. So, here’s her acceptance speech. Very inspiring reading.
- 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners (Flash plugin required) An online tutorial, created by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County, for their own patrons to teach them about the importance and how-to of lifelong learning and in the process, create a personal learning plan. Hmmm … an interesting way to communicate and engage with library users. (via LibrarianInBlack.net)
- Spell wears off as children ditch books Apparently, children in Scotland are going back to the PCs and consoles after the Harry Potter craze as a survey has shown. I wonder how many children in Singapore are doing the same thing. (via LISNews)
- genre x genre x is a “twenties and thirties book discussion group facilitated by the Oak Park Public Library. The group meets every fourth Tuesday at 8:00 pm at different bars in the Oak Park area.” Really cool concept that book discussion though facilitated by librarians don’t necessary have to be in libraries. (via Tame The Web)
- 13 Social Networks for Gamers I know quite a few of us librarians are closet MMOG players. I personally play WoW. Anyway, here are some social networks that you can hang out in, particularly if you are a librarian focusing on gaming in the libraries.
- Young reader’s medal effort - AdelaideNow A eight-year-old boy in Adelaide has read 1000 books since February 2007 as part of South Australia’s Premier’s Reading Challenge. It is reported that he averages about 4 books a day.
- BookJetty goes global One of my favorite tools online is BookJetty as it allows me search for books on Amazon and see if we have it available in our catalogue. Now, BookJetty has expanded to more than 300 other libraries around the world. There is also the social networking part where you can share the books you have read with others. And also post reviews. Just waiting for a Facebook app.
A survey was conducted by Associated Press and Ipsos and they discovered that 1 in 4 American adult didn’t pick up a book to read in the past year. (Source: MSNBC)
And of those who read, women and senior citizens were the most avid. Their tastes are skewed towards religious works and popular fiction.
The survey also revealed that of those who read, the average number of books read in the past year was seven.
Hmmm …. I wonder what the figures would be in Singapore.
