Around the Interwebs

Let's try this again, shall we? It's been AWHILE since I got it together to post links to the awesome stuff I'm reading around the blogosphere, but I'm ready to give it another shot. (And since it's been so long, this is likely to be quite a long post. Please bear with me.) Look for these posts to come more regularly this year!

IF YOU ONLY READ ONE POST OR ARTICLE ABOUT THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS, MAKE IT THIS ONE! Sarah (of The Reading Zone)'s post is in response to alarmist articles that decry the Common Core Standards for "taking literature out of schools". She says:

There wasn’t a lot I could do, on a daily basis, about NCLB, Race to the Top, or other initiatives driven by lawmakers. But the Common Core? That I can drive with my own actions. We are the ones on the ground, in the trenches, and we will lead with our actions. We need to empower good teachers. Standards tell me where my kids should end up. I get to decide how we get there.

On The Brown Bookshelf you can find nominees for the NAACP Image Awards. If you're looking to read some diverse titles or find great titles, authors, and illustrators to share with your patrons you should know that the Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in TV, music, literature, and film.

Justin the Librarian shared information about several libraries offering post-holiday technology help for people who may have gotten new devices for the holidays. From in-house library programs to instructional YouTube videos, these libraries are planning ahead to help their patrons.

Speaking of technology, there was a little kerfuffle awhile ago about librarians' roles in curating technology and ebooks for young children. Marge of Tiny Tips for Library Fun has a nice roundup and response.

Looking for some new readalouds to include in your baby storytimes? Melissa of Mel's Desk shares some of the new titles she's excited to share with little ones this year. 

While you're looking for storytime materials, don't forget the poetry! Anne of so tomorrow shares poetry that's great for reading at storytime and she urges us to "think outside the picture book"!

Amy, The Show Me Librarian, is posting about how she includes STEAM elements in her library's traditional gingerbread house program. It's definitely got me thinking about how I can include STEAM elements in other programs we already offer...

One of my favorite new-to-me blogs this year is RA for All, an adult readers' advisory blog written by Becky of the Berwyn Public Library in Illinois. Although I don't do a lot of adult readers' advisory in my job, I have certainly found many suggestions for my own reading (and for family and friends) by checking out her blog. It's definitely helping me to meet my goal of reading more adult books this year!