Some cool library blogs and websites

A good rule about blogging is that you should read other blogs both to see how people structure their posts but also to see what other professionals in the field are thinking and doing. So today I will highlight some blogs that I ether follow or check from time to time .

I am very pleased to call this lady a colleague. Not only is Mary extremely passionate about early literacy but she is also an accomplished ukulele player and her blog has great tips for parents and caregivers of little ones, several story time staples as well as videos of cool activities you can use in a story time or read aloud. Check her out!

Abby the librarian is another wonderful (and very pink) blog that I found online.   She gives tidbits about her life as a librarian, provides highlights of conferences she attends and I really dig how she does book talks and she also includes some read alikes, something I will try doing myself on this blog in the future.

STEM and STEAM are all the rage now and this librarianś blog is devoted to exploring all things science. This is a good site to get programming ideas, see what's going on in the STEM world or get ideas for things you can do at home with your own children. I confess that I have done all three with this site. Ms Koester also provides many other resources for more information about STEM, books to use etc. Excellent resource.

I can't ever remember talking to librarians when I was in library school (apart from my darling wife) and I wish that I had done so some more. The name of this blog drew me in and whilst on the site I was amazed by the many and varied posts she has about a variety of topics. Of particular interest to me was a post directed at prospective children's librarians,  a post about mentoring and one about burn out . It is good to see people reflect on things and it is also great to see that there are other people with the same issues, questions and thoughts about the profession as yourself.

The library where I work is in a residential neighborhood and there are at least ten schools (and more under construction) within a five mile radius. I interact with a lot of teachers and students and I think it is good to see what school librarians are up to. I found this blog and as you would expect it has a large amount of book reviews that are listed by reading level and interest. I like that there are lots of HILO books (high interest low reading level) and many diverse books as well. I firmly believe that people across the spectrum need to see themselves represented in literature.The author also includes some tips on how not to plagiarize material as well as a link to the school's catalog and links to databases.

Finally this isn't a blog at all but rather two magnificent librarians uploading dozens of songs-some with props and some without. The Jbrary ladies have saved me on on many occasions when I have to do read alouds at nearby schools and have run out of songs to sing. Check them out, it is well worth it!