Document Actions
Of Children and Libraries
March 26, 2008 11:45 PM | Professional OrganizationsAurora Jacobsen, Information Services Librarian
I started my day by attending The Power of Play-- the 4th National Family Place Symposium which was held in the not-so-new-anymore Minneapolis Central Library. The symposium sounded interesting for its focuses on play and that libraries as a destination, outside of collections and services, serve early literacy needs. I was pleasantly surprised at how much more content the symposium had to offer. The Family Place Libraries program emphasized serving the family as a whole, rather than services just to children or just to parents. Additionally, part of the Family Place Libraries program is serving the social service needs of library patrons by holding Parent/Child Workshops that bring in community partners such as speech pathologists and social workers to make sure the needs of the patrons are being addressed. The coordinator of the program, Kathleen Deerr, kept saying that librarians might not be social workers, but they are who the community comes to with their questions, and librarians should be able to refer our patrons to the right answers. Most interestingly, she mentioned that one of the libraries she works with actually has a social worker on staff to help with some of these needs. The keynote speaker of the program was Vicki Hawley, of the Center for Early Education and Development for the University of Minnesota and she had an engaging presentation about how children learn through play and how librarians can structure their spaces and services to encourage that play.
By now, I know I'm far from the first SELCO blogger to mention John Wood, the author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. He was a crowd pleaser, and I'm not just talking about his looks, although even the PLA president couldn't help but comment on them. John appears to have made the changes to his life that we all dream about in secret moments when we question if we have made enough of a difference in the world.
