Crash Course in Children's Services

by Penny Peck

Useful for newcomers to the children's library staff as well as longtime children's librarians, the second edition of this popular handbook provides easy-to-follow instructions to make innovations in children's library materials work for you.

Addressing everything from the basics of reference to the complex and highly specialized duties of program development, this handbook is perfect for both librarians and support staff who are assigned to the children's department of a library. This second addition of Crash Course in Children's Services covers many of the new issues facing children's library staff, including eBooks, using apps in programming, other online reading options, book trailers, nonfiction and the Common Core curriculum. It also describes expanded programming options such as makerspaces, gaming, dog reading programs, and play at storytime.

Ideal for new children's librarians as well as experienced library staff who have not worked with children recently and long-time children's librarians looking to add new skills to their tool kits, the book familiarizes readers with all the new developments of the past few years, from online reading options to the wealth of new programming aimed at youth. You'll learn about subjects such as pop-up and passive programming, offering online homework help, and outreach and services to special needs children, and then quickly implement new practices into use at your library.

Genres: Nonfiction, Professional Development, Reference, School, Textbooks, Library Science

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Penny Peck has been a children's librarian for over 25 years; before that, she was Snow White and Mother Goose at Children's Fairyland in Oakland, ran a nightclub, worked as the wardrobe mistress for the Berkeley Ballet, and was an agent for a standup comedian. Her experience includes performing thousands of storytimes, leading hundreds of book club discussions for students in grades 4-12, conducting hundreds of school tours and assemblies, reviewing children's books and media, and originating the Performers' Showcase for auditioning library entertainment. She is editor of BayNews, the newsletter for the Association of Children's Librarians of Northern California. Her goal is to create libraries as place, where the community meets for educational and cultural programming, as well as facilitating the love of literature in youth so they will be life-long readers.

Reviews

[Katie Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geared toward those who have not finished their MLS degree or have not had *any* experience working with children. For anyone who has worked with kids to any extent or has spent time in a children's section, there won't be much new information.

[Patrice Sartor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not very long, and it is pretty bare bones--no color print, no illustrations, no tables or figures. Still, what it does it does well, and that is to teach you all about programming for children. I appreciated the conversational writing style; it felt like I was having a chat with the author (also my teacher). I also liked the many additional web sites and sources to check out. My copy is dog eared!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short concise guide to children's services, which I was using for my Library Programming for Children and Young Adults class. It kind of assumes that you have had no experience beforehand, or at least is written that way. It was a quick easy read.

[createitlibrarian (Amanda) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an excellent overview of children's services. It had many extra resources listed for future reference. The book also had examples of storytimes and programming.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview for someone who has never worked in Youth Services, but is geared very specifically toward small libraries.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great basic overview of children's services.