Posts on talks

This past week, I was the guest presenter for my local SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) network. The topic was "Ask a Children's Librarian." It went well, in that the audience was receptive, friendly, and supportive, and I think I sent everyone home with some useful new information!

One of the biggest mistakes I see patrons make is not asking the librarians for help! Too often I see patrons looking lost and/or outright refusing assistance, when it's obvious they need a hand. I think often it's because they're in a hurry, or they're shy or afraid of looking stupid, or they don't think the librarians will be able to help (?!) - or maybe they haven't even formulated a question. So in my talk, I wanted to emphasize reasons to talk to your librarians. Here's my somewhat tongue-in-cheek Top Ten list:

10 Reasons to Know Your Children's Librarians

10. We have a top-secret decoder ring for interpreting all those weird numbers in the catalog that tell you where books are. We’ll share it with you if you know the password. (P.S. It’s “Help!”)

9. We know what teachers want their students to read, what parents want their kids to read, and what kids actually want to read.

8. We have a computer chip implanted in our brains that helps us find “missing” books.

7. We can’t explain why some kids would rather read another bland morality play about bears with the “gimmes” than a beautiful, clever book with three starred reviews – but we’ll sympathize.

6. We know advanced searching techniques and have more powerful searching software than is available to patrons.

5. We have a bottomless stash of cute and clever bookmarks.

4. We’re around our books all the time, so we’re able to see patterns and make connections between books that you won’t observe from the catalog alone. And we read a lot of book reviews, so we know what’s new and coming out soon.

3. We can help you connect to the community through author events.

2. We do word-of-mouth book marketing every day through reader’s advisory and our book displays.

1. More than anyone else in your life, we have a prayer of figuring out that book you loved when you were a kid – you know, the one about the bunny…and the weasel…and the…the thing…

My other main goal was to introduce people to very cool, useful library resources they might not know about. This was the best part of the presentation, in my book. I passed around examples of material from the Chicago Tribune Historical Database, and people oohed and ahhed over ads from 1900, editorials on the brink of the Civil War, civilian responses to the bombing of Pearl Harbor…

I have posted a slightly modified, online version of my handout here: Public Library Resources for Writers. But these resources may also be useful to readers, parents, teachers, and students. Please take a look!