Arrowhead Library System (ALS) has a long-standing commitment to maintaining a collection of current publication titles of interest to librarians, library staff and library trustees. The collection is housed at the ALS Headquarters in Mountain Iron, but all titles can be requested via the online catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from an ALS library) or via the statewide MnLINK catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from Duluth Public Library). If you have questions about borrowing titles from the ALS Professional Collection, feel free to call ALS staff! Here are the latest additions to the ALS collection:
Podcasting with Youth: A Quick Guide for Librarians and Educators
Lucas Maxwell
Libraries Unlimited, 2020
006.7 MAX 2020
Learn how to set up a student-led podcast in your library, involve staff from several subject areas, market effectively, what challenges you are likely to face, and how podcasting will benefit the students and school overall. Podcasting from the library is a growing movement. Podcasting with Youth teaches librarians and educators how to set up, develop, market, and deliver a successful youth-led podcast from their library.
Putting youth in control when interviewing authors and other guests develops their leadership and technical skills and brings new users to the library to engage in a unique library activity. This program can be set up relatively cheaply, and readers will learn how to use the technology required to deliver a podcast. Sound recording equipment, microphones, mixers, and audio files may be intimidating to some librarians and educators; this book quells those fears by explaining the technology in a straightforward, how-to manner. It also includes student input on what podcasters have learned, the challenges they have faced, and their plans for the future. Author Lucas Maxwell offers many helpful tips to librarians who want to learn how to create a program that puts students in charge and allows them to produce a tangible product that their peers will be interested in.
- Offers practical information on how to set up your own youth-led podcast in your library, including equipment to purchase, potential pitfalls, and marketing strategies
- Features examples of high/middle school library podcasts from around the world
- Includes appendices of useful books and other material related to podcasting and using related technology in the library
Young Adult Nonfiction: A Reader’s Advisory and Collection Development Guide
Elizabeth Fraser
Libraries Unlimited, 2020
016.8088 FRA 2020
Covering over 500 titles, both classics and newer publications, this book describes what titles are about and why teens would want to read them. Nonfiction has been the workhorse of many young adult library collections—filling information and curricular needs—and it is also the preferred genre for many teen readers. But not all nonfiction is created equal. This guide identifies some of the best, most engaging, and authoritative nonfiction reads for teens and organizes them according to popular reading interests. With genres ranging from adventure and sports to memoirs, how-to guides and social justice, there is something for every reader here.
Similar fiction titles are noted to help you make connections for readers, and “best bets” for each chapter are noted. Notations in annotations indicate award-winning titles, graphic nonfiction, and reading level. Keywords that appear in the annotations and in detailed indexes enhance access. Librarians who work with and purchase materials for teens, including YA librarians at public libraries, acquisitions and book/materials selectors at public libraries, and middle and high school librarians will find this book invaluable.
- Identifies the best and most popular new nonfiction reads for teens, along with perennial classics, helping librarians with acquisitions and weeding
- Allows YA librarians to more easily find books their readers will enjoy through genre organization
- Helps school librarians find books that fill curricular needs through learning connections
- Enables readers to transition from beloved fiction “read-alikes” to nonfiction titles with similar appeals
- Introduces librarians who are new to nonfiction genres and readers’ advisory to important features of each genre in “consider starting with” sections in each chapter
Library Marketing and Communications: Strategies to Increase Relevance and Results
Cordelia Anderson
ALA Editions, 2020
021.7223 AND 2020
Effectively marketing libraries by persuasively communicating their relevance is key to ensuring their future. Speaking directly to those in senior leadership positions, Anderson lays out the structural and organizational changes needed to help libraries answer the relevance question and maximize their marketing and communications efforts. Focusing on big-picture strategies, she shares lessons learned from her 20+ year career in library marketing and communications. No matter what type or size of library you help to lead, by reading this book you will
- gain insight into why libraries need to tell their stories more effectively than they are today;
- be able to craft a strategic roadmap for marketing your library and communicating its value in a variety of ways that resonate with key audiences;
- see why improvements to the structure of your marketing and communications team can lead to better results;
- learn practical methods for incorporating audience research into your planning;
- know how to remove customer barriers and discontinue practices that are thwarting your marketing efforts;
- receive guidance on preparing for potential crises;
- understand how to be more community-focused by forming and sustaining partnerships; and
- feel confident in engaging with stakeholders so that they become your library’s best ambassadors.
This book will shake up your marketing and communications approach, helping you implement real changes for lasting results.
Mastering United States Government Information: Sources and Services
Christopher C. Brown
Libraries Unlimited, 2020
025.17 BRO 2020
This up-to-date guide provides informational professionals and their clients with much-needed assistance in navigating the immense field of government information. When information professionals are asked questions involving government information, they often experience that “deer in the headlights” feeling. Mastering United States Government Information helps them overcome any trepidation about finding and using government documents.
Written by Christopher C. Brown, coordinator of government documents at the University of Denver, this approachable book provides an introduction to all major areas of U.S. government information. It references resources in all formats, including print and online. Examples are provided so users will feel comfortable solving government information questions on their own, while exercises at the end of chapters enable users to practice answering questions for themselves. Additionally, several appendixes serve as quick reference sources for such topics as congressional sessions, the most popular government publications, federal statistical databases, and citation of government publications. It serves as a practical and current guide for practitioners as well as a text or supplementary reading for students of library information studies and for in-service trainings.
- Acts as a training book for public and academic librarians who provide reference services
- Includes background, with exercises, for professors needing a text to teach government information
- Provides coverage of the newest electronic resources, with references to print resources
- Offers exercises to assist in the learning process for these challenging topics
Whole Person Librarianship: A Social Work Approach to Patron Services
Sara K. Zettervall and Mary C. Nienow
Libraries Unlimited, 2019
025.50973 ZET 2019
Whole Person Librarianship guides librarians through the practical process of facilitating connections among libraries, social workers, and social services; explains why those connections are important; and puts them in the context of a national movement. Collaboration between libraries and social workers is an exploding trend that will continue to be relevant to the future of public and academic libraries. Whole Person Librarianship incorporates practical examples with insights from librarians and social workers. The result is a new vision of library services. The authors provide multiple examples of how public and academic librarians are connecting their patrons with social services. They explore skills and techniques librarians can learn from social workers, such as how to set healthy boundaries and work with patrons experiencing homelessness; they also offer ideas for how librarians can self-educate on these topics.
The book additionally provides insights for social work partners on how they can benefit from working with librarians. While librarians and social workers share social justice motivations, their methods are complementary and yet still distinct―librarians do not have to become social workers. Librarian readers will come away with many practical ideas for collaboration as well as the ability to explain why collaboration with social workers is important for the future of librarianship.
- Gain multiple examples of library-social work collaboration to apply in your own library
- Learn to articulate reasons librarians benefit from collaboration with social workers and vice versa
- Know where to seek partnerships and how to start them
- Develop a vision for how collaborations fit into the ideals of both professions and represent the future of librarianship
Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library: Graphic Novels, Manga, and More
Jack Phoenix
Libraries Unlimited, 2020
026.7415 PHO 2020
This unique guide offers fresh insights on how graphic novels and comics differ from traditional books and require different treatment in the library―from purchasing, shelving, and cataloging to readers’ advisory services, programs, and curriculum. Challenging librarians to rethink some of their traditional practices, Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library provides creative and proven solutions for libraries of all types that want to get comics into the hands of fans and promote readership. The author describes how libraries would benefit from an in-house classification system and organization that accounts for both publishers and series.
In addition, acquiring comics can often be tricky due to renumbering of series, reboots, shifting creative teams, and more―this book shows you how to work around those obstacles. Shelving and displays that reflect comic readers’ browsing habits, creative programs that boost circulation of comics and graphic novels, and how comics can play a vital role in educational institutions are also covered.
- Addresses common challenges librarians face with comics and graphic novels collections and shows how to surmount them
- Offers a solutions-focused approach
- Describes how comics can be used to better engage your community and to educate youth
- Fills a gap in the professional literature, covering topics not touched upon in the existing literature
- Serves as a vital resource for public, academic, and school libraries
Outreach Services for Teens: A Starter Guide
Jess Snow
ALA Editions, 2020
027.42 SNO 2020
The clichéd and vague notions about outreach services for teens that so many librarians encounter in job descriptions and performance evaluations do not reflect the importance or day-to-day realities of this undertaking. In this primer for those new to the profession, Snow demonstrates how youth librarians can approach outreach systematically and mindfully to ensure success. Readers will learn how to apply a full complement of professional skills, creativity, analysis, and resourcefulness to the conception, delivery, and evaluation of teen outreach. With a special focus on effectively serving marginalized youth, in this book Snow
- defines in practical terms what constitutes outreach services for teens and advises on how to plan and advocate for providing those services;
- discusses steps for creating and maintaining partnerships, both within the library and externally;
- guides readers through identifying outreach goals and measuring outcomes;
- details numerous examples of well-executed outreach efforts that can serve as models;
- shares ways to incorporate technology;
- provides suggested core titles for teen outreach, book talks to hook teens, selection tools, and a sample book checkout sheet; and
- includes nuts-and-bolts tools such as an outreach plan for teen librarians, staff training resources, and information about national organizations serving teens.
New youth librarians, middle managers and directors, and other library staff will all benefit from Snow’s candid and straightforward exploration of what it takes to develop and deliver powerful outreach efforts.
Supporting Trans People in Libraries
Stephen G. Krueger
Libraries Unlimited, 2019
027.6223 KRU 2019
Designed to provide practical information to library workers of all types, this book offers specific strategies for supporting trans people in their libraries. As trans people (including those on the nonbinary spectrum) start to feel safer expressing their identities in public, libraries are making an effort to show that they welcome people of all gender identities. Yet there are many potential barriers to actively supporting trans people, including lack of knowledge about the needs of the trans community and lack of funding or institutional support. This book, written entirely by trans library workers, is designed to dismantle some of these barriers.
Supporting Trans People in Libraries is relevant for library workers of any background and position. People with little knowledge about trans identities can start with the opening introductory chapters, while those looking for guidance on a specific situation―such as adding all-gender restrooms, interacting respectfully with trans coworkers, deciding what information to require on library card applications, writing inclusive job postings, making collection development decisions, and more―can jump to a particular chapter. For each topic, there are sections on easy fixes, best practices, and example language. Readers can easily adapt the information to benefit their libraries and communities in concrete ways.
- Provides introductory information on trans people, community needs, and preferred language
- Offers specific best practices for creating inclusive library environments for trans patrons and employees
- Includes resources and suggestions for long-term support of trans people in libraries
- Suggests inclusive language for various scenarios (e.g., sharing pronouns and writing job descriptions)
