Resource: Library Services for Children Journal Club

Bear with me as I introduce this story by telling you all how I met Lindsey. Lindsey (and her awesome colleague Dana) have this little website called Jbrary. I’ll wait for you to check out their amazing-ness if you don’t know who they are already. Go ahead, I’ll wait… You’re back? Awesome.

So, I had been following Lindsey and Dana through their blog and on Twitter for awhile. We’d share each other’s posts and chat about children’s library stuff, but seeing as they live in Vancouver and I live in Philadelphia, we never met in person. That is, until the ALA Annual Conference in 2014 held in Las Vegas. I went to an open house for ALSC members and as we were playing a get-to-know-you game, I bumped into these two. I (and quite possibly all three of us) fangirled about finally meeting in person. And that is how I met Lindsey (online and IRL).

And, Lindsey just created this amazing new resource for children’s librarians called the Library Services for Children Journal Club. The LSC Journal Club was created to keep children’s librarians informed of research and articles published that pertain to our field and spend time discussing these materials with others. Lindsey will be hosting meetups in Vancouver, but she’s reaching out to bloggers and librarians around the world in the hopes that more children’s librarians create their own meetups – whether that means a relaxed setting with wine at someone’s house or in a staff meeting at work.

I find that many children’s librarians are so busy being children’s librarians, they don’t have time to spend on research and I love to learn more about my field, so any and all journals are a huge help!

I can’t wait to share this great resource with my own staff, but also with our county/consortium because I think it’s going to be super valuable! Check it out!