This month I celebrate a 9-year anniversary working in a public library setting. When I started my library career in 2006, it was only a part-time job for me. I worked various second jobs in tandem with my page position at a small branch of a public library system while attending the University of Tennessee. I obtained my Bachelor of Arts with a major in psychology from UT in 2009, and decided ultimately, that I wanted to pursue full-time employment with the Knox County Public Library (KCPL). A former assistant supervisor suggested I learn how to conduct storytimes for different age levels in order to develop my skill set to advance. I shadowed a children’s librarian for 3 months until I worked my way up to doing toddler and preschool-age
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In Meg Smith’s article “The ABCs of Advocacy: The Role of Children’s Managers in Public Libraries,” we learn that communication skills are of the utmost importance because department reports, grant proposals, and overall professional writing help librarians promote youth services and show the community that literacy is important for child development (p. 51). In the future, I could take INSC 559: “Grant Development for Information Professionals” and INSC 504: “Research Methods for Information Professionals” to remedy this.
In addition to having a Master of Library Science Degree from an ALA-accredited school and moving to Washington, other knowledge and requirements for this job are as follows:
• Knowledge of program management (planning, organizing, directing)
• Be able to recognize and set priorities and use independent judgment
• Demonstrate professional level public speaking …show more content…
While I have conducted a few programs geared for all ages and the 6-11 age bracket, my current experience is mainly limited to infant-preschool. I would like a better understand on how to appeal to older children and be able to keep them interested in reading through programming. A study analyzing youth services positions in libraries between 1971 and 2001 showed that in 1971 only 14 percent of ads requested knowledge of youth literature and programming. By 2001, that number had increased to 45 percent, demonstrating that being educated in children’s literature and resources is an important criterion in hiring youth services employees (Adkins, 2004, p.
In Meg Smith’s article “The ABCs of Advocacy: The Role of Children’s Managers in Public Libraries,” we learn that communication skills are of the utmost importance because department reports, grant proposals, and overall professional writing help librarians promote youth services and show the community that literacy is important for child development (p. 51). In the future, I could take INSC 559: “Grant Development for Information Professionals” and INSC 504: “Research Methods for Information Professionals” to remedy this.
In addition to having a Master of Library Science Degree from an ALA-accredited school and moving to Washington, other knowledge and requirements for this job are as follows:
• Knowledge of program management (planning, organizing, directing)
• Be able to recognize and set priorities and use independent judgment
• Demonstrate professional level public speaking …show more content…
While I have conducted a few programs geared for all ages and the 6-11 age bracket, my current experience is mainly limited to infant-preschool. I would like a better understand on how to appeal to older children and be able to keep them interested in reading through programming. A study analyzing youth services positions in libraries between 1971 and 2001 showed that in 1971 only 14 percent of ads requested knowledge of youth literature and programming. By 2001, that number had increased to 45 percent, demonstrating that being educated in children’s literature and resources is an important criterion in hiring youth services employees (Adkins, 2004, p.