Objectives & Takeaways:

• I am now an annual presenter for the "Set the Stage" Early Childhood Initiative for Connecticut library staff in youth services, giving a presentation on "Magical Musical Story Times." The session's goal is always "sharing ways to improve skills at sharing music in programming for babies through age 5."

• As a result, I receive considerable feedback from participants about what they find valuable and what they find difficult to learn on the fly as new and experienced programmers for children under age 5. What do they want more of? The opportunity to learn more activities, and to feel more comfortable using, musical props.

• We know from extensive research that "music plays a powerful role in the lives of young children. Through music, babies and toddlers can come to better understand themselves and their feelings, learn to decipher patterns and solve problems, and discover the world around them in rich, complex ways. Most important, sharing music experiences with the people they love makes very young children feel cherished and important.” (Rebecca Parlakian, Zero to Three: https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/distillation/beyond-twinkle-twinkle-using-music-with-infants-and-toddlers/). 

• Music is an exceptional tool for early development of socio-emotional Skills, Physical (Motor) Skills, Thinking (Cognitive) Skills, & Language and Literacy Skills. For programmers, finding great tools to bring those experiences succinctly and effectively to their audiences is key. That the audiences find those ideas to be fun and engaging - is truly icing on the cake. Musical props can do exactly that, plus they can be used to highlight key literacy skills and to increase meaningful audience participation. Children's programmers who can use props confidently is a goal we can support with this program.

• I touch on prop sets during the annual "Set the Stage" Magical Musical Story Time Zoom presentation, but there is clearly a need to share more specifics, and a CLA session would allow for a great deal of hands-on participation, plus the take-aways of songs lists, purchasing information and guidelines, and the building of practical knowledge and skills that can be put to use in library and outreach programming. It is also essential that this presentation be live, and not via Zoom, since physically learning to use the props , in real time, is invaluable for staff who haven't engaged with them before.

• I am a 20 year+ children's library programmer, with extensive training both in early childhood education and music education with young children, and I would be pleased to provide this presentation, as a CLA member and advocate, at no charge to the organization.

Objectives & Takeaways:

• Attendees will gain an understanding of how to create a Memory Care Collection tailored to support individuals with dementia and their caregivers.

• This session will also provide insights into curating dementia-friendly resources that include accessible books and magazines for people with dementia as well as informational books for caregivers and family members. We will outline our experience of applying and receiving the ALA Libraries Transforming Communities Grant for Accessible Small and Rural Communities.

• We’ll also cover methods for building strong community partnerships with senior centers, memory care facilities, and dementia organizations to broaden library offerings and build a supportive network. 

• Attendees will learn best practices for effectively promoting memory care resources and gathering valuable feedback to enhance and evolve the collection to meet community needs.

Objectives & Takeaways:

Attendees of this session will gain practical strategies for creating, promoting, and fine tuning a menu of instructional offerings that can be customized to meet the specific needs of individual courses. By sharing our process – including successes, unexpected challenges, and assessment results. 

This session will equip participants with actionable ideas for enhancing the visibility of library instructional services, deepening faculty-librarian collaborations, and redefining its library instruction program to better meet the evolving needs of students and faculty in a post-COVID campus environment. This presentation will appeal to those looking to refresh their library’s instructional approach and cultivate an inclusive, responsive, and sustainable program.

Objectives & Takeaways:

Attendees will learn about different approaches to balancing library ethics with security, how to think through adding cameras, implementing MFA, and satisfying insurance requirements without sacrificing (too much) patron or staff privacy.