Please excuse the cross postings

Dear Children’s Librarians,

I’m interested in applying on behalf of the State Library to be one of 5 State Libraries to be considered for an initiative called Supercharged Storytimes that would involve 100 children’s public librarians or public library staff who work with children to participate in a research based approach to storytime planning and delivery for children from birth to age 5. OCLC is the project coordinator and this initiative has been piloted in Washington State, with IMLS funding, and now they are looking for 4 more states to participate, in addition to WA.

In order to apply, I need to indicate that I have 100 committed children’s public library staff willing to participate in this initiative,  so I’m asking if you would be willing to let me know if you are.

It’s my understanding that it would require you to participate in 4 weekly live online orientation sessions involving self-directed learning and peer networking (that are archived) during the summer to learn specific guided learning paths and implement what you’ve learned in 4 weekly storytimes during the summer. The total number of hours you would have to commit to this initiative is about 3 – 4 hours per week during those 4 weeks. I know that it’s summer reading but I’m hoping that most of you already do storytimes during the summer and can incorporate what you learn into your regular storytimes (as long as they are for the target audience of children from birth to age 5). The initiative will also involve an ongoing immersion beyond the initial 4 weeks so that you can implement what you’ve learned in programming from September – December 2015 and to participate in the project evaluation.

If you are interested, please fill out this short survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YHKHCHL

The deadline for you to fill it out is April 13, 2015.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Thank you.

Best,

Sharon Rawlins, MLS

Youth Services Specialist for Lifelong Learning

NJ State Library

185 West State St.

P.O. Box 520

Trenton, NJ 08625-0520

...@njstatelib.org">sraw...@njstatelib.org

609-278-2640 ext. 116 - phone

609-278-2650 - fax