“If I’ve learned anything, it’s that children’s librarians play hard, but they work even harder.”
Leanne Mobley, a current ILS student, recently completed an internship with the Youth Services Division of the Austin Public Library. Here’s a glimpse into her exciting experience in the library world this summer:
“As an intern, my main responsibility was assisting in the reorganization of the library’s early literacy training program. Storytime Connection was created in response to Every Child Ready to Read, an early literacy initiative from the American Library Association. ECRR concentrates on providing resources for parents and childcare providers to help their children get ready to read.
Most of my internship focused on the production of a series of 25 short online videos to supplement Storytime Connection. We created five videos to fall under each of the five practices highlighted by ECRR: read, write, talk, sing, and play. We also filmed everything in Spanish, a must for Austin’s diverse community. I have a background in film production and was able to use my experience in all stages of production, from writing and storyboarding to filming and editing.
I had the pleasure of working with Literature LIVE!, Austin Public Library’s puppetry and storytelling troupe, who play an instrumental role in attracting patrons to the library. Throughout the year, they create their own shows and perform for audiences at all 20 branches of the library system. With their help, we made two muppets to act as the stars of our videos, along with one of APL’s bilingual librarians, appropriately named Marion the Librarian.
Every step of this experience was unique and wonderful. Youth Services is very hands on and requires a great amount of creativity and collaboration. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that children’s librarians play hard, but they work even harder. I hope I have the opportunity to continue exercising my creativity in my career as a public librarian.”
Posted September 09, 2013