Oh, friends. Have I got something exciting to tell you! For the past few months I have been hard at work on a special project that is finally ready to launch. I would like to introduce you all to the Library Services for Children Journal Club.
This project is the brainchild of myself and my friend and colleague Christie Menzo. I had been throwing around the idea of hosting something similar on Jbrary as a way to facilitate professional development reading amongst library staff serving children. Christie had been learning about journal clubs in the medical field through her husband who is a doctor. When we got together and started chatting, voila! The Library Services for Journal Club was born.
So what is the LSC Journal Club?
The Library Services for Children Journal Club is way for children’s library staff to engage in professional dialogue or critical appraisal of research publications and other professional literature related to children’s library services. Our goal is to help children’s library staff keep up to date and engaged with published research and new developments in the field of children’s library services, and to think critically about the quality of the research that informs our decision making.
How does it work?
Once every two months Christie and I will be selecting one or two articles for us all to discuss. The articles will fall into one of six themes. We’ll be hosting a local Vancouver meet-up and we highly encourage you to set up meetings wherever you are! This could be an informal gathering at someone’s house or it could be more formal like at a library staff meeting. We’ll also be sharing out thoughts on social media using the hashtag #lscjournalclub.
When does it start?
Now! We’ve posted information about the first discussion which will take place in November. You can read the two articles we selected which are all about executive function. Start gathering your group together! I’ll be posting my thoughts on each article here on Jbrary and I encourage any other bloggers to do the same.
Please feel free to leave me any questions or comments you have about the LSC Journal Club. I hope my fellow research nerds will rally behind this project that holds a special place in my heart.
I love this idea. Unfortunately, I am not local and don’t blog. Would you consider posting some of the discussion points that arise from your meetup afterward?
Hi Becky, I absolutely will post a summary of our local Vancouver discussion. Are you near any other library staff who might be willing to form a local group in your city or town? We would love for people around the world to set up their own groups and discuss the articles we post. Then you can directly discuss how to apply the research to your specific communities.
This is exciting! I’m in NY, but I’m going to ask around my library system and see if anyone is interested in a Queens, NY group. Otherwise, I’ll just blog. Thanks for this!
Yay! So excited to have you on board. I’ve also added you to our blogroll and subscribed to your blog feed. Great to make a new connection!
I don’t blog as of yet but there are other children’s librarians in my area that might be interested in this. I’m in Lewiston, NY. I was once a certified El Ed teacher now turned children’s librarian in a public library. I’m definitely interested.
Hi Ann, that’s so great to hear! Please feel free to share the LSC Journal Club with the children’s librarians in your area. Perhaps you could set up a local meeting to discuss the articles? We’d love for groups to form around the world 🙂 Let us know if I can help in any way.