I Have Moved to Austin

Hi, folks… that is, if anyone is still reading this blog. (I hope so!) The reason I haven’t posted anything for a week or so is that I have been moving. In late January I resigned my job at New York Public Library.

I now live in Austin, TX (take a look at that pyramidal skyline - in its smaller way, it’s more monumental than New York City’s - except that I miss the Chrysler Building), and will soon be working at the Austin Public Library.

Why? A little while ago, my wife, Celia Holm, who also worked at New York Public Library, grew tired of NYC mania and got a job as a youth librarian at the Spicewood Springs Branch of APL. I planned to follow her down there soon, but remained in New York for a while, waiting for jobs in Austin to open up. Staying there wasn’t my preference; I missed Celia, and a long-distance marriage is not much fun. The time had come to leave NYC, after eight and a half years there.

So here I am in Austin. And here I am back posting again. And Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

 

A New Monkey

As you can see (unless you read this blog through an RSS feed), there’s a new header graphic, with a new monkey. I had been looking for years for a Steiff monkey hand puppet, and (hooray) I finally found one on eBay.

These Steiff monkeys have, I think, a certain personality about them - a tongue-in-cheek quirkiness that really appeals to me. I plan to use Henry (for so I have named him) for various purposes in the blog in the future, so watch out for him in some graphics as time goes by.

He may even find some part-time work in storytimes.

 

Hiya, folks

After having a blog briefly in the past, I’m back at it again. I want to promote some discussion about the present and future of children’s services in libraries. I hope to include issues such as programming, technology, how libraries serve both kids and parents, teachers, and other adults who care about children. While my main experience has been in public libraries, I’m interested in any place or topic in which the lives of children intersect with libraries.

What I won’t be dealing with much is children’s books. I love children’s literature–hey, I read more children’s books than adult books, plus I review books for School Library Journal. But there are already bunches of blogs out there that review and discuss children’s books, and we probably don’t need another one.

That said, let’s go. –W