Oakland, here I come!

I'm excited to be part of the great migration of youth services folks headed to Oakland, CA this week for the 2014 ALSC National Institute.  When I attended the 2012 Institute in Indianapolis, I met a ton of great people, attended some sessions packed with great ideas, and overall had a great time. So I'm very much looking forward to what the next few days have in store for me at Institute!

While in Oakland, I'll be giving two different presentations. First comes "Thinking Outside the Storytime Box," which is a session with Amy Commers, Mel Depper, and Marge Loch-Wouters. We'll be exploring a range of preschool programming options that go beyond traditional storytimes, including the early literacy rationale behind them and resources for folks looking to add these programs to their library's offerings. The second session is "STEAM Power Your Library," where I'll be talking about ways to implement STEAM programs and other activities in library services for preschoolers and school-agers.

And don't forget Guerrilla Storytime! Kendra Jones and I will be facilitating a Guerrilla Storytime between 8 and 9 a.m. on Thursday morning, which is also the registration timeframe. So get registered first thing, then come participate in a great Guerrilla Storytime event! That event's recap will go up on the Storytime Underground page sometime next week.

I'm really looking forward to attending sessions, too, both by library colleagues and from a number of great authors and illustrators. It's my plan to recap all my big takeaways from the Institute next week here on the blog, but if you're looking for realtime updates, you've got a few surefire strategies:

• read the posts from livebloggers on the ALSC Blog, which will take place Thursday through Saturday
• follow the official Twitter hashtag for Institute: #alsc14

If you, too, are headed to Oakland, I can't wait to say "hi" and chat IRL. Safe travels, everyone!