ALSC

Professional Blog.  The Association for Library Service to Children, or ALSC, blog offers great resources for information professionals working with children.  Whether at a school library, public library, or something else altogether, ALSC bloggers share great, concrete strategies and ideas for planning and carrying out programs.  Chock full of full program plans, book recommendations, and personal experiences of librarians "on the ground," ALSC is a great place to browse when looking for new ideas.  The blog is relatively easy to navigate; tags show topics as well as blog authors, and readers can peruse full articles without having to click on to separate pages.  Authors post pictures with program plans so that readers can get a better idea of program outcomes.  The ALSC blog also offers posts for librarians who want to stretch themselves professionally; a recent post was dedicated to learning about students with disabilities.  It not only featured the authors personal experiences, but also children's books that address different disabilities.  The ALSC blog is an excellent resource for those who want to stay connected with the professional organization and grow as professionals in between conference.  Highly recommended, ****.

YALSA Blog

Professional Blog.  The official blog of the Young Adult Library Services Association, YALSA provides quick tips and up-to-date news on techniques for reaching out and connecting with teen patrons.  The site lists over fifty authors from libraries all over the country, many of whom provide examples of what they are doing in their own libraries.  Authors clearly see new media as a way to reach out to adolescent users; to YALSA, it is not enough to build a teen room in your library and leave them to their own devices; young patrons need programs that will engage and stimulate them, and YALSA will connect librarians to many new ideas.  Navigation of the blog is simple, with tags to direct readers to specific topics like podcasts or social media.  Longer entries can be expanded to a full page, but readers have to navigate away from the main blog to do so.  YALSA is a great place to get new ideas, whether you are comfortable with new technologies or not, there is something to be learned from these passionate youth librarians.  Recommended, ****