Abdul- Razak Zachariah
Abdul-Razak Zachariah grew up in West Haven, Connecticut, and is a children's book writer and youth worker now based in Cambridge, MA. He graduated from Yale University in 2017 where he was deeply involved in diversity and inclusion advocacy and he received the Mellon Mays Research Fellowship and the Nakanishi Prize. Abdul's first book, The Night is Yours, was released in July 2019 by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The story is based on the apartment complex and community where he grew up in West Haven. He was a Sociology major and an Education Studies scholar focused on the lives of children of color outside of the school day; The Night is Yours is the product of his Education Studies capstone project. He previously worked in programming and development at LEAP, a youth development organization in New Haven. Currently, he is a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education pursuing a Master's of Education (EdM) in Prevention Science and Practice. Recording
Join your statewide summer program planners for an informational session on what you need to know to have a fun and successful summer! Panelists will be Kym Powe, CT State Library; Danielle Margarida, RIOLIS; and April Mazza and Christi Showman Farrar, MLS.
Join us for a panel discussion with librarians from three libraries who suddenly faced reworking grant funded summer learning projects in a quickly changing world. They will share how a flexible and responsive approach led to successful programs with positive and unanticipated outcomes.
Join Teen Librarian Kathleen Crouse and Reference Librarian Samantha Connell as they read diversely across the teen, young adult, and new adult genre. In each episode we discuss a selected book and offer read-alikes and recommendations. Kathleen is mom to Michael the Corgi (an established social media influencer) and Sam is a former Pastry Chef with a love of contact sports which means, anything is up for discussion. Spotify Link
Marisa Hicking, the Teen Librarian from Avon Free Public Library, and Mary Richardson, an Adult Services Librarian at Cragin Memorial Library, had a dream. A dream to talk and jam about great books. They created "The Book Jam '' podcast in April 2020. What kind of books do they talk about? All genres at a Young Adult and Middle Grade level, with a special focus on graphic novels and LGBTQIA+ books. Spotify Link
Scranton Talks is the Scranton Library’s official podcast hosted by Colin Welch, the Library’s Teen Librarian and Myla Perrelli, the Children’s Librarian. In each episode of Scranton Talks, Myla and Colin have a conversation with a person in the Madison community about a topic they are passionate about. The topic could be anything! So far guests have talked about topics such as retro video game collecting, backyard chickens and lifestyle habits. The goal of the podcast is to connect Madison through shared interests and new information. The target audience is all ages. Spotify Link
Realizing Reading Realities: Reaching Across the Schools and Public Library Divide During the Pandemic
Even in the best times partnerships between schools and public libraries can be tricky to build and sustain. With the added uncertainties, obstacles, and stress of a global pandemic school/library partnerships have never been more challenging or more needed. Hear from youth services librarians from two Rhode Island public libraries as they share how they connected with their local schools pre-pandemic and how they have continued to nurture collaboration. Learn which approaches worked, what didn’t, and how they are planning for 2021.