What is LSC Journal Club?
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.
What does this look like? Once every two months (6 times a year), participants will have the opportunity to receive and discuss a publication related to children’s library research, services, programming, or debates within the field. General topics for discussions have been pre-selected based on trends and themes in the field, and the article chosen for discussion will be will be sent out to participants one month in advance of the group meeting/online discussions.
Why Journal Club?
Journal clubs have been around for decades and are especially prominent in the health sciences as a vehicle for transformative thought and professional development. In the healthcare context they have been described as: “a mechanism by which healthcare professionals can update their knowledge, promote critical thinking and research, assess the validity and applicability of the literature, improve skills in critical appraisal, increase the use of literature in clinical practice and to influence changes in care practices” (Balling et. al. 2008).
We believe LSC Journal club will fulfill many of these same goals. For individual participants, journal club discussions will help carve out time for valuable professional development, knowledge building, and community engagement around ideas that influence our work. The topics individual participants are exposed to as part of journal club can also lead to new initiatives, increased knowledge and confidence, and general excitement that can positively impact our day to day practice.
What’s more, at the organizational level, journal club helps foster a culture of research and can drive future research, collaborative action, and organizational decision making.
Who We Are
Christie Menzo
Christie helps facilitate the development and implementation of early years library services at libraries in Vancouver, B.C. Her past library experience ranges from children’s librarian to adult community outreach roles, however her passion lies in promoting early literacy and strengthening research and critical dialogue in the field. She also adores her fluffy white canine companion and can be found belting out show tunes to anyone who will listen!
Lindsey Krabbenhoft
Lindsey is a children’s librarian in Vancouver, B.C. You can find her blogging and singing on Jbrary, a YouTube channel and blog featuring resources for storytime and other youth services topics. She tweets on the regular about early literacy, poetry, and her 6-year-old sidekick at @lmkrabbenhoft.
A huge thank you to Jennifer Lee and Jonathon Leathers for their behind the scenes work in getting this website up and running and looking beautiful!