A Moment off Topic, Please

Developer of Irish capital's public library service

Sat, Aug 16, 2008

MÁIRÍN O'BYRNE, who has died aged 88, was a former Dublin city and county librarian, and did much to develop the public library service throughout the city and suburbs.

Deeply committed to public service, she passionately believed that libraries could make a difference to the lives of those who did not have formal education and was a great believer in life-long education.

Máirín O'Byrne began her career in Dún Laoghaire public library in 1937 and secured a diploma in library training at University College Dublin in 1943. For 15 years from 1946, she was librarian in Bray public library, which was then independent of Wicklow county library.

It was in a poor state when she took over and she made massive strides in bringing the facilities up to date.

She took up the position of Dublin city librarian in 1961 and was appointed Dublin city and county librarian in 1967, which she held until her retirement in 1984.

She sought to enhance the physical environment of libraries and persuaded the Arts Council to fund a mural by Eithne Jordan for Swords library, while convincing a local councillor and publican to fund a piece of sculpture by Conor Fallon.

She was held in high regard among her peers, being elected as president of the Library Association (1966-1967). She certainly made a difference, taking a particular interest in the development of professional qualifications for library staff.

The holder of an honorary fellowship of the Library Association of Ireland, she also was honorary (life) vice president of the Library Association (UK), chairwoman of the Public Library Review Group (1985) and visiting lecturer at the Department of library studies at UCD.

She was a member of An Chomhairle Leabharlanna/the Library Council (1958-1982), the RTÉ Authority, the Public Service Advisory Council and was a trustee of the National Library. A regular contributor to An Leabharlann, she also was co-author of the Public Library Review Report(1987).

Born in 1919, she was the eldest of the four children and only daughter of William and Mary O'Byrne.

Both her parents were school teachers. Her father was from Paulstown, Co Kilkenny, and her mother was from Clandouglas, Lixnaw, Co Kerry.

The family grew up in Kildangan, Co Kildare, where her father was principal of the local national school for more than 30 years.

She attended secondary school at the Mercy Sisters convent in Monasterevin. Most summers were spent in Ballybunion and her Irish was perfected in the Kerry Gaeltacht of Ballyferriter and Waterford Gaeltacht of Ring.

She settled in Albert Road, Glenageary, Co Dublin, in the early 1950, and was joined there by her parents after her father's retirement. He suffered from muscular dystrophy in his final years and was nursed by Máirín and her mother. He died in 1955.

Máirín's mother lived with her until her death in 1970. Two years later Máirín moved to another house on the same road, which became her home for the next 36 years.

She provided a home from home for her brothers Kieran and Brendan, who were priests in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. They did not enjoy perfect health and both were nursed from time to time by Máirín, allowing them to continue their priestly duties until their deaths in 1995 and 2002.

Her eldest brother Séamus practised as a pharmacist in Sutton for 35 years. Married to Pearl, they had six children, Máirín's only nieces and nephews. She cared for Pearl after Séamus's death in 2003.

She never married but was a great family person.

Former colleagues admired her sharp intellect, wit, sense of fun, generosity of spirit and admired her courage in the face of a slowly advancing illness.

A dynamic person, she was very involved the life of Dublin city. She had a great personal interest in art, and she loved her garden and her dogs.

Máirín O'Byrne: born December 5th, 1919; died August 1st, 2008

© 2008 The Irish Times

Let's talk trash!

One of my sure-fire, last-minute, don't-want-to-read-dinosaur-stories-again storytime go-to is TRASH. It's a concept that pre-schoolers are able to grasp and it's potentially gross - that's a win-win situation!

Let me share with you some of my favorite parts of each story!

I Stink!, Kate and Jim McMullan
This is a noisy, roughly drawn tale of a smelly trash truck. The best (and grossest) part of the story is when the ingredients for Alphabet Soup are listed - D for Dirty Diapers, M for Moldy Meatballs, K for Kitty Litter, Y for Year-old Yams. I like to pause after some of the more repungent-sounding items and smack my lips, rub my tummy, or otherwise indicate that for a trash truck? THESE are yum yum yum!

Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!, Barbara Odanaka
This is a gentler trash story that has some great imaginative elements in it - the rumble of the trash truck as it approaches has the neighborhood wondering if it's a "dragon snoring...giants jumping...cymbals clanging?" Kids are then taken on a tour of a typical trash truck route, and are introduced to different trashy items. The last page reveals two little piggies playing with miniature trash trucks. Overall, it's not as crude a story as I Stink! and as such, provides a nice complement.

Trashy Town, Andrea Zimmerman
By far, this is my favorite of the three and I almost always save it for last. This is the tale of Mr. Gilly (and, the keen-eyed among the audience might note, a couple of ratty friends); Mr. Gilly is a trash man. All over the town, Mr. Gilly drives his trash truck, cleaning up as he goes. Kids quickly catch on to the rhythmic chant, "Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy Town". This is a great audience-participation story and helps kids realize they, too, can help clean up the trash.

In-between stories, I help keep the kids focused by singing/dancing/generally making noise. One of the songs we've had fun with is a trashy version of The Wheels on the Bus: the hopper on the trash truck goes dump, dump, dump; wheels go round and round; flies in the trash truck go buzz buzz buzz; and so on. I've yet to sing the same version twice. Other songs we sing are crowd-pleasers, like Five Little Monkeys, or The Hokey Pokey. I recently thought that I could present a butchered version of Old MacDonald Had A Farm - Old MacDonald had a trash truck, EIEIO. And in that trash truck there were some . . . leftover lunches . . . EIEIO. With a *barf barf* here, etc. Haven't tried it with the children yet, but hopefully I can give it a shot this week!

Do you have any trashy tales or songs you want to share?

The Rumbly in My Tumbly Song

"Hum de dum dum,
Hum de dum dum;
I'm so rumbly in my tumbly.
Time to munch an early lunch:
Hum de dum dum dum."

Good eatin'! Toddler storytime, 7/29/08

Storytime today was yummy yummy in our tummies!

We read:

• Lunch written and ill. by Denise Fleming

• "Hi, Pizza Man!" by Virginia Walter, ill. by Ponder Goembel

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff; ill. by Felicia Bond

We sang:

• Another rendition of "Jello in the Bowl" with added verses: Jello in my mouth, jello in my hair, jello on my hands, jello in my belly...
• "I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas" by Raffi - We also sang a version with "I like to eat, eat, eat pepperoni pizza" to transition into Hi, Pizza Man!
• "The Donut Song" - Lots of lyrics variations at this site!
• "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" - Sung with a puppet! I used the traditional, "She's dead, of course" line, and it didn't seem to traumatize any of the toddlers too deeply. Phew. Do any of you use an alternative line for that part, and how does it go over?

Bonus food fun!


Cookie is good enough for me! None of this fruits and vegetables nonsense. ;) (I hope this video's lyrics have not been dubbed over with something obscene - apparently that is quite the YouTube trend and I don't have my sound on at work!)

Clips Continuing Kate's Comment

The Clip Kate Mentioned:




Another Similar Clip:



"One World, One Love" y'all.

We love to boogie! Toddler storytime, 7/22/08

We shook it all about in toddler storytime at CHH today! I'm hoping to get my hands on some of those floaty chiffon scarves for next time so the kids can do their very own fruity interpretive dances. ;)

We read:








Wiggle by Doreen Cronin; ill. by Scott Menchin - Everyone wiggled along with the silly dog in this bold, colorful picture book. Lots of giggling during the part about "wiggle in your underwear!"
Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont; ill. by Jennifer Plecas - This one has lots of flaps that reveal animals gettin' down with a baby who just won't take a nap. The rhymes are so compelling and they allow the kids to shout out the animal name as the flap is opened.
Rap a Tap Tap! Here's Bojangles - Think of That! written and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon - Ah, classic Dillon illustrations and a catchy call-and-response rhyme: "Rap a tap tap! Think of that!" The kids liked tapping their feet and clapping their hands as they repeated it.

We sang:

• "Jello in the Bowl" (All you do is sing "Jello in the bowl, jello in the bowl, wibble wobble wibble wobble, jello in the bowl" to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell!" If you have a smaller group the kids stand in a circle and each toddler takes a turn dancing in the middle while everyone sings. We just have too many to do that here!)
• "Shake My Sillies Out" by Raffi
• "The Hokey Pokey"

What are some of your favorite books and songs for the dancing queens and kings in your storytime?

**Fun bonus video to brighten your day**
Matt Harding started a viral phenomenon on YouTube when he filmed himself doing a stupid dance in various locations around the globe. Doesn't seem terribly exciting, but his videos now have millions of views. I won't lie, I get all teary every time I watch them, in a good way. His latest video was featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day today. Watch it and wiggle your waggles away!

Rub-a-dub-dub! Toddler storytime, 7/15/0

I could not believe how crazy our packed house of toddlers went for this splish-splashy storytime! And they say kids don't like bathtime. The caregivers really got into it too, and it was certainly the most fun this librarian has had in a while. My voice now sounds like Kermit the Frog with emphysema (a phrase shamelessly stolen from YA author John Green) from sing-shouting the books, but it was worth it.

We read:








Big Red Tub by Julia Jarman; illustrated by Adrian Reynolds - We just got a fresh copy of this at CHH so I decided to give it a test drive. Huge hit! It's fantastical in a way that's appealing to toddlers, with various animals joining kids Stan and Stella in the tub and eventually sailing around the world.
Scrubbly Bubbly Car Wash by Irene O'Garden; illustrated by Cynthia Jabar - This one flopped a little, relatively speaking. Our copy wasn't large enough for the audience to really see the colorful illustrations. If I can figure out a way to make it more interactive - the cumulative rhyme didn't seem to do it - I'd use it again.
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont; illustrated by David Catrow - This is one of my all-time favorite picture books. You can literally sing the entire thing to "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More," and it's hilarious. The kids pick up on the rhymes quickly and are able to predict what will happen next.
Bonus book: Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late written and illustrated by Mo Willems - This really has nothing to do with bathtime, except that after a bath you usually have to go to bed. The main reason I used it was that Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus was so popular a few weeks ago, and the kids get a kick out of yelling "No!!!" at the pigeon. They liked this one too!

We sang:
"(I wash my) Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes"
"This is the way we wash our ____" (I supplied the first few suggestions - hands, face, etc. - and then the kids could yell out other body parts. Luckily they were all G-rated. :))
"It Ain't Gonna Rain No More" (to practice for I Ain't Gonna Paint No More)

What have you been reading and singing with your young patrons, toddlers or otherwise, this week?

Musings on Good Books in Children’s Lit:

Q:What makes a good book?
A: What your patrons like. Or, in library terms, what circulates well. Unfortunately, this might not include what YOU like, or what your years of grad school work tell you is good literature. Immediate Reward is one of the criteria that guarantees that a person will read. A good portion of what children read is prescribed reading. Prescribed – whether by teacher, parent, or other authority figures – Reading is the opposite of Immediate Reward. Prescribed Reading is not retained beyond the end of the assignment calling for the reading, leads to a negative view of reading, and hinders the development of good reading and comprehension skills. Prescribed Reading causes reading to be something to dread and avoid. But reading based on the interests, background, and desire of the child (Immediate Reward) develops a joy of reading, a yearning to learn more, and good comprehension skills.

Q:How do we figure out what circulates well; what our patrons like?
A: By considering the following: *Ethnicity of the reader
*Lifestyle of the reader
*Socio-economic concerns of the reader
*Interests of the reader

Q: How do we determine these considerations?
A: By engaging and connecting with the individual reader whether by a traditional reference interview, a casual conversation, or observation of reading habits over time.

By gaining a sensitivity towards and understanding of the reading community the library serves by studying census data, previous monthly and annual reports generated by the library, recorded circulation trends, articles from professional journals relating to aspects of the particular community. Equally important is the immersion of the librarian into the community by outreach efforts to schools, churches, day cares; by attending street festivals, block parties and other events in the community; by eating at local dining establishments; shopping locally; by walking the neighborhood; by being open and approachable at the library and outside the library.

Bottom Line: “When we read words that have meaning for us, we know ‘it’s worth it.’” (Jacobs & Tunnel, Children’s Literature, Briefly. 2000. p.5). The challenge to the librarian is to create a collection that allows as many patrons as possible to have this experience.

Crazy creatures! Toddler storytime, 7/8/08

I'm going to try to post the books we read and songs we sing at CHH every week. Feel free to critique, make other suggestions, or steal for your own use!

This week was nothing terribly special, but it sure was fun. The (loose) theme was silly creatures.

We read:







I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley
"Hi Pizza Man!" by Virginia Walter

We sang:
"Shake My Sillies Out"
"Down By the Bay"
"If You're a Monster and You Know It" (sung to If You're Happy and You Know it, with fun actions like growling, stomping, and scaring your friend!)

I'd love if others would post their storytime suggestions too. I present to roughly the same group of 20-30 toddlers and their caregivers every week, so I really need to ramp up my repertoire!

A Song for Pre-k, K, Grade 1 for the Summer and the Summer Reading Game

Sung in a twangy, bluegrass/country music style. To listen to my recording of the tune here, Click and Brace Yourself! ;o) Heard a clip on NPR's all things considered on Saturday Morning. Did you know ladybug's are feared to be going extinct? Look up Ladybug Project on NPR.org.

Ladybugs' Picnic
Sung/written/animated by William "Bud" Luckey
Lyrics by Don Hadley

credited to Dwayne Wayne
on the "The Count Counts!" album (see below)

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
Ladybugs
Came to the ladybugs' picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they all played games
At the ladybugs' picnic

They had twelve sacks so they ran sack races
And they fell on their backs and they fell on their faces
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

They played jump rope but the rope it broke
So they just sat around telling knock-knock jokes
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they chatted away
At the ladybugs' picnic

They talked about the high price of furniture and rugs
And fire insurance for ladybugs
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic
12!

Transcribed by Luis Matias


Originally released on the album
The Count Counts! The Count's Countdown Show from Radio 1-2-3 (1975) Children's Records of America