HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 5, 1997On March 5, 1997, Kelly Olson and I attended the "Shhh..." may not always work MELSA
workshop at the Southdale Library in Edina. After completing an exercise in self introduction
we were informed by the presenter, Anita Beaton, that the basis of the exercise was to give us
a child's perspective on meeting new people. Mrs. Beaton then proceeded to give a
presentation on why children are different from adults both physiologically and mentally. She
also stressed what we as library professionals could do to structure the library setting to allow
children to receive the ultimate in learning from their visits to the library. I found the
workshop to have a very heavy emphasis on child psychology. I had been looking forward to
having some actual suggestions made as to what libraries could do with their physical
environment and personnel to make the most out of a child's visit to the library.
I attended a MELSA workshop on Wednesday, March 5, 1997, at the Hennepin County Library-
Southdale Branch. The workshop was entitled: "Shhhh..." May Not Always Work: Child
development as a useful guide to understanding the children we serve. Our speaker was Anita
Segador Beaton, Ph.D. She started out the workshop by having everyone gather in a circle, with
the designated first person starting a welcome to each attendee by going up to each person and
introducing themselves and stating what library system they work for. After the introduction
period she began her talk on how and why children are different from adults. She discussed the
different periods of rapid brain growth, and how important it is to expose your child to new
experiences, how experiences causes the brain to grow. Of course this all needs to be done by
the time your child is 7-years old for them to truly benefit. She also discussed the different
stages of development and what types of books may be appropriate for certain ages. She raised
a lot of interesting points, and we had some good points of discussion from the audience.
Overall, a very worthwhile workshop.