Previously » Part 1 » The ratio of music to audiobooks in ALSC Notable Recordings lists, and how youth librarians seem to gravitate toward book-based media. (read it)

If you’ve browsed my blog for at least ten seconds, you know how much I love, love, love kids’ music.  I get excited when I hear a great album or see a great show, and I think everyone should know about these things.  I’ve only been clued in to the field of family music since 2007—I vaguely remember the day when I had my there-must-be-something-better-out-there epiphany, and the ridiculous Google searches ^[1] that got me on my way—and I would love to facilitate that sort of discovery for others.  It was a major contributing factor when I started this blog:  subjecting my unsuspecting readers to the wonderful world of kids’ music.

By unsuspecting, I mean my original goal was for this to be a kidlit blog, with some music reviews thrown in for good measure.  Long story short, I don’t really fit into the book blogging culture.  I still blog about books—I have to, it’s compulsive—but writing about music is just as important to me now, and it’s the one area where I’ve received some marginal recognition.

So, my driving force is to let anyone and everyone know about the best in family music, but I’m realizing now that I also need to consider addressing other librarians.  So, the question becomes, how do I infiltrate my own profession?

Er, what I mean is, most children’s librarians have better things to do than sit around reading my blog.  Where and how will I reach my peers, and what’s the road to credibility?  Do I start with professional reviews? ^[2]  Presentations?  Research and publication?

I have over 31 years (that’s not a cringe, it’s a smile, really!) until I retire if I stick with my day job.  Maybe I’ll get to serve on the NCR committee at some point.  Of course, that means I’ll have to model the open-mindedness I hope others will have toward music by forging a love for audiobooks.  Stranger things have happened.

Audiobooks should seriously come with falsetto alerts.

Image credit:  “Music” by Flickr user Maciej Lewandowski, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license.

^[1] Search engines like to deny it, but natural language counts for something.

^[2] What?  I can be professional!

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