I don’t know about you, but receiving all these helpful links and websites sent from moms groups and Facebook pages and fellow co-workers who are probably much better parents than I is enough to make my head explode. As if I’m supposed to find a system for retaining all these—what I’m sure are—very helpful and informative websites that are going to help me to compensate for my child’s academic experience.
This may not be uber-mom of me, but I don’t think I’m alone when I admit that there’s no website that’s going to help me to be the organized, thoughtful, patient, stoic person that teachers manage to project themselves as being whether or not it’s really true and also compensate for what my child is missing by being out of a school environment. Teachers are better at everything from my very jaded perch over here locked in my house with my kids all day long. I don’t know how they manage to keep to a schedule and herd all those cat-like kids into one storytime circle for five minutes much less planned activity upon planned activity for five plus hours every day.
It was from this tense and frazzled place that I was happy to discover the benefit of the library’s migration to online storytimes. Because now not only do my child and I have the good fortune of experiencing a whole team of children’s librarians perform in their own special ways but thanks to the 24 hour live function of Instagram Live, I don’t have to corral my kid in front of the computer at a certain time of day to see them perform their magic and, let’s face it, help me to add content into my kid’s new scholastic experience.
With the magic of Instagram Live, our storytimes are on demand for 24 hour periods of time. Now, armed with the knowledge of what date and time different branch librarians go live with their storytimes, we can tune in on our time when it fits into our routines. We can pull out the computer as our home-oriented routines dictate, appreciate the excellent entertainment and learning experiences our city’s dedicated children’s librarians provide and, if we’re being honest, sit in the back and take a breather for a bit before we have to get our game back on.
Below is a list of library Instagram handles along with the dates and times they go live. Some are toddler, some are family, others are bilingual or Spanish. Some are ‘mini’ a.k.a. for when you need a quick break before you have to deal again. Check our online calendar as well, as new storytimes are being added.
Speaking as a mom first and librarian second, thank you children’s librarians of the Los Angeles Public Library, for adapting to our circumstances with enthusiasm and grace. And to all of our teachers everywhere, from the dedicated rock stars to the average ones who manage to get up and do all that every day...
Thank you!Instagram Live Storytimes
Storytimes saved for 24 hours in Stories, allowing patrons to access at their convenience.
Daily - Weekdays
@lapubliclibrary - Storytime: 10 a.m.
@studiocitylapl - Storytime: 11 a.m.
Monday
@rlstevensonlibrary - Bilingual Storytime: 11 a.m.
@losfelizbranchlapl - Baby Storytime: 11:30 a.m.
@palmsrancholapl - Storytime: 3 p.m.
@rlstevensonlibrary - Spanish Storytime: 4 p.m.
Tuesday
@lincolnlapl - Storytime: noon
@wattslibrary - Storytime: 2 p.m.
@felipedenevelibrary - Family Storytime: 4:15 p.m.
Wednesday
@angelesmesalapl - Storytime: 9:30 a.m.
@losfelizbranchlapl - Family Storytime: 11 a.m.
@chinatownlapl - Mini Storytime: 11 a.m.
@felipedenevelibrary - Climate Reality Series:4:15 p.m.
@laplenespanol - Spanish Pajama Storytime: 6 p.m.
Thursday
@lincolnlapl - Mini Storytime: noon
Saturday
@durantlibrary - Storytime: 9 a.m.