Resources & Links

These links are provided as a public service and solely reflect editor's opinion.
Many are resources from or recommended by AJLSC members.

Resources - Online and Print

For All:

Jewish Library Handbook: A Guide for Synagogue, School and Center Libraries. Edited by Joyce Levine; Based on How to Organize a Jewish Library by Margot S. Berman (1993). Published by the Association of Jewish Libraries, September 11, 2016. (paperback, $18 - available from Amazon.com). This book covers: Starting a new library and mission statements; budget; collection and collection development; cataloging; classification; automation; programming; promotion and advocacy; and accreditation. Appendices with forms and sample policies.

NEW FOR 2017: AJLSC Brochures for JEWISH BOOK MONTH (online) - compiled by Ellen G. Cole, Levine Library, Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles:

    -- In Celebration of Jewish Book Month: A Selected List of Recent Books For Adults for 2017
    -- In Celebration of Jewish Book Month: A Selected List of Recent Books For Children and Teens For 2017

Jewish Book Month - November 12 - December 12, 2017. It starts one month before Hanukkah annually. Contact Jewish Book Council, 520 8th Avenue, 4th Floor; New York, NY 10018 - 212-201-2920 - Fax: 212-532-4952 .

Jewish Book Council - a national resource center. Jewish Book World (quarterly review publication). Extensive online access to books, programs, resources, network author tours, award lists, and more.

For the disabled: Jewish-theme books (including AJL Award Winning Books) are published for the blind, visually impaired, and reading disabled by JBI International (The Jewish Braille Institute). Also check Resources for the Disabled at MyJewishLearning.com Links. And, Seedlings: Braille Books for Children

JBooks.com - "A web magazine for Jewish book reviews, news, excerpts, and more. . . . The Online Jewish Book Community: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's Books, Interviews & Profiles, First Chapters, Secular Culture & Ideas."

Rochlin, Harriet. Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West, updated 2014.

Reviews of Judaica books and audiovisual materials:
-- AJL Reviews (for AJL members) and AJL Reviews/Archives (for all)
-- Jewish Book Council - Resources for Readers

For Schools, Kids, and Parents:

Shavuot inspires children’s books, by Lisa Silverman, Library Director, Burton Sperber Jewish Community Library, American Jewish University, Los Angeles, in Jewish Journal, May 24, 2017.

Library - Reading
Librarian Ellen Cole with students in
Temple Isaiah Levine Library.

A boy’s life and the birth of modern Hebrew, by Richard Michelson. See Review by Lisa Silverman, Library Director, Burton Sperber Jewish Community Library, American Jewish University, Los Angeles, in Jewish Journal, May 3, 2017.

People to Read About in Biographies and Autobiographies for Young Adults, by Ellen Cole, Librarian, Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles, revised 2017.

Great Websites for Kids - sponsored by American Library Association's ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children). (Grades K-12, updated 2017)

Great Books on Los Angeles Public Library Kids Path has the following categories in 2015: Story Telling and Reading; Live Homework Help; STEAM: Fun with Science.

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Resources by AJLSC Authors (many online)

AJLSC: Bibliography of Jews in Sports: Books! Articles! Videos! for Adults, Children, and Teens. Designed and Edited by Ellen G. Cole. Revised 2014.

Ben-Zvi, Hava Bromberg. Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland. An Anthology, Compiled and Edited, June 2011; paperback edition January 2013. The Bride Who Argued With God: Tales From The Treasury of Jewish Folklore, Compiled, Translated and Retold, 2006. Eva's Journey, A Young Girl's True Story, 2004. (See author's website)

Cole, Ellen. Editor: Bibliography of Jews in Sports... - revised 2014 (see above - AJLSC). People to Read About in Biographies and Autobiographies for Young Adults, revised 2017. A Librarian's Guide for the Perplexed: Developing an Adult Collection, 2005. Shopping Guide: Literary Gifts for Children and Adults to Help with Your Gift List. Your Home Jewish Library for Children, 2003.

To Celebrate 350th Anniversary - Jewish Life in America - 1654-2004

            -- A Bibliography of Colonial Jews for Adults (2004).
            -- For Children Grades 2 - 12, A Bibliography of Colonial Jews to Jump
                   Start Your Ideas (2004).
            -- A Webography about Colonial Jews (2004)

Drucker, Malka, Rabbi. Women and Judaism. Praeger, 2009 (Finalist, Religious Book, 2009 New Mexico Book Award. Portraits of Jewish American Heroes, 2008 (Winner, Juvenile Book, and Finalist, Religious Book, 2009 New Mexico Book Award; also one of the Top Ten Religion Books for Youth: 2008 - Booklist Online). White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America. Skylight, 2002. See author's website for more books.

Dubin, Susan. List of Library Management Software for Small Libraries, Revised May 2012. Repairing the World: Books to Use to Introduce Service Learning Projects; A Selective Annotated Bibliography, Revised January 2011/March 2006 [This 8-page bibliography includes: Feeding the Hungry, Caring for the Environment, Respecting Differences, Respecting the Elderly, Welcoming Guests]. Selected Bibliography of Cookbooks in the Valley Beth Shalom Sheila Sporn Library, March 2006.

Leff, Barbara. Searching for Answers about General Library Operations & Services in Cyberspace, a Selected List, Revised 2012. Co-author with Susan Freiband: Collection Development in Smaller Judaica Libraries: Resource Guide. Collaborator with Susan Freiband: Collection Development in Smaller Judaica Libraries: An Introduction and Guide. AJL, 2006. (Collection Development available through AJL Publications).

Muscoplat, Amy. Tu B'Shevat Reading for the Family - a select bibliography of Judaism and ecology resources. Books, Websites, and Music. Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles, January 2007.

Rochlin, Harriet. Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West, Updated 2014. The Rochlin Guide to Western Jewish Historical Societies, Museums, and Archives, current. The Desert Dwellers Trilogy. (See author's website for more books)

Rocklin, Joanne. Strudel Stories. Delacorte, 1999. (award-winner) (See author's website for more books)

Rose, Lois Rose. Seeing Solomon's Knot, publisher is author/artist, 2005. (See author's website for more info.)

Silverman, Erica. Sholom's Treasure: How Sholom Aleichem Became a Writer. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005. (See author's website for author bio.)

Silverman, Lisa. Articles: Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners Announced, Jewish Journal, February 3, 2017. Fall Holidays and More: New Books for Kids, and Parents, Too, Jewish Journal, September 16, 2016. Read All About It: The Best Bar and Bat Mitzvah-Themed Books for Young Adults, Jewish Journal, May 9, 2016. Anne Frank's Tree: Two Holocaust Picture Books, Jewish Journal, April 27, 2016. Passover ‘On One Foot’: Books for Kids, Jewish Journal, April 14, 2016. Get Kids into the High Holiday Spirit with these New Books, Jewish Journal, September 3, 2015. The Bookshelf, CJ:Kolot (Voices of Conservative Judaism), Fall 2015. Good Summer Reads for Kids, Jewish Journal, July 30, 2015. Passover, Agnon, and Challah Baking: reviews of kids books. Jewish Journal, March 24, 2015.

See AJLSC Member News - Archives - for previous articles by Lisa Silverman.

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Resources by Association of Jewish Libraries

AJL Website

AJL News & AJL Reviews and Judaica Librarianship -- AJL Listserv ha-Safran

AJL Book of Life -- AJL Blog, includes Jewish Book Carnival (book bloggers' monthly links to promote literature)

Also: AJL Accreditation -- AJL Awards & Grants -- AJL Bibliography Bank -- AJL Book Awards -- AJL Book Lists -- AJL Chapters -- AJL Conferences -- AJL Conference Blogs -- AJL Conference Proceedings -- AJL Events -- AJL Facebook page -- AJL Jewish ValuesFinder (always current) -- AJL Member Resources -- AJL Members' Catalogs -- AJL Mentoring Program -- AJL Podcasts -- AJL Publications -- AJL Resources -- AJL Wiki -- Jobs -- and much more...

AJL "Jewish Library Advocacy Kit" -- a wonderful tool for promoting the value of your library services to your community.

See also: Recent Selection Tools (below).

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Resources about the Internet and Jewish Internet

The Internet (a very select list)

Digital Literacy - The U.S. Department of Commerce launched this gateway to materials, research, online learning tools and more to help librarians and educators access and share materials to use when training learners of all ages on topics such as information literacy, computer skills, digital literacies and more. Visit http://www.digitalliteracy.gov

The Jewish Internet (a very select list)

Index to Jewish Periodicals - A comprehensive, guide to articles, book reviews, feature stories, and other contents in English - available in book, CD, and online - annual and semi-annual.

Romm, Diane. Jewish Internet Guide.com, 2003-current. A searchable website created by the author (a librarian and AJL member) to complement the 3rd edition of her book, The Jewish Guide to the Internet. The searchable site contains the entire text of the 3rd edition of the book, plus updates and additions of material added since the book's publication in 2002. Also, the website provides Internet links to Jewish search engines in English, Hebrew, and other languages and to institutions and individuals who maintain sizable websites with Jewish resources. The author continues to keep the online links current.

Internet Jewish Resources for High School Libraries, created by Diane Romm (June 20, 2004), last updated November 16, 2014.

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Resource Tools for Librarians (reference and selection tools, cataloging tools, articles, online periodicals, databases, other links)

Library and Information Science Resources on the Web -- a potpourri of useful links from Intuit: Universities offering information science courses, career resources, general tools (databases, digital libraries, portals), tools by library departments, sites for librarians.

Cataloging Tools for Librarians

Online Catalogs of Local Libraries with Judaic Collections

Recent Selection Tools

AJL Jewish ValuesFinder - The purpose is to identify the Jewish values found in books written for Jewish children and teens in English or in translation. It is a selective guide; not every book of Jewish content is included. It is kept CURRENT.

Linda R. Silver. The Jewish Values Finder: A Guide to Values in Jewish Children's Literature. Neal-Schuman Publishers for Association of Jewish Libraries, 2008. (Available from Amazon.com)

Linda R. Silver. Best Jewish Books for Children and Teens: A JPS Guide. Jewish Publication Society, 2010. Selection of Jewish books for children -- from preschool through high school -- written in or translated into English, with most appearing since the end of World War II. Recommended Reading by Subject -- Fiction and Non-Fiction -- Plot Summaries. Award Winners and Recommended Reading Levels. Indexed by Title, Author, Illustrator, and Subject.

Excellence in Jewish Children's Literature: A Guide for Book Selectors, Reviewers, and Award Judges, published by AJL.

Jewish Book Council sponsors: Jewish Book World, Jewish Book Annual, Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, National Jewish Book Awards 1949 to current, and many Book Lists.

Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, has awarded the following for the current year: Caldecott Award to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children -- Newbery Award to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children -- and other distinguished awards.

Judaica award-winning books -- list and links available on our Home Page.

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More Resources & Links

AcademicInfo - online education resource center with extensive subject guides and distance learning information - over 25,000+ hand-picked resources - updated daily.

Building a School Website - for beginners - for teachers and students to work together, and good for individuals too. (elementary school level)

Digital Public Library of America - an attempt to make the holdings of US research libraries, archives, and museums available to all Americans online and free of charge.

Ebooks and the School Library Program: A Practical Guide for the School Librarian. by Cathy Leverkus & Shanno Acedo. ALA, October 2013. (Formats: softcover or ebook.)

E-Books: 68 Essential Resources for eBooks in Libraries by Ellyssa Kroski, 8/12/13. (Source: American Libraries Direct, August 14, 2013)

Encyclopedias (online):

Jewish Encyclopedia - 1901-1906; unedited contents of original encylopedia.
Jewish Virtual Library -- an online comprehensive Jewish encyclopedia published by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.

DoorQuote
Glass door inscription to
Temple Isaiah Levine Library

Hot Potatoes - a useful classroom software for librarian teachers.

Internet Archive - non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies, music, and web pages.

Jewish Books -- Web magazines for news, reviews, information, interviews, excerpts, blogs, and lots more...
     jbooks.com (Online Jewish Book Community)
     jewishliteraryreview.com (blog about Jewish writing, philosophy, history,
         and law by a journalist)
     myjewishbooks.com (annotated book lists)
     myjewishlearning.com (a gateway to Jewish exploration)
     http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/jewish.htm -- extensive personal list of sources,
         publishers, et al., by Jacob Richman
      http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/ -- Jewish book lists and Jewish book clubs

Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles (JCLLA) - archives of the closing of JCLLA in 2009. Archives of the closing of the JCLLA Children's Division (known as the Slavin Library) in May 2013 and reopening a Slavin Center as part of the Zimmer Children's Museum of Los Angeles in July 2013.

Jewish Films and Videos --
Jewish Film.com (Jewish film archive online)

     Jewish Video.com (Ergo Media) films, videos, DVDs about Jewish experience, including Israel. Films are in English or subtitled.
     --Core DVD Collection for Jewish Schools
     National Center for Jewish Film -- collection, preservation, exhibition of films
     Rabbi at the Movies - Rabbinic commentary on film by Rabbi Ruth Adar (Bay Area, CA) - films with Jewish themes 1920 to current.

Ruth Diskin Films - documentaries on Jewish Life, Holocaust, Israeli Mosaic.

Jewish Genealogical Resource -- international resources www.jewishdata.com

Jewish Historical Society of Southern California -- preserves and creates awareness of local Jewish history; leads tours to sites of historical Jewish interest in the Los Angeles area; maintains an archive of community records; and helps produce film series, lectures, exhibits, publications, and oral histories.

Jewish History / American Jewish History websites - a selected list of Jewish Internet Consortium - by Larry Laufman, Ed.D.

Jewish Library Blogs -- postings from AJL's Hasafran

Jewish Women's Archives (JWA) -- uncovers, chronicles, and transmits the rich history of American Jewish women via curricula and other educational materials, posters, partnerships, programs, research, oral history guides, reminiscences, and other resources, blogs, online exhibits, and a Virtual Archive on an innovative website. Website also includes free, online version of Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

Libraries and Librarians in Film and TV by George M. Eberhart and Jennifer Henderson (March 2013). Source: Whole Library Handbook 5. AND Libraries on Film (on Pinterest)

Librarianship (Misc.):
     Library Link of the Day - includes extensive links to Library Weblogs and to
          Information Sources
     Unshelved (the Library Comic Strip)
     "Gift Guides for Library Lovers" - use this term to search the Internet - lots
          of sources

Library Lovers' Month - many ideas of the Friends and Foundations of California Libraries may be adapted to a Jewish library setting.

Library-Related Acronyms and Initialisms - from American Library Association

Makerspaces - DIY (Do it yourself) spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn - often in libraries.

National Library Week AND School Library Media Month

National Yiddish Book Center -- The full texts of over 11,000 works of modern Yiddish literature, can be read, downloaded, and printed in popular formats for free

OCLC WebJunction - "learning place for libraries." Subscribe to Crossroads, their free monthly publication for updates on e-books, makerspaces, technology, and for interesting webinars, etc.

Organizations:
     American Library Association
     American Library Association > Affiliates
     American Library Association > American Association of School Librarians
     Association of Jewish Libraries
     California Library Association
     California School Library Association
     California State Library
     Church and Synagogue Library Association
     Jewish Book Council

Pew Research Internet Project on Libraries - Here's a new lengthy Pew Report, dated March 13, 2014- "From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers--and Beyond." A brief summary was published in the Los Angeles Times - "Library Lovers are Less Lonely..." Some of their findings and suggestions can be applied to libraries of Judaica.

Resources for School Librarians -- Learning & Teaching; Information Access; Program Administration; Technology; Education & Employment; Continuing Education.

RSS Feeds in Plain English (short video) -- "what's new" automatically comes directly to you -- explanation and links

Sholem Aleichem: Indexes to the Yiddish Works of Sholem Aleichem and their English Translations, by Louis Fridhandler.

Social Networking in Plain English (short video) -- to communicate with others -- explanation and links Social Networks - presentation at 2009 Chicago AJL Convention.

Travel Through Jewish Fiction: Celebrate Jewish Book Month with These Titles and Read-Alikes, by Rachel Kamin, AJL Member, November 14, 2016, in Library Journal.

Volunteers:
Friends and Foundations of California Libraries -- how to unlock the vast resources of the library
United for Libraries (formerly Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) of the American Library Association (ALA) (and also formerly Friends of the Library USA (FOL))

Wikis in Plain English (short video) -- to coordinate projects -- explanation and links