Laying down the bones

I wish I could say that I had increased the word count on the manuscript significantly. That hasn't happened, but I've done something almost as important. I have finally laid down the bones of the book. I guess you could call it the outline. When I was a doctoral student, professors talked about creating a conceptual framework for our scholarly writing, and that's another way to think about it. But it feels to me like the skeleton, just waiting to be fleshed out.

It came in a flash, while I was emailing my friend and sometime co-author, Elaine Meyers. We had talked a lot about the shape of the book when we were both in Anaheim at the end of June so it seemed right to try it out on her. So here it is:

1. Where we came from -- the tradition of library service to children
2. The legacy reconsidered
3. The children we serve -- ways to think about childhood, from the reading child of Anne Carroll Moore et al to a notion of the child as agent with rights as well as needs.
4. Creating the library for the children we serve -- or maybe, getting it right in the library for the children we serve (using an outcome-based planning and evaluation methodology for the smaller bones)
5. Claiming the future.

Now I need to pick up the pace, since I am just now finishing chapter 1, and I'd really like to get this done before I leave for Croatia in mid-October.