What your teen librarian does all day. Think BIG: Planning Large Teen Events at Your Library: Part 1 of 3. Part 1: Why Should I Try Big Programming? When I mention to some people that I’ve helped organize events that were not only staffed by teens, but also attended by over 100 of their peers, I get a variety of reactions: admiration, respect, but mainly people questioning my sanity. As someone who could get 6 teens in room on a good day (maybe more if there was pizza), making the jump from small, niche programs to taking a chance on planning something big required a lot of work and a big leap of faith.
Now that I’ve lived to survive two large events and am in the midst of planning a third, I feel like I’m at a point where I can share what I’ve learned so perhaps you won’t end up crawling into a ball and crying when your administration suggests you “think outside the box” with your programming. So what is big programming? Big programming is about planning events that appeal to a large demographic of teens. Hunger Games participants salute Panem. Entrance to the Haunted Library. Mythbusters for Kids: Sneaky STEM #2. In April, I decided to do a bunch of science programs and call them "Mythbusters.
" The premise was based on the fact that this website exists, but when I got deep into what I could plan for cheap/free and what wouldn't need parental waivers or worry about balloon allergies and stuff, I turned to other science books and websites. And just when I thought I was done for, I turned to the mother of all STEM websites, Gizmos, Gadgets, and Goo. I link to that so early with the implied promise you'll come back here. I talk about it later + an extra treat for you! Everyone knows the best part of "Mythbusters" is proving whatever family member/high school acquaintance who shares those stupid memes on Facebook wrong (or right). It's the vindication, the ability to say, "I saw that happen, man.
" This is why, when we Confirmed, Busted, or "Plausible"d a myth, it was based on whether or not we could do it. Regardless, here's what I did: 1. (As you can see (maybe?) Week 4: Happy Myth-Busting! Program success: Mardi Gras Party. I am very anti Anti-Valentine's Day parties. It's not that I'm against what the programs are, but I'm very against the terminology. Alternative Valentine's Day or other such titles?
They're great. But anti makes Valentine's Day something to be against. Which is silly. Rather than doing a party in that style this year, though, I decided to offer the teens a Mardi Gras party instead. Here's what I did: I set up the program station-style, offering the teens a few options for activities. One station was my bead station. I also had a mask making station. To show off the face masks, my coworker brought in an old frame and I took digital photos of the teens posing behind it (faces obscured for obvious reasons, but you can see the tips of their masks): The teens loved this, and I think there could be an entire fun program in doing photos using various frames, costumes, and teen-designed creations. Of course, in the background of the event, I was playing some Preservation Hall Jazz Band. BBC Radio 4 - Ramblings, Series 23, The Walking Book Group.
Fingerplays, Rhymes and Songs. Innovative library services “in the wild” Released: January 29, 2013 By Kathryn Zickuhr Our new report takes a close look not only at how Americans are using public libraries, but also what sort of services and programming they think libraries should offer — and what they say they would use in the future. For this last point, we asked about a range of potential offerings, including online “ask a librarian”-type research service, mobile library apps, library kiosks in the community, and pre-loaded e-readers available for checkout. A breakdown of these ideas’ overall popularity is included below; more information is included in the report, and tables with demographic breakdowns for each item can be found in the appendix. But we also wanted to include illustrations of some of these more innovative services, to see what they look like on the ground.
We’ll keep updating the list with new examples as we hear about them. Technology “Petting Zoo” Digital Media Lab Technology help “Redbox”-style library kiosks and outreach services Alabama Iowa. Reading Wildly: Our Staff's Journey to Great Readers' Advisory. Or, Is Reading Widely Essential? Recently, I put out a question to my Twitter followers. I was thinking about how I could improve my staff's Readers' Advisory skills, knowing that some of my staff members don't read children's books for pleasure (whether because of reading preferences or a perceived lack of leisure time or other reasons I might not think about). I put out the following question: @abbylibrarian: Can you give good readers' advisory without reading widely yourself? Please discuss. I got many, many responses (and here are some): @LizB: theoretically, yes, but it requires reading the professional lit & being v. good at using resources like NoveList @amyeileenk: ...even great resources like NoveList can be misleading; libs need personal background w a book @classicsixbooks: Yes and no.
@ReadingChick: you cant read everything, can you? @bookgirlsb: absolutely! @catatonichic: I think you could GIVE 'good' RA, but I don't believe you could give great RA.