Why wasn't I here last Friday?

How’s it hanging?

As some of you might have noticed, I didn’t get a Weekly Update out last Friday, and the reason was that I didn’t set foot in my library last Friday. For the past few months, I’ve been working with Erica and Sue from the Idaho Commission for Libraries on Teens and Technology 2011. In the past, the commission has offered web-based workshops and webinars that have helped Idaho librarians become more familiar with the latest technology. Although these workshops have been well received, the commission wanted to take a different approach this year. They decided to do four regional workshops across the state, and as I mentioned two weeks ago, I was the go-to guy for North Idaho.

Last Friday, January 28, was our 9 to 4 hands-on workshop at the Coeur ‘d Alene Public Library. We had eleven participants from Lewiston to Coeur d’ Alene, and from public libraries to school libraries. Our workshop focused on taking a booktrailer from a storyboard all the way to a finished project posted on the internet. Although there will always be a few hiccups, the workshop went really well! The librarians said the workshop was helpful and informative, and they were appreciative of the work we had put into it. Made the last few weeks of working on it totally worth it!

The Monday after the workshop, January 31, I got to go down to Mountain States Early Head Start for their Men and Kids program. I’ve been going down to this program once a month, and it’s always hard when only a few dads show up. But, this time around, we had a great turnout, which was exciting. Often times, fathers aren’t encouraged to spend time with their kids, or they just don’t have the time to do it. For that reason, I thought having a program that exclusively targets dads spending time with their kids was amazing, and I hope it continues to grow.

This morning, I had another opportunity to spend some time with younger patrons. The first Friday of every month is my outreach to the Kinder Center. Since I only see them once a month, I figured I would do some Valentine stories. Although the kids were a little bit squirmy today, we had a great time enjoying books together. In between classes, I got a chance to talk to Bonnie, the VISTA at the Kinder Center about e-books. We both agreed that e-books are changing the way people view literacy, but we also both thought that traditional books won’t be obsolete any time soon. Only time will tell I guess.

Hope that you’ve had a great week, and I’ll catch you on Wednesday with another Book Blurt.

P.S. I updated our Teen Film Festival website this past week. It now has downloadable entry forms and a list of useful and free online resources. Check it out! http://www.libraryteenfilmfestival.blogspot.com/