AdLit.org: What about The Older Ones?

At my library, we host a literacy play group every Friday. Its a time for kids to learn literacy skills in a fun environment, and a chance for moms and dads to relax while their children play. Its kind of like a play date at the library.

The program has been well attended, and kids learning about reading while they play is really cool to watch. Early literacy is something that many libraries support and work into every program that they have. Something on the same token, but that still doesn't get as much notice, is adolescent literacy.

Turns out that we focus on teaching kids how to read in grades k-3, but then we start to focus on having kids read to learn. For adolescent readers that might struggle a little bit, this shift causes them some problems.

This situation is something I didn't really think about until I looked up AdLit.org. This is a website filled with useful research, videos, podcasts, articles, and information to equip educators and parents to help adolescent readers have the literacy skills they need.

The site also includes information on getting ready for college and several reading lists. Even though I wasn't familiar with the site until recently, I'm definitely going to start checking it out.

In My Boss's Absence...

Happy Friday everyone! This week is one of the reasons I like to live in North Idaho. We had snow yesterday and a fifty-degree-sunny-day today. It’s kind of ridiculous, but it keeps things interesting. 

So Miss Karen is in Arizona at a Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) meeting, so I got to do some storytimes that I don’t normally get to do this week.

On Tuesday, I went down to Kootenai HeadStart, and read rain and wind stories to the kids. There are four classrooms that Karen visits, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, so I went to school in-between and did some stories on the ends.

Today was also the monthly visit from Noah’s Ark Learning Center, so I got to read some rain and wind stories again. But, this time, Miss Cassie shared some of her favorite weather books with me, and I read some awesome books based on her suggestions. My coworkers are amazing!

Also today, I sat in on the monthly Branch Managers meeting. Karen (her absence seems to be a theme this week hehe) is obviously the coordinator of Youth Services, and so she normally attends the meeting. But, when she’s away and there is still stuff to present from Youth Services, Miss Cassie and I have stepped up to the plate. I went this time because I also had a video idea to pitch to the managers. Be looking for a video similar to “Librarians on Vacation” coming out as we get closer to summer.

As far as upcoming programs go, we are having our Next-Gen Poetry Slam on April 22 at 6pm. If you aren’t familiar with Slam poetry, check out these two videos: The Most Amazing Slam Poet and Push. We are going to have three local judges, two categories (middle school, 6-8 grade, and high school, 9-12 grade), and cash prizes! Even if you don’t enjoy normal poetry, slam poetry is its own beast and shouldn’t be missed. Instead of just reading poetry, its about how you present it and getting the audience involved in your story. If you don’t want to perform a poem, at least join us for the evening. It will be a good time.

That’s about all I’ve got this week, so have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Wednesday. 

P.S. There was a lack of Book Blurt because I’m getting toward the end of my senior research project, and tabulated a bunch of data takes a while. Sorry about not getting it out.

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/

Teen Marketing

Morning everybody! I’m often accused of being too happy in the morning, but I figure that’s a great problem to have.

Anyways, I first wanted to mention that I didn’t get a book blurt post out this week. I think I’ve mentioned it a few times, but my senior research class is quite a bit of work. I had a huge project due on Wednesday, and I dedicated the day to putting the finishing touches on it. I know, that is probably an excuse, and I’ll try not to let that happen again. I’ll definitely be back on Wednesday with an update on what I’ve been reading.

Last Friday, Alysun Sanders dropped in for a visit. She told us a little about her book, Talli's Tale, how she got published, and also about her new series she's writing, The Hollow Series. It was cool to actually meet her in person.

In other news, I feel pretty important. As I mentioned last week, the Idaho Commision for Libraries is doing a Fall Youth Services training, and they are having me present about teen marketing in Coeur d’ Alene and Moscow. As some of you know, I am a communication arts major at Lewis Clark State College, and public speaking is one of my passions. I’m really excited to share what I’ve learned about teen marketing with my fellow librarians.

But, then I have to ask myself, what have I learned about teen marketing? First of all, that it isn’t easy. Getting people to come to the library is difficult, and teens like a really good program. So I’ll keep working in that direction. Secondly, get the word out to as many people as possible through as many different means as possible; facebook, blog, twitter, youtube, flyers, and ridiculousness.

Thirdly, I think its taking one step at a time, and not being discouraged when a huge crowd doesn’t show up at your event. We’re making progress, slowly, but surely. I hope that anyone who reads this blog or has come to one of our teen programs has enjoyed themselves, and I hope to see them again as we keep working toward bigger and better teen programming.

So I’ll probably share that and a few other things to my colleagues at the trainings. In addition to the public speaking opportunity, I’m also getting to work with other librarians from the commission and another library, which is always a treat.

Making sure that my job isn’t normal, I got to help out at some second grade tours yesterday. Hayden Meadows sent three classes walking over to our building, and Miss Cassie and I had a great time showing them our different sections. The bookmobile garage was a huge hit!

Lastly, Airband Awesomeness is tonight at 7pm! Airband is pretty much the end of our October programs (other than turning in the pledge and project forms for Wrestlemania), and I’ve had a great time planning, promoting, and actually doing the programs. I’m excited to see any performers that show up tonight, and even if you don’t have a song, please come down and enjoy some great performances. Myself, a good friend of mine, and our library director, John Hartung (who himself played in a rock band in high school) are going to be the judging panel.

Hope to see you tonight, and if I don’t, I’ll be coming your way on Wednesday with a book blurt.

My Literacy Breaks

Welcome to October! How is school going for everybody?

Well there were no school librarian meetings or blood donations this week, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t having plenty of fun. Miss Cassie does a literacy playgroup every Friday from 10:30 to 12:00. Over the summer I had a chance to help out at the program. It was loads of fun; reading board books on the floor, playing with puppets, doing some crafts. Anyways, Miss Cassie had a meeting to get to last Friday, so I got to do part of literacy playgroup. Nothing like reading a big book and saying high to our youngest patrons for a little while.

Speaking of early literacy, I am also getting the chance to go to the Kinder Center once a month. Kinder Center is where most of the kindergarten kids from this area attend school, and we at the Hayden Library are working on partnering with them. We head into the library, the teachers bring their kids in, we do a quick storytime, and then the kids go back to their regular school day. But, it’s funny how things that you know you are going to do still sneak up on you. I knew that I was helping at Kinder Center, that it was the first Friday of every month, and that it started in October. For some reason, all of those facts didn’t add up to the fact that I was starting Kinder Center TODAY! Luckily for me, I have colleagues that remind me of things when I’m being ridiculous. Thanks Cassie and Karen!

Also speaking of younger kids, I’m getting a chance to help at Mountain States Early Head Start every month. They are starting a new program called Men and Kids. This program is targeted for fathers and their kiddos, and myself being the only male in the youth services staff, I get the opportunity to head over there. This past week we made applesauce and our own pizzas. Good stuff!

Moving into a little older group, one of the fifth grade teachers in our area approached me about helping with a reading club. Reading clubs are obviously fabulous, and having a partnership with a school will keep the program going, and help the kids as they learn. I love it when you are looking for community partners, and community partners are looking for you.

Well none of this stuff really pertains to young adults (except the fifth graders who are getting close to my targeted age group). But, it’s a part of my job that I wouldn’t give up. Most of my duties pertain to organizing, promoting, and running t(w)een programs, and I’m lovin’ it; but if that flow is interrupted by reading books or making applesauce with a toddler, I’m also lovin’ that!

If you have an opinion about the Twilight series, check out my book blurt this Wednesday. Catch you later.

Learning from Mistakes

How are we doing today? As far as North Idaho goes, I think summer has finally arrived. It has actually been ninety degrees twice in the last week. Consequently, I’m going to the beach after work today.

Karen and I have been learning a whole lot about doing tween/teen programs over this first month and a half of programs. As we have never done programs for this age group before, we only have the things we’ve read and the assumptions that we have from younger programming. We are finding that serving this audience is entirely different, and we are trying to adapt our own ideas to meet your needs. New things are definitely a learning experience, and we have made some mistakes. But, we are learning from these mistakes, and are working for better library programs in the future.

This week has been filled with our usual band of suspects. Monday opened with three programs at the same time, which is what we have been doing all summer. Miss Cassie has an Every Child Ready to Read workshop, for the 3-5 age group. We also have an open craft set up where families can come anytime between 10 and 2 and make some crafts. The third program is mine, and is Ka-Boom Science Experiments. We had the chance to do a Mentos Diet Coke rocket, and we also got to make Gak. If you ever get a chance, I would highly advice doing both of those experiments. If you go to Steven Spangler’s website, he has all of the steps you will need.

Tuesday means Tween Summer Reading for me. This last week we made denim summer beach bags. We had sequence, petals, glitter glue, and buttons galore, and the bags turned out amazingly. We also had a really good turnout which is always cool.

Wednesday is our younger summer reading program, and this week we played READO, which is BINGO by any other name. Instead of numbers and letters, we did letters and different items such as bicycles, shoes, and dinosaurs. Then of course we gave away some of our summer reading prizes.

Thursday means that I get to go to Finucane Park. This was actually the first story time that I got involved in when I started working in the children’s area, and I’ve been doing it ever since. We read some frog stories and played with our parachute which is always fun.

Which brings us to today, and today we have our Open Game Friday and I’m working on getting our Ka-Boom program set up for Monday. Ka-Boom is going to be electricity experiments next week.

This past week I’ve also been busy doing some advertising. Karen made me up some new flyers, and I’ve been busy posting them at different businesses and stores (don’t worry, I asked before I put any up). I was really encouraged by how many places were willing to post information about library programs.

Well join us for Ka-Boom on Monday, Tween Summer Reading on Tuesday, which is going to be a battleship tournament, and you can also come on down for our Open Game Friday. Hope your week is filled with amazing times with friends, family, productivity, and plenty of sunshine.

Where did last week go?

Well my last blog post ended talking about my crazy week that wasn’t quite over, so I figured I’d tell you how my last week ended.

Just after writing my blog post I went over to Mountain States Early Head Start. Karen Yother has a day care that comes in once a month, and this time Head Start was at the same time. Although Karen would like to, she can’t be in two places at once, so off I went to Head Start. Obviously Head Start isn’t in my target audience of middle and high schoolers, but I still enjoy playing puppets with toddlers. We went over some colors, animal sounds, sang some songs; it was good.

Right after Head Start I jumped into our library van with some other staff members and drove over to Gonzaga University for INCOL’s spring workshop. Inland Northwest Council of Libraries (INCOL) does two workshops a year, and this workshop was on “Intellectual Freedom.” We had about thirty librarians discussing the Library Bill of Rights, Censorship, Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Freedom, the First Amendment, and obviously Intellectual Freedom. Once we got these overarching documents and principles, we got into the nitty-gritty of how these principles apply to libraries and librarians. As the Library Bill of Rights says, “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation,” and “libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues.”

Well that was Friday, and the next day we had our award night for our Teen Film Festival that started back during Teen Tech Week 2009. Of our six entries, Ryan took first place with “Earth in Focus,” Josh and Daniel took second with, “We are the Earth,” and Matt took third with, “Life.” Congratulations again to our winners, and thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.

Well I’m already half way through my blog post, and I still haven’t talked about this week yet. My week started meeting with the Coeur d’ Alene School of Woodworking. One of our tween summer reading programs is going to be making wooden boats, and the shop said they would donate wood and materials for our program. Thank you to the CDA School of Woodworking.

I had my second meeting with the Teen Read Week Coordinating Committee. We talked about promoting Teen Read Week, and there were some really fun ideas that might get funded through the state. Stay tuned as October gets closer. Although I’m still new to the idea of meeting through the internet, I think its pretty slick that people from different time zones and from every area of Idaho can speak directly to each other through a pair of headphones and a microphone. Good stuff.

Two more quick things to mention. First, summer reading registration is coming up June 1 for all ages. So stop by the Hayden Library, or register online at ksalibraries.org.

Secondly, I’m going to be adding some new content to the blog every Wednesday, so be looking for my announcement.

Hope you all have a great week, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.