3D Printing: Guess What We Just Got!?!?

At the beginning of last year, I put up a post about 3D Printing. Now, I'm so excited to say that the Community Library Network actually has a 3D Printer!!

As I mentioned in our Cardboard Robots post, the Community Library Network has been a part of a Makerspace pilot project with the Idaho Commission for Libraries. The final piece of this pilot was each library (or network) taking home a 3D Printer to call their own.

Now, there are a lot of different 3D Printer models, and there are also a ton of 3D Printer vendors. For our printers, the Commission decided to contract with an open-source building community called RepRap, and more specifically a Boise shop called the Reuseum.

RepRap is based on the idea of self-replicating manufacturing machines. So, each of our printers was hand-made, and many of the elements were actually printed on another 3D printer. Pretty cool, right?

Obviously there are multiple ways of manufacturing things using 3D Printers, and some of the industrial grade operate slightly different than ours. But, ours basically melts a plastic filament and then uses a nozzle to lay it back down layer after layer until a physical object is created.

Feel free to check out the video, or join us for our 3D Printer Demos we'll be doing to start off the new year =D

Scratch: Build your Own Game, Story, or Animation

Similarly to last week's post, I got this idea from that Makerspace project I've been doing with the Idaho Commission for Libraries. One of my fellow Makerspace buddies mentioned a website called Scratch, and I had to check it out.

Basically, its another opportunity to teach kids to code in a sneaky way. Scratch is an online platform that allows kids, teens, and adults to create their own games, stories, or animations. Rather than using an HTML text editor, Scratch uses a visual system to let people code. Think of it like puzzle pieces that you add and attach together to make characters and backgrounds move and interact.

I made two projects a little while ago. Dance Party has some characters that move around, and When a Bird Flies lets you fly a bird toward a destination. Now, these seem super simple, but I don't have very much coding experience, so getting an avatar to do anything was an accomplishment for me lol. But, the cool thing is that Scratch can be used for the super simple, or the ridiculously complex. I even found a 2D version of Minecraft on Scratch!!

Another cool aspect of Scratch is that it lets you view how other people made their projects work, and then start to remix them. So not only does Scratch give you first-hand experience dealing with critical thinking and problem solving, it also lets you learn from what others have done. Scratch won't teach you C+ or anything, but its a simple, fun way to get some coding experience or to make your own game.
 

Cardboard Robots: A Fantastic MakerSpace Idea

So I've been involved with a pilot project with the Idaho Commission for Libraries dealing with the concept of a Makerspace. In its simplest form, a Makerspace is an area (either temporary or stable) where human beings (anybody and everybody) are encouraged to build whatever they want (with stuff provided for them, or stuff that they bring).

Many of our programs have a Makerspace feel to them (we're building stuff without too many instructions lol), but our most recent program, Cardboard Robots, was birthed out of the Makerspace idea. Take a look at this video about Caine's Arcade, and you'll see why we got so excited to participate in the Global Cardboard Challenge.

So, those are the ideas behind our little event, but how do you do it? We gathered up the supplies below, laid it all out on two tables, and let the kids go crazy with it :) It was a great event, and a ton of fun!!

Recycled Boxes (Cereal, pudding, crackers, noodles, etc.)
Tissue Paper Rolls
Robot Clipart
Buttons
Bottle Caps
Aluminum Foil
Packing Tape
Stapler
Gluesticks
Hot Glue (for those really annoying things that refuse to stick)

Read some Books, Get some Prizes

So our Summer Reading programs have officially begun! Yay! We are super busy with programs, questions and handing out prizes, but we're loving it.

During the summer, we are always looking for community partners to "back us up" as it were. We've asked several of them to post promotion on their community boards or their store windows, and we also asked many of them for prize donations.

After registering for summer reading, you get a prize every time you read five hours. These prizes are ranging from book bags, to free books, to free stuff at Applebee's, to a ticket to the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo. Once you've read over twenty hours, we are entering participants into a drawing for a Sony Walkman MP3 Player, and probably some of the gift cards that our local businesses were good enough to donate to us.

So, if you like the sound of prizes for reading, check out our website for full information on summer reading for kids, teens, and adults, and visit the awesome places that support you, your library, and reading!

Informative Videos from Scout :)

This is actually a Techno Tuesday from a little while ago. But, I was having some trouble with the keywords on the original post, so I had to delete it. But, here it is again, with better keywords :)

So I got to attend a webinar on a new service from Idaho Public Television and the Idaho Commission for Libraries, and I wanted to tell you about it.

The service is called Scout, and its basically a free database of informational videos from Idaho Public Television.

There are two sides to the interface. The Idaho Collection features full episodes on topics like history, science, and places. The Classroom Edition (requires a very short registration, but is still free) features three to six minute clips on almost any topic a teacher or student could need. The Classroom Edition also features the ability to creat playlists, and to favorite and organize videos.

If you're a fan of Idaho Public Television, need quick, informative videos, or are just curious about what kind of content is available, I encourage you to check this out!

Mixing in Math: Blog Post Hybrid!

Coming soon to a computer near you...Blog Post Hybrid! So this could fit into Monday Fun and Program Ideas because we did it for a Monday program, and it could be a program idea. But, it could also be a Techno Tuesday because I'm letting you know about a cool website. Ultimately though, I decided to post it in Techno Tuesday, because I wanted to write about our Hunger Games Party yesterday, and it gave me a post for today :)

So, the topic of our Blog Post Hybrid is Mixing in Math. Here is what they have to say about themselves:

"At Mixing in Math (MiM), we believe that daily life is full of opportunities to explore math. Math is in the things we do, the objects we use, the games we play, and the questions we ask. By building on the math around us, MiM helps children and caregivers become more confident, comfortable and competent in math."

Since our country's overall math and science scores aren't very fantastic, certain agencies, like the Idaho Commission for Libraries, ICFL, are encouraging libraries to mix some math into their programs. I took some of MiM's ideas and ran an hour program with them. But, they suggest just filling in an extra five minutes here and fifteen minutes there with a fun dose of math.

These are a few that I thought were cool, but you can view their whole list of suggested activities.

How Many in a Minute

Ten Pennies

Narrow it Down: Numbers

Come In From the Cold

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Why did I read it?

In 2010, I worked with the Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICFL) as a presenter for Teens and Technology. We held a workshop on creating booktrailers, and we used the 2010 Teen's Top Ten as the books. This fantastic book was on the list (and required reading for my Master's class, so I finally sat down and read the whole thing).

What happened?

Why hadn't she answered the phone? Could she have saved her? Could she have talked her out of it? After Lia's best friend Cassie is found dead, Lia is racked with guilt and quickly returns to her destructive patterns of depression, anorexia, and cutting. Convinced that becoming thinner will make her stronger, Lia ignores the pleading, begging and ordering of her mom, dad, and stepmom. But, her stepsister, Emma, thinks the world of Lia, and that love might be just enough to help Lia hold on and come in from the cold she has been creating.

What did I like or not like?

Wintergirls is a powerful and well-written novel that will make you understand where Lia is coming from, but will make you want to scream as she injures herself. Through powerful metaphors, scrambled words, and literally crossing out the thoughts that Lia wouldn't like, Anderson helps us comprehend Lia's experiences. While the novel deals with difficult topics, it ultimately has a hopeful message that will reach out to anyone struggling with depression, eating disorders, or cutting, as well as anyone who needs a realistic and helpful look at this subject.

What Makes a Great Video?

Editing a Movie?

Hey everybody!

So here we are on our first Techno Tuesday. Basically, on Tuesdays I'm going to share some cool technology and resources that I use and have found out about. I figured I'd start with some movie making software because I make a lot of movies :)
Personally, I'm used Jaycut and Windows Movie Maker the most.
Jaycut- I first heard about Jaycut from ICfL's Teens and Technology 2011. Jaycut is a great online editing application that has a lot of transitions, green screen capability, the fun of drawing on videos, and is absolutely free. But, Jaycut is FREE and ONLINE. Therefore, there aren't as many features as other things, and unless you have great bandwidth, you could be waiting for a very long time to finish even a simple movie project. The website is: http://jaycut.com.
Windows Movie Maker-I'm a Windows fella, and the latest version of WMM is very easy to use, and has some very cool transitions and special effects. But, the problem is that it is almost too easy! The editor can be annoying for someone who wants more control of each individual clip. But, it is a great program for Windows users. If it didn't come pre-loaded on your computer, you can get the software here: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker?os=other&wa=wsignin1.0
Others- I'm found another blog post that has great info on 3 other free editing softwares I wasn't aware of. Check it out here: http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/top-5-free-video-editing-software-review.html

Thanks for reading :)

It was a Success, It was a Failure

So, it’s not Friday. But, I missed posting on Friday because I had our Poetry Slam event last night, and I wanted to post after the event so I could tell you about it.

The event was a success and the event was a failure. The event was simple and the event was complex. The event taught me things and the event told me things I already knew. I’m starting to sound kind of poetic…maybe?

Anyways, there were things that we did well, and some things that didn’t work so well. Things that went well was the fact that young adults got a chance to share their poetry when they normally can’t, I decorated the room to give it a fun feel instead of just leaving bare walls, and we had some lemonade, chips, and candy to top it all off. But, the best thing was that young adults had a positive experience with their library.

At Teens and Technology 2011, I got the chance to speak with librarians who also work with young adults. It was really encouraging to see that I wasn’t the only one trying to get teen programs off of the ground. I found that they had similar struggles and successes. One of the things that we all found was that it’s hard to get the number of young adults that you want. A program with only 2 participants seems kind of sad (which is what happened at our Poetry Slam).

But, that is when we have to remind ourselves and others that young adult programming is an entirely different beast than serving other populations, and that if 1 young adult has a positive experience with their library, they might become library patrons and supporters for their entire lives. That means they will have more chances to be enlightened, supported, and aware of the information that is available to them. Even though higher participation is something to strive for, we can’t ignore the fact that our program was successful to the young adults that did come.

Although that is true, that doesn’t mean that we won’t try to do better. If a program is successful for 2 people, let’s try to get 10, and then 15, and then have some big events where we might get 45 or 50, or maybe even 100 people. The saying goes that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Even though small events are very often successful (and I will strive to make every library experience a positive one), I will also be looking for ways to have even more young adults experience and enjoy our events. If you have any ideas that would help, I am a listening ear, and if you want more babbling from my experience, I’m glad to share.

Hope you have a great Easter Weekend, and thanks for reading.

Its a Brother Thing...

Hows it going everybody?

So once again, this week has been crazy busy with work, school, and still trying to have some R&R, but I was able to read The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt. This book is on YALSA’s 2011 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, and I can see why. I got a chance to read it thanks to the Idaho Commission for Libraries. They awarded participants of Teens and Technology 2011 with the Top Ten Books, or with a digital photo frame. I had the photo frame from a previous workshop, so I got the books!

Anyways, Levi is a seventeen year old who has always lived under his brother’s shadow. Boaz (the older brother) was popular, athletic, and a brainiac. He could have chosen any college in the country. But, instead of going to college, Boaz went to war as a marine, and Levi still can’t understand that decision. Now, several years later, Boaz is returning from his tour of duty. Levi is excited about his return, but he can’t help but realize that not everything is fine and dandy. Boaz spends all of his time in his room, away from his family, and is constantly pouring over different routes toward Washington, D.C. So, when Boaz tells his parents that he’s going to hike the Appalachian Trail, Levi knows there’s something else really going on, and he’s going to be there for his brother whether Boaz wants him or not.

Although the plot sounds simple, this is a very powerful story. As Levi and Boaz begin to trust each other and built a relationship again, we are reminded that a man who has seen war will never be the same again. The characters talk about the pieces that have to be put back together after a soldier returns home. This book takes an honest look at one way a soldier and his family start to pick the pieces back up.

p.s. There are a few cuss words peppered throughout the story, including the f-word, and there is a half-page explanation of an encounter that goes a little beyond kissing. Even though that didn’t wreck the book for me, I thought you might want to know. I figure its best to be honest when it comes to what content is in a book.

Have a great week!

Airplanes killed the Web Log Post

Hello everyone!

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a weekly update. My Facebook page has been busy with links to blog posts and articles, but I haven’t actually written down what I’ve been doing because it’s been so busy. So, here we go.

The last two weeks began with a meeting with the Secondary School Librarians. It’s always great to find out what they are doing, and to inform them about our upcoming programs. School librarians are awesome!

In addition to meeting with the School Librarians, I also went into the schools to finish up the Atlas After School Academy. After creating slideshows on their partners, I had the guys split into two groups and create commercials. One group decided to do it on Beyblades (dueling tops basically) and the other group decided to do a comical commercial on Toxic Water and Toxic Band-Aids. I had a great time with the guys, and they seemed to have a great time as well. Getting the chance to be creative is always fun!

The end of that week caught me flying to Boise for the culmination of Teens and Technology 2011. It was my first time in an airplane, and it was my first time traveling for business. I thought that flying to Boise was a great way to break myself into traveling because it’s a short and easy flight. I find that I really enjoy flying (feels like a roller coaster), and the hotel was plenty nice.

The Idaho Commission for Libraries held regional workshops in February, and after we submitted our booktrailers and held our Teen Tech Week programs, we wanted to get together and discuss what worked and what didn’t work. In addition to brainstorming and discussing, there were also presentations from librarians. I presented on our Teen Film Festival and how we promoted it, another librarian spoke on adding videos to a card catalog, and another spoke on using a digital photo frame for promotion. The workshop was a lot of fun, and I find that I like business trips!

One of the reasons I didn’t put up a weekly update last week was because I had written a blog post for the Special Project Library Action Team. You can access it here. This was exciting because anyone can start their own blog, but it’s pretty cool to write for a collaboration blog read by people across the state.

After all my work with the ICfL, they wanted to feature me in their Youth Services newsletter, “The Scoop.” They had me fill out a profile and send in some pictures, and they wrote a cool article about me. You can read it here.

Sorry this is a little long, but it takes a while to write about two weeks. Hehe

Have a great week!

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/

What day is it again...

So last night, I was brushing my teeth, and for some reason I thought it was Saturday instead of Thursday. I smacked myself in the head thinking “I didn’t get a Weekly Update out on Friday. Ugh!” Then, I realized that it was Thursday night, and I still had all Friday (which is the day it’s supposed to go out) to get the blog post finished. I sighed with relief and got myself to bed.

If my rattled brain last night was any indication, this week must have been busy. I started on Monday with our monthly Ka-Boom: Science Experiments program. We had a great turnout, and a great time! We started by mixing flour, salt, and warm water to create our own Play-Doh, and then we tried making edible dough. That one didn’t mix so well…but it tasted good!

As I alluded to on Wednesday, I was supposed to be off Tuesday to go skiing with my friends. Well, that didn’t quite happen. Our friend on 49 North called us and said the mountain was all ice, so we thought we’d head over to Lookout, where there was some new powder. Lo and behold, Lookout isn’t open on Tuesdays! So we drove all the way from Rathdrum (we had been driving to 49 North when he called us) to the Idaho/Montana border (where Lookout is located) and we didn’t get to ski! Needless to say, my friends and I will be finding another time to go skiing, and I got some office work done on Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent working and meeting on our Teen Film Festival that is coming up in March. Last year, we had a Three Minute Teen Film Festival where the movies could be up to 3 minutes, and there were cash prizes for the winners. This year, we are doing 2 categories: Short Film and Public Service Announcement (PSA), and we are still doing cash prizes for both categories. In addition, the winners of our PSA category are going to be sent to the statewide PSA competition being put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraries. The winners of the statewide competition are going to be used to promote summer reading across the entire nation! If you like making movies, be looking for more information on the film festival coming in January.

Noticing that next Friday is Christmas Eve, I won’t be doing a Weekly Update. But, noticing that you all might want something to read during the Christmas break, I’ll still do a Book Blurt.

Have a great week!

A Long Post on Science, Happiness, and All Staff Training Days

Well, well, well, well there is once again, so much to talk about. Blogs are funny things. I figure that I want each blog post to be between 300-500 words (closer to the 300 so I don’t get too wordy). That doesn’t sound like too many words…if you have something to talk about. There have been weeks where I sit for fifteen minutes staring at a blank screen, wondering what I did that week that would be interesting. But, then there are weeks like this week (where I’m still playing catch up) where that number of words won’t be near enough.

Anyways, let’s talk a little about what I did this week, and if we have enough space, I’ll back track to something I did in the past, but didn’t have time to talk about. This Monday, I had a chance to do my Ka-Boom Science Experiments program again. I just have to say, SCIENCE IS AWESOME! Of course, my kind of science is putting Dawn in some warm water and adding dry ice (just so you know, that particular experiment was awesome!), but science is just way too much fun to do, and talk about. I find that I’m getting a whole new crowd in the library for Ka-Boom, and they are critically thinking about why something happened in the experiment. Some of it they have just heard in school or at home. But some of it is legit curiosity and wonderings, and I’m glad I’m allowed to have this kind of program at my library! (If you think about it, Play-do here, and Dry Ice there tends to add up. But my boss, and my boss’ bosses are supportive of this program, and that also makes me excited. Also, for those keeping track, we didn’t have a special quest last week. Miss Emily, one of my colleagues, wasn’t quite able to join us, even though it would have been great to have her).

Also this week, I got a little bit of time to catch up on my email and social media postings which was nice. But, the other big event was the Community Library Network (more about what that means next week) All Staff Training Day. Each Veteran’s Day, my library network gets all of the staff from our seven (now eight) libraries into one building and does a conference. Lunch is provided (which is always nice), and the topics this year were marketing and happiness. The last couple of months, there has been a large marketing grant going on at my library, and the marketing topic was an update for the staff on what has been going on with their research.

The happiness workshop was put on by Anne Abrams from the Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL). She discussed research on happiness, and had us do some role playing activities which wound up being quite hilarious. The thing that stuck out to me about the topic of happiness is that your response to the topic of happiness comes down to your outlook on things (how much happiness or lack thereof that you already have). Having someone discuss happiness when you aren’t very happy doesn’t work too well, but discussing happiness with someone that is happy is sort of redundant. But, I think Anne did a good job finding research and some things to laugh at, and it can’t be a bad thing to be reminded of the benefits of having a positive outlook. I think myself and some of my colleauges were also quite ridiculous and tired during the afternoon, so there was plenty to laugh and be happy about.

Anyways, it looks like I’m already over my word limit, so I’ll sign off for today and see you on Wednesday for an uber-epic-awesome book blurt (not like all the rest of them haven’t been uber-epic-awesome, but I felt like closing the blog that way today).

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.

Authors and Reading Groups

For the past couple of weeks, I have been planning programs; sending emails, taking phone calls, making posters, and putting stuff in the courier. All of this planning is basically coming down to the next two weeks. You might ask why this would be the case. There are two reasons. First, I am striving to have one teen event and one tween event every month. This means that a lot of my time is spent planning for said once a month program. The other reason is that October 17-23 is the national Teen Read Week, and we are celebrating it with some programs!

Tonight I’m super excited to hear Alysun Sanders speak. The program is technically for grades 5-9, but anyone is welcome. I had a chance to talk to Alysun on Monday, and she is really looking forward to coming down. If you are interested in writing at all, or if you want to support a local author, then come on down tonight from 6:30-7:30.

Working backwards, I went to Bryan Elementary yesterday. One of the fifth grade teachers and I are starting a Guys Read group at the school. Guys Read is a website that was started by author Jon Scieszka. There are Guys Read groups all over the nation, and we are starting one here in town. Every two weeks we will be meeting to discuss books that other guys will also enjoy.

Back on Monday, I had my monthly Ka-Boom Science Experiments program. This is something I’ll be doing every month on the second Monday from 4-5pm. This month, we did water experiments. Since our Summer Reading theme were water related, I figured that a water experiments were appropriate to start the fall as well. We got a chance to talk about density, the freezing temperature of water, and how boats float.

For the rest of the week, I was working on a promotional video for our Airband Awesomeness competition on October 22 from 7-9pm. Last Friday, Karen, Cassie, Connie, Emily and I got together to do some filming. It took us about two hours, and we were having way too much fun! You can watch the video on Facebook here. Hope you like it, and I hope you’ll join us for Airband Awesomeness on the 22nd.

In November, there is going to be a youth services conference put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraires, and I’ve been asked to present! I’m supposed to talk about teen services and ways to promote it. Now, I’m still working on better ways to get the word out about my programs, and I don’t think that I’m ever going to be an expert on it. But, I’m really honored to be asked to share my ideas with other librarians.

Hope to see you tonight or next week. Take care!