Library Teen Film Fest: Red Carpet Event

So you've decided to do a Teen Film Fest, you have a million films entered because you promoted the craziness out of the thing, and now you are wondering what to do with all of it. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Host a Red Carpet Event at your library. Go all out with trophies, decorations, a red carpet, cash prizes, and everyone dressing up all fancy.

2) Have your judges pre-screen the videos. This saves you the headache of trying to create certificates on that night, and lets the judges breath easier because they don't have to make snap decisions. But, it wouldn't hurt if they still attended the event and had some nice things to say to the filmmakers.

3) Share them like crazy on Social Media. You just had middle and high school students create content for you. Don't miss the opportunity to promote their work and your library in ways that you might not have been able to do before.

4) Send the films to a local TV station. If the films are good, why not send them over to the local TV station and see if they'll play them? They might not, but you never know...

5) Stream the event live, or have a celebrity (librarian, director, building manager) interview guests and the filmmakers and edit it into a post-Red Carpet Event video.

That's the end of this series on our Teen Film Fest, but I'll be back (next Monday).

Library Teen Film Fest: 5 Promotional Things To Try

1. Find out if your local schools have video production classes, and promote to those students directly. Most likely, these students will be excited about participating, and will have the necessary equipment too.

2. Ask a video production company to offer an internship or a day pass to the creator of the top film.

3. Create a promo video (this one was from last year).

4. Include a Public Service Announcement category, and send the winner to the CSLP Video Challenge (The Collaborative Summer Library Program has teens from across the nation submit PSAs, and then uses them to promote summer reading).

5. See what other film fests do. Obviously there are the big film festivals like Sundance and Toronto, but there are also many libraries (Yorba Linda, Houston, Topeka and Shawnee, and Greenwood for instance) that have done film fests before. Each one of them does it a little bit different, but they are definitely worth checking out.

Next Week

I'm going to chat about cool things you can do at the film showing event, or as we like to call it, The Red Carpet Event (because who doesn't want to see their project on a big screen?).

Library Teen Film Fest: How Ours Works

So here comes a combination of a program idea and shameless self-promotion. For the past four years, we've held a Library Teen Film Fest, and this year, I'm going to tell you a little bit about how we do it.

Basically, teens (ages 13-18) create a video using a theme (typically the Summer Reading theme for that year), and then we show the films at the library and give out cash prizes.

This year, the videos will all be Short Films (up to five minutes long), created around the theme, "Beneath the Surface." Once the films are created, we have teens fill out an entry form, and upload their video to our YouTube Channel.

The first year we held the festival, we allowed participants to submit on YouTube by giving us a link to their video, or giving us a DVD. But, we found it was difficult to promote these videos on social media, and also made the Red Carpet Event (where we show the films) not go as smoothly as we would like.

Now, when a participant enters the competition, they are given the username and password for our Film Fest YouTube Channel to upload their video. This allows us to keep the videos all in one place, and makes setting up the Red Carpet Event much easier.

While I've found most teens who enter the competition would have done so anyways, it never hurts to have some incentives. We ask our Friends of the Community Library Network group for funds to offer snacks, refreshments, and cash prizes.

Well that's about enough for this post, but I'll be writing next Monday about ways to make the Film Fest work better (sometimes you got to learn the hard way lol, and sometimes there are ideas that you just can't quite implement that might work for others).

Library: After Hours

As we approach our 2012 Teen Film Festival, myself and the Next-Gen Advisory Team here at the Hayden Library, couldn't help but make a video :)

It Ebbs and Flows

Morning everybody! How are you doing?

Library programs ebb and flow. Last week, I didn’t even have a chance to sit at my computer. This week, I had one program, one meeting, and a chance to organize some things for the upcoming month.

The program this week was a continuation of Atlas After-School Academy. Last week, we started making movies using Animoto. I put the guys in groups of two, and had each of the guys interview their partner. What is your favorite color? What is your favorite video game? What is a cool place you’ve been to? They were then tasked with finding a picture that corresponded with their question and organize the pictures into a slideshow movie on Animoto. The guys had a great time doing this. They were in control of making a movie about their partner, and they were also thrilled when their partner made a cool movie about them. I thought it worked out pretty well. Still trying to see what our assignments are going to be the next two weeks. Hmm….

My meeting this week was with the Friends of the Community Library Network at Hayden. Our Friends group sells used books and actively fund-raises to collect funds for library programs. When we have a special program coming up, we submit a grant, and the Friends vote on whether or not to fund it. The Friends are a fantastic group, and they are very supportive of the programs that happen at the library. Our recent Teen Film Festival was made possible by this group, the Friends of the Community Library Network at Post Falls, and the Friends of the Coeur d’ Alene Public Library. These groups are awesome!

Anyways, my meeting was basically showing them the results of our Teen Film Festival. They were really impressed with the quality of film that came out of the festival.

I wanted to take a minute and list the winners in our competition:

Short Film Category:

1st Place: “Je Te Vois” by Daniel Troxell, David Brands, Amy Ellithorpe, Joshua Brands, and Gerry Koep.

2nd Place: “You Are Here” by Joshua Brands, David Brands, Allie Brands, and Catherine Brands.

3rd Place: “Clayman” by Shane Tyler

Public Service Announcement Category:

1st place: “You Are Here” by Stephen Byrum

2nd Place: “Be Yourself” by Danny Schramm, Kelsey Kraak, Morgan Jett, and Rylee Mindt

3rd Place: “The World is at Your Feet” by Arielle Johnson, Colby Acuff, and Jackson Miller

I also wanted to take a minute and thank our local filmmaking experts who donated their time to judge our entries. A huge thank you to Brian Loper and Ryan Anstett!

Congratulations again to all of our filmmakers and have a great week!

Have Books, Will Travel

Hello everyone!

Well here we are on a Monday morning, and I am three days late on my weekly update. I apologize.

As I alluded to last week, this week was crazy busy with programs! I work 19 and a half hours a week, and this week I was basically in programs for the full 19 and a half hours. hehe

The week started with the Men and Kids program at Mountain States Early Head Start. We had several dads and their kids join us and had fun frosting our own cookies. For the past few times, we have been trying to read a book with the kids, and this time they really enjoyed the story.

Tuesday involved my first week at Atlas After School Academy. Last year, I did science experiments for this program, and because the kids had such a great time, we decided to start Ka-Boom: Science Experiments at the library. This year, I am teaching the kids how to make movies using the free websites, animoto and jaycut. Got a talented and excited group of guys and we’ll be having fun for the next three weeks. Should be awesome!

Wednesday was Dr. Seuss’s birthday, so I read his stories at Miss Irma’s storytime (I filled in for her because her husband had a procedure being done) and then I bounced around the Kinder Center reading his stories wearing a ‘Cat in the Hat’ hat. Good stuff!

Speaking of the Kinder Center, my monthly outreach always happens on the first Friday, so I was there on Wednesday and Friday this past week. On Friday, we read frog stories (frogs are green, and we always wear green on St. Patrick’s day hehe), and had a great time singing a song that Miss Cassie suggested to me.

On Friday (and Thursday as I think about it) Karen and I went down to help with Skyway’s Geography Club again. We had to take a break because of the bad snow last week, but we again had fun learning about continents, states, and physical geography.

My last event this week was our Red Carpet Event for our Teen Film Festival, which happened on Saturday night. We had five entries in each category, and enjoyed watching the movies and awarding prizes. Our festival has grown since last year, and we’re hoping that it will continue to grow next year. If you want to check out the movies, they are all posted on our Library Film Fest YouTube Channel here. Enjoy!

Well, that was my crazy week and I hope yours was also fantastic!

Family Stories

Well here we are on Friday once again. This work week went by really quickly, which probably has something to do with the long weekend we had to start it off. I actually went over to Seattle with my family over President’s day weekend, and it was a lot of fun! I haven’t been over there before (even though I’ve lived in Hayden for the past 10 years) so it was great to see the sites!

When you come back from a long weekend there is always a bunch to do. My next week is going to be absolutely packed with programs, so this week involved a lot of planning. There were phone calls to field, emails to send, and people to talk to. But, as that is next week, you’ll hear all about it next Friday.

Another reason this week went by so fast is the snow day that the school system had yesterday. I still have some classes down at North Idaho College and even they took a snow day. That opened up my morning for some time with friends, and opened up the afternoon for some more planning. I would have been over at Skyway for their Geography club, which was way too much fun last week, but because school was cancelled, the club was cancelled to.

This week has also been a lot of work with the Teen Film Festival. Our deadline for entering videos was today, so we’ve had several videos uploaded in the last few hours. If you’re interested in watching the entries, or you entered one, join us for our Red Carpet Event at the Coeur ‘d Alene Public Library next Saturday, March 5, from 7-9pm!

The last thing is the reason for the lateness of my blog post. We are having a Family Journeys Celebration at the Hayden Library right now. We served up some pizza, had scrapbooking supplies to make your own family tree, and recorded folks telling their favorite family stories using our Flip camera. The event is a part of the Smithsonian Journey Stories exhibit that is on display until March 12. The exhibit deals with early travelers to America, and we wanted to give families the chance to tell their own stories as well.

That just about wraps up this week, so I’ll catch you later!

Excuse Free

Hey, hows it going?

Well, I could make excuses for the lack of Book Blurt this week, but that’s what it would be: excuses. I think there is a difference between explanations and excuses. Sometimes, there really is no way you could have gotten it done, or no way you could have attended; I’d say that needs an explanation. But, when something could get done, but you don’t do it, well…then I would label that as an excuse. So, here’s an excuse-free blog post for you.

First, I figure I’ll mention a video that I put up on my YouTube channel this week. It’s a quick recap, trailer-like funness about our Teens and Technology 2011 Coeur d’ Alene Workshop. Check it out here.

The second thing is that our deadline for entering our Teen Film Festival is up in two weeks. Get your entry forms to a participating library, and get the YouTube Upload Instructions while you’re there. Then, we hope to see you at our Red Carpet Event on Saturday, March 5 from 7-9pm. Even if you haven’t entered a video, you can still join us for viewing the films at the Red Carpet Event. Check out the website here.

The last thing I wanted to mention today is my involvement with SPLAT. Last month, I sent in an application to the Idaho Commission for Libraries to join there SPLAT team. Two members had just stepped down, and they accepted my application. SPLAT stands for the Special Project Library Action Team. “The charge of the Special Project Library Action Team is to serve in a crow’s nest capacity to search for innovation, propose experiments, lead pilot projects and discover new opportunities for Idaho libraries.” SPLAT members use a lot of their time looking at new technologies and innovation across the library scene, and bringing that knowledge to other librarians.

Even though I’m far from knowing all there is to know about technology, I’m excited to learn more and to share my experiences with other librarians. Here’s to another exciting opportunity!

Well, that’s about it for this week, so we’ll see you this Wednesday.

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/

I got my jaw broken last Monday...

No really, I did. On January 10, I paid to have my jaw broken to correct my bad under-bite. I then took a week off to ensure I was healed enough to go back to school and work. Luckily, that week was just what I needed; I was able to go back to all of my work and school this week, and I’m healing well. Although I’m healing well and there have been no complications, I’m still not able to eat solid foods. The nature of the surgery is to break the jaw on both sides, slide it forward, and hold the bones in position with steel until the bone grows back. Obviously, chewing on bones that aren't really there yet isn't such a great idea, so I’m on a strictly blenderized diet and I’m craving breads, chips, and steak. But, I know that the surgery will be worth it in the long run.

Anyways, it's still crazy that it is January 21 and this is my first blog post. Where did this month go besides the surgery? Well I know a little bit of where it went. Just before the Christmas break, we had a program similar to Airband Awesomeness called Jingle Bell Rock. We bought some pizza, lemonade, grabbed our blow up quitars, and rocked to everything from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to TNT. Even though we didn’t have people knocking down the doors, we still had a great group of interested teens who had way too much fun! If you want to see a little bit of the action, I made a quick video on it. Enjoy!

Over the break and through this month, I’ve also been preparing for Teens and Technology 2011, which is put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraries. There are four workshops going on across the state, and I’m the local “expert” who will be helping the commission present the information. It has also been my responsibility to create video making tutorials, so the participants have something to take home with them. I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with the ladies at the commission, and I’m pleased with the way the tutorials are working out. Then to top it off, I get to share my experience at the workshop, and then I get to fly to Boise in March to finish the entire thing off. I’m excited that I got the chance to be involved!

Alright last thing; I have already mentioned our Teen Film Festival, but now all the fine print is in place. You can visit http://www.libraryteenfilmfestival.blogspot.com/ for all the information. The website still looks pretty rough (it is still a work in progress), but all of the information you need should be there.

Hope your holidays were fantastic and your return to the routine was easy. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

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!

Creating Successful Teen Programming...

Is it possible to create successful teen programming starting from the ground up? I think so.

Now, I won’t say that I have successful teen programming at this point. But I will say that I hope to create a successful teen program in the next few years. What do I base this confidence on? Well the first thing is that other libraries have done it. Other libraries, of equal size to our library and district, have created and maintained a successful teen program. I hope I can learn from their experiences and successes to help our success.

Another confidence booster is the budding success of Airband Awesomeness. I’ve contacted one of the families that came to the event, and they are excited that we are doing something similar with Jingle Bell Rock. They said they would be spreading the word about the event. I think this will be the biggest step toward a successful teen program; teens and families wanting to get involved with it. I can try to create great programs, post things on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, but if young adults aren’t being served and enriched, it is all for naught. I hope I can remain even more fully focused on serving our young adult patrons with everything I do.

Finally, I am starting to see interested educators come along side our efforts to start teen programming. As soon as I’ve mentioned teen programming to parents, educators, and librarians, they immediately get excited about it. There hasn’t been a lot done for teens in the library, so I think having somebody on that encourages people. Obviously, I can’t create a successful program on my own, and I thank everyone who has helped me to this point, and everyone who will help me in the future.

So, what is your Community Library Network at Hayden doing in the next few months? We will be launching a Library Next-Gen website. We will be involved in Teen Tech Week and our annual Three Minute Teen Film Festival. We will be continuing to get you new books, and keep our collection up to date. We will start posting book lists that hopefully you will enjoy. We will be starting a Next-Gen Advisory Group in the summer. And we will continue to find what you need from the Community Library Network at Hayden.

Hope you have a great week and thanks for reading!