Never Hurts to Ask

So I was sitting down to write a blog post, and I was thinking that I didn’t have too much to write about. But, then I took a look at my calendar, and I realized I had done a whole bunch this week.

Ka-Boom was this Monday, and it was encouraging to get a full group again. Last month, we only had 4 kiddos, which kind of scared me. Do they not like the program? Did I not let people know? But, having 10 people again this month told me that last month was a fluke instead of the rule, and I like that.

We also did a slightly different set-up this time. Instead of doing a bunch of experiments, I just had some things set out, and the kids could experiment with them as they wanted to. There were some books to search through, a potato and a hammer to experiment with balance, and a microscope. Kids still seemed to enjoy it, and mixing things up is always fun.

On Wednesday I went to a workshop. The Inland Northwest Council of Libraries does an annual workshop, and this year it was on creating customer experiences. David Lee King, the Digital Branch & Services Manager at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library (kind of a mouth full), was the presenter. He had some great ideas on using your website and your building to create a better experience for our customers; you. In addition to his great ideas, David encouraged us to think about the material being covered, so my mind was stewing on how I could take his suggestions and make them work for my library.

Another aspect of my week was promoting our summer reading programs. Last week, I sent out an email to some of my contacts at the schools, and several of them have gotten back to me on ideas to promote summer reading. I guess it never hurts to ask, because you might actually get what you ask for.

One idea was creating video spots for video announcements at the schools. For one school, I’m creating the spot, but for another school, the video production class is going to create the spot. So, to give them the idea, I got to discuss my programs with some middle school video makers on Thursday. It was exciting to be in the schools, and to know that a whole bunch of kids are going to be hearing about the programs through the announcements.

That’s about all for this week, so I’ll catch you later.

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!

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!

Library Awesomeness!

Sorry about being a couple days late. This weekend ran away from me. But, there is plenty to talk about, so here is your weekly update on Monday.

Last weekend I was chillin’ with my friends at Triple Play, and a little girl came up and gave me a bear hug. For a split second I was wondering who she could be, and then her mom gave me some context as she said something to the effect of “It must be library time.” This little girl had seen me at one of the library programs and decided to give me a hug even though we weren’t at the library. I love my job!

Another cool thing that happened this week was the Idaho Library Association’s Annual Conference. There were two amazing aspects to this conference for me. First, I got to attend a SPLAT unconference. SPLAT stands for Special Project Library Action Team. Many of the techno savvy librarians in Idaho are a part of this group, and I got to spend the morning and afternoon on Wednesday just gleaning from their knowledge and ideas. I now have plenty of websites and things to look up.

During lunch at the conference I got the pleasure of hearing Chris Crutcher speak. Chris is a well known author whose books often find themselves on banned book lists. Although I’m still wondering where I sit on having some kinds of questionable content in books, hearing Chris’s take on book banning was very interesting and worthwhile. He talked about finding the truth in a story, and bringing that across in his books. Chris was an excellent speaker, and hearing someone else’s take on intellectual freedom is always interesting.

Looking back over the week I’m realizing that I had an even busier week then I thought I did. On Thursday, I got the pleasure of going to Bryan Elementary and awarding kids their summer reading prizes. Bryan set up a special program called the Bear Necessities where kids could get prizes for reading books during the summer. The Hayden Library was one of the biggest sponsors for the program, so Bryan invited us to be a part of the award ceremony. Seeing kids get excited about a free book, and a room full of parents, teachers, and students cheering for reading was a very rewarding experience.

Lastly, the youth services staff and I filmed a promo video for our Airband Awesomeness competition, which is on October 22 from 7:00-9:00. We took “Vacation” by the Go-Gos, grabbed our blow up guitars and Curious George rulers and rocked for a good two hours! The video should be up soon, and it is going to be amazing!

Looking toward this Friday, Alysun Sanders will be joining us from 6:30-7:30. As I’ve mentioned before, she will be discussing writing, being an author, and getting published. Snacks will be provided, and Alysun is really excited to talk to all of you!

Hope you can join us on Friday, and I’ll talk to you guys later.

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.

Sponge or a duck?

Well, how did this week find you? Busy, excited, a little under the weather, upset, annoyed? A few months back, the Hayden Library had a customer service workshop taught by Kate Laughlin, who also taught the Intellectual Freedom workshop that I told you about. She talked about how we had a choice to be a sponge, or a duck. We could either let all of the problems and complications really get to us, or we could let them roll off of our back. I like this reminder to have a positive attitude even when things don’t go the way you want them to, or when it isn’t the best week.

Speaking of having a positive attitude, something that could either be annoying or hilarious happened yesterday. Karen Yother and I took the library van to get some stuff from storage. The Hayden Library has two vans that it owns, and our director, John Hartung, had the newer one. Not a huge problem; the old one still runs. The problem was that the old van is used for recycling, and the entire storage space was filled to the top with cardboard boxes. Needless to say, we needed to take a trip to the dump to free up some van space. Once we headed through the dump, we drove over to our storage unit. Like most storage places, you need a code to get in, and it turns out that our code didn’t work. You could normally go up to the office and they could get you in, but the storage people were out for lunch. Turns out that the bill hadn’t gone through yet, and the system automatically starts locking people out of their accounts if the bill doesn’t go through. Obviously, it could be a very sponge or duck kind of choice. This situation could either be seen as a huge waste of time, or we could look at the bright side and think how this could very easily be used in a slapstick skit.

Yesterday also included driving to Hayden Meadows and Dalton Elementary, so I got to spend a lot of quality time with our Library Van. At the beginning of every summer, we always have some free giveaway stuff that we get from the Collaborative Summer Library Program. Although we didn’t do summer reading promotion at these schools like we did with Fernan or Bryan, we got them the free stuff and some information on when programs were going to be held.

Going back to the beginning of the week, I heard about a resource that I haven’t been utilizing. It’s called Bookletters. Bookletters is an online service with thousands of pages of information on books, films, and authors. You can also set up a customized subscription email, or choose from the long list of subscriptions that come out through Bookletters. You can also set up an event calendar. Basically it’s a database on new and old books, which include synopsizes, author and book information and a lot more. Bookletters can be accessed from our ksalibraries website. Although I don’t have a YA specific newsletter and event calendar set up, I’ll be working on it, and getting back to you in a few weeks.

A few more things to mention. I have my first Book Blurt book review, which I posted on Wednesday. This week’s was about Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl, and next week’s is going to be on Ingrid Lee’s Dog Lost.

In other news, this week is going to be the start of our summer programs. Our older teen programs aren’t until the third week of the month, but we have plenty going on for tweens (basically our middle schoolers, so around grades 6-8 even though we won’t be too precise) this week. On Monday, we have Ka-Boom science experiments. On Tuesday, we have Lightning Comics teaching us how to play Yu-Gi-Oh, and on Friday, we have our Open Game Friday where we’ll set up our Wii and have some fun.

Well that about wraps up this week, so I’ll see you on Wednesday, and always remember to be a duck.

Splashing through the Schools

Good morning and happy Friday again.

Once again, I love irony. This last week has been one rainy or cloudy day after the other, and of course this is the week that we are promoting summer reading. As I’ve mentioned before, our summer reading themes for all of our age ranges are water related. To get the kids interested in our programs, I decided that I would look as ridiculous as possible, and hopefully the kids would remember the weird tall librarian that came in to promote summer reading. Toward this end, I was wearing my flip flops and swimming trunks, and I and a lovely assistant did a skit for the kids. I mentioned some specific programs that were coming up, and then my assistant dumped a bunch of water on me. After inquiring why I had splashed, my assistant told me that I had said the summer reading theme was “make a splash at your librarian.” I would then clear up the mistake saying that the theme was, “make a splash at your library,” not your librarian. Hopefully a little bit of water goes a long way in getting kids interested in our fun programs throughout the summer.

So we promoted summer reading through the skit to Bryan and Fernan Elementary, and this morning we promoted summer reading to the Title 1 program at Skyway Elementary. The Title 1 teacher set up a “Reading Café,” and invited all of the parents and children in the Title 1 program to enjoy some breakfast. After a book was read, Karen Yother and I talked a little bit about our summer programs, and handed out some free books.

Going back a little bit in the week, I attended a Webjunction Idaho workshop. Webjunction is a network of librarians from every state in the union, and Webjunction Idaho is a specific network within this network. This network was created, obviously through the internet, to share resources and get librarians connected. It is a separate entity from OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center, but is also closely related to OCLC. The workshop included some basic information on setting up an account, and then concluded with letting us explore some of the great content on the site.

Another exciting meeting during my week was getting the chance to talk to the middle and high school librarians. Jean Bengfort is the technology director for the CDA school district, and she meets with the school librarians every month. Jean was talking to John Hartung, our library director, and mentioned that she’d love to see what we were doing during the summer. Tuesday was their monthly meeting, so I popped in and handed out some information on what was going on. Thank you to the school librarians from Lake City High School, Coeur d' Alene High School, Woodland Middle School, Canfield Middle School, and thank you Jean.

There was something else I wanted to mention before I tell you what programs we have coming up, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until right now. This week was a short work week for me because of Memorial Day. Let us never forget those that fell so that we may stand.

That pretty much wraps up this week, except to say look up my blog post about, “Book Blurt” that I posted yesterday, and stop on by for Open Game Day this Friday. Open Game Day is just a really informal hang out time for tweens and teens to play video or board games and goes from 10:30 to noon every Friday during the summer. Check out my book review on Wednesday, and I’ll see you on Friday!