Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
lunch bunch?
I sent an email out this morning to YSS librarians searching for ideas about lunch bunch. It's a program idea we're going to try here at West Bend to increase programming for elementary ages.
As I get ideas in I will post them in this thread. Keep coming back or comment below and you'll get an email when new ideas appear.
~Kristin Pekoll, West Bend Library
Photo Credit: http://www.peninsulaheritageschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Terry-Metzenbaum-Literary-Lunch-Bunch.jpg
Fun Teen Video
YSS Member Ann Hardginski from the Kimberley-Little Chute Public Library shared this teen video of "How Animals Read Their Books." Very clever!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Seeds of Change for Wisconsin Public Libraries
The first
week in May, I was lucky enough to spend two days in beautiful, rainy Lake
Geneva at the annual WAPL (Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries)
Conference. I met new colleagues (can't wait to collaborate and borrow your
great ideas), caught up with colleagues I haven't seen in a while, and attended
sessions that provided food for thought and inspired me to try new things back
in my own shop.
One of
those sessions was led by Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Youth and Special Services
Consultant for the Public Library Development Team at the Wisconsin Department
of Public Instruction (DPI). Tessa unveiled a new, statewide early literacy
initiative called Growing Wisconsin Readers that is "all about public libraries
supporting language- and literacy-rich experiences for young children."
The goal of this exciting new project is to inform care givers, service
providers, and community stakeholders that Wisconsin public libraries are their
resource for growing readers.
To that
end, DPI will be providing a host of materials to help us spread the word in
our communities. There's an eye-catching brochure and poster offering accessible
information on ways that parents and other care givers can equip young children
with the literacy skills that prepare them for school success. A QR code on the
brochure leads to more information on an interactive website. Also on the
website, librarians will find a toolkit that includes customized PDFs of the
brochure and poster.
Librarians
will be able to participate online as well as in-person multi-system workshops.
Smaller libraries will have access to mini-grants of $250 to create early
learning spaces, and there will be 2014 LSTA funds earmarked for early literacy
grants.
All of
this adds up to some pretty exciting opportunities for public libraries to
plant the seeds of change, promoting early literacy and Growing Wisconsin
Readers. I can't wait to get started in this garden!
Sharon Grover
Head of Youth Services
Hedberg Public Library
Monday, May 13, 2013
Children's Book Festival in October
This year it will take place on October 11-13. Events will take place at the Mead Public Library, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Bookworm Gardens. The festival includes visits from children's authors and illustrators over a three-day period.
For more information on the festival, check out the website.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
"Dig Into Reading" Treats
Looking for some "buggy and creepy" treats to make this summer to go along with the theme?
Below are some links to recipes that might fit in well with your program. The caterpillar/inchworm (below) is super easy and basically a bundt cake cut up and accessorized. The strawberry shortcake cake takes some dough maneuvering, but also short in prep time. These might be fun to do as a program or to offer as a celebratory treat!
Below are some links to recipes that might fit in well with your program. The caterpillar/inchworm (below) is super easy and basically a bundt cake cut up and accessorized. The strawberry shortcake cake takes some dough maneuvering, but also short in prep time. These might be fun to do as a program or to offer as a celebratory treat!
Bug Cookies – several ideas for
simple bugs
Bugs – uses breadsticks and
hotdogs
Bug Juice – looks easy and fun!
“Cheese” cake – Yellow cake and
yellow frosting
Cinnamon Snails – Bread snails with chocolate chips as eyes!
 |
| Caterpillar or "Bookworm" |
Inchworm Cake – adorable cake using
a bundt pan
Ladybug cake – used a casserole
bowl
Ladybug pops – frozen treat
Pizza
snake
Spider snacks – only 4
ingredients!
 |
| Strawberry Shortcake Snake |
Strawberry Shortcake Snake
Turtle Bread – very cute!
Monday, May 6, 2013
Recruiting Teens for Summer
 |
| Terra Fewless |
How many teen volunteers do you get each summer, on average?
I'd say we get about 50 teen volunteers each summer. Many of them volunteer more than once a week throughout the summer.
What types of activities do teens help you with in the summer?
How do you recruit volunteers/market to them?
This year, we're using Facebook and trying to create signs and posts that teens would find appealing. In the past, I think we've made signs that WE think are appealing.
 |
| Recent photo posted on the BCL-Southwest Facebook page. |
I plan to post some teen volunteer memes both on Facebook and in the YA section as well. We also talk it up with young adults while they are in the library, post signage and applications in the YA section and make the application available on our Teen Zone section on the website. We created a "Help Wanted" ad in the Green Bay Volunteer Center's listing of volunteer opportunities and post signs and information where parants of teens would likely see them.
What have you tried hasn't worked so well? And, what has worked well?
It all seems to work, because we usually have a lack of teen volunteers during the summer. Facebook hasn't yet reached its potential for reaching young adults. It's relatively new for us. I expect the Facebook posts to work better in coming years when Brown County has a Facebook page specific to teens. I've love to utilize Instagram as a recruiting tool in the future as well.
Recruiting hasn't been a problem. The challenge lately has been retaining reliable volunteers.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Youth-Librarians-to-Directors Speak Up!
Our YSS-sponsored program at the WI Association of Public Librarians conference in Lake Geneva was boffo. Library Directors Connie Meyer of the Dwight Foster Library in Fort Atkinson, Hollis Helmeci from Ladysmith's Rusk County Community Library and Becca Berger from the Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay shared their journeys from youth librarians to directors and what they learned along the way.
The session Everything You Need to Know You Can Learn in Storytime, coordinated and planned by YSS board member Leah Langby, was presented as a series of questions that the panelists addressed. The questions and some of the answers:
How did work in youth services help you to be a better advocate for libraries?
Storytelling skills helped Meyer to hone her advocacy skills in promoting and speaking up for the library. She also discovered that the broken record approach works just as well for funders as for children. Planning ahead for storytimes served her in the work of planning as a director and she discovered that her ability to find another way around obstacles was definitely a result of working with kids.
Hollis found that her experience with promoting literacy and services to youth has continued to be useful as a director. She stressed that constant repetition to help the community and funders understand the importance of library services was a skill brought forward. Working with community groups as a youth librarians was vital in moving to work on the larger collaborative community stage as well.
Berger shared how her time in youth services helped her concentrate on her extroversion, a skill that has been immeasurably helpful as a director before funding bodies. Both children's librarians' and directors are "on" most of the time so those skills carry forward.
What quality did you practice as a children's librarian that you use as a director?
All three panelists agreed that flexibility learned as a youth services librarian- from being open to change to mental agility - allows you to grab opportunity and effect change as a director. Becca also mentioned that skills in diplomacy really helped her deal with the politics needed for a director's work.
What was one of the rudest shocks and also one of the most pleasant surprises you encountered about the job change?
Helmeci cited the depth of antipathy staff felt toward teens was a surprise. On the positive side, it was great to have much flexibility in schedule and vacation without worrying about constant programming and SLP.
Connie was surprised at how little contact she had with kids after the change (though expected, she missed the freshness and "realness" of kids' reactions). She agreed with Hollis that scheduling flexibility was a wonderful plus as a director.
Becca found that management and supervision, again though expected, was difficult. It is very different as a director to have most work done through other people. On the plus side it is really rewarding to see how supportive the community is for youth services.
Do you have any advice for library directors in the audience with regard to working with youth services librarians or the role of youth services in a library?
Becca advised simply being good to them and support their work.
Hollis suggested that directors do an occasional storytime and drop by programs and the department. If you are not present, you don't understand what youth services people are doing.
Connie advised appreciating youth services folks not only by word but also by what you do as an administrator through support and funding - make youth services a priority and realize that youth services are the future of your library.
Do you have advice for youth services librarians with regard to working with administration (this question also was a springboard for an audience question on how to work with an administration that seems unresponsive to youth services concerns)?
Green advised that directors can't change what they don't know. Step up and express yourself. And follow the chail of command rather than going around it to address problems.
Berger suggested coming at problems in a issues-based way and provide possible solutions to make the interaction more successful.
Helmeci expressed the thought that staffers have good and bad days and directors need to be sensitive and step in and help relieve stressed YS staffers. It's also important for directors to communicate by helping staffers understand the realities of budgetary and staffing constraints. Open communication is key.
Audience members mentioned the importance of small tokens of appreciation (a day completely off the public desk; a gift certificate), regular meetings so everyone is informed and using the new Pew Research Center's results to make the case with administration about the vital nature of youth work.
A huge thanks to our panelists and to a great audience!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Meet Your YSS Board: Debbie Olguin
Debbie Olguin was on the YSS Board a few years back, and she recently got back on board as the YSS Chair-Elect. It's great to have her back on board! Debbie is the Youth Services Librarian at the Franklin Public Library.
You are back on the YSS board after a little break.
What draws you back to working so closely with YSS? I
enjoy meeting other youth services librarians in the state, hearing what
they’re doing, getting inspired and staying informed. I would encourage everyone
to get involved in WLA or some other organization outside of their library and
even, their system. I think it opens your eyes to a broader picture of
librarianship and helps you think outside the box.
What is something you’ve done at your library in the past
year that you are especially excited about? I know this
will sound strange, but I had the time to finally go through the collection
thoroughly. The last ten years, I have focused on building strong programming,
but without adequate staff, I wasn’t able to keep up with the demands of the
collection and department. This year, I have an intern covering our weekly
preschool programming which has allowed me to concentrate my efforts on making
the department user-friendly and inviting as well as cleaning up and
reorganizing the collection.
If you were putting together a dinner party, what
children’s/ya book characters do you think you’d invite? Pretzel, Georgie the Ghost and Frances (no backsies!) to
reminisce about my childhood, Elephant & Piggie because they make me laugh,
Halt and Will because I would love to hear about all their adventures and
Skulduggery Pleasant and Stephanie to learn about magic!
What inspires you in your library work? Children
What do you love to do OUTSIDE the library? Spend time with my daughter and enjoy nature
If you had 20 more hours in a week, how would you use them? Not well, unfortunately, because I know that I would work
more than I already do! But ideally, I would want to not rush in the morning,
spend more time with my daughter, walk the dog more, go hiking more and
volunteer more
Monday, April 29, 2013
CSLP Winning Teen Videos & an Interview with Wisconsin's Winning Director
The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) has officially announced the winners of the 2013 Teen Video Challenge--look here for a videos from winners for each state. Wisconsin can be proud of their entry, made by a group of teens from Eau Claire. Check it out! Clocking in at just under a minute, this would be a terrific tool to use during school visits, on your Facebook page, or any number of other ways.
 |
| Too bad no one had any fun making this movie! |
I was fascinated that a group of high school students could come up with such a clever, well-produced film and I wanted to find out more. I interviewed the director and editor of this video, Tedd Piper, a high school senior at Eau Claire Memorial High School (and a heck of a swell guy).
How long have you been making films? I've been making films for about 5 years, ever since I made a
video for my 8th grade English class and decided I really enjoyed it.
Tell me a little
bit about the group you made the film with—have you worked together a lot
before?
The group I work with (we call ourselves "Unconventional Operations")* is made up of friends I've made over the years in the school's Film Club. We've become good friends and work very well together, they're very creative and open minded which takes away the stress of working on set and makes it a much more exciting experience. When we're working on a project we typically divide up the jobs based on our interests. For instance, I prefer directing and cinematography while Caleb Kamrath enjoys acting and writing. Although we each have our typical roles, everyone contributes creatively.
The group I work with (we call ourselves "Unconventional Operations")* is made up of friends I've made over the years in the school's Film Club. We've become good friends and work very well together, they're very creative and open minded which takes away the stress of working on set and makes it a much more exciting experience. When we're working on a project we typically divide up the jobs based on our interests. For instance, I prefer directing and cinematography while Caleb Kamrath enjoys acting and writing. Although we each have our typical roles, everyone contributes creatively.
How long did it take you to make this film (including
everything from writing to filming to editing)?
All in all it took us roughly six weeks to make this short.
Coming up with ideas, writing and planning was about a two week process, we
filmed on 3 different days for 2-4 hours each, and then spent a couple nights
editing to turn it in another two weeks after that. Thankfully we were able to
spread things out since we had over a month to make such a short video, which
kept us from feeling rushed and allowed us to have more fun.
What was the process like for this film?
When I told everyone about the contest I asked them to come
up with some ideas and gave them about a week to mull it over. I was the first
to propose an idea, one that I had within five minutes of hearing of the
contest, and that's what ended up becoming the final product. Everyone accepted
it right away and didn't offer up any other ideas so I wrote up a quick script
and shared it with them. At the time the scenes in the middle that happen
during the voice over were written in the script as simply: "A montage of
fantastical book-like scenes". Or something like that. I let everyone else
pitch ideas for what those scenes could be and we picked out the ones we
thought would work best. After that we did something very unusual for us: we
stuck to the plan.
If a librarian was going to encourage film-making in their
library, what equipment and other resources do you think they would want to
purchase?
Film making can very easily become very expensive, even at
our extremely low budget amateur level. At the very basic
level all you need is a camera, a tripod, and editing software. That's all you
need to start making movies, as long as there's effort and creativity behind it
you can create good stuff with just that.
Any camera from just a couple hundred
dollars to over a thousand will work just fine, with the more expensive ones
obviously providing better quality video and sound as well as more creative
features. We use a $700 Canon t3i, a camera that is actually made for
photography, but because of the features it has, it allows us to create shots
that look as good as higher end cameras at a much lower cost.
Most computers
come with very basic video editing software pre-installed, such as Windows Movie
Maker. While these can work just fine, they are very limiting and don't offer
very much creative flexibility. I'd recommend something like Sony Vegas or
Cyberlink Powerdirector, which have versions for relatively cheap and
offer more power.
Is this group interested in making more promotional films
for libraries?
We're very interested in making more films for libraries! We
love what we do and if we can use it to benefit something as important as
public libraries, then that's even better!
Anything else you want to tell us about this film?
We had a great time working on our
entry to the Teen Video Contest, and have really appreciated how well it
was received. We were astounded at how much it was passed around and
talked about, it has definitely helped get us out there and
recognized, which is very important for filmmakers. We're super thankful to
the judges and the CSLP for choosing us as the winners of Wisconsin!
 |
| Still from the film |
*Other group members include Caleb Kamrath, Cole Anderson, Jaiden Deutschlander, Zach
Staads, Alex Kolb, and Ethan Stewart, with some other friends lending a hand
when we need them.
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