Join YSS for our first virtual tours of 2022! |
Julia Lee from Manitowoc and Taylor Wilcox from Waupaca will be showcasing their library spaces and sharing program ideas - - trust us, you don't want to miss this!
After the tours, we'll have a chance to chat! Feel free to ask about summer programs, COVID regulations or other topics of interest to you. Some of us have been around a while and love to answer questions!
Join in the fun on March 17th via Zoom:
Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 934 4887 4539 |
Did you miss last week's Virtual Library Tours with Rib Lake and Tomahawk?
Do we have some good news for you! The recording is now available on the YSS YouTube channel! Click HERE.
Join YSS for our last virtual tours of 2021!
Connect with library staff serving youth from around the state for a tour of the Rosholt Branch Library and Waterford Public Library on Thursday, May 20th from 1:30pm - 3pm!
We're Zoomin', so you'll need this link to join in the fun: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7502399842
Are you interested in hosting a virtual tour of your library? If so, please contact Florence at labeau@bloomerpubliclibrary.org!
The Virtual Tours of Wisconsin Libraries series is made possible by your Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association.
Dear YSS members and friends in the library world,
Many of us have been having fun watching virtual tours of libraries around the state. So far, 4 very fun and informative librarians have offered their time to showcase their libraries to provide tours, future programming ideas or events and showing us ways their libraries have been dealing with the pandemic on hand.
The next virtual meet-up is on February 18th at 2:30 pm when we'll be virtually visiting the Shawano Public Library and the Matheson Memorial Library in Elkhorn! So if you would like to see what this is all about, please join us on this zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/95689408288?pwd=b3czYWRIK2xBcFI5NXN5UzZxZXdyUT09
It's a great way to see what others are doing and get ideas from your colleagues.
If you would be interested in hosting, please send your contact information to me at: labeau@bloomerpubliclibrary.org. This is a great way to showcase your library and spend a bit of time on a positive, uplifting activity!
Thanks for your time everyone! I hope to hear from you soon!!
Florence LaBeau
YSS Board Director-at-Large
Our library is back to computer-use and curbside services only, meaning that our teen patrons aren’t able to come in and explore our collection the way that they normally would: Through browsing, cover admiration, and asking for recommendations from their Teen Librarian. On top of that, I’ve heard many of them say that they just don’t use or really know how to find new books by using our library catalog. I get it, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s heard this. But how could we help our teens browse through the collection in a way that’s appealing to them? How could we share new and exciting titles with them in a way that was engaging and appealing to them?
Let's Get Started:
Well, for starters, let’s take our Teen Spaces to a virtual format that’s visually appealing, interactive, and easy-to-use. One of my co-workers mentioned an article about libraries and classrooms using Bitmoji spaces for their patrons to explore their collections and I loved that idea! But where should I start? And what did I want to include in our virtual space?
What Do I Need?:
To start, I needed a Bitmoji avatar, a Google Slides presentation, and a picture from my department that our patrons might recognize. I made myself a Bitmoji and started a brand new, untouched Google Slides presentation. Before organizing my page, I had to figure out what would be necessary and helpful to my teens. I knew that this new webpage needed to offer my teen patrons access to our library resources, be easy to follow, and, while we were at it, promote our teen programs and activities.
Promote Your Collection!:
As I mentioned earlier, we’re limited to curbside services, so I needed to find the best way to show off our newly added books in our collection. When I took my background photo for the slide, I intentionally cleared off one shelf so I could use it to display my virtual collection. Then, I found images of each book that I wanted to display and pasted those on top of the bookshelf. After this, I manually linked each book image to their records in our library catalog so patrons can place their holds quickly and easily.
Don't Forget Your Programs:
After the books were added, I added a few other details that I thought my teens would find useful. I added the image of a blackboard and on it I listed our catalog, and all of our current programs on it. I linked each program to their description pages on our library’s main website to save space on my Teen Room landing page. My Bitmoji also has a link that would take teens to a slide of my personal reading recommendations. And last, but not least, I inserted a video tutorial of how to use this interactive page and what’s all included on it.
Google Slide Formatting & Settings:
Once I finished creating all of my slides, I made sure all, but the main slide, were skipped. This allowed my Google Slides presentation to feel more like a webpage and less like a slideshow. Then, I clicked on the File button in the toolbar, and published my Google Slide presentation to the web. This is very important! It will make it so the link to your presentation opens up like a webpage/link as opposed to taking your patrons to a Google Slide presentation.
Keep It Simple and Engaging!:
Overall, I think it’s important to keep these interactive pages simple and fairly easy to explore, as they are still resource pages for your teen patrons. If there’s too much hidden, it can easily get overlooked or become too overwhelming for a patron. If you have the time, update it at least once a month and change up the books on your shelf so it’s new and engaging to your patrons. And while this method might be working for me, you can definitely customize your interactive page to best fit the teens (or other audiences) in your area best. You know them better than I do! Maybe you want to advertise your movie collection someway, or showcase a new service that your library is providing during these crazy times! That’s completely up to you and them.
P.S. Don't forget to share this resource with your school librarians as well! They might want to share it with their teachers, and they with their students.
I hope this is helpful and if you ever have any questions, feel free to send them my way!
Tools & Resources Used in Creating My Virtual Space:
ALSO! If you are interested in hosting a virtual tour of your library,
please email yssection@gmail.com!
If you’re reading this it means that you’ve reached the YSS blog – the place for up-to-date information for Wisconsin Youth Services librarians. The YSS board has been working hard to come up with the best ways to communicate with all members. This blog is just one of the ways. So set up an RSS feed so you can be up on the latest news from YSS.
The YSS web site is a great collection of resources for youth services staff. The new online tour of dynamic youth locations was just unveiled at WAPL and resides on the YSS page. The project, spear headed by Jill Lininger, the YSS web master and youth librarian at the Racine Public Library; and Barb Huntington, the Youth and Special Needs consultant with the Department of Public Instruction, allows us all to take a tour of dynamic spaces without leaving our computer. If you have a dynamic space, submit your photos to Jill. See the YSS web page for details on how to submit. Keep a look out for dynamic teen spaces, which will be coming this fall.
The kick off of the children’s spaces was just one of the excellent programs sponsored by YSS. We also sponsored sessions titled Playing to Learn, Learning to Play, My Space – Don’t Be Intimidated By It! Can It Work For Your Library?, and YSS co-sponsored a panel discussion titled Intellectual Freedom Matters in Theory and Practice for Children and Teens with the Intellectual Freedom Round Table. Thank you to everyone involved in making these sessions happen – I know it takes a lot of work to present at a conference, but sharing what you do best is the best way for us to all learn and grow. See individual write ups from participants on these sessions.
The YSS board met at WAPL and was busy planning the fall annual conference. The author for the much anticipated YSS author luncheon is Catherine Gilbert Murdock who wrote Dairy Queen and The Off Season. Both are set in Wisconsin and are about a teen living on a dairy farm learning to find her voice. Murdock’s latest book Princess Ben was just released – read it now and then attend the luncheon to meet the author in person.
But fall seems a long way away with summer reading just around the corner. If your life has been like mine lately, you’ve been immersed in plans for summer reading for about a solid four months now. I know many librarians who come to dread summer reading. Trust me, there are days when I can relate to that feeling. But over all, summer reading to me is the synthesis of why we are children’s librarians because the main goal of summer reading is to get kids excited about wanting to read. Through summer reading we are developing and creating readers – and that couldn’t be more fun. When I see children excited about a story or a character and can’t wait to get their hands on the next book in a series, that’s what makes all those months of planning worth it.
Summer reading programs make a big difference in the reading success of a child and research proves it. Children who read over the summer can maintain or even increase their reading level. Reading for pleasure is the best way for children to practice and improve their reading skills. Children who find something they want to read tend to be the best readers and have more enjoyable reading experiences overall. For further research on why reading over the summer is crucial go to:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/summer/research.htm
We’d love to hear your summer stories - what worked, what didn’t, what funny things happened while you were hosting a program, etc. Submit them to yssadmin@gmail.com and we'll make sure to post them to the blog.
Finally, make sure you get in a little of your own summer reading and enjoy spreading your love of reading to all the children in your city.
