Winter Programming Ideas

Image by 8926 from Pixabay

In a recent ALSC blog post, La Crosse County Library Youth Librarian Kirsten Caldwell shared some fun programming ideas for winter! 

She writes: "Winter is here and even though we are starting to prep for summer reading, the patrons are living in the moment. We have our schedule full of winter programming to keep our families busy during these cold Wisconsin months! I can say that I am never bored and my planner, coffee, and chocolate are necessities."

To read all her ideas, stop here. [Winter Programming. Caldwell, Kirsten. ALSC blog. December 17, 2023.]

You can find more posts on her Early Literacy Librarian blog.

Collaborative Bulletin Boards - An SLP Win

In a recent ALSC blog post, Lisa Bintrim, a member of ALSC's School Age Services Committee, shared her success with bulletin boards that are a collaborative effort by the kids that drop into the library.  Inspired by the Passive Programming Playbook: 101 Ways to Get Library Customers Off the Sidelines, she created one of the more popular passive programs at her library.

She writes: "The most popular passive programs at my library have been collaborative bulletin boards. I pick a theme and then put out materials for simple art projects that the kids can add to the board. The kids always get excited when they see the yellow bucket because they know that means there’s a project for them! 

Collaborative bulletin boards are great for summer reading programs. They keep kids busy during the school break with much less effort than putting together a structured program. And they fit perfectly with this summer’s CSLP theme: All Together Now. "

To read her examples and ideas, please stop here. [Bring Kids All Together Now - with Collaborative Bulletin Boards. Bintrim, Lisa. ALSC blog. March 25, 2023.]

Wait, what? You don't have bulletin boards? No problem.  Perhaps you have shelf ends, wall space or doors that can become your own "mini-bulletin boards."

Tuesday Tips - A Library Card Sign-Up Month Win

Sam Jones is the Youth Services Librarian at the Beaver Dam Public Library. She shares tips to make your job easier in her Tuesday posts.

As a new librarian, I had the opportunity to accomplish two new things in my career this month. The first was to change our display case, and the second was to plan for Library Card Sign-Up Month. There are numerous ideas and ways to do both of those tasks. I've seen a lot of ideas on Facebook where displays track the progress on something, like a reading goal. I love the visual those displays give, so I began thinking about how I could incorporate something like that into our display. 

I ended up deciding that I would create a display where I would track how many library card sign-ups we had in the month of September. Since it was also about to be the fall season, I chose a tree. For every card, I added a leaf to the tree. I tried to check and add every day I worked, which I was pretty successful with. It was really fun to see the tree be empty then turn full at the end of the month. As of the 30th, we have 117 leaves on the tree. 

Another first for me was using a die-cut machine. I used the machine to make the leaves. It was super easy to use. and the leaves looked a lot better than they would have if I made them by hand. Are there some things I wished I did better in the display? Sure. But, overall, I am extremely happy with how it turned out. 

Did anyone else have any Library Card Sign-Up Month wins? 

So You Want To Start A Bitmoji Library Space?

                                         

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:

• Google Slides
• Bitmoji (There’s an add-on you can use on your Google browser, but you may need to download the Bitmoji app on your phone/tablet to edit what your Bitmoji character looks like)

Want to see some examples? The virtual spaces featured below are from the Waupaca Area Public Library.

Waupaca Area Public Library - Teen Department

Waupaca Area Public Library - Children's Department

You Too Can "Art a Window"

The ever-irrepressible Hafuboti shares all the secrets of creating window art that pops for patrons and passersby at her blog.

She writes: "Okay. Here’s the cool thing: you already have free lightboxes at work and at home – your windows! I know that many of you will read this and think, “I have a projector which basically does the same thing.” True. But usually you need to be in a dimly lit room, and your hand can get in the way of what you’re wanting to trace. My technique can be done during work hours in full view of the public, and both parents and kids get a kick out of learning about what you’re doing."

Stop here to read this short post with easy tips to make you, as she says, "an artiste extraordinaire."

Diversity Audits of Your Collections

Leah Langby, consultant at the IFLS system, writes and curates content for Keeping Up with Kids, IFLS' blog for library staff serving kids. She has a great post today with helpful links on how we all can steps towards making sure our collections, programs and displays can truly be diverse.

Read about it here.

No Wall Space? No Worries!

I would LOVE a bulletin board.  Or a column.   Or really just any bit of open, free wall space for display usage.  However, the reality of my library building thwarts my hopes and dreams of glorious wall-sweeping book displays.

On the upside, Ashley Cooksey, over at AASL's Knowledge Quest, has compiled five excellent display ideas that require no wall space.  From front-facing books to social media marketing, get more from your shelves (and get students to take more books OFF your shelves) with these space-creative ideas.  Check out the full list HERE.

Fake or Real?

Pixabay

We've all heard the comment, "Why do we need libraries? We have Google."  Librarians know that not everything on the Internet is true.  And librarians are trained to help people sort fact from fiction. (Plus, libraries provided Internet access!) School Library Journal highlights the problem of people not equipped with the skills to evaluate sources in the article "Teaching Information Literacy Now." 

For public librarians, the opportunities for information literacy are brief moments at the reference desk or at the computers.  Public library patrons do not have to attend  a class on assessing sources.  They don't even have to use the sources we found for them.

How can we support information literacy?  Right after I read the School Library Journal article on Facebook, I saw a clever way to get teens thinking about their information sources.  Librarian Alanna Graves posted on Teen Services Underground's Facebook page her display "Fake or Real".  She printed out news stories and teens decided which were real and which were fake.  You could also create a bookmark listing debunking websites, like snopes.com, and highlighting evaluation methods, like CARS or IMVAIN.

What are you doing at you library?

Liven up Your Book Drop

I follow Storytime Underground on Facebook and a year ago librarians were posting displays they do for their bookdrops.  We tried it at my library and it's been a success.

We have done a Darth Minion, an egg, a sun, and a leaf.  We are fortunate to have an artist on staff who is pictured with the sun. But all you need is paper, tape, glue, scissors, time, and fun!

Artist Cheryl

Ideas and Inspiration

The BookNLibrary Blogs list on the right contains lots of resources for ideas and inspiration. Another quick resource available online is the web resources page at LibrarySparks. From a chock-full calendar of ideas to bibliographies and a webliography, it is a fast way to gather ideas for displays, storytimes, or programs.

Pixabay image

Facebook Friday: I SPY Aquarium

I SPY aquarium by Renee Johnson

I didn't get into Facebook until I discovered librarian group pages. Now my news feed is filled with lots of great program and display ideas.

On Storytime Underground group page, Renee Johnson of Auburn Public Library (Georgia) posted my next must do interactive display: an I SPY Aquarium. You can find aquariums at thrift stores for cheap or ask for a donation and what librarian doesn't have an endless supply of random junk in their office.

Easy Early Literacy Spaces, Part 1

This post brought to you by Holly Storck-Post, Youth Services Coordinator at Monroe Public Library.

I started at my current position as Youth Services Coordinator in June, and since then I’ve been adding little early literacy activities and awareness to our children’s section. Some of the things I came up with, a lot of them were suggestions from my amazing staff, and many were inspired by other libraries!

Here is some of what we’re doing. Anything not mine includes a link to the original idea whenever possible!

Early Literacy Tips

This grew out of the idea of posting early literacy tips during storytime. I don’t do our regular in-house storytimes, and I wanted the opportunity to explain why we offer so many different activities. I typed up a TON of tips, some taken straight from ECRR, some adapted from The Early Literacy Kit, and a few more that I specifically wanted to address. I put them in speech bubbles, laminated them, and now I have a backlog that I can pull from every time I change a display or put out a new activity.

Activity Board

The inspiration for this idea originally came from Brooke. I copied her idea, adding in the Spanish language since we have a growing Spanish speaking population and I am working on ways to increase our services to these patrons. At first I just taped it up to the pillar, which quickly failed, so then we added a magnet board in order to have more options.

The next activity at this station was something I came up with for a simple matching game. When I used this game in bilingual storytime, a kid quickly corrected me from “diamond” to “rhombus!”

Play Table

One of my staff who specializes in early literacy saw a post on this blog about a felt table, and suggested that we try it. I covered our table in felt (you need a LOT of tape), and pulled out some of basic felt pieces and wooden props to set out. The kids and families have LOVED this one. One child made us additional props for the animals scene using paper and crayons, and the flowers are getting sorted by color almost daily (on the other days they end up in a big pile on the floor. Those are the days I eat a lot of chocolate).

More ideas for Easy Early Literacy Spaces coming soon!  

Displays

October is a great month for displays. We're coming off of Banned Book Week. We have Teen Read Week (more blogs on TRW coming soon). Halloween. Football. Fall. Books galore. 

How many librarians actively display books? How many librarians LOVE to do displays?

I am unfortunately one of those people who is kinda in the middle. I don't love them. I do put up a few books, and when they get checked out, I forget to add more titles. And the display dies a slow and sad death. 

But I love to look at ideas other librarians post about their displays. If you haven't found Pinterest yet, it's a great source of ideas. 

There have been a couple of variations to displays that I've been implementing. 

• The Cover Art Display - I use Goodreads to print out 8.5"x11" copies of cover art and I staple them up on a bulletin board. 

 

• Online Displays - This idea is not new but I was flipping through my Google reader of blogs and saw this one. http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2012/10/09/gothic-book-display-for-trw12/    

 

Unique Ideas - Non Book book displays  http://theloudlibrarian.net/2007/09/banned-books-week.html

Welcome Banned Book Week

What are you reading today?

First thing this morning, I was in the YA stacks pulling books that I knew were on the ALA Most Challenged List and books that had been challenged in my own library.  I grabbed some of my favorite reads; The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler, Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Luna by Julie Anne Peters. I took a few minutes to page through King & King, smiling at the illustrations, charmed by the writing. I printed out graphics to tape to the shelves. I am hoping to draw the eye of passer byers. (Is that a word?) For shock value I even included Harry Potter and Roald Dahl.

I wanted to make sure I had the right Julie Anne Peters title. I knew many of her books have been challenged but I wanted to verify Luna was on that list. So I was googling it and I found this incredible blog. Burning Desire for Banned Books. I love the tag line. This Blog is Censored! Do Not Read This Blog. Stop. Do Not Keep Reading. And Unwind is a fantastic book. It's not updated regularily. It almost looks like the blog was created for a class project. I hope she/he got an A+. But the content is timeless so that works for me. The author also includes a lot of book trailers which is also a feature I love.

 

If you were going to take a banned book home tonight to read, which delectable title would you choose and why?

I Bow Down to the Display Queen

 

I am always looking for ideas and Pinterest* has been groovy about providing me with everything I need to sail through the creative part of my library life. Need a SLP program idea or craft? Done! Need ideas for Halloween? Done!  Need a booklist featuring transportation for the tots? Done? Need some great book quotes/pictures or whatever? Done! Need a new blog to follow? Done! Need early literacy activities for your baby area? Done!

I could go on but you get the point.  One of the blogs I discovered is Rachel Maoni: The  Crafty Life of an Almost Librarian. She is an artist and does these cool library displays...and she shares the how-to!  Her blog today had this amazing Banned Books display. Wow.

* And good news, fans, you don't need to wait for an invite anymore to use the site. Go forth!

Summer Road Trips

I rarely ever get into the car without an audiobook. It makes a drive, any drive, that much faster. AND more relaxing.

Some ideas for family listening. Doesn't even have to be long trips. Just to go to the zoo. Listen to Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman.
http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2012/06/06/road-trip-audiobooks-for-the-whole-family/

Try incorporating audiobooks in displays too. For our summer Dream Big display, I'm displaying the audio of a Wrinkle in Time. Another great family audiobook.