Bike to the Library 2017

Summer is here and if you have patrons that ride to the library, consider participating in Bike to the Library 2017. Libraries are able to choose their own dates for Bike to the Library Week this year. On the official site, librarians can subscribe to the email list, register bike events, order free bike safety literature, and more.

At my library, we are celebrating Bike to the Library Week from July 24 - July 29 with two events. The first is a bike-themed storytime where one of our local police officers will read a story and bring the police bike in for children and their families to see and learn about it. The second event is a first for us - Bike Night @ the Library. There will be a police officer there with the police bike, a smoothie-bike (equipped with a pedal powered blender) from the Dodge County Blue Zones Project, drawings for bike-related door prizes, and volunteers on hand to tighten seats and handlebars, as well as to fill tires up.

Meet Your Board: Julie Kinney, Secretary

Meeting the board has been fun. I've certainly learned some new things about my colleagues from reading their interviews and I hope you have, too. Our final board member featured for the 2017 Meet Your Board series of posts is Julie Kinney, Secretary, who is the Young Adult Librarian at the Marathon County Public Library.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a book lover from way back, which led to being an English Major at UW-Madison. Unfortunately, being an English Major is not exactly the path to riches, so I spent a good part of my 20’s working for the University Book Store’s short lived children’s book store.  Once there, I discovered my passion for YA literature, which was just starting to blossom as a genre.  Being passionate about reading lead to a certification to teach and eventually a Master’s Degree in Reading.  Between Act 10, Common Core and being the yearbook adviser for 6 years, teaching lost its luster.  It was hard to be passionate about reading, when your students tell you, “I don’t read.” Library school beckoned and the rest is history.

How did you get involved with WLA and the Youth Services Section?

Terry Ehle got in touch with me about sharing some of my “Hour of Code” programs at the WLA Pre-Conference.  After that, Terry asked if I was interested in running for secretary.

What’s your favorite thing to eat while reading?

I like fancy schmancy coffee, with lots of stuff to hide the actual flavor of coffee.  Scones or cookies work too.

How would you define your library programming style?
As a teacher, especially an English teacher, it pays to be curious about stuff.  Oddly enough, being curious also helps when you are a librarian.  I was curious about “Hour of Code,” so I tried it out and now I’ve done three different scratch programming classes, as well as two classes about App Inventor.  Our coding classes are always a hit, so I try to do something different each time to help my younger patrons learn why they are doing what they are doing.  My creative writing classes have taken off as well, and the teens that attend those are really passionate and excited about writing.  But I also like to innovate and tweak, so I’m always trying something new or something different.  I do a lot of programs.

What is the last series that you read with your eyes and/or your ears?

I got hooked on Assassination Classroom and I’ve been staying up to date as each new volume comes out.

What is your favorite genre? Which genre would you choose to go outside your comfort zone?

I’ve been a devoted fangirl before there was such a thing.  I love fantasy and sci fi, as well as horror.  However, I’m a pretty indiscriminate reader, so I’ll read anything.  If I had to choose something outside of my comfort zone it would probably be realistic fiction. 

What was your favorite book or story as a child?

The first book I learned to read as a kid was Bear By Himself.  As an introverted child with a fabricated American friend named Bear, it was the world’s most perfect book. 

What’s your method for getting distracted kids (of any age) back on track during a program?

I am really hands on.  I’ll walk around and try to refocus kids.  I find that distracted kids are often the ones who are having trouble understanding or can’t get something.  I try to check in with the kids while they work on their projects. This is awesome, because usually I have 10 or 15 kids versus 25 to 30 I would have as a teacher.

Where do you get inspiration for your work?

Everywhere!  I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at Pinterest, reading blogs, magazines and listservs.  I try to get ideas from my TAG group.  I spend a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do as a teen and what teens tell me and others that they want.

What do you like to do in your free time to recharge?

I knit and I just recently discovered the world of podcasts.  I love napping and just hanging out around the house.  

Which author, living or dead, would you most like to have over for dinner?

H.P. Lovecraft, but we’d have to make it an ice cream date. 

Which book(s) have your read and re-read and read again?

Dune, which I reread every couple of years.  I always promise myself that I’ll pay closer attention to the details and not get carried away with the story and I always get carried away. 

How do you enhance your Readers Advisory skills?

Um..reading?  My mind goes completely blank whenever anyone asks for a suggestion.  I try to have a couple of go to questions that I can use in order to give me time to think about what to suggest.  Once I get started, I’m on a roll.  It also helps me to go over to that section and look at what’s on the shelf as a memory jogger.

What’s your favorite part of being a librarian?

Connecting people with information they need, especially if it’s in the form of books.  I just love seeing people get their questions answered.  Introducing books to teens and finding out they love them as much as I do. 

Meet Your Board: Sue Abrahamson, WLA Board Liason

Sue is a longtime member of YSS and we're glad to have her active on the board in the capacity of WLA Board Liason. Here are Sue's answers to the interview questions for this year's YSS Board:

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Sue Abrahamson, married, mother of two amazing adult daughters, grandmother to a book-loving six-year-old and another baby due end of April 2017 - destined to be a reader by the size of his bookshelf already. Have lived in Waupaca for 40 years - 20 years at the Waupaca Area Public Library. Youth Services Liaison for the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS) and Youth Services Section Liaison to the Wisconsin Library Association Board.

How did you get involved with WLA and the Youth Services Section?

After years of lurking at conferences, I took the plunge to submit my name as a section volunteer.  Served first as Director-at-Large (loved it), then as Vice-Chair, Chair, Past-Chair. Used this experience as a jumping off point to ALA volunteer work on 2016 Odyssey Award Committee.

What’s your favorite thing to eat while reading?

Definitely, potato chips.

If you could have any book character as a best friend, who would you choose and why?

Hmmmmm... It certainly would be a strong, smart, take-no-guff female character with a strong sense of justice.  Katniss Everdeen or Hermione Granger?

How would you define your library programming style?

My library programming style appears very much "by-the-seat-of-her-pants" but truly it is eclectic and innovative. Love trying new stuff all the time.  Wish I had invented Pinterest.

What is the last series that you read with your eyes and/or your ears?

Just finished John Lewis's March graphic novel series.... read with my eyes and my heart.

What is your favorite genre? Which genre would you choose to go outside your comfort zone?

Love non-fiction that reads like fiction. Once took Hoose's Moonbird to a complete stranger's house and got that person to read it. I recommend just about anything by Steve Sheinkin.  Reading horror would definitely put me out of my comfort zone.

Tell us about a memorable experience at WLA or WAPL.

Memorable experiences at WLA or WAPL conferences are all about putting yourself "out there."  Sure had a good time playing trivia with fun people at last year's WLA Foundation Fundraiser.  It's not all work, you know.

What was your favorite book or story as a child?

I was not a reader as a child.  On my 13th birthday, my brother gave me a book of short stories and I threw it back at him, not knowing what I was supposed to do with a gift like that.  I was the child the public librarian watched immediately upon entering the library.  I think I might have heard her say, "Get what you need and leave."  Hence, my dedication not to be that person.

If you had to tell a story or a folktale, which one would you tell?

Love the trickster tales..... Anansi stories are great.  Love to share Yuyi Morales's book Just a Minute.

What’s your method for getting distracted kids (of any age) back on track during a program?

Distracted kids!?  How about distracted story tellers!  Mix it up.... move around.... make sure you always have an activity that is hands on or rhythmic in nature.

Where do you get inspiration for your work?

I find inspiration everywhere.  What gets me most excited is the ideas I get from outside the library world.  I also do my best thinking in the shower.... always short of hot water after a brainstorm.

Share an awesome library moment with us.

Just today, a retired rocket scientist from our community stopped in to visit.  I was sharing all the fun we were having with coding in our library.  He is in love with Arduino (interactive electronics).  He offered to buy the library equipment and come in to share what he has learned with our patrons. This happens to us all the time!!  I'm not kidding.  Our awesome library moments happen when ordinary citizens become our library champions.

What do you like to do in your free time to recharge?

Sleep is a great recharger.  Being with the grandchildren can't be beat. 

Which author, living or dead, would you most like to have over for dinner?

I would want to have stimulating conversation at the dinner table.... maybe J. K. Rowling, John Green, Melissa Stewart, Steve Sheinkin, .....oh, and Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

Which book(s) have your read and re-read and read again?

I think I have listened and read The War That Saved My Life (Kimberly Brubaker Bradley) four times in such a short time since it came out.

How do you break the ice with teen patrons?

Learn their names.  Ask them about their day.  Ask them to help you with something, or to teach you something about technology (I've even faked it).

What’s your go-to storytime song?

I've switched up the Wisconsin Badger favorite "If You Want to Be a Badger" to sing "If You Want to Be a Reader."  I get more parent involvement as they already know the tune and words. I've added some simple sign language hand motions for fun.

How do you enhance your Readers Advisory skills?

We do a monthly book talk to students in grades 4 & 5, and a quarterly book talk to teachers in Grades K-5.  So keeping current with reading is a high priority.  Certainly asking what they liked to read last and why they liked it gives us great clues as to where to go next.  Our catalog and Novelist are handy tools.

What’s your favorite part of being a librarian?

The people connections have got to be my favorite part of being a librarian.  I actually love it when people know me as the librarian when I'm at the Piggly Wiggly and say hi.

Enhancing Your Readers' Advisory Skills and RA from YSS Members

At January's YSS Retreat, the YSS members and board members who attended brought a book (or several books, after all we are librarians!) they've loved to booktalk. Here is a shortlist of those titles for you to read or recommend and a brief note on appeal or themes:

Booktalks

Diary of a Tokyo Teen - graphic memoir

Roseblood - new take on the Phantom of the Opera

Wolf by Wolf - alternative history of WWII in which Hitler won the war, there is a sequel

Sophie's Squash Goes to School - diverse

Frontline - another alternative history

The Best Man by Richard Peck - depictions of masculinity and male role models

Ghost by Jason Reynolds - themes of family violence and anger management but trauma is not the only thing about the character that we know

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Winter Woes - out of print, but it is a great Storytime readaloud by Marty Kelley

Delia Dirke - graphic novel series

Need - YA thriller, set in WI, examines the dark side of social media

Learning to Swear in America - YA

Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes - novel in verse

We Were Liars - readalike The Accident Season

Radiant Choice: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat - award winner

I Kill Giants - graphic novel, pairs with A Monster Calls

Lilliput - a good readaloud for middle schoolers

Walking in a Winter Wonderland - picture book

Brushing up on Readers' Advisory skills can help with booktalking or connecting the right person with the right book. NoveList is a handy resource and the folks there have put together a list of links and some guides to genres and appeal terms updated for 2017. You can view those HERE.

Booktalks are a great icebreaker or professional development activity at your system Youth Services Meetings, too, and a fun way to learn about some new titles.