Virtual Variety: Video Games to Try! Part 1

Image by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your teen patrons!

Where do you start when you have gaming interest in your community?? Here’s a list of the multiplayer games--that I’m aware of--that would be playable in a library group setting, or virtually, over platforms like Zoom and Discord. I’m certain there are many more out there, so keep digging if you have any age group who are interested in gaming together!

This month we'll look at games that can be played both virtually or in-person.

Skribbl.io is a website that allows you to create a private game room to play with people you invite. It will give you a website link to share with your players. From there, each player just needs access to a device that can open this link. 

 

If you’re playing virtually, they’ll need to be able to open both this link’s page, and Zoom or Discord where you’re all chatting. This is easiest with a computer + smartphone, or a computer + a tablet, but I’m told that iPads now have a split-screen mode where they can view two programs at the same time (if your players only have an iPad available).

 

The game itself is a doodling challenge made even more hilarious by how difficult it is to draw using a computer mouse, or your finger on a touch screen. (You don’t have to be good at drawing!) It’s basically the game Pictionary where players take turns drawing a provided word or phrase while others type their guesses into a chat box on the same page. This game and Gartic Phone work great for in-person gaming if you ever have technical difficulties with consoles. They’re both easy crowd-pleasers.

 

Gartic Phone is another website that lets you make a private room to play with friends. Beware the deafeningly loud, but skippable, advertisement that plays once you click “Start”. After that it’s smooth gameplay. Simply click the “Invite” button to automatically copy a link to share with your players over Zoom, or wherever you’re communicating. Again, they’ll need to be able to view this website, and have Zoom or Discord open at the same time. If you didn’t read the above section: iPads also have a split-screen mode if players only have a tablet available.

 

This game is just like Telephone where you’d whisper a phrase to the person next to you, and the following listeners try to repeat whatever was whispered to them, resulting in a hilariously misheard phrase at the end...Except it’s in doodling form! Each player will start by writing a prompt sentence that someone else will have to draw. Then you’re each given someone else’s prompt to doodle, and you all get to see how everyone interpreted each prompt at the end of the round. Again, you don’t have to be good at drawing; that’s what makes it fun! There are also many game modes to try, so if your group gets tired of the basic game, try the other rules!

 

Jackbox Games are a set of variety, multiplayer games. To play, your library only needs to buy the game on the online store, Steam for computer, or on select gaming consoles. To interact with the game, your players just need to open a browser to Jackbox.TV and enter their name and a private room code your base game will give you once you start playing. From here, everyone can interact from their own phone or tablet. 

 

If you’re playing virtually, simply open the game on your computer and screen share with everyone over Zoom or Discord so that they can see your game while they interact on their home devices. Does that make sense? If not, Jackbox has handy tutorials for playing virtually, or you can look up walkthroughs on You-Tube.

 

These mini-games are usually recommended for teens and older, but be sure to turn on Family-Friendly mode in your settings if you want to keep things library-appropriate.

 

There’s doodling games, word games, and trivia games. Murder mystery, joke-writing, and task-completing games–So many! A narrator for each game will give you an optional tutorial every time you play, so it’s easy to pick up the rules.

 

Minecraft Realms allow you to invite people you know to play in a Minecraft world together. This is different from a Minecraft server where strangers are able to join in, but some libraries make that work just fine. 

My library has two private Realms set up: One for Java Minecraft users (those who play on computer) and one for Bedrock Minecraft users (those who play on a mobile device or on a gaming console). Right now, these different types require separate Realms, but hopefully this gets updated in the future and only one Realm will be necessary for all players.

Once you have paid for a Realm subscription, your players need to be added by their Minecraft usernames. Our teens play virtually over Zoom by chatting to each other on mic while they build and explore the world. I had our first players write the “Realm rules” that everyone has to follow, and they’ve all been respectful so far.

Stay tuned on Thursday January 26 for Part 2 when we focus on in-person video games!

Virtual Variety: Creating a Safe Space Online

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your teen patrons!

Providing an online space for teens to chat with each other can provide some tricky situations, but having clear boundaries and resources helps make things safe and welcoming for everybody who joins in. Teens generally respond well to choices and fair consequences.

Setting up Rules:

When setting up our teen Discord server, the very first step was to create a list of rules. I mainly followed the example of other servers with a warm atmosphere. Outlining some specific no-no’s and just basic internet etiquette tips was the aim. Our rules are the things expected in-person at the library as well: No images with nudity or gore, no swearing, have respect for others, and no bullying, racism, or other hateful speech. Things have been smooth since teens joined the server last spring. It helps that those we started with were respectful and gracious already. One hiccup this summer was when a new teen on the younger end of our age range shared an image having to do with a kermit the frog joke and an automatic weapon. It was harmless in intent, but I took it down, explaining to him that it wasn’t really library appropriate. He understood and has been more on-the-level since. This influenced the addition now included in our rules about guns.

Keeping Consequences Fair:

Mistakes happen! I always give teens the benefit of the doubt, and second chances. They are impulsive and don’t have fully formed brains yet after all. When the image incident happened, one of my older, and very responsible, teens messaged me asking if this kid should be allowed to stick around. Yep! He made that mistake and had a clear boundary to follow now. With everyone sharing jokes and funny images all the time, it just wasn’t a line we had established yet. I’m glad I didn’t boot him out because he’s been so good since. That being said, if someone were to continue being inappropriate after a warning, I would give them a one-on-one message conversation and two warnings altogether before going for the “ban” button. At the end of the day, I want them to be part of a welcoming server with a bunch of kids sharing their interests, hobbies, and laughs–As long as everyone’s boundaries are being respected.

Help Resources and a Place to Vent:

After rules, the second page created on our Discord server was a spot filled with help resources. (Pictured) Mainly helpful links and counseling resources from our area, but also general, get-your-questions-answered sites like Go Ask Alice. I tried to provide a short description for each so that kids know what they’re opening if they’re looking for something specific on this page. The “disclaimer” at the top of the page was added after I realized a lot of the links say “helpline” or “call” and kids might assume an automatic call would be placed with someone just by opening any link. I hope they feel safe enough to poke around any of these, but help resources are pretty commonplace in Discord servers…so they might think every resource page is the same. Who knows! But it’s better that we have them than not at all. I also regularly remind them that they can message me privately, or send me an email if there’s something they feel like talking about.

Alongside our resources page is another called “Venting and Mental Health” where kids are invited to share personal news, stressful situations, or discuss mental health topics with others. For example, there’s been both discussions about ADHD and autism, but also about the news of a famous You-Tuber’s recent death. The only disclaimer I added into this page was asking them not to diagnose each other, but to seek out a professional for such information. They’ve been very respectful in the space.

Our teen Discord has been very rewarding in getting to know our teens in the area, and in providing that welcoming space that can be difficult to find in the area. Even if they’re not comfortable in our physical teen space, they can always reach out to others virtually on Discord.

Our Welcome and Rules page on Discord

Our Help Resources page on Discord

Virtual Variety: From Online to In-Person!

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your teen patrons!

Our screen + snacks set up. 

Over the summer months, we successfully transitioned our virtual Teen Game Nights to in-person gatherings as programming opened back up. Our virtual game nights during the school year are pretty simple: we meet over Zoom and play a different video game each week together. But, in person, we could provide snacks and tabletop games as an option as well! 

Before starting in person, I asked our teens to suggest tabletop games over Discord for us to have available. They loved Taco Goat Cheese Pizza and Spot It! especially. Other options were Giant Uno, Apples to Apples, Guess Who, Stratego, and Battleship. Next year I want them to try Giant Jenga.

 

Teen playing Taco Goat Cheese Pizza.
(Teens censored for their privacy).

Snacks are always appreciated of course. We had fruit cups, capri suns, cheese sticks, chips, and apples. One hiccup was a couple of kids having fructose intolerance, but once they let me know what snacks they could have, we were able to provide them.

 

Our videogame of the week was projected from a staff computer onto a large screen, and teens brought their own devices to play along to Jackbox, Among Us, and Minecraft. We do have some library laptops in case they forget their phone or tablet though. When we didn’t have enough players for Among Us or Jackbox, they laughed a LOT playing Gartic Phone instead. A bonus with this game is that one player, unable to attend in person, was able to take part in Gartic without having to hear everyone over a virtual call. I just shared our Gartic session link with him over Discord. 

We even gained a couple of newcomers by meeting in person! Hopefully, as we transition back into virtual game nights for the school season, we’ll bring those new kids along so that they can keep hanging out and playing games with others their age all year ‘round.

 

A Look at Hybrid Programming

Image by Estefano Burmistrov from Pixabay 

In May, the Children and Technology Committee of ALSC held an online community chat on hybrid programming. They shared takeaways from the chat in a recent ALSC blog post.

They write: "Our committee was inspired to host this conversation because the evolving nature of library programming (primarily in public libraries) has been a recurring theme in our own committee meetings throughout this term. We were also excited to bring in other library professionals as guests who have expertise, and a variety of experiences on the subject. The conversation was robust, and just what we were hoping for!"

To read through the great ideas and issues shared, stop here. [Hybrid Programming: Evaluating Takeaways from the Pandemic and Moving Library Services Into the Future. Aronofsky, Manuela. ALSC blog. June 11, 2022].

Storytimes- Virtual and IRL

A recent ALSC blog post by educator and researcher Tess Prendergast examines research that has been published around digital media use with preschoolers. While the research was done pre-COVID, it has some valuable insights for storytimes presented virtually and in person. It helps answer the question on whether virtual storytimes are meaningful for preschoolers.

She writes "As children’s library workers, we have all tangled with questions and concerns about young children and digital media. What helps and supports child development? What distracts and detracts from their learning? What information do parents and caregivers find helpful as they make decisions? If you are asking these questions, that’s a great sign – you care about the kids and families in your communities!"

Tess then goes on to explore the research done that shines a light on how virtual storytime is impactful for children.

To read this thoughtful post, stop here. [To Virtual Storytime and Back Again: What Recent Research Can Tell Us. Prendergat, Tess. ALSC blog. June 19, 2022]

And just a reminder, ALSC published a free online Virtual Storytime Services Guide at the beginning of the pandemic. It still has great information to help you when doing any virtual programs!

Virtual Variety - Passive Programs Part 1

A riddle shared on our teen Instagram stories @rplteens

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your patrons!

A great way to keep your library Discord server or Instagram active while benefiting from those good stats is to share passive programs on there! I haven’t tried these on Facebook, but it could be worth a try.

What is Discord?

I did a previous post on how to make a library Discord, but to summarize that, it’s mainly a fun virtual space. Mostly geared towards teens and adults to chat and share photos. Discord also features some video/voice calling capabilities like Zoom for virtual programming all–in one place! Only those with a linked invitation to your server can join.

Passive Program: Riddle Days!

Our teens have really enjoyed guessing the answers to riddles virtually as a passive program. If not teens, your adult following on social media might enjoy this too! Once a week, I’ll share a riddle and then sit back and watch the speculation or check back later. We track how many people interact with the question, and at the end of the day–or once school lets out–I reveal the answer and send anyone who guessed correctly a little trophy emoji.

A riddle post created in Canva and shared on our Discord server.

I’ve thought about providing small prizes, but so far they get enough satisfaction just from being right. There’s usually one pro who guesses it right away, but sometimes their responses are funnier or more clever than the actual answer. It’s interesting to see where their minds take it. 

Riddles are easy to find, either on Pinterest or via a Google search. I try to aim for ones that have a funny answer and aren’t too easy/well known. 

More virtual passive program ideas coming next time!

5 Types of Popular Teen Programs

Cindy Shutts, who blogs regularly at Teen Librarian Toolbox (published by School Library Journal) in the ongoing "Cindy Crushes Programming" series, wants you to know what has been working well for her teen programming during the ongoing pandemic.  

In a recent post, she wrote: "Since we are still in the pandemic – and we still are in a pandemic – I have noticed a lot of changes in my programming numbers. While some things were popular before, in the pandemic they are less so. My food based programs did well before the pandemic but now teens at my library are weary of food based programs, for example."

Stop here to read her current five most popular types of programs [Cindy Crushes Programming: What Are My Popular Programs, Righ Now?. Shutts, Cindy. Teen Librarian Toolbox. SLJ. June 1, 2022.]

Virtual Variety: Jackbox Games!

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your patrons!

Virtual or in person, Jackbox Games are a crowd-pleaser! Available on PC, Xbox, Playstation, and Switch, each pack comes with a set of games that a group can play together. It doesn’t really matter which pack you start with, but the newer ones might be more recognizable to your teens since they’ve likely watched their favorite live streamers play them.

Start by purchasing your Jackbox Games pack(s). For a group to play, only one person needs to own a pack. From here, look up some videos, or grab some family and friends with smartphones and take a test run! Start up your game pack and have each player open up “Jackbox.TV” in an internet browser on a phone or tablet. Most importantly for library programs, you’ll want to open Settings and choose “family friendly” mode. Be warned: Most of the games in each pack require at least 3 players, so you might have to join in if you have a small group to start with. Teens usually like it if you play along anyway!

Images from store.steampowered.com

To play virtually, you can use any service that provides screen-sharing so that the players can see your base game. (Discord, Zoom, Google Meet, etc.) Once your game is loaded up, it will provide a private room code for players to enter on “Jackbox.TV” so that you can play together. Then tap “Everybody’s In!” when you’re ready to play. A sarcastic narrator walks everyone through the rules if it’s your first time playing, so hosting is very low-pressure. To play in-person, open the game on a laptop and project onto a wall for everyone, or play in your gaming space over a console while players use their personal devices.

 A favorite pack of our teens is Party Pack 7. The games in this pack are a pretty good mix for a group just getting to know each other. Only two of the games require direct communication between players–So less being put on the spot right away–but they’re all hilarious and get everyone chatting and laughing in no time.

Happy Gaming!

Are You Covid-Forged?

Heading into a time of increased cases of COVID and summer reading program business seems like a double whammy. While many, tired of the vigilance, stress and uncertainty, want the pandemic to just go away, the virus just keeps on doing what virus evolved to do - infect people who aren't prepared. So even if we have everything set for the summer, there is a strong possibility you will have to adapt what you have planned to make sure you, your co-workers and your kids and families stay safe. 

A recent ALSC blog post got me thinking about the fact we have all been forged or re-forged over the past 2+ years in how we provide service and reshift out and reshift in adapt to changing pandemic circumstances. With the more muted public health guidance, the fires are still hot and waiting for further forging that we have to navigate more individually. And you know, I believe we can do it.

To lift your spirits, read this blog  on the many ways we have adapted. It will help you remember and celebrate your many successes and prepare you for more to come! Stop here to read the post. [Five Things I Learned from Being a COVID-forged Youth Librarian. Warrenger, Krissy. ALSC blog. May 18, 2022]

Learning from the Pandemic

The ALSC blog recently ran a reflection by a mentorship team of how they coped in each of their libraries with the many changes COVID brought to them. The article shares both the mentor and mentee's experiences and ends with some research that the two found about changes in library work and our reactions to them.  

Stop here to read this thoughtful post. [Using the COVID Experience to Help Us Grown in Our Work. Brewer, Maeve and Mary Voors. ALSC blog. May 12, 2022]

Also, brand new from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers in their Practical Guides for Librarians series is a book by my former ALSC mentee Molly Virello, entitled Working Remotely. It is a library-specific guide to help managers and staff navigate the ins and outs of continuing work remotely either full-time or part-time as the pandemic wears on. It is another resource that has grown from the need for libraries to change and grow during the pandemic.

Virtual Variety: Discord!

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your teen patrons!

You would love to learn about another online social platform right?? :)

For our library, we know our teens aren’t on Facebook, and other platforms have been a struggle when it comes to building a community for our teens. So it was worth looking into another platform to give them their own space to hang out before our in-person programming could open again. And maybe your teens would enjoy it too!

What is it?
Discord is a site, or app, where you can create, or join, online communities. It has text, voice chat, and screen sharing capabilities which make it handy for virtual programs. Only those with a link can join, so it can be a private, controlled environment for teens. It’s mainly used by Twitch live-streamers or Youtubers to create a space for their fans to chat about recent uploads, their common interests, or to share fanart. Libraries can use it to create a virtual teen space where you can give them challenges, host events, ask them for input, or just provide a space for a virtual community to grow.

Getting started creating your server:
I won’t go into a walkthrough here because there’s so many great ones out there–I’m just here to convince you to take the leap! There’s a very helpful Facebook Group called Teen Librarians Using Discord where you can find info about making your server a safe community, and startup questions. I also recommend a Discord community you can join called Teen Librarians. For a complete walkthrough, Teen Services Underground has a great post explaining how to create a server step-by-step. Youtube is an endless source of tutorials on whatever you might need too, of course.

Why another platform??
If enough library teens join, Discord is capable of being all-encompassing as a photo-sharing, services info-sharing, chatting space, and an event-hosting platform.

Though the world is starting to open up again, I suggest keeping virtual spaces for teens. After all, most don’t have cars, some have after-school activities that keep them busy, and some–like my past teen self–are too introverted to make a solo trip to an event without knowing people who are attending. 

A virtual space is a helpful tool to get to know and celebrate them, which could lead to them being comfortable coming into the building. The teens on our Discord server spend all week, in between their busy lives, sending animal pictures to each other, sharing their latest piece of writing, posting their artwork, telling each other jokes, or venting about something annoying that happened to them. I can pop in anytime and get their feedback on a program idea, share a challenge, or be a listening ear too.

It’s a fun bridge that was really helpful during lockdown to provide virtual programs, and it continues to be a hub for sharing event information and services with them too.

These are some of the channel names we have set up. More have been added over time to accommodate their interests and programs that we come up with. Not pictured: We have a channel of help links available if teens are going through a hard time.

Passive programs through Discord

Finish This Comic:
Find by searching “finish this comic Jarrett Lerner” on Pinterest. An image of a partially-filled comic that they can download and draw on using a drawing app.

Riddle Day:
Just a riddle shared once a week. They make guesses and I share the answer at the end of the day.

Writing Prompt:
We have a lot of writers, so I share a prompt from Pinterest, or an image they can write about for fun

Programs hosted on Discord:
Game Nights:
Using a Voice channel on Discord, the teens can chat over their mics while playing a game together, or you can screen-share and host a game like Jackbox where attendants play over their mobile devices.

Movie Nights/Anime Club:
Using a Voice channel, a movie can be screen-shared to viewers. You can mute attendants so that everyone can hear the movie, or let them chat over their mics.

Crafts:
We had an extended game night over Discord with a craft session. You can have attendants turn on webcams and chat or give instructions like you’re in a room together.

Writing Club:
Have teens meet virtually and chat about their passion for writing–Or another special interest of theirs! This can be done with the use of a game, or just casual conversation on a Voice channel.

Virtual Variety: Pin Design Club for Teens!

Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library returns with her monthly column on all things virtual to help you connect with your patrons!

Our teens have been chatting online about their interests, and I found out that they’re all creative in their own way. More specifically, most of them have an ipad with one or more drawing programs on it that they use regularly, and we happen to have a button maker lying around. This sparked an idea.

Starting as a one-off for just one month, I invited them to email me one to three designs to make 3 pins per person. We haven’t opened up all of our in-person programming yet, so I assembled the pins for them and made up a curbside pickup bag of their creations. They loved it and asked for a continuation. So now it’s a monthly pin club! Each month, we invite our community’s teens to design three pins based on a theme (which is optional) set by my regular game night crew who chat online. As a little added bonus, I design a fun, extra pin they get with the library’s logo and “RLPL Teens” which will be different every month. It’s exciting to see what they create and send in. Hopefully soon they can meet in person and get to use the button maker themselves.

This is a great way to encourage and celebrate creativity in young people! It’s been super easy to do virtually–whether you don’t have a space or aren’t able to meet in-person. 

Virtual Variety: Teen Game Nights!

Please welcome our newest monthly columnist Lindy Liedl from the Rice Lake Public Library. She will be posting on the fourth Thursday of each month. We're happy to have her on board.

Hi, I’m Lindy! I work at Rice Lake Public Library mainly as a teen program host, a content creator for our social media, and I’m always on the lookout for fun ways to connect with our community virtually. I’ll be sharing what we’ve been up to monthly.

In Fall of 2020, our library had a teen reach out to us about a gaming program! They asked if the library could host a virtual gaming event so that she could stay in touch with friends who had moved to another city – and invite other teens to join in too. She suggested Jackbox Party Pack as a game idea, but was open to trying any other games too! A dream come true after losing our teens to age-outs and pandemic times.

How we set up:  If you haven’t played them, Jackbox Party Packs just require one person to purchase the game, then others can take part on any device at the web address “Jackbox.TV” using a private game code. So we purchased the game, set up a recurring Zoom meet and shared the link with our teens. Then, I publicized the weekly event, inviting teens to join in (and to share their game ideas with us). Once we’re all on Zoom, I screen-share the game with everyone, and they chat and participate on their devices from home. Be sure to turn on family-friendly mode in settings before programs.

When posting about the program on social media, I invite teens/parents to email me for the Zoom link. At first, there was concern about screening ages so that no random people can ask for the link, but the emails we’ve gotten have been from parents, or from friends of teens who already take part. There’s always the ability to boot people out of Zoom calls if needed, but we haven’t had any issues yet. If it came to it, we could instead create a Google Form asking teens for their library card numbers, name of schools, and other screening questions before sharing the link, but I think (so far) troublemakers are too lazy to email library staff.

Since then, Game Nights have expanded to three rotating games each week: Minecraft, Among Us, and Jackbox, with 6 kids taking part at most, and a Discord server of 10 teens hanging out and chatting together all week! Going from 0 teens, to 10 teens having a safe space to hang out virtually, and new friends to chat with has been a lot of fun.

Day the Crayons Quit Virtual Program

A recent post in Jbrary highlighted a delightful virtual program that is easily adaptable. 

Jbrary's Lindsay Krabbenhoft writes: "A few months ago I shared the amazing work of libraries who created displays, scavenger hunts, and contests around the book The Day the Crayons Quit. Awhile later I heard from Sarah Viviani, a youth services librarian in central Florida, who took those ideas and ran with it! Here is how she created a virtual event for families that included a crayon-making activity and science experiments. Firstly, she created her own set of giant crayons. I would pay money for these!"

Stop here to read all the details!

Virtual Teen Escape Room Book Club

Photo by Spivack/Ferraro

Two creative teen librarians at the Loudon County (VA) Public Library recently shared their experience and ideas in connecting with teens during COVID in SLJ's Teen Librarian Toolbox blog..  They write: "In late 2020 when our library system was soft-launching virtual book clubs, we spent a closing shift on a dreary, wintery Friday evening frustrated. With specialties in Makerspace and Teen Services respectively, we didn’t see how book clubs were going to let us reconnect with the patrons we were used to seeing in the comfortable chaos of our library spaces. As we were talking through the challenges, it occurred to us that even without a pandemic, there’s a lot about a standard book club that makes it inaccessible to teens, especially teens with learning disabilities (including ADHD). One thing led to another and soon we had permission to run a virtual teen book club, which has since transitioned to a successful monthly in-person meeting. The thing that makes it work? The book club is an escape room."

Stop here to read how they developed the program!

Teen & Tween Virtual & Offline Programming YSS blog COVID-19 series:

• Virtual Teen Escape Room Book Club  10/22/21
• Keeping Up Your Spirits  10/4/20
• Tween Virtual Program Ideas  10/1/20
• Tips for Doing Teen Virtual Programming  9/14/20
• Teen Summer Programming During the Pandemic  7/22/20
• SLP Virtual and Offline Program Ideas for Teens/Tweens  5/22/20

Congratulations Aram Public Library!

The Aram Public Library in Delavan, where our fabulous YSS current past-chair is youth services librarian/assistant director, was recently announced as the winner of the WLA Programming Innovation Award for their Summer Storyteller series. 

The WLA Awards and Honors Committee writes: "The Summer Storyteller series, designed and implemented by the Aram Public Library in Delavan, WI, has received the 2021 Programming Innovation Award. This program was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to virtually bring reading and literacy to the community as well as reconnect the community to local organizations and businesses in Delavan. The program required robust partnerships with the community and was a unique spin on virtual storytimes. The program strove for inclusivity by incorporating American Sign Language and Spanish into their videos, and used both Facebook and YouTube to connect with a broad audience. While the Summer Storyteller series was designed for the enjoyment of children in the community, the videos are enjoyed by children and adults alike, which is evidenced by an average of over 300 views for each episode."

A big congratulations to the library for all their innovative work and to our colleague Katherine! 

Also, congratulations to this year's other award winners: 

John Thompson, IFLS Library System, WLA/DEMCO Librarian of the Year:  

Leon-Saxeville Pine River Library, Library of the Year

Come celebrate the winners at a dessert reception at the WLA  conference on Thursday evening, November 18 7-8:30 pm at the KI Convention Center. To register for the conference, stop here

Virtual Family Trivia Night

Library PR image

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Our guest blogger today is Mary Westness, Youth Services Associate  at the Hedberg Public Library in Janesville.

The most popular program I hosted virtually through the pandemic was a series of themed family trivia nights. 

Our library purchased the Kahoot Pro subscription, which is 36$ for a year. This is the cheapest subscription Kahoot offers, and it provides enough features to host a successful program. The free version doesn’t allow you to insert slides, which was a dealbreaker for me because they really help with the flow of the program. Their more expensive plans have more options (like fill in the blank questions and puzzle clues), but the Pro version works just fine. In Kahoot, you can do trivia two ways: Present and Assign. For a live program (In person or virtual) you choose “present”. You can use assign if you want to create a trivia quiz and allow people to participate on their own time.

I called it Family Trivia Night _____ Edition. Here’s the themes I chose:

• August: General Trivia
• September: Harry Potter Edition
• October: Spooktacular Edition (Fall/Halloween)
• November: Disney Edition
• December: Star Wars Edition
• January: Book to Movie Edition
• February: Cartoon Edition
• March: USA Edition
• April: Picture Book Edition

There was no program in May and June. In July, I tried to do one in person, outdoors in July, but we got rained out and ended up putting the kahoot out as an assigned quiz instead.

Here are some things I learned along the way:

 Tips for Creating the Quiz in Kahoot 

• Format of the quiz for a one hour program: 
• Start with 2-3 practice questions that are worth zero points so participants can get used using Kahoot. You can adjust the point total to zero when creating the question.
• 2 rounds, 25 questions each
• Every five questions, I inserted a corny joke for a little brain break/just for fun. This was two slides: one for the joke and one for the punchline. This was really well received by the players. 
• 10 minute intermission between rounds
• It  helps with the flow of the live program if you add a slide explaining what to expect next if you are switching gears at all. For example, have a slide when switching from practice questions to the actual quiz to alert players that the real round is starting next. Or, have a slide explaining “Your final question for this round is coming up!” right before intermission. It makes it flow much better when presenting it live.  
• Using the “Discover” tab in Kahoot, you can search quizzes other people have made and borrow their questions-I just double check the answers. I also pulled trivia questions just from various websites. Don’t reinvent the wheel, people :) 
• At intermission, people’s devices were put into sleep mode. I found it to be a good idea to put in a poll or sample question after your intermission as a way for them to wake up their devices. Or just a slide that says “Round two begins soon. Wake up your answer device!”
• Stick in a slide after your last question stating, “and the winners are....”. If you don’t do that, the winner's podium will pop up automatically when you’re not ready.

Tips for Running the Program

• Teams Pre-register with an email address so that they can be invited to the meeting. Then, I was able to send them an email with a link to the MS Teams meeting. 
• Virtual Kahoot works best if players use two separate devices: one for joining the “meeting” and one to use as an answer pad. It is doable with two separate browser windows if they don’t have two devices, but it can be challenging for them to know which window to use to answer the questions, and it puts them at a speed disadvantage. I put all of this in the program description and explained it in the email they received.
• When you start the Kahoot quiz, it gives a Game PIN. Patrons go to Kahoot.it on their answer pad device and enter the pin. You can explain this as they enter the call, screen share the pin. I also entered the pin into the chat. 
• Prizes: We gave away book bundles of prize books.
• If Teams are using nicknames in the game, be sure to have them tell you who they are in the chat, or distributing prizes can get…..interesting 

Right now, the program is scheduled to be in our program room this fall with a limit of 40 participants so there’s room for distancing. Currently, our library is requiring masks indoors. If COVID numbers continue to climb, this program will be moved outdoors or it will pivot back to virtual. 

Kahoot saves all of your quizzes in your account, so I’m more than willing to share the ones I have created! 

You can contact Mary at mwestness@hedbergpubliclibrary.org