Managing Troops of Groups

Summer is an extra busy time because the library is a destination not only for our families but also daycares and organizations that care for kids during the summer.  We are thrilled when we see people respond to our PR push for summer library use. But it is easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer number of groups and daycares that come en masse into the Youth Department.

Often the groups and daycares come in with summer-job, college-aged staff who lack skills in managing room behavior.  There are always some staffers who space out, text or chat together, hoping library staff will intervene to keep kids on the right track. While I understand the challenges of working with kids for hours on end daily, we want the caregivers to be actively engaged.

After a few years of chaos, our team put our heads together and figured out a strategy to try to make these visits successful for all. The results have really made a difference.

We reach out in May/June to directors of the groups who are regulars to ask what days and times they plan to drop by. If another group is already coming then, we recommend they choose another time.

We share the behavior guidelines we expect the organization's staff to actively enforce while their kids are with us. We ask for active engagement of the center's staff with the kids in their care at all times during library visits.

We explain our  simplified "group SLP" option - a poster and stickers plus a prize that we send out to the location so kids who read can be in an SLP remotely. We offer this as an alternative to trying to get all the kids signed up for our main SLP program on visits.

Finally, we let them know that on their first visit we will do a lightning orientation with the kids. This is absolutely a key element.

When the group comes in, we either take them into our program room or gather them in a quiet spot and welcome them. Then in a brief two-minute orientation, we give the kids the information they need to use the room successfully:

• Qustions and help can be found by asking the librarians at the desk who are happy to help them.
• The location of browsing sticks and blue bins to put books they use in the room but don't check out.
• Walking feet please.
• The boat is for reading only.
• Voices at 1 or 1.5 please.

Care-staff and kids hear the same message. We have seen much better use of the room, especially since we started the mini-orientation this year. This also helps us when we need to remind care staff subsequently if they start getting drifty in their responsibilities - and keeps communication respectful and open.

Being pro-active in laying out the parameters of how to use the library is just one part of room management that keeps the busy summer time more manageable for staff. And the results benefit not just the kids in care but everyone using the library at the same time.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Marsh Meander: STEAM-y

Naturalist Steph wowing kids with a turtle shell

Some of my favorite programs over the years have involved collaboration with community partners or everyday experts who come in (or we go out to) to create fun experiences for the kids.  When we saw the CLSP theme of Dig into Reading for the year we knew that we were going to have plenty of opportunities to partner up.

Our city is absolutely blessed with wild, natural places: towering bluffs, the Mississippi River, marshland, forested areas and prairie (I know!!!). Combined with a significant number of residents who place high value on sustainability, preserving recreational opportunities and in "getting back to nature" (eating and growing locally and organically), we get a perfect storm of partnerships.

One such partnership was with our city Eco-Park which includes significant acreage with trails in one of our marshes. Beautiful at any time of the year, the marsh is filled with wildlife and wild places that are brought up close and personal with the trails laid through it. Bikers, hikers, strollers, skaters, birders and scientists flock to the area. It's a perfect place to "dig into".

Checking for fish

I contacted the park's naturalist Steph and asked if she would be willing to go on a marsh walk with us. I would episodically share the First Nations story of how the earth was formed on turtle's back (how handy - the tale features creatures found throughout the marsh and that we might see on our meander) at stops along the walk and she would share marsh facts. She agreed. And that was the extent of our communication. She knew I knew story and I knew she knew marsh.

Spotting ducklings

We held the walk a few days ago and it was like a dream come true. Our gathering of kids and parents strolled, learned tips and facts about flora and fauna from Steph and pretty much thrilled to the tale of Skywoman's precipitous fall and the brave animals who helped save her and create the earth.  The kids soon used their new nature-detective eyes to spot dragonflies (and red-winged blackbirds eating the dragonflies and leaving iridescent wings lying everywhere to be collected), ducklings, flowers, herons duckweed and more. Steph's shoulder bag held bug jars, turtle shell, a duck wing and skull, a beaver skull and other goodies to teach the kids more about what the were seeing.

We also share a library collection with the Eco-Park (identification guides and books about the flora and fauna found there) so it was a perfect place to promote books and reading as well. Kids and parents appreciated the opportunity to discover and learn about the ecology of a treasured natural resource right in their backyard. And a chance for their nature-nut children's librarian to get out of the shop and meander down the trail talking story, listening and learning marsh facts and chatting library on a perfect June day?  Well, priceless!

How Does the Library Garden Grow?

Well, of course, if the national Collaborative Summer Library Program (CLSP) theme is "Dig into Reading" and I am an avid gardener, how can we NOT do a children's garden this summer?

Two dedicated, innovative and energetic adult services librarians just started a Seed Saving Library here in spring and I had the fun of meeting alot of gardeners through their efforts. Two of them met with me to talk about how we might make growing things happen in our our very urbanized location.

Challenge 1 - Location
We have had a significant amount of small vandalism and we wanted to protect the children's garden. We talked with our adjoining historical museum staff and they agreed to let us put a garden in their locked courtyard.

Challenge 2 - Location Again
No place to plant the plants. My gardening buds suggested building a square foot garden. Perfect, I thought. I just happen to live with the handiest handy-guy in the world and building a frame would be presto-chango easy for him.

Challenge 3 - Location Yet Again
Our museum is moving out and has some gigantic and very heavy architectural doo-dads scattered everywhere in the courtyard - and they need to move them out this summer. Our square foot garden would be in the way. Said handy-guy sez "Well, we'll just put the whole thing on wheels." And so he did.

So last week we dug and planted seeds and herbs and veggies with the kids.

We talked and chatted about growing plants.

We watered.

We tested chive blossoms. Yes, you heard me right, the kids actually picked off the blossoms and tried them.

Each week we'll meet briefly with the kids to water, weed and test the plants and veggies. I'll keep you posted on how this weekly program goes throughout the summer.  It may end up just being me out there...but  I hardly think I'll mind!

Unprogramming - Can We Talk?

The concepts of creating school-age programs that take a reasonable amount of preparation time, are engaging and lead to literacy, and allow kids the freedom to explore within the program have been buzzing around in my conversations with colleagues and tweeps over the past few months. We all are exploring how, in a period of tight budgets and staff time, we can make the fun happen without killing ourselves. How can we "unprogram" ourselves - and our programs?

Program preparation for school age programs is important but where is the line drawn when the time spent preparing is two, three, five, or even ten times more than the actual program length itself?  Are we, as programmers, leading the charge in the program or empowering the kids in their exploration - are we guides or drill sargeants? Is there a way to organically link the books and materials that surround us every day into the programs and then back again to the collections so that kids understand the fundamental amazingness of the library and its resources?

These questions have led to many conversations and ideas. One of the people I have looked to during this conversation is Amy Koester over at the Show Me Librarian. And now Amy and I would like you to join this conversation at ALA in a few weeks. We will be presenting a 45 minute  "Conversation Starter" on Monday July 1 at 1:30 pm at the Mc Cormick Center Rm S102D.

During this time we want to explore with you ideas on making programming more rich while keeping preparation in perspective.  We'll also share resources that have helped us free ourselves and keep programming and preparation in perspective in our necks of the woods.

We think it's high time we start talking about this...how about you?

Reading Cave Crave

Last week I got a new office chair (my back thanks you!)

The next day, our office manager offered us the box it came in.

I found the good boxcutter. Intrepid Brooke found the brown butcher paper, scissors and a mile of tape and 45 minutes later...

I hope you note the nifty skylights, the comfy bean bag and the exclusive nature of our box...ahem Reading Cave. No sooner was it done, then kids hopped inside one by one for a relaxing read. 

Even better, that very afternoon, as part of our DIY "kids-decorate-the department" effort, our plain cave was transformed with cave paintings:

Now come on, do we work in a great profession or what?!?!



ALA - Let's Get Together Yeah Yeah Yeah

With ALA slamming up at breakneck speed, I feel the need to make sure I connect to each and every one of you who come to Chicago.  Logistics tell me I'm nuts. But then again, it's worth the try.

Although there are some great social events in the offing, I think another youth services blogger and readers of blogs and twitter -peeps gathering would be fun to do especially if you're thinking of being at the Newbery/Caldecott awards banquet on Sunday June 30 at the Sheraton or the speeches after! It struck me that lots of us would be hanging around this premier youth services celebration, so...

....if you plan attend the banquet or just drop by the speeches after the dinner (there are chairs set up and you can listen to the speeches free and gaze upon the glitterati in the audience!), we can do a meet-up!

Traditionally, at the conclusion of the banquet, a receiving line with the honorees takes place right after the speeches outside the hall. There is always a cash bar. It's a great spot to gather and chat late night (caffeinate early to be up late!).

So consider this for your schedule and say hi!

Post N/C Youth Blogger/Blog Reader/Tweep Meet-up
Sunday June 30
Sheraton Chicago banquet area
10:30-11pm-ish start (or whenever N/C speeches end)
 

DIY Art is EZ

We have started a tradition at our library of holding some kind of kid-led DIY art or decoration program within the first week or two of the start of Summer Library Program.  We gather art materials and let the kids loose.

It may be our easiest, mellowest and most delightful program. And we never have to worry about pre-decorating the area to a theme. The kids take care of it with their creative touches.

This year, thanks to Crayola Window Markers, a crowd of kids created a garden of beauty on our windows. These few pictures hardly do justice to the work of the sixty kids who filled eight windows with their ideas. If you happen to be passing by in the next eight weeks though...

If You Build It - Pre-SLP Thoughts

We are there at that place right now, right here - our summer reading program, the greatest of youth library passive programs, starts Monday.

The school promo visits are done.

The PR is up and out.

The materials are stacked and ready.

The displays up and stocked with good reads.

The events lined up and ready to go.

The dirt is in the square foot garden ready for planting

The "Awesome Box" covered and ready for book recommendations

The Mystery Reads bagged and stocked.

The database cleared and ready for the kids' data.

The teen volunteers trained and scheduled.

The strategy for lightning orientation for groups who use the library agreed upon.

The team feels ready. Alert, primed for action and excited to get the show on the road. It will be chaotic, exciting, exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating, noisy and celebratory. Every day will bring in mobs, groups, waves and rock and rolls of kids and families.

On ALA Think Tank, one comment likened this pre-summer readiness to waiting for a battle to begin. I can't disagree. Now we wait to see if they will come!