This Magic Moment

Eros Sleeping from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

It's Summer Library Program!!! We are two weeks in!!!! And I am at a magical place that happens maybe once or twice a year.

I am caught up.

Yep, I am standing on the mountaintop. All things summer library program have been prepped, planned, put in play and are rolling out like threads from the hands of the Fates.

Of course that is why I have long maintained that SLPs are prime examples of passive programs or stealth programming characterized by:

• Programs that take some initial planning and set-up but, once in place, are able to be administered easily with little ongoing time devoted to them. 
•  Encourage return visits to the library without an active program
•  Families & youth provide the “power” and activity on their own time at home
•  Encourages check-out through reading incentives and drawing kids into the library

While they feel ACTIVE, the reading encouragement program part is extremely passive. Our scheduled events take up the more active programming component and certainly our areas FULL of families and kids mean our reader's advisory and motion is active and amped up by mega-degrees.

Once I get into work today, my plate will slowly fill back up and deadlines will once again start nipping at my heels (August events PR; ALA final preps; Library of the Year nomination wrap-up; final preps for this week's program; management "stuff").

But for this one moment, it's beautiful to savor the quiet of "caught up" - and to recognize that it bores me just a little!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has now made over 396,000 images available online for use by the public: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/254502?rpp=30&pg=2&ft=relaxation&pos=41