On the Road - Develop Your Inner Superhero

Image: Pixabay

I'm back in my old stomping grounds on the eastern side of the state presenting workshops on programming superhero-dom (told you I've been thinking about that alot!).

This workshop is sponsored by the Wisconsin Library Association - it was a donation to their foundation auction and Winnefox Library System snapped it up followed by the Waukesha Library System. It's a great way of giving back to our association and also encouraging everyone to become state and national association members because, you know, together we are stronger!

While it has a superhero theme, the workshop isn't just an SLP workshop. (Please note that CSLP through Demco is offering two webinars with great info to help you be mighty on January 28 and February 25)

As I mentioned in my last post, while programming isn't all we do, it is certainly the most public and often the most pressured thing we do (from preparation to conflicting demands). Today we looked at strategies to program smarter and more effectively; the importance of balance and how to fairly meet the many needs of our public - and our funders. Creating a zen balance between service to all ages, finding time to recharge and plan, learning to get off the hamster wheel of constant programming and program shares were just some of what we explored.

What you couldn't be there? Drat! Well, there's a 6 week online UW-Madison SLIS course I'm teaching around the concepts in the workshop starting January 26 (registration is now open).

Here are the workshop resources that were shared with my colleagues:

Going SLP Prizeless - LPL's Journey

Develop Your Inner Superhero Workshop Pinterest board

My general Pinterest boards  - (boards on different program types and samples)

Wimp Yourself

Pixabay (free images)  

Astronomy Picture of the Day 

Struckmeyer, Amanda Moss.  DIY Programming and Book Displays: How to Stretch Your Programming without Stretching Your Budget and Staff. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2010.

A *Few * Favorite Programming Blogs:

Show Me Librarian  

Abby the Librarian 

ALSC Blog  

S. Bryce Kozla

Jbrary   (great resource list of blogs to explore!)

Hafuboti  

Mel’s Desk  (great resource list of blogs to explore!)

Kids Library Program Mojo (for a full list of fantastic program idea blogs AND great program idea posts- this is the class crowd-sourced blog from our spring CE course and has a ton of ideas from students!)

Programming Superheroes

Image: Pixabay

That's what we youth librarians are, you know.

I've been thinking alot about programming over the past couple of years. I've been writing about it, teaching about it, listening to ideas about it, revising my thinking about it and considering it in the context of all we do as youth librarians in our work day.

And one consistent theme that has struck me is that programming for kids in libraries - while not all we do - is the part of our jobs that is most visible, touches children's hearts most closely and consumes a great deal of our creative and imaginative energy.

We come into work, don our superhero librarian costume and plan and present amazing early literacy storytimes; school age programs, outreach visits and more. We think about how to involve kids through passive programs, DIY programs, partnerships with other organizations.

Back in our "Barbara Gordon" street clothes, we scan Pinterest, blogs and journals for new programming ideas. We talk to our colleagues, watch webinars, brainstorm and dream new ways to reach kids through our programming. We see program possibilities while we shop for groceries, stop by a festival, in our jammies while watching TV.

All the ideas get tucked away and pop back out when we don our superhero duds back at the library.

Part of being a superhero is finding ways to take those ideas and balance them to serve people without burning out. So we share tips on how to do programming and collection development and planning and advocacy and all the background tasks that make up a whole youth librarian's M.O. in a sane, fun and sustainable way. The hidden secret identity parts of our work are less visible to our public but just as heroic.

We recently received a lovely tribute to our youth staff- both past and present - from a patron whose children's reading lives were touched by staff helping the find the perfect book and presenting great programs.  These glimpses into the change we make as very public programming superheroes and quieter reader's advisors and information professionals reveal the depth of our good work. We all receive these positive boosts from our patrons and they warm our superhero hearts.

Whether thanks are expressed or not, the work we do to shine a light on literacy, learning experiences, and reading through our programming touches the lives of children and brings us out to them and them into our libraries.  Shine on, my superhero colleagues, shine on!

Let's Go to School Together Again!

Hey friends out in youth library land....I'm baaaaaack!

We had such a great time in spring exploring together the range of youth programming and smart and savvy ways to make it easier, that I am repeating the course beginning in January.

Join me for  Power Children's Programming - on a Budget, a six week on-line course for the UW Madison SLIS Continuing Education beginning the week of January 26. It is open to anyone, in-state or out-of-state, who is interested in this subject.

This course is perfect for any youth staffer interested in digging more deeply into programming for children, preschool through elementary ages. We'll explore: why we do what we do; how to do it better; negotiating the tricky currents of available staff, time, money and patron reactions.  You'll expand your community of programming peeps through robust dialogue, program shares and down-right feisty argument. 

Since it's an asynchronous course, you can dip into the content anytime each week. Lectures and readings are a mix of written text, webinars, slideshares, video and links to seminal posts about programming from bloggers including  Anne Clark, Amy Comers, Melissa Depper,  Abby Johnson, Amy Koester, Angie Manfredi, Brooke Newberry, Katie Salo, Beth Saxton and our friends at the ALSC, Little eLit and Thrive Thursday blogs.

We'll revive our class programming blog Kids Library Program Mojo that will fill with new content as the ideas and programs start popping up in the course and being shared. Coursework in this pass/fail course takes about 2-3 hours a week and the two brief assignments allow you to hone your thinking on programming (be an advocate!) and create/share a program. What could be more fun?

I hope you consider joining me for this most excellent learning adventure. I plan to learn as much as I teach!

Graphic courtesy of Pixabay

Together We ARE Stronger

We are just wrapping up our state library conference today. Again, what an extraordinary conference and what an extraordinary year. I counted 24 separate programs over the three days with content perfect for children's and teen librarians: school partnerships; book cycles to deliver books to kids in the summer; leadership paths; apps; refreshing field trips; bad girls in YA lit; learning to tame the sensory overload to help kids using the library; what boys like; keynotes by Kevin Henkes, Karen Jensen and Avi; Guerilla Storytime; ideas for school agers and more, more, MORE. We had an outstanding Teen Services preconference that connected our heretofore (hella word!!) unidentified teen advocates in the state.

During the Awards and Honors no less than three of our star youth librarians in the state were honored: Tessa Michaelson Schmidt received the Librarian of the Year award; Megan Schliesman won the Intellectual Freedom Award and Terry Ehle of the Lester Public Library won the Paralibrarian of the Year Award. Terry is an extraordinarily creative and active children's librarian who is generous with her time and talents and a leader in our state. This award is co-sponsored by our SOIS grad school in Milwaukee and includes a year of free tuition in their MLIS program. Terry has already begun her first semester.

Youth librarian leaders were everywhere in evidence over the past few days - introducing programs; serving on the WLA board of directors and the Youth Services Section board; sharing ideas, stories; challenges and laughs in hallways and restaurants and mingling and working with librarians from every type of library and library discipline. We brought in our colleague Cate Levinson from Niles IL to be part of a panel to share her amazing Armchair Astronomy program ideas and she stayed the whole conference.

We need healthy associations supported by librarians from all types of libraries and at all position levels for the learning and networking at conferences like this. We also need healthy associations to support our legislative agendas to protect and enhance library services and the public's access to them, intellectual freedom, everyday diversity, and to lead the way in sharing excellent library practice.

Please join your state association. Put in not just your money but your time and become a strong leader to support all our libraries. It's not what you get (although it's safe to say you get incredible networks, learn leadership skills and become smarter and wiser - and laugh more) but what you give in sweat equity that makes associations so strong and so profound. You share your passion with your colleagues. Your leadership in helping the association shine and be mighty through your volunteer work makes all the difference.

As I always say: together we ARE stronger!

The Giraffe in the Room

I promised I'd let you know what was going on with our room rearrangement. For the past twenty years, our desk had us facing a boat (patrol duty) with our backs to 80% of our service area.

Now our desk faces the public and we have a view of the entire area. The giraffe proudly helms the front of the boat (complete with travel posters that we "inserted" a photo of him into) and other animal characters reading in the front nook. The back of the boat is still there for kids to read in.

Staff Reaction? Overall, we love it. Still some tweaks (wires we need to get safely hidden - hence the old SLP banners) but having a view of our entire service area is revelatory (imagine years of facing four red doors). The space is more open and the new carpet's slightly more subdued colors seem to bring down the crazy level.

Patron reaction? Not bad. We point out that the ancient giraffe is now protected and we now can see the whole area to help serve everyone better. There's been a grumble or two but that is the vast minority. We find if we address the change in a cheerful, friendly way as families come in, we get a more positive response.

Most kids are good about the change. The preschoolers are a bit taken aback. But Brooke came up with a great way to navigate them through the change. She shared with the team:  "I’ve started calling it our animal boat.  Because all of our animals decided they needed a place to live, so they picked the boat. The other side is our “people boat”. If they say they want to go up to the giraffe I just ask, 'Are you an animal? No, you’re a person, silly!' "

Of course this is just the first week. We still have a heavy first few months of "Wha?!?!?!" and a good year ahead of people who come in less frequently being startled by the giraffe's new exalted no-kid area. But the team is ready to meet and greet to get our community through the transition.

The story of our adventure is here and here. And below are a few more pictures (think panorama) of what we see in our service area now.

Clean Up Your Act!

As we are wrapping up the CE course on management tips I'm teaching, the discussion has focused on ways to create zen in work life. Everyone has had a ton of ideas - from "eating the frog" first thing in the morning (getting the hardest thing done first) to list making to no email until later in the morning.

Everything in this thread fascinated me. But one that especially resonated was the suggestion to get your desk together and cleaned up/organized before you head out the door from work. A neat desk at work? That would not be me - as my team can attest. But maybe it could be?

My home desk is far less chaotic but probably just as busy. This is the spot where I create, write, record, research and do all.the.things. for my classes, my blog, my workshops, my presentations for in-state and out-of-state conferences and all the stuff that has nothing to do with my day job. My computer and "stuff" is on an old wooden table that my parents got when they were first married seventy years ago. Solid! I spend a couple of hours there most days of the week. It's tucked away so I'm not ignoring my sweetie while I'm diving in to the work.

For some darn reason I can stay perfectly organized there. Maybe because nothing is coming in to the "wonk workshop" (my name for this space) except the assignments I accept or pursue. And it's small so if I'm not organized and feng shui-ish, I can't create. Of course, what makes this space more concentrated is that I have the time to keep it together. Nothing comes in  - no phone calls, patrons, emergencies - unexpectedly.

So keeping organized there has been key to huge productivity for me. There is a finite amount of home time I want to spend on this stuff. Because my sweetie, my family and friends, gaming, cooking, getting outside, reading, learning and looking out the window to watch the birds, trees and seasons pass by.

So maybe I can turn my work chaos desk

into my wonk workshop desk

Zen awaits!