Passive Program Power

Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, Youth Services Manager at George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul MN, and I presented a session on passive programming at the Minnesota Library Association this week. The following links can lead readers to more information about the programs we talked about - and introduce you to some great bloggers!!

1000 Books Before Kindergarten (origins, facts, research, planning tips and more!)

Craft Cart and Scavenger Hunt 1 (ideas from St. Paul libraries)

Check-Out Clubs (tried and true hits from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Tabletop Prompts 1  (from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Tabletop Prompts 2 (from Gretna Public Library, NE)

Exploration Station (from Monroe Public Library, WI)

Scavanger Hunt 2 (from Gretna Public Library, NE)

Scavenger Hunt 3 (from Texas)

Scavenger Hunt 4 (from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Letter of the Week (from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Pinterest Passive Program Board (a plethora of ideas from...everywhere!)

Book - DIY Programming and Book Displays - Amanda Struckmeyer and Svetha Hetzler

Passive Program Palooza

Time is a precious commodity for us all in libraries. One way to create tremendous bang for our buck is by incorporating passive (or, as I like to call them, stealth) programs into our programming offerings.

I think of these programs as "stealth" programs because they subtly invite our kids and families into the library and help us do our work of literacy support through the effort the families put in rather than having library staff front and center directing.

"Active" programming (hosted/presented by staff or volunteers; taking place at a specific date/time/place) is often the most common type of programming found in libraries. Think storytimes, afterschool workshops and clubs, one time special events, field trips, etc.

But passive/stealth programs can present great opportunities to stretch time, budget and staff in ways that give agency to the children and families involved. These programs take some initial planning to set up but once in place are easily administered by staff. The families and kids provide the "power" on their own time and these types of programs encourage frequent return visits to the library.

Examples of stealth programs that we all do? Summer Library Programs! And 1000 Books Before K Clubs* that many of us do are also great examples!

What are some other examples of these types of programs?

Check-out Clubs - these initiatives which can last from 3 weeks to 8 weeks or more encourage kids to check out materials and do a "thing." Great examples of these include Lego Check-Out club, BackPack Buddies, Ice Cream Club, Free-quent Readers and Smart Cookie club.

Scavenger Hunts - whether inside the library challenging kids to discover book collections or beloved characters or outside the library tying into larger community efforts, these often short-term initiatives are a perfect why to program during school breaks or to quickly have something ready is school is cancelled. Examples of these include Dinovember, Book Character Hunts, Gnome Hunt, and Undercover Spy Club.

DIY Stations - these ongoing efforts (or short duration!) invite kids to create, write, draw, imagine and make that require minimal staff effort. Some paper, markers or crayons easily changed writing/drawing/creating prompts and challenges support multiple literacies. Examples of these include Stories in Action tables, exploration stations, or check out Amanda Struckmeyer Moss and Svetha Hetzler's book DIY Programming and Book Displays (Libraries Unlimited, 2010) for a year's worth of easy and delightful DIY ideas.

Whether you are doing passive programs for Teens or kids, this Pinterest board is chockful of great ideas from librarians around the country to make passive/stealth programs as easy as pie!

*I'll be doing a "how-to" 1000 Books webinar on Oct 21. You can register for this free webinar here

Check it Out!

Ice Cream Club glory

Over the years, we've done alot of playing with "Check-Out Clubs," special stealth (passive) programs. These clubs encourage frequent visits back to the library even if there isn't any program tempting kids in. And it encourages continued robust check-out: if kids check out, they get to do a "thing". The "thing" most likely adds to a "group build" that is eye-catching and a fun incentive for kids to add to.

We run these clubs during slower times when kids are less frequently in the library or we are on program breaks. When are those quiet times? They can be almost anytime of the year. For us, it's been:

• August - when kids have finished the SLP, the pools close and families are looking for additional activities. It's often a time of heavy staff vacations. 
• September  - when school starts again and the focus of families shifts away from the public library and staff continues to catch some well-earned vacation. 
• December and January  - when holidays and cold keep people at home and bundled up from the WI cold and programs are sparse and sparsely attended. 
• May - when kids are getting ready to end their school year and staff are busy doing SLP promos at schools.

Our other goal with the clubs is to make sure whatever we plan is exciting and interesting for the kids. By and large, they have really worked for our community and we've been super pleased with the results - both the enthusiasm of the kids and the resulting check-out. 

Free-quent Reader Club was created based on the concept of frequent flyers earning bonuses and air miles. Kids in this September/October club would earn a book. We also used this club for secondary goals like encouraging kids to bring their cards with them or increasing attendance at a specific program by offering double stamps. 

Smart Cookie Clubs have been popular doldrums December-January events. Each year we changed the character that kids got to add cookies to - Pete the Cat or Elephant and Piggie. We used our large storyroom doors as bulletin boards and kids added a cookie each time they checked out. 

Ice Cream Club is the new model of Smart Cookie Club. We used it this year in January and February when we are doing massive K and 2nd grade tours and cut back our programming to accommodate these intensive eight weeks of tours. Kids who checked out could add an ice cream scoop to our "build". Sweet!

Fire Up with Reading Club - we ran this September club to culminate during Fire Safety Week in October. Each time kids checked out they could fill in a raffle slip to win a "day with the firefighters." It was great working with the Fire Dept on this one and we had good participation.

Lego Check-out Club, Bryce's long held dream that fruitioned two years ago, was uber the first year and even better the second year when we lost the bags and just handed out the legos and had a new desk big enough to accommodate the organic build (rather than being closed away in our porthole). It has made December a much sought after "return to the library and check-out materials" month.

Back Pack Buddies - staffers were interested in having a brand new backpack raffle for kids in August. We figured rather than our usual scavenger hunts, it would be fun to get kids excited about school and the possibility of winning one of six fully-loaded backpacks. Kids who checked out could enter a raffle to win a backpack and put their name on a pencil to add to our "build." THIS was a big one!

Some of these clubs were one shot deals or needed some tweaking. Backpack Buddies was far more intensive than we realized - not just because of high participation but also coinciding with a time of short-staffing, SLP wrap-ups and general craziness. Our Undercover Spy Club started off with a bang - we handed out beaucoup spy buddies to kids to explore the city and report back but had very few return visits. Our Firefighter winner had to cancel a couple of the dates to go to the fire station making it far more complex for the firefighters. All of these were learning experiences and just gave us more ideas on how to run our next club a little better!

We've had far more ups than downs doing these clubs. As passive programs they bring in added excitement and return visits and better check-out. What's not to love?

What We Did on Summer Vacation

We made some fun changes and adjustments to summer this year that worked out swell. Here are a few highlights:

• We again went weekly-prizeless for preschool & schoolagers with positive results. We had robust registration and return visits despite no doo-dads. Instead of building a robot, this year kids got a sticker or two to cover a life-size Darth Vader cut-out. They loved the concept of "defeating" the villain by covering him completely. With three more weeks to go, we expect full coverage-defeat!

• We lengthened our program to a full ten weeks. While it has definitely made the summer months feel longer, we are still seeing outstanding return visits and a longer chance to use the library - earn the ultimate book prize.

• We changed our preschool SLP from monthly activity cards to weekly activity cards. This has definitely brought in more families for return visits and the younger kids have loved stickering up Darth Vader (or themselves!) more often.

• One of our gamecard activity choices was for kids to be superheroes by bringing in kid-nummy boxed meals for donation to our neighborhood food pantry. Summer is traditionally a very low donation time for food pantries and they often have to expend precious cash reserves to keep shelves stocked. We were gratified with the number of kids participating (we've delivered over 300 pounds of food "for kids, by kids" so far this summer) and the deliveries have been greatly appreciated.

• While we definitely had plenty of fun active programs, we also used plenty of stealth (passive) programs to engage kids - Craft of the Week for preschoolers, Kid Lab and paper-covered tables with writing/drawing prompts for schoolagers and DIY activities weekly for daycare groups. It helped keep the libraries a "destination" for fun activites to engage kids no matter what time of day they came by.

Finally, rather than a completely stealth August "continuation" program, we decided to offer a "Backpack Buddies" program. We have six fully-loaded backpacks for different ages. Each time kids check out books in August, they can enter their name in a raffle to be a lucky winner. We are excited to see how this goes!

It will be fun to see the final results of all this change when we shuffle our stats out but all looks great so far!!

On the Road - 1000 Books B4 K and Programming Mightiness

Pixabay Image

I'm traveling to the beautiful southwestern part of WI along the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers to present a workshop on programming mightiness - and in particular 1000 Books Before Kindergarten how-to's. Below are the live links to the topics we plunged into!

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 look 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.

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

Today's Workshop Pinterest board
Let 1000 Books Bloom Pinterest board
Basic Resources how-to post for 1000 Books

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!)

On the Road in Jackson Mississippi

Today I am with colleagues in Jackson Mississippi. It's a whirlwind tour of unprogramming, stealth (or passive) programming and even a few pieces on partnerships.  I promised everyone clickable links to programs that had blog posts/websites, so here we go!

Unprogramming - 7 part series with Amy Koester starts here

Sample Programs

• Elephant and Piggie Party
• Library Camp Out
• Dr. Who Party
• Wimpy Kid Party
• Space Disaster Program

Stealth (passive) Programs

• 1000 Books Before Kindergarten
• Stealth Programs and Circulation
• Free-quent Reader Club
• Smart Cookie Club
• Lego Club
• Gnome Hunt

DIY programs

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

Partnerships

• Partnership Program Samples - here here here here here here
• School Partners

Resources

• Wimp Yourself 
• Pixabay  - free images
• Astronomy Picture of the Day 
• Pinterest board with links to programs and boards

Big thanks to my hosts in Mississippi and all my colleagues there (*waves*). Huge shout-outs also go out to my marvelous YS team at La Crosse Public Library, my admin team buddies, my friends and colleagues in WI libraries, my got-yer-back blogging and twitter friends and colleagues and my unprogramming co-conspirator Amy Koester. Without all the inspiration, support and brainstorming, I wouldn't be the librarian I am and doing the things I do today. You guys rock my world!

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

On the Road with Stealth Programming

I'm on the road presenting even more stealth Programming ideas at our annual Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries in beautiful Sheboygan. We love experimenting with these types of programs and finding even more being done out in libraries around the country.

Below are links to some of the resources that are described in today's presentation. Enjoy!

1000 Books Before Kindergarten - many resources gathered here along with a webinar

Free-quent Reader Club - a quick way to involve kids in frequent library use and check-out

Cookie Club - great for the slow days of December and January

Gnome Hunter's Club - brand new from our newest colleague Brooke Rasche and hot off the presses from a hot August!

Selfies for Spring Break - our newest effort leavened with a good dose of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Story Action Pods at my colleague Bryce's blog - in-house literacy stealth and story extensions!

YALSA Teen Passive Program article by Kelly Jensen (of Stacked blog) and Jackie Parker, two great teen resource folks. Kelly also shared below their Passive Library Pinterest board with more great passive ideas!

Pinterest board on Stealth Programs for all you pinners out there.

And here is the slideshare of today's presentation!

Thrive Thursday May Round-Up

I am happy to host the May Day edition of the Thrive Thursday blog hop. It's a chance for us to read about programs, thoughts and initiatives happening for our school-age audience. Enjoy!

ACTIVE PROGRAMS
Who doesn't love Geronimo Stilton - and all his friends! Lisa over at Thrive After Three blog breaks down a great four week series for us.

Carol at Program Palooza did two Earth Day-related programs here and here that combine fiction, non-fiction and a re-cycled craft.

More Earth Day friendly crafts are on tap at Ms. Kelly at the Library's blog.

And Lisa suggests a Lorax Book Vs. Movie program that has a nice Earth Day connection too!

Why not re-purpose a fun craft-it program for Money Smart Week by having the kids "buy" their supplies to bring math into the STEAM picture? Amy of Show Me Librarian shares in a guest post at Library as Incubator blog

Disability awareness becomes part of this program from Carol at Program Palooza.

American Girl Addy is the focus at Ms. Kelly at the Library's program.

Unprogramming might with Elephant and Piggie shows up at my blog Tiny Tips.

Movies...er, I mean book trailers!! Dawn over at Story Time with and Signs and Rhymes shares how 5th graders made book trailers of her book.

Create a Picture Book workshop series...seriously! Story Time with and Signs and Rhymes Dawn takes readers on a step by step process on creating a workshop where kids learn the ins and outs of authorship!

With summer coming up, this ALSC webinar inspired wiki space on STEM programs will inspire you.


STEALTH/PASSIVE PROGRAMS
Need some passive programs for spring break? Sara at S. Bryce Kozla to the rescue!

Angie at Fat Girl Reading has two more spring break stealth programs that are a cinch to set up.

Need a poetry passive program/display? Mel at Mel's Desk shares her colleague Julie's great work!

Less Screen Time Week is how Wisconsin librarian Sue Abrahamson is rethinking Screen Free Week, May 5-9, as guest poster on Tiny Tips for Library Fun.


PROGRAM THOUGHTS
Over at Kids Library Program Mojo, a blog for librarians taking a youth services programming CE course:  Michelle shared thoughts about the pressures on parents and program attendance; and Erin reflects on how we can meet parents where they are in our programming.

Re-imagining library tours into a truly phenomenal experience takes time and effort that I reflect on here at Tiny Tips.

And to bring us home, Sara at S. Bryce Kolza starts solving for the equation of school family literacy outreach awesomeness using some Brewfest math.


Stay tuned for the June blog hop hosted at Thrive After Three. And if you'd like to host a month, contact Lisa Shaia, our intrepid founder and scheduler to throw your hat in the hosting ring: lisamshaia (at) gmail (dot com). We also have a Pinterest board and a Facebook Group, so join in on the fun!

Them's the Breaks!

I was so excited to see the issue of breaks in storytime being addressed over at Lisa's blog Libraryland. She and Mel are posting results and discussing implications from a recent survey on storytimes and workload.  I was as surprised as Lisa that almost a third of survey respondents didn't take breaks or weeks off in their annual storytime schedule.

I have often wondered what motivates people to raise storytimes (or let's face it, any program for kids, teens or adults) up to a no-break model. Is it:

• administration requiring 52 week schedules
• tradition - that's how it was when I came
• fear of losing participants
• service-to-the-community-above-and-beyond ethos 
• love those little munchkins and need my weekly fix (the mutual "I can't do without them; they can't do without me" syndrome)
• concern that patrons will complain 
• anxiety that patrons will leave and use another library
• or what?

I have seen alot of trepidation and tradition that keeps people from building in time for re-energizing, CE, conferences, service to other age groups,vacations, introduction of new types of early literacy programs etc. In order to keep up the pace, youth library staff take program preparation work home, only do storytimes as their program focus and often don't have the creative energy to develop their programs or services for other age groups or to serve the many families with preschoolers who cannot attend storytimes.

If storytimes are to entertain, than fear of losing the audience might be real. If storytimes are to model and help provide parents with the early lit support they need to be their child's first teacher, it seems that breaks are easily incorporated since parents have the tools that you provided to keep modeling awesome early lit work with their kids!

Once library staff start to take breaks, most see that their concerns were unfounded. Patrons do return. Time spent away from a routine helps create time to tackle other projects and plans that enhance services.

We are just off a ten week storytime hiatus (wait,  make that 13 weeks, I forgot we stopped mid December!). What happened? All but one storytime filled up when we re-started after the break. We had to add an additional storytime because of the demand. A poorly attended storytime that we morphed into a preschool "maker program (art and STEAM) filled up immediately (we could have added five more sessions based on demand). Staff and families came back refreshed, excited and happy.

What if YOU want to take breaks but your administration or co-workers are reluctant? 

1. Share the thinking (like Lisa's post above) going on in the library world about breaks - here and here are two examples.
2. Come to discussions prepared with a concrete plan for one thing you will use break time for (begin development of 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program; attend a conference or Roadtrip CE or have another staffer who covers desk while you are in storytime attend; develop a new type of tour or outreach; develop a program or series for an underserved age group or meet with school/daycare colleagues to start planning service partnership ideas).
3. Honestly discuss what the programming philosophy of the whole library is and look at comparisons between service to other age groups and other staff responsibilities in this area. Sometimes, coworkers or administration don't see the efforts that go into storytime (Storytime Underground's "Literacy is NOT a luxury") - once they come to understand what is happening, they can more easily see why breaks to re-charge, offer other types of programs and etc are necessary.

What if YOU want to take breaks but your patrons are reluctant and push back? 

1. Thank them for their support and love of your programs.
2. Tell them what will happen during break that will help make your library even more uber (I will learn more to serve you better by attending training; other age groups will be served; you will still be coming in often for books and to say hi; we are excited to take the time to write a grant to create an early literacy area, etc)
3. Consider adding a  simple "transition" activity - Book Bundles, Preschool Dance party, coupon book; stealth or DIY activity station; more frequent change-out of flannels or activity boards in early literacy corner - that makes parents want to keep up weekly or bi-weekly visits during the break.
4. Let parents know you have been their stealth personal guru, equipping them with the know-how to be storytime ninjas themselves at home!  Ask them to be mighty and let you know how they do over break.
5. Encourage them to use the break to get an extra level of 1000 Books Before Kindergarten finished.
6. Introduce them to an Early Literacy calendar that has lots of activities for parents and kids to do together.

Breaks work. Storytimes continue strongly (and sometimes stronger!) after a pause. Really, try it, you will definitely like it!

On the Road in Arkansas

Today I join colleagues at the Arkansas State Library Children's Services Workshop in Little Rock. I'm sharing presentations on Unprogramming, Stealth Programming and Dynamic Partnerships (including Schools!) and many of the programs I refer to can be found on these Pinterest boards. My Arkansas friends are also sharing ideas on science, makerspaces, and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten and sharing weather that is far more spring-like than anything I expect to see for some weeks home in Wisconsin. What could be better? If you don't do Pinterest, below are links to some of the resources that are described in today's workshop.

And while I'm on presentations and workshops, I want to encourage everyone to read this vital post at Storytime Underground by Amy Koester about your own power to share your good work with each other. I am a working librarian like you who does just that. So keep on standing up, sharing ideas and feeling your power!

Unprogramming
Space Trip
Library Camp-out Fun
Ninjago!
Dr. Who Party
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Slideshare

Stealth/Passive Programs
1000 Books Before Kindergarten
Free-quent Reader Club
Cookie Club
Gnome Hunter's Club
Reading is Key Club
Story Action Pods
Slideshare

Dynamic Partnerships
Global Friendship Fair and Science Festival
Marsh Meander and Library Camp
Experts: Check out an Amphibian, Fencing, Yoga
Arts and Artists
School Collaboration
Slideshare

Don't Forget the Databases

We are big believers here in using a variety of program types to fill out our dance card. By combining active, DIY and stealth/passive programs, we create time in our schedule to

1. serve all ages 
2. incorporate more outreach to schools and daycares
3. do stronger collection development
4. blue sky and write successful grants to support new initiatives
5. provide time for CE time for staff (PLNs, webinars, in-person attendance and networking)

So just what are these program types?

Active programs can be simply characterized as programs a staff or volunteer present or lead: storytimes, afterschool workshops, parties based on book characters or popular subjects, STEAM

DIY programs can be thought of as times or spaces devoted to kids in the library that allow them independently to manipulate materials. Think of scavenger hunts, art and craft materials set out for kids to make things, Story Action Pods, imaginative play stations for any age.

Stealth programs are those that, once prepared by staff, are totally powered by the kids and families. They provide the reading or return visits to the library. SLP is a great example we all do. 1000 Books Before Kindergarten is another great example.

We keep track of how participation/attendance is in all the programs. How many kids used the story action pod (based on number of sheets of paper used); how many bags of legos were give out at check-out for Lego Tower Build; how many children attended storytime; how many return visits were made for 1000 Books Before Kindergarten this month? These stats help us stay informed of the usefulness of each effort.

We keep a fairly simple database of our programs and numbers to help us track participation. At some libraries, an excel spread sheet works; others use a paper copy. By keeping statistics on our programs – and referring to and studying them for patterns and trends - we make informed decisions on what programs should be continued, when to end programs and the types of programs that fit best within our budget, staff time and community needs. This analysis and evaluation becomes second nature and gives us the support we need to expand, delete or add programs based on hard facts rather than supposition.

These statistics not only inform us, our director and our board, but we also report out these numbers to the state library for the state annual report. Sadly, for a long time, although we did this mix of programs, only our active program statistics and SLP participation were reported to the state for the annual report. Winter reading program? Too bad.  Lego Build effort - no way. Cookie Club? You dreamer! 1000 Books Before Kindergarten? Nope.

That was a problem. In our state youth librarians started working hard to change that dynamic. Our state library folks could see the efforts and time that went into DIY, reading programs beyond summer and passive programs that brought children and families into the library. They became champions of change in the reporting of youth program statistics. To get a peek at the results of that work in Wisconsin, check out this PDF of the new reporting system and definitions for programs.

Now ALL.THE.THINGS.COUNT. It makes it easier as a manager to justify our hard work. And it makes me glad we have our database of program stats for all types of programs that shows what happens when we reach outside the box of traditional programming and bring it to our community!

Storytime Hiatus

Beginning January 1,  we are on a ten week storytime break. "What?!?!?!", you may ask. Yep, a ten week break.

It's no secret that I believe that is perfectly fine to take breaks rather than run storytimes year round. I believe we have finite hours in the day. I believe we have finite staff. I believe it is important to do planning and library work on paid time at work. I believe that we serve more than one age or one demographic. I believe the programs we do outside the library are as vital as those we do within. I believe we need to balance our commitment to all our services, not just the flashy ones the public notices but the mundane, hidden services (collection development, staff development, stats and reporting, collaboration within our libraries with outer departments, planning, recovering our mojo after tough patron interactions).

For staff, our usual 3-4 week break is full of attendance at conferences, CE, planning, vacations and time off for staff (22 weeks worth annually), working on developing new services and iniatiatives, like that. For patrons, we are usually running a stealth program (Lego Tower Build, Spy Club, No Place Like Gnome) or a special event like Toddler Drive in, Halloween Party of Toddler Dance Party during our breaks. And of course, 1000 Books Before Kindergarten and Baby Book Bees are great in-between storytime literacy affairs for families.

This particular break is so radical, though, that it makes me nervous to even write about it. It happened because of last year....well, and the year before.

Two years ago we invited every 2nd grade class in for a field trip adventure beginning in January. We tried booking these tours while running our seven weekly storytimes. It took a solid four months to get all the field trip adventures booked in, often with staff working split shifts, longer-than-8 hour shifts and coming in on days off to get those adventures accomplished at the same time as our full storytime schedule. Staffers were game but burnt out.  That was nasty.

Last year, we had our long-time early literacy librarian retire at the bright dawn of January 2, 2013. We knew we would still be in the process of hiring our new early literacy librarian through at least the end of February. And we still had 2nd grade tours. So we took the radical step of delaying storytimes until March- it was a three month break. Being short-staffed, this seemed like the only solution.

It worked swell. We were able to book in the 2nd grade tours when it was convenient for the teachers and despite being down a woman, we did it in a way that made it far easier on staff. It was a revelation. And best of all, many of our storytime families kept coming into the library regularly during this time and flocked back to storytimes once they returned in March. It was a big risk. But the reality was a pleasant surprise.

This year, the 2nd graders are again coming...and they are joined by all the kindergarten kids in the district for our brand new Library Sneakers field trip adventure.

So we scheduled a few stealth activities (Book Bundles and Smart Cookie Club featuring Pete the Cat); a few preschool programs (Dance Party; 1000 Books Graduation Party) and are widely advertising an early literacy monthly calendar developed by our  state library association's Youth Services Section (thanks to the ever inventive Amy over at Show Me Librarian).

The next ten weeks are dedicated to our 22 separate tours scheduling in and discovering the wonder of the library. They are dedicated to staff attending PLA and ALA. They are dedicated to a massive weed before our records are dumped into our new ILS system. And they are dedicated to still serving our preschool friends with awesome stealth programs and special events. Win win win win!

Graphic courtesy of Pixabay

On the Road with Stealth Programming

On the road with my former system peeps at the Winnefox Library System today to talk about all the cool possibilities of "stealth" or passive programming. We feel like we found a fountain of ideas when we started experimenting and implementing these programs.

Below are links to some of the resources that are described in today's workshop. Enjoy!

1000 Books Before Kindergarten - many resources gathered here along with a webinar

Free-quent Reader Club - a quick way to involve kids in frequent library use and check-out

Cookie Club - great for the slow days of December and January

Gnome Hunter's Club - brand new from our newest colleague Brooke Rasche and hot off the presses from a hot August!

Reading is Key Club - a way to highlight your collections

Story Action Pods  - in-house literacy stealth and story extensions!

YALSA Teen Passive Program article by Kelly Jensen (of Stacked blog) and Jackie Parker, two great teen resource folks. Kelly also shared below their Passive Library Pinterest board with more great passive ideas!

Pinterest board on Stealth Programs for all you pinners out there.

And finally the links to the workshop including the slide deck and a film of the three hours (I know, cool!) are at the Winnefox System website

An Eye for the Future - Part 4

In this series of blog posts, sustainability is the watchword.  We've looked at issues and thoughts about project costs and grant fails and triumphs. In this final post, let's consider the sustainability factor in our everyday programming work.

Programs are some of the bread and butter of our work with youth. The concept of sustainability becomes critical here.

Our patrons often want ALL THE THINGS. And many of us want to give them ALL THE THINGS. That's perfectly understandable. They pay us, they are the reason we are working at the library in the first place. However, ALL THE THINGS often leads to staff burn-out, stress, and an unsustainable pace and level of work for staffers. Work tasks leak into home life and extra unpaid hours. Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I hate you. I quit (literally or just check out emotionally and mentally).

Not sustainable. To create sustainability - and sanity - in programming, finding balance is an important factor.

Budget
If we have a program budget, how can we best use it?  Many of us are expected to and feel pressure to book outside performers (note: I work as a free-lance storyteller making the big bucks at schools and libraries so I know about this issue from the performer's perspective). If we spend all our money booking performers, does that leave us a budget for incentive prizes like books, bookbags or money to fund buses or another special project?

If we balance our planning and expectations, cut back on outside performers, it often frees programming money to allow us to fund special stealth programming projects or initiatives or try something entirely new. Our budget can then sustain a larger number of efforts.

Patron Expectations
Teachers and parents have clear thoughts on what they need for kids in their care but often these fall into narrow personal concerns - we want to use the library without these crowds; the storytimes aren't convenient for my schedule;  you should have more ________ (fill in the blank: baby/toddler/teen/K/school age/homeschool/single/continuous/Saturday/evening/Sunday/Monday morning -I could go on but you know what I'm talking about here) events; why can't you provide our group with a weekly storytime or monthly outreach visits?

Meeting all the expectations isn't possible to do in a sustainable way - especially if you want to balance services to all. The challenge in planning then becomes looking for ways - through active and passive programs; judicious deployment of staff for in-house and outreach efforts and critically looking at the arc of programs  - to honor on some level most of your clientele's needs.

What might that look like? It all depends on what you can find sustainable - and what you feel you can fairly offer to all. Perhaps:

• Storytimes being offered for 25-30 weeks of the year.
• After school programs being offered once a month or in a three-four week series 2-3 times a year.
• Storytime breaks of up to two months to allow time to book field trips or do outreach to daycares.
• School age programs during school breaks and  early release days including plenty of DIY activities.
• Programs presented once a semester to classes that make weekly/monthly visits.
• Outreach visits scheduled once a year to every day care or school classroom
• Passive programs made available more frequently

There isn't a one-way, right answer but there are many paths to help create a program structure that can be sustained and serve many needs.

Balance and Sustainability
The point is not to deny patrons, jealously guard time and resources or alternatively force staff into working at a mad pace.  To sustain programs, finding the balance is key. Looking at what we do and how to create balance - whether through program breaks; decreasing the frequency of some programs; offering the same level of service to all school or daycare groups or making sure that we have a balance of active and passive programs - means that our program work can be sustained.

And in the End
Last but not least, learning when to say when is critical. When a program has reached the end of it's useful life, even though it is your favorite, let it go and put staff time and resources elsewhere. It keeps what you offer fresh, frees time for new initiatives and services and keeps patrons interested in your offerings.

And that's what sustainability is really all about!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Graphic courtesy of Pixabay

Hitting the Road

For some insanely crazy reason, the stars aligned and in a few weeks I'll be on a two week road trip of storytelling and workshop presentations.

You know that feeling that you get when you are invited to present six or eight months before the event? "Oh, yes, that would be outstanding!" And it is. Many months in the future, no problemo. And then another request comes in for a nearby date. "That would be outstanding!"  And it is. Still far off somewhere, easy-peasy. And then another request comes in, also in that window of previous bookings, and suddenly I'm thinking "Tour". And then another request comes in and doesn't this all fall trippingly into a convenient two week window. And it does.

So, starting September 6 in my own home town of La Crosse WI, with our Storytelling Festival (where I do a little telling and emcee the Friday night spook tales), here's where you'll find me:

September 8-11
Joining Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Leah Langby, Merri Lindgren, Megan Schliesmann and Sue Abrahamson as mentor/lecturers at the Youth Services Development Institute with 25 youth librarians from around the state to make library magic.

September 12
Storytelling at a celebration for children in childcare in Marshfield

September 13-14
One of the featured tellers at the Chippewa Valley Storytelling Festival (Eau Claire) joining friends and colleagues Kevin McMullin, Tracy Chipman and the Saskill family.

September 17
Doing a three hour workshop on Stealth Programming for the Winnefox Library System .

September 19
Joining many fantastic colleagues and doing a presentation on the how to develop a 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program for multiple southern WI library systems at one of the first - if not the first - of seven workshops statewide to roll out the amazing new Growing WI Readers initiative from DPI.

September 19-22
Chilling out with feminist library colleagues at a four day retreat in Wisconsin's charming Door County. This chance to share discussion, support, great food and friendship is always a highlight!

The finishing touches are being put on the presentations. The GPS is loaded. The powerpoints are on the flash drive. The handouts ready to go. The puppets packed.  See you on the road!

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Hello Summer Reading!



Materials ready for one of our small branch libraries

The time is nearly here. The supplies are laid in, the publicity out, the school promo visits just about complete, the database ready, contacts made with groups who come with kids-in-care to get them oriented and staff keen-eyed (or steely-eyed as the case may be). But as prepared as we are, I still like to see what's out there that you all are doing.
As I was reading my feeds (here we pause for the image and book that inevitably pops into my head when I think about my RSS feeds), I came across a colleague's description of her summer reading programs. While it was pretty darn nice to see that she had adapted two of the formats we have been using over the years there was a better bonus for me: she shared two other designs for programs (daycares and super readers) that were new to me and that I like quite a bit.

I really appreciate hearing and reading about what other librarians are doing to make summer fun for kids - and staff! Besides reading blog posts, I am lucky enough to travel widely when wearing my hat as an itinerate workshop presenter around my state and region*. And while I share ideas we have tried, I also pick up ideas others have used to make their summer reading or library programs better and more effective.

And how do we get at effectiveness - especially during summer when our days are filled with families, kids, daycares, slp and programs, programs, programs?

I look for posts or listen to people who tell me about how:

• a decision has resulted in more participation by the kids
• registration has been simplified or tossed out and the result
• how prizes have been considered and the results of any change
• strategies that have providing staffing relief really worked
• active programming has been de-emphasized in favor of a true stealth program: SLP
• they include transliteracy into their SLP format
• they innovate in any way and what happens
• new audiences have been reached 
• value has been added to a program through a simple innovation

You, my friends, are my guides to change and making SLP more fun and less onerous. These 8-12 weeks should not over-run our thoughts, energies, and ability to create powerful children's and teen services magic year-round. When we share our stuff, we make it easier to keep summer in perspective and bring great joy to the process.

Here's hoping you summer is joy-filled, kid-filled and a time to rise above the chaos to see just what good work you are doing for your communities. Now let's dig in!

(May 2014 note: If you'd like to see the mischief we are up to this year, please stop by here!)


*In the spirit of May's 30 Days of Awesome posts started by Sophie Brookover, Kelly Jensen and Liz Burns, I share that I present half and full day workshops and presentations for systems and at conferences that include Rethinking Summer Reading; Programming Mojo; The Big Link: Successful School Public Library Partnerships; Stealth Programming; Everyday Advocacy; Creating Amazing Youth Services; Undoing Dewey and anything else that helps me guide participants in the Marge-way of delving deep into why we do what we do and how to do it better.

1000 Books Before Kindergarten is Still Rockin!

I love the organic feel of how 1000 Books Before Kindergarten programs have spread. Started a few years ago in Bremen IN by the mighty Sandy Krost, it has popped up here, there and everywhere around the country. Recently, a colleague, Kathleen Larson at From the Short Stacks, posted my all-time favorite working graphic - a google doc map of places where 1000 Books Before Kindergarten programs have been developed.

Beth Crist of the Colorado State Library produced an excellent summary of what the program is about along with some great links. She also recently hosted a webinar on 1000 Bks B4K with Sandy. My colleague, Sara Bryce did an outstanding job of gathering research to buttress requests for grants, funds and convincing administration on the worth of programs like this at her blog S. Bryce Kozla.  I continue to pin programs on my Let 1000 Books Bloom Pinterest board. (And in a 2014 update, Kelsey Cole at Library Bonanza created a hugely helpful set of FAQs and tips  and Luci Bledsoe on Library Program Mojo shares her planning process to make it easy to start a 1000 Books program at your library!)

While every program has a different feel and approach and theme, every program is alike in encouraging parents to read widely and muchly to their preschooler. Parents are always pleasantly surprised at how easy and fun the process is. And kids are proud of their achievements.

We have really enjoyed this stealth program here at our library. Kids and parents continue to participate as we near our 2nd anniversary. The program has resulted in over 2,500 return visits (plus  families have read almost 197,600 books with La Crosse preschoolers who are in the Club!!) and fun interactions with kids and parents. We continue to improve on it - going from writing titles on 8"x11" sheets to bookmarks with 100 seeds to mark off books read; thinking about decreasing prizes and sticking to stickers and working to keep it publicized for new families coming in.

Our state also recently added a category in their annual report request that allows libraries to report out these statistics for stealth and DIY programs - a sea-change for us since only active program stats and SLP registrations were previously gathered on those reports.

For other links to 1000 Books posts I've done, stop here, here, here, here, and here.  You can also view a webinar I did linked here. And as always, to find samples of our materials, check out our Winding Rivers Library System Youth website and scroll down towards the bottom of the page!

And for a 2014 update on our adventures here at LPL, please stop here!)

Zen Breaks

I was happy to see this post from my colleague Leah Langby over at Keeping Up with Kids.  She discusses a number of good reasons to create breaks in storytime sessions. Her list is clear, encouraging and concise.

I am a big advocate of this concept and have blogged about it before. Some people pile too much on their plates and keep jamming more on to serve all the needs - no breaks and just keep doing more. Some people are happily comfortable with routine and love storytime so much they just can't give it up - and are fearful of trying something new. No breaks for this person means things can stay at status quo.  Some people are so fearful of people leaving and not coming back that they just keep grinding out sessions.

It's ok to recharge and re-group. It's ok to take time for other tasks on the job - from collection development to developing partnerships to outreach. It's ok to give yourself the space and time to evaluate, re-work, blue sky and improve the content of not just your storytimes but all your programs.

Talk to your families and let them know that what you are doing in storytime is giving them the tools to enhance literacy with their children.  Talk to your families and let them know you serve many ages of children and you balance the many needs. Talk to your families and ask them what other types of do-it-yourself spaces and stealth programs you might develop to engage them while they are at the library. Talk to your families and let them know you are also there to help them to connect with great books, media and digital content. Letting them know the reasons behind changes helps them navigate that break.

Not only will they get zen, but so will you!

Gimme a Break - Creating Storytime Break Fun

Lots of library staffers fret when breaks between storytime programs are introduced into essentially year-round sessions of storytimes. What if people get upset? What if they never come back? We love to do storytime, what will we do?

At an idea exchange at Midwinter in Dallas this past year, a focus group of children's librarians and managers chatted about early literacy initiatives and programs.  The hesitation that some of the participants (from both large and small libraries) had about having breaks in storytime sessions was expressed. 

But those librarians who had weeks-long and sometimes months-long breaks between sessions were pretty sanguine.  Many shared long experiences with ways to have breaks for patrons, staff and kids that still resulted in healthy storytime attendance and more balanced and less stressed staff members. One of the librarians who oversaw all storytimes at two libraries in her career confided that she had done storytimes break-less and with breaks and found that patrons and staff actually loved the breaks and everyone was refreshed and ready.

There are lots of ways to structure storytimes to allow for breaks. Some libraries offer storytime on alternating months (September/November/January/March/May/July). Some libraries offer two sets of 5-6 weeks storytimes in the fall and two in the spring plus one session in the summer.  Some run a long 8-10 week session in the middle of fall and spring. All of these methods allow 2-4 weeks between sessions - and sometimes longer. 

These non-storytime weeks provide staff vacation time; staff time to attend conferences (both state, regional and national); time to serve other age groups (yes, during the school year, elementary-aged children are still our clientele); time to plan, weed, catch up on reviews and replacement buying and a chance to dream big about extending service to many populations besides the families that come to storytime.

And those families certainly aren't abandoned. Here we provide passive programs to entice them to visit us often, check out materials and visit beloved storytime hosts (here, here and here). We also schedule a few special "active" events like Toddler Drive in movie; Toddler Box Town; Toddler dance parties and Halloween and picture book character parties. Amy at The Show-Me Librarian supports the families by providing "Take Home Storytime" kits.

All these stealth (or passive) and active "special events" program methods let our patrons know that despite the lack of a treasured storytime session, we have them - and the literacy needs of their children- high on our priority list.

Image: 'Wish I was here' http://www.flickr.com/photos/90055788@N00/99912570 Found on flickrcc.net