Registration Discount for Youth Services 101 Course

August 27 is the registration deadline for a 10% early bird discount for the YS 101 continuing education course I am teaching for UW-Madison iSchool.

The 8-week course starts Sept 11.

It's a "basics" course perfect for library para-pros, volunteers, directors who want to know more about the ins and outs of administering youth services staff, staff at small libraries who do ALL.THE.THINGS. and anyone who wants to get an overall view of youth services. This post has a few more details.

Please feel free to share the info. And see you all in school this fall!

Back to School!

I'm excited to be teaching a fall online UW-Madison SLIS/iSchool CE class that has been a long-time dream - Youth Services 101. It's an eight weeks "basics" course perfect for library para-pros, volunteers, directors who want to know more about the ins and outs of administering youth services staff, staff at small libraries who do ALL.THE.THINGS. and anyone who wants to get an overall view of youth services.

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From the beginnings of youth services through looking at future trends, we'll examine the how's and why's that make youth services great. Topics include: child development info; programming mightiness; collection development skill-building; planning and visioning; advocacy; partnerships and communities of practice, success with difficult patrons; and creating kid-friendly environments. No textbooks needed for this wild ride into the guts of great youth librarian-ing!

Registration is now open (with a 10% discount if registered by August 27).

And if you've got the basics down, don't forget to check out the other great library and youth courses
Fostering Inclusivity; Creating Top Notch Customer Services; Programming for Tweens; The Disability Community in Your Library; and Creating a Coding Club at the Library.

A huge thanks to the University of Wisconsin Madison SLIS/iSchool CE department for supporting great CE for library staff at all levels and in all types of libraries!

Come on! Let's learn together!!

And the First Ever Power Up Conference is a Wrap!

via GIPHY

Yep, that's how I feel about it! What a debut for a national conference addressing youth library leadership and management issues! From it's humble "Let's do this" in the summer of 2015 to its hatch last week, it was a magical process and result. As consultant to the conference I had an inside view and high hopes.

The aim was to have a national conference to support those both in - and aspiring to - library management/leadership. It was to have a conference with content given by and helpful to attendees and presenters from all sizes of libraries; a conference that would take us beyond "Library 101" sessions to content that stretched out all who came; and a conference that would appeal not just to in-state folks but to library staff across the country.

Thanks to our amazing UW-Madison SLIS CE conference leader Meredith Lowe for guiding and coordinating this conference every step of the way. She was the might behind the well-planned and executed event. And mighty as well - powering through despite being sick at the conference itself.

Thanks to our main speakers, Gretchen Caserotti and Deborah Taylor, who set the tone and inspired us throughout the conference. Thanks also go to the many speakers from all library sizes, from all age/experience groups and from teen and children's backgrounds who created sessions that rocked our socks off: Elizabeth McChesney, Bryan Wunar, Amy Commers, Lora Siebert, Leah Langby, Alea Perez, Katie Kiekhafer, Jenni Francham, Sharon Grover, K.T. Horning, Allison Tran, Jennifer Weeks, Amy Koester, Alicia Woodland, Krista Riggs, Shawn Brommer, Kevin King, Renee Wallace, Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, Brooke Newberry, Lara Lakari, Erin Shaw, Lori Romero, Kristen Bodine, Mel Depper, Claudia Haines and Darrell Robertson. 

Thanks to the CCBC who hosted a delightful reception on Thursday evening so attendees could explore the legendary CCBC book examination center, chat and enjoy nibbles.

Thanks to UW-Madison SLIS who, in celebration of the Wisconsin Idea, offered ten full registration scholarships to WI library staff.

Thanks to the Pyle Center for a great venue - delightful food (ice cream at afternoon break!), top-notch AV and tech support, and space to make hallway networking connections a snap. The location on campus and near State St made social gatherings easy peasy.

Most importantly, thanks to all who attended. The energy was electric, the sharing sublime and it was a great opportunity to get to know new folks and say hi to old friends!

Don't be sad if you missed this first conference. You can get a taste of the conference on Twitter at #PowerUp17.  Abby the Librarian posted a list of books mentioned by speakers (truly "reading wildly!"). There will also be handouts and slidedecks shared on the main conference page in the next month or so,  so check back. 

The hope is that the conference will be offered again in the future (it would be a biennial event). So think spring 2019 and keep an eye out for a proposal call in early 2018.  

Taming the Youth Management Dragon

How many times do you say, “They didn’t teach me this in school!” as you navigate some portion of your day as a youth librarian and/or manager?  There are so many conversations to be had that we are digging in to re-offer our online CE course How Did You Manage THAT?!?! - the Sequel running January 30 - February 24, 2017

Whether you were in our first class this fall or not, join us to take this hands-on, hearts-out course on youth management issues. We’ll explore the delicate dance of navigating personnel issues (library staff, patrons and partners) as well as discover tips to more effectively balance, advocate for and marshall resources to make smart management decisions. The course will be collaborative as you share your own experiences and ideas that have worked in managing your youth services area.

Registration is now open for this course as well as other amazing courses for youth services librarians through the UW-Madison SLIS CE office. And you get a 10% discount if you register by January 16, so don't delay! Hope to see you next year!

Come to School with Me on Youth Management!

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I'm happy to say I have the opportunity to once again present "How Do You Manage THAT?!? Issues in Youth Services Management Part 1", October 17-November 11 for UW-Madison SLIS CE. This course was originally offered in fall 2014 so I'm pumped to examine the issues in this first version of the course.

What are we covering?

•  Collection Development Mojo – savvy selection, weeding, confounding conundrums (bindings, salespeople, cold calls, awards, earning a place on the shelf)
• Strategic Planning Power – big picture visioning; outcomes and goals; balancing services; statistics power
• Room Management and Space Issues- from chaos to calm; involving your public; creative space-making; managing behaviors
• Leadership from Within – fostering  relationships with other library staff; dealing with reluctant administration/board/patrons/co-workers/employees;
• Zen Balance and Creative Engagement – partnerships/collaboration; PLNs

Active participation in discussion, a short paper that helps you identify a goal to work on and presto! You've earned CEUs and valuable insight from this crowd-sourced course where we all help each other examine these issues. Problem-solving and sharing are hallmarks of this learning opportunity.

Registration is now open (with a 10% discount before Oct 2). But don't delay; the course tends to fill fast!

And please check out the other UW-Madison SLIS fall CE courses. My colleagues are knocking it out of the park and each class is dynamite!!!

Power Up! An Amazing Opportunity

Many of you know I'm been delving into and thinking about leadership and management issues (both being a manager and being managed) over the past few years. 

So it is with real excitement that I have been assisting in the development of a brand new national conference sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Madison Continuing Education Department. The conference is titled: Power Up –  A Conference in Leadership for Youth Services Managers and Staff and will be held March 30-31, 2017 on the beautiful campus of UW-Madison.  

The UW Madison CE team has been presenting the highly successful Back in Circulation conference for circulation staff and managers for years. The Power Up conference is based on that successful concept and it’s a leadership conference that is sure to be uber-useful for youth librarians at all levels in our careers.

I hope you will mark your calendars for this amazing opportunity. I also want you to consider submitting a program proposal and be one of our valued presenters at the conference.  Here’s the scoop:

Call for Proposals

Do you have ideas about management and leadership in Youth Services? UW-Madison, School of Library and Information Studies is pleased to offer Power Up, a brand new conference to share your exciting ideas! Gretchen Caserotti, Library Director at Meridian (ID) Library District, is kicking off our conference as the keynote speaker. The conference will take place in Madison, Wisconsin on March 30-31st, 2017 and will be accepting proposals until July 31, 2016. Topics may include, but are not limited to: strategic planning, collaborations, ethics, leadership pathways, advocacy, mentorship, managing change, work/life balance, staff motivation, and innovation. Youth services librarians and staff from all over the country are invited to attend!

Please submit  a 200-250 word description of your proposed session to Meredith Lowe,  mclowe@wisc.edu,  by July 31, 2016. Sessions at the conference will be one hour (45 minutes of presentation, 15 minutes of discussion).  Panel presentations are accepted. All selected sessions will receive one complimentary conference registration and a discount for staff members they wish to join them at the conference.

I’d love to see lots of youth librarians throw their hats in the ring to share thoughts on leadership and management and doing great youth services work. Bookmark this link for information about the conference now and in the coming months. And feel free to contact me if you need more information or want to bounce ideas at lochwouters at gmail dot com!

Need More Programming Chops?

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One of the most difficult parts of our work is often giving ourselves permission to try new things in our programming.  Sometimes we feel pressure from our administrators, our veteran colleagues or patrons to do - or not do - certain things. Combine that with tight budgets, tight staffing and tight time and the challenge really ramps up. We read exciting efforts in blogs and online but just can't seem to jumpstart them at our own place of work.

If you are looking to re-think, get re-inspired or explore programming a little more in depth, I invite you to join me in an upcoming online CE course: Power Children's Programming on a Budget.

This asynchronous course which starts on January 26 and runs for six weeks gives participants a chance to learn - and share experiences and tips that work wonders. We also explore strategic ways to plan, be a strong advocate and fit what you want to try into a busy work schedule. A bonus is our blog that will preserve ideas and thoughts.

Whether you live in Wisconsin or another state, this course is a great one to hone your programming skills! Hope you can join me!

I Get By with a Little Help From My Friends

Image: Pixabay

As some of you know, I've recently been teaching as an adjunct and occasional instructor for continuing ed courses. I pretty much fell into it - never pictured myself teaching. With encouragement, I applied to teach a basic youth services in public library grad course online a few years ago. What's to lose?

Holy academia! I got hired! That first time, I had six weeks to develop a syllabus and content for the fifteen week grad course, find my textbooks and set-up the online course on a platform that was like learning a language from another dimension. It was without question the hardest professional challenge I ever experienced.

I was able to do it because I wasn't alone. The support from UW-Madison SLIS staff and many, many colleagues who mentored me, suggested pathways through this new dimension and from the students themselves taught me a ton and shaped me as a teacher.

Because of that experience, I found I love teaching and kept it up (it's gotten easier and far less other-dimensional since that first "polar plunge" semester).

And alot of that love is because of alot of you!

Teaching allows me to share the wisdom and experience of many of you out in the field blazing paths to great services for your communities. I have been able to link my students to many bloggers  and blog posts and the seminal thinking that is going on in the field. I thank you and hope you keep writing and sharing!

And I want to especially thank the kind colleagues who took the time to go the extra mile this semester for my students by creating videos talking about their passions and areas of expertise. Huge hugs go out to Christine Jenkins, Mel Depper, Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Karen Jensen, Abby Johnson, Terrie Howe, Megan Schliesmann, Shelly Collins-Fuerbringer, Lisa Shaia, Amy Koester, Cen Campbell and Starr LaTronica. I know how busy everyone is and it was a privilege to share your thinking with the class.

While the course evaluations aren't in, I would say that these videos touched the students deeply (if the discussion boards and papers written are any indication) and were eye-opening glimpses into the thinking behind what we do as youth services professionals. Your expertise, so kindly shared, will make the students more mighty.

Thanks for joining me in this teaching adventure. I simply could not do it without you!

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

Youth Management School - For Real!

Before I begin, let me just say, any of us who work in youth services, whether official "managers" or line staff, are managing (or perhaps I should say juggling) alot all the time.

We each make decisions on collections, services, partnerships, intra-library collaborations, advocacy decisions, media matters, best use of our time/energy and a whole lot more. Sometimes we stay safely in the lane, following tradition, received wisdom or direction from above. Other times, after going to a workshop, webinar or social media peeps on the computer, we hop out of the lane and zoom to a better place.

So we all manage.

I have blogged about how excited I have been to find so many people sharing program and service ideas over the past few years. I can't say how important these ideas are for my practice and to my community. It led me to develop my first CE course this spring on Programming Mojo.  More recently I've been exploring great youth management ideas from bloggers like Erin , Cheryl and Abby and blogs like Library Lost and Found. It got me thinking more on how we manage our youth work and thinking again about how we all learn to approach our practice. Seems like there's lots to discover and and ideas to chat about.

If you want to join a conversation on youth management this fall, come to school with me!

I will be teaching a four week UW-Madison SLIS online course How Did You Manage THAT?!?! that looks at many of the issues we face each day in the youth services area. We'll learn and share together and have a great textbook to guide us (Managing Children's Services in Libraries by Adele Fasick and Leslie Holt - a book whose many editions throughout my career have served me well as a guide and a goad). Since this is an asynchronous course, you dip in each week at a time convenient for you.

I somehow think a class crowd-sourced blog will be involved again too. Hope you can join me and explore!

It's a Wrap!

It's time for a report-out and a shout-out because we finished the six-week online UW-Madison CE class: Power Children's Programming - on a Budget! Although I organized the information and loaded it up on the platform, I can tell you that each and every student made this a deep, useful (and...krikey I don't have enough praise-worthy adjectives to express the phenom that happened) course.

From the start, the class of 24 librarians from libraries of all sizes in WI and across the country jumped in and shared, cared, supported and explored programming. There were "Aha!" moments, "Oh no!" moments and discoveries about programming made everywhere.

At the beginning of the course, I told the class I didn't have the answers, only the questions everyone should ask themselves when we begin to put our programs together. And I asked everyone, no matter their circumstance or experience, to share generously in the discussion boards their own journeys, program ideas and discoveries. And did they ever. It was nothing to see 200 substantive posts a week, chock full of deep thoughts and great program ideas.

A huge thank you to the library folks in class for making this the experience that helped me learn so much more about programming and your libraries than I ever dreamed I could. I am so wealthy after these six weeks that's it's hard for me not to be all

(Thanks to Sara Bryce, my blog is sporting it's first gif!)

We didn't use a textbook. Rather, the class went through blog posts related to our content written by many of our thoughtful colleagues. So a gigantic high five goes out to you, my blogosphere friends and colleagues. YOU made this course as well:  Abby at Abby the Librarian,  Amy at Catch the Possibilities , Amy at the Show Me Librarian,  Angie at Fat Girl, Reading, Anne at so tomorrow,  Beth at Beth Reads, Brooke at Reading with Red,  Carissa at Librarymakers, Cen at Little eLit, Julie at Hi Miss Julie, Leah at Keeping Up with Kids, Lisa at Thrive After Three, Mel at Mel's Desk, Sara at S. Bryce Kozla, Tessa at Growing Wisconsin Readers and the many contributors to the ALSC blog who shared programs.      

The sharing of ideas sparked by the blog posts and the class made it a totally worthwhile trip. And now that the CE teaching bug has bit, what should I teach next?!?!                

Let's Go to School Together!

Hey friends out in youth library land....

Interested in digging more deeply into programming for children, preschool through elementary ages? Want to explore: why we do what we do; how to do it better; negotiating the tricky currents of available staff, time, money and patron reactions? Thinking you've got storytime down pat but want to strengthen your preschool programming in other ways? Need to expand your community of programming peeps through robust dialogue, program shares and down-right feisty argument?

Well, I have an online course for you!  I will be teaching Power Children's Programming - on a Budget, a six week on-line course for the UW Madison SLIS Continuing Education department beginning the week of February 10. It is open to anyone, in-state or out-of-state, who is interested in this subject.

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 Bryce, 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.

I've created a brand new blog Kids Library Program Mojo that will start filling with 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

Where You Been, Loch-Wouters?

Just seconds ago, I hit the "submit" button for grades to go to the registrar. Yep, I've been an instructor this past semester. At the graduate level. For my alma mater UW-Madison SLIS. Teaching Public Library Service for Children and Teens. On my off time. Online.

When the job opening came up in June for a fall online graduate-level 3-credit course instructor in my career field, I was like, "Oh I could do this." I've thought off and on about whether I could teach at some point in my career. It was a long-time (albeit, secret) dream. After all the workshops I've given on youth services I thought SNAP! After looking at a syllabus from the last online instructor (about five pages), I applied with confidence and was hired in early July.

From there, I can only compare the past 5.5 months to a wildly careening run down a steep ski hill by a skier who had never strapped on downhill skis before. Syllabus building; learning the online component; going through piles of books to finalize my textbooks; driving the five-hour round trip weekly to consult with faculty; meeting and talking with generous and supportive teaching colleagues to get up to speed - that's a peek into those first two hectic months. And everything felt completely Alice-in-Wonderland nuts.

There wasn't a minute of that time that I wasn't worried and scared. What HAD I gotten myself into? This was...hard!  And challenging! And intellectually stimulating! And freaking time consuming.  The online component was a little challenging and I sucked alot of the ever-patient Distance TA's time away holding my hand. I was glad I had vacation (sorry, honey, the Utah hiking trip is off). And I got used to getting up at 4am daily to do my course prep and saying goodbye to weekends.

The very worst moment was discovering that each of my online lectures needed to be very short and concise - no more than ten-twelve minutes. Whaaa?!?!?!  For a chatty person like me, that was a hellish nightmare and THE number one most difficult challenge. I think I kept them down to that length once.And to get there usually took 7-8 hours of writing, thinking and composing per lecture.

I woke up thinking about my readings, lectures, class discussions and students and went to bed thinking about them. That concentration really pulled me through. But it didn't leave much time for anything else.

By the beginning of October, after the first assignment was in, with a month of lectures under my belt and the students really bringing it on in the course, I calmed down and began to enjoy the experience. I felt more comfortable with the software. I wanted to stimulate my students to see the big picture of youth librarianship and they really responded. It wasn't a fancy course and if I ever get the chance I will make it a little more interesting ("OMG," I can imagine the students saying, "Not another lecture/discussion AGAIN? Can't she mix it up a little to create a more interesting format?")

I'm a little wistful it's over. I loved watching students learn over the couple of months and share their discoveries. As challenging as it was, it was THAT satisfying. But what will I do with all my free time? Hello, blog. Hello, family. Hello, friends. Hello, reading for pleasure. And that's good too!