How to use this Page

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

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

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

Display Comments Add a Comment

I love great programs for school-aged kids. They don't have to be crazy hard to plan and prep but they do have to be fun. Please visit three of my clever colleagues from around the country who posted today on three great easy programs that equal fun for kids and library love.

ALSC Blog rocked out a Star Wars Party post by Angie Manfredi, she of the fabulous Fat Girl Reading blog.

Amy over at Show Me Librarian showed us a super Super Hero party.

and Sara rounds out this idea-licious day with a report of her Angry Bird event on her blog Bryce Don't Play.

Add a Comment

 

 

Do you believe your children’s department is isolated from the rest of your system’s library team, or have you found the support you need from other departments and volunteers? Teamwork is as essential to the success of youth services as is a love of children.

Partial cross-training remains critical to the survival of youth services at smaller branches and library systems. At our Hope Mills Branch Library, a community branch of the Cumberland County Public Library and Information Center in North Carolina, children’s staffers are supported by other departments. Our children’s staffers lead our programs, but employees in Circulation and Information Services play an instrumental role in serving our youngest library patrons. As space and staff are at a premium, all library employees at our Hope Mills Branch are directly involved with ensuring that children’s programs remain a success.

Behind the Scenes

Page staffers assist with the inventory of our story time collections. Employees organize and create programming materials to be used during our special book-based events. These projects determine our programming effectiveness but are often overlooked by the customers participating in the experience. Volunteers also provide assistance with story time preparation and aid youth services staffers juggling the demands of reference work, collection development and outreach visits.

It’s Show Time

While trained youth services staffers present the actual programs, we seek assistance from other departments in keeping statistics during special events. This support frees our staffers’ time to focus on the quality of the actual presentation and to ensure we get those customers straggling in the Activity Room in our final count.

Extend an Invitation

The most effective way we promote our programming is through our word-of-mouth marketing campaign. Staffers in all departments receive a brief training on various services provided by our library system, and we maintain records on the number of times we promote these programs to our customers. When all staffers market our resources directly to our patrons, they personally invite parents to bring their sons and daughters to our story times. Our attendance has skyrocketed.

These examples of programming assistance demonstrate that a team of dedicated staff is necessary for children’s programming to thrive. This teamwork also positively impacts our other departments.  Our youth services librarians and associates staff our general Information Services Desk and provide one-on-one instruction to adult customers through Book-a-Librarian sessions. What ways does your library cross-train staff to maximize the programs available for your children and their families?

Add a Comment

I don't give enough props to the fun stuff our newest Department member Sara B. comes up with. Let me correct that.

Her newest idea was to hatch an afterschool series based on the wildly popular -ology series (Dragonology, Spyology, Wizardology, etc). Drop by her lively blog Bryce Don't Play for a report of the first successful session.

Add a Comment

So here I am immersed in literacy, literacy, literacy - and I thought it was going to be a typical, somewhat slow, Saturday morning.  What's up?

Thirty members of our university's education honor society, Kappa Delta Pi, are crammed in every space in the Children's Room sharing stories and activities with kids at the Literacy Alive Day they created for us. We provide the space, they provide the magic.

The Friends of the Library are holding a booksale. We provide the discards, they provide the money for all our programs with their profits.

Families who knew nothing about either event are pouring in, bringing in their completed 1000 Books Before Kindergarten sheets. We provide the "stealth program" families, provide the reading and return visits.

Teachers and kids are looking for books and info: sharks; Curious George; teeth and dental health;books better than Julie B. Jones; more of Bergen's Samantha books; locating Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back; what's going on in here?. They provide the questions, we provide the answers...with a smile.

2nd grade kids who came to the library for a field trip adventure and became Library Stars the past two weeks are stopping by to check out materials and pick up their flashing star. We provide the amazing visit, they provide the enthusiastic return.

I think I'm happy that this is only a half a day for me. And I think I am happy that people love our library so much!

Image: 'Storm Crowd'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/83346641@N00/3574716051

Display Comments Add a Comment

When I started my blog almost five years ago, I wanted to talk specifically about children's services in libraries. However, I didn't just want to talk.  I wanted to listen to others too.  I thought about how the pubyac listserv served that purpose wonderfully. Still, I wanted to read longer pieces so my blog search was on.  It was a bit lonely there for awhile.  I could find lots of book reviewing blogs but it was a struggle to find blogs that talked about my passion - how we do our children's public library work good. 

As the year's have rolled on, I slowly built up more and more blogs on my RSS feed where lots of content addressed programs, planning, behaviors, thoughts and issues in youth public library services that I could learn from.

I want to list a few of my favorite local blogs about youth services here in case you don't know them and want to add them to your arsenal of great stops. They don't do much book reviewing but spend lots of space talking about issues in our youth library world. Here is where you can read about youth services - Wisconsin style!

Heart of a Child - I'll start with the newest first. Good friend and colleague (and writer, humorist, former children's librarian, storyteller, youth lit prof and raconteur) Rob Reid steps up and into blogging through the Children's Literature Network.  He hopes to blog 3-4 times a month.

Bryce Don't Play - in the interest of full disclosure, Sara is one of my YS team members. Brand new to public children's librarianship (but not to kids - she has been a 2nd grade teacher and received a Masters in Reading as well as her MLIS), she brings a fresh and quirky eye to everything from delving into chapter books as a selector to the thought processes behind fun programs she has developed that are wild successes. No punches are pulled.

Future Librarian Superhero - a chance meeting at a conference brought me into contact with Anna K, a thoughtful, funny and hard working youth librarian/assistant director in a small community in Northern WI. Active in Flannel Friday and in the twitterverse, her blog is mostly quiet but when she has something to say, you want to be reading it.

Come into Delight - my dear friend and colleague, Georgia Jones works in a small library up nort' in WI.  She is inventive, creative and shares her program ideas complete with pictures and tips. Many of my programs that have been born from and built on her creativity and that of her library co-worker, Cynthia.

Jen the Youth Services Librarian - again, in the interest of being honest, Jen is my protege in We Lead, a great initiative sponsored by our WI Library Association. She is a year or two into her job in a small suburban library outside of Milwaukee and is rocking it out.  Although the blog isn't uber active, each time she posts, there is something exciting being thought up, reported on or experienced. Always worth a visit.

Keeping Up with Kids - this blog is administered on the syste

Display Comments Add a Comment

What’s a miniview, you ask? It’s a mini-interview, of course! These are short, oh-so-sah-wheet bits of info from folks who have different perspectives on the children's publishing biz. Don't blink, or you just may miss something. This week, you’ll hear from:

One hard-working, independent bookstore owner

One top-notch New York City agent

One debut novelist from the Class of 2k9

One aspiring writer

And…

One famous, contemporary children’s book author


LET'S GET TO IT!

Today, we talk to Vicki Erwin. Vicki is the owner of that charming bookstore called Main Street Books in St. Charles, MO.

Located in historic St. Charles, Main Street Books is a cozy, warm escape into the world of literature. If you’d like to buy a new novel, check out a guidebook, browse the children’s section, attend a book club, or rub elbows with an author, then 307 South Main Street is the place to be.

Vicki, please tell us about your bookstore.
We are a general bookstore, located in an historic district in an historic building -- which can present challenges. Our store is on three levels. What we call the mezzanine houses the picture books and readers, a major part of our business. The early chapter, middle grade and young adult titles are on the second floor of the store. We separated these from the younger children because we wanted this age to feel a sense of having their own place. The books are shelved in a hallway and displayed on tables in the kitchen. We have bean bag chairs and a sofa that they often take advantage of! I estimate half of our space is children's books.

What children's programs have been most successful? Why?
Our most successful children's programs have been in partnership with local libraries. Partly that's because we don't have space available for big programs. It's also partly because we combine our marketing efforts to reach a larger audience. A book being featured in the newspaper or on local television also nudges sales.


What is the most exciting part about being a bookseller?
There are so many exciting parts! One is matching the right reader with the right book. It's wonderful when they return to tell you how much they loved a book. Another great part of bookselling is discovering a wonderful book early on and feeling like you have a role in the presentation and building of that book -- telling people about it, promoting it, etc. Finally, just having the opportunity to see everything and read so much is a dream.


In one sentence, tell us how bookstores are changing.
We have to be better than ever to compete, so SHOP LOCAL!

Thanks, Vicki. We love our indies!

Tune in tomorrow for another miniview. We'll be featuring a top-notch NYC agent from a world-reknown agency.

Display Comments Add a Comment