When I started working at a multi-branch system, my whole world turned upside down; I came from the craziness of a single library system with a large teen population to a smaller branch with a tiny teen population. Although this has thrown me for a bit of loop, I decided that in order to stay in touch with teens, and not let my years of experience lay by the way side, I will work more closely with my colleagues who do serve a large teen population. In other words I’d outsource myself.
What I mean by “outsourcing” is literally working more closely with colleagues to provide and implement new programs and services. Through these interactions, I have been able to step out of my home library branch and visit other branches to present, and implement, new programs and services. Although I still need to build up teen programming, at my main branch, I sincerely believe that we should not let an obvious factors like location, or lack of a teen audience, keep our ideas from getting to our colleagues and teens all over the city. In fact, for this summer, I was able to get two of my colleagues excited about a no sew blanket program; this singular program will be at three branches instead of one! Furthermore, the best thing about working with your colleagues is that they are just a phone call, or e-mail away, and are willing to try new things, and/or help us out in any way they can. More importantly, by co-hosting programs at different branches, we have access to information that will help us gauge the interests of the entire teen community.
Through these exclusive opportunities, we can not only get suggestions from actual teens, we can also get very valuable feedback, which could easily change the way we evaluate our programs and services. Either way, this is definitely a win-win situation for all of us since we can take this valuable information back to our branches and plan programs and services that will get teens into our buildings. By establishing a stronger connection between ourselves and our colleagues, we have a much better chance of finding out what teens are really looking for at our libraries and in our city. Not to mention, this partnership will allow us to get know our colleagues interests and talents, which is very advantageous and re-assuring because we know there are other people in our systems who are just as passionate as we are about serving teens.
Along with co- planning, and co-hosting programs with our colleagues, I want to continue the dialogue about taking the extra step in getting to know our teens. Although we may try every social media outlet we know and make a million flyers, we need to remember that if we want to know what teens want, we have to go into our communities and find out from the source itself. Again, we have our standard outreach programs and resources, but we need to keep trying other methods of connecting with teens. For example, if schools are having a volunteer fairs, we can pick up the phone and ask if we can set-up a booth. Another example: if we know teens are flooding the local coffee shop to study, why not drop off flyers there or maybe host a passive program at the venue. The sky is the limit with ideas so try one and run with it. However, don’t forget about the obvious factors, which are working with teachers and school administrators to get the word out that the library does offer teens programs and services. I know it can be a pain communicating with teachers and administrators, but persistence really pays off. Whether we invade the local high schools, create Teen Advisory Boards, visit other branch libraries, or hang out at Teen Centers, the best way to find out what teens want is to ask! This is the best data we could ever ask for so let’s run with it and work together to make it known that teens have a place in public libraries and, more importantly, that they have people in their corner who truly care about their interests and well-being.
Now that we have an idea of what teens want, and have a team of people who are willing to help makes these ideas a reality, the next part is to enjoy ourselves. Despite the countless amounts of hours we put into implementing programs, the real payoff is to see teens enjoy themselves and actually say they want to come back for the next program. More importantly, it’s imperative that we show our teens that we really enjoy these programs so get involved with them! Whether it’s an art project, a fitness program, or a presentation, become part of the program as well. One program that I had the most fun with was our Silent Library program, which involved a lot of prep and organization; I was literally exhausted, but, when I saw what these teens had to go through, my sides hurt from laughing so much, which made them laugh even more because I was in pain from laughing. Planning, and implementing programs, is only is a step towards having fun; the real fun is watching, and interacting, with our teens so dream big, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and enjoy!
Little Shepherd is a Christian Children's Picture Book.
Five-year-old Obed is a shepherd, his greatest joy is protecting the sheep from wolves. His father has entrusted the care of his first flock and Obed is determined to be wise beyond his years.
On the night that a special baby is born and an Angel descends upon them; the Shepherds wish to go pay their respects, but Obed doesn't wish to leave his sheep behind.
Obed's father explains to the young boy that everything will be protected by God and not to worry, it is an important mission that they have been set upon and reluctantly, Obed agrees and goes with the other Shepherds to Bethlehem.
Along the way, Obed learns patience, obedience and faith. He is pleased to see his father happy and rejoices in the miracles and the blessings of God.
I loved the story of Obed and the journey he found himself upon. I thought the retelling of Luke 2:8-16 was commendable in its approach. The tale is delightful and faith affirming.
I enjoyed reading the tale through Obed's eyes, giving the reader another side to a story we have heard for since childhood. The message is a great one to be read to your own child and they will love the outcome of the story.
I would give Little Shepherd a four out of five stars. I thought the illustrations by Eugene Ruble were a bit dark in places and it made for reading some of the text difficult. The pictures and the prose blended together on a couple of pages and if a child were reading this, they may get frustrated having to differentiate the words through the pictures. While the drawings were a great addition, I found the lines to be dark and not as appealing as they could be.
I think this would make a wonderful addition to any home library, church day cares or libraries in general, it is a great book to have and enjoy!
SYNOPSIS:In the hills outside Bethlehem, Obed guards his first flock of sheep. When the angels appear to tell of the Savior's birth, he is hesitant to follow the others to see the new King. When Obed returns to his sheep, he realizes it is a night of miracles. Suggested age for readers: 4 - 8
I received a product to review from the above company or their PR Agency. Opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own - I was not influenced in any way.
Living with a...GAMER is a comical outlook on your gaming fanatic.
Is that person close to you hanging out with video games instead of real life friends? Does your loved one have thumb blisters, eye strain, brain drain or any other of the symptoms normally associated with gaming?? Does their personality change after hours of playing? Are they asking you to call them by their screen name?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then this book would probably be for you! It's filled with many hilarious and fun ideas on how to cope with your gamer.
This handbook for the world of gaming is a must have in order to better understand the gamer in your life. Giving your insight into the techno-gamer lingo by helping you to translate the language of the gamer as well as, helping you to better understand their mode of dress, eating habits and giving you tips on how to communicate with the gamer in your household.
Every stage of gaming and gamers is covered in this 80 page book in order to better assist you in all your gamers needs and understand what makes a gamer tick. Included is historical references to the onset of gaming, top videos of past and present and even careers that your gamer would find suitable to their habits.
I thought this was a very delightful read on the life of a gamer! My two sons are gamers and I laughed quite often as many of the thoughts and suggestions mentioned in this book definitely applied to them. My biggest peeve is their attitude change when they cannot get past a certain point in the game! I've jokingly applied some of the tips garnered from this book and I must say, it makes them giggle and forget their gaming issues.
I would suggest this to any parent or loved one who has themselves a gamer in their midst. You will find many interesting things to read and apply to your own lives. The graphics are hilarious and gave the book a more flavoured appeal.
There are three other books in this series, How to live with a "Gangsta", an "Emo" and a "Diva" and if they are anything like this one, then the laughter and tongue-in-cheek humour would be well worth the reads!
SYNOPSIS:Is the friend or relative you once knew done with hanging around people? Does he or she prefer 3D graphics? And is this person developing blisters on the thumbs as he or she nears the top of his game, his X-box game that is. If you're not registering on his screen, it's all too likely that you're Living With.a Gamer. Learn to recognize and appreciate these weird and wired teens with the help of the first and best field guides to these cutting-edge homo-sapiens.
** Disclosure: I did not accept any compensation from the sponsors other than review copies, my views are my own, reviewed by me..as I see it~!! **
Lacey's Day is book seven in the America Drama Series concerning Lust.
Ted Hewitt has just been stood up at the altar and after suffering depression over his loss, he decides to surf the internet. Not knowing what he will find, he happens upon the name Lacey Chen, her name intrigues him and he begins a correspondence with her.
Lacey, who is from China and whose English is poor, has no wish to meet anyone new, she is over worked, married to a bi-sexual man who controls her and the last thing she needs now is a new friendship. However, after her initial disdain, she finally writes Ted back and the two begin to enjoy their new found internet relationship.
Along the way, the two teach each other about their selves, their cultures, their feelings and their goals in life. Each correspondence drives the two closer and closer together and their emails eventually turn into phone conversations. As each of them deals with their own insecurities, they find themselves committing to meet.
Their rendezvous point is in Chicago and Ted is worried that Lacey will stand him up bringing to the fore his own self-doubts about their relationship. Will Ted and Lacey meet and begin a romance that will bring pleasure to their lives? Or will the fates keep them apart, forever to dwell in their own miserable lives?
I love
Jack Eadon's books, this is the second book of his I have read and I was equally pleased to find this one was just as interesting as "Head Trip". This was an audio book that I had the opportunity to review and I found the voices were well liked and easy to listen to. I have a voice thing and I was glad to hear that the voices were not obnoxious or whiny.
I wasn't too sure how I was going to feel about having a married woman begin a relationship with another man, however, the author really paints Lacey's husband to be someone you wouldn't want to relate to. As well, you get from Lacey that she respects and loves her husband, she's just not satisfied emotionally with him, hence her need to fill a void. I was very divided about the situation, even though I felt that all involved deserved to be happy.
I liked the sharing of cultural differences and thought it was well explained and added to the overall cohesiveness of the plot. As well, I enjoyed Ted's hesitancy with his feelings, they were real to me and not hackneyed. Here is a man who has been left raw emotionally and is willing to brave the circumstances before him and plunge into a new relationship with a married woman living halfway across the world. His cupidity for this woman realizes no bounds and his rationality is lax.
This book is a must read for those of you who enjoy romances, especially those who are culturally crossed. It is reasonable, easily understood and beautifully written.
Visit
Jack Eadon and check out his other wonderful works of literature!
Life for both Ted Hewitt and Lacey Chen is starved of simple love when a wedding doesn’t materialize and a genuine love is replaced by obligation. That empty pot is filled with love and care by Ted’s reaction to Lacey and her reaction to him. At first the match is challenging but gets more and more intense as feelings of love are replaced by need, hen sheer erotic lust. At the end
Are you looking for a place to show your art and engage in conversation about it? Do you wish you knew of a place where you could go to get positive, constructive feedback about your art? Maybe you're a professional artist who would like to help and encourage other artists by providing them with invaluable advice and answers based upon your many years of experience. Well friends - it's time to put yourselves in the Creative HotSeat.
Creative HotSeat is an online, critique community for artists. All artists may submit their completed works, works in progress, sketches, thumbnails, and even basic outlines for open peer-to-peer critiques and discussions.
Artist Mimi Lee launched
Creative HotSeat as a way for student and professional artists to get varied opinions about their work - but mostly their works-in-progress. On the website, artists can submit their work(s) easily and have it posted for peer-to-peer critique.
Creative HotSeat is essentially a rolling critique, where revisions are posted, and linked back to the original post. With this, reviewers and artists can gather an opinion of where the piece started and where it is going. Mimi encourages every visitor to the site to participate by posting work
and also reviewing work. Her hope for
Creative HotSeat is for it to become a tool for artists of all mediums to use regularly and provide them with an active voice in the art community.
Mimi would also like to see
Creative HotSeat become a place where artists from many different regions of the world come to communicate, share, and experience the process of other artists in their field.
Creative HotSeat has only been "live" for three weeks and already many students and several professionals from around the world have been posting assignment pieces and gallery works. There has even been an artist from Spain who has posted - very exciting to see!
Since the site is still in the very early stages, the importance of getting the word out there is high on Mimi's list.
Creative HotSeat needs a larger community in order for artists to get a broad amount of feedback. Mimi's art school buddy and friend, Chris McGarry, has also jumped on board since the very beginning concept of
Creative HotSeat. He has been helping to spread the word in the Philadelphia area. He also started a
Facebook page for the website. Mimi says she would have never thought to use
Facebook as a marketing tool if not for Chris. Together, they've been plastering the walls of
Facebook art groups and pages with information on
Creative HotSeat. They've received so much positive feedback from all types of groups and
Lucas Taylor: The Time Traveler is about a boy, who, upon his 18th birthday acquires a family-inherited gift of time travel. Without any rules or clues as to what is happening to him, he finds himself viewing pieces of his "future" life.
Thinking he is going crazy, Lucas explains to his parents and his sister, Sophie, what he has been experiencing, only to learn that its a gift on the fraternal side of the family. As Lucas continues to understand his gift, we watch how he struggles internally to accept who and what he is.
Frankly, I didn't get the book. I love time travel stories but this one was thin in the areas I wanted to see more of, and heavy in the areas that I could care less about. I didn't have an inside knowledge on any of the characters, so had I no heart for any of them and there were some issues with story flow for me. I found the dialogue wooden and dull in areas, and in some places, I would've like to have seen less dialogue and more head thoughts and background ambiance. I'm not saying its a bad book, it just wasn't the book for me.
SYNOPSIS:Lucas Taylor is an undergraduate, studying Computer Science, at the university of Wolverhampton, UK. He has a profound passion for writing and reading, and hopes to become an author one day. On his eighteenth birthday, Lucas is given a priceless gift - the ability to time travel.
Maybe you didn't recognize
Illustrations Pages for a second. No,
IP hasn't turned into a medical site overnight. Today we're featuring an extremely talented medical illustrator. Actually, Scott Leighton is a
certified medical illustrator (CMI). A CMI is an illustrator who has successfully passed examinations in business practices, ethics, biomedical science, and drawing skills and has undergone a rigorous portfolio review.
To become a certified medical illustrator the artist has to pass a written exam administered by the AMI (The Association of Medical Illustrators) and a portfolio review with some specific requirements in technique and subject matter. But before an illustrator applies for the certification exam they are required to have certain prerequisites. These qualifications are a degree from a recognized college or university program in medical illustration that includes a course in human gross anatomy with hands on dissection; or a minimum of five years full-time work experience as a medical illustrator substantiated by letters of reference from employers and proof of a college-level course in human gross anatomy with hands on dissection. Hey - anything worth having is worth working for. Right?
Scott's illustrations are nothing short of amazing. The technical ability he possesses as an illustrator takes years to develop. In many cases he's illustrating concepts that are not visible to the human eye. And also think about the knowledge he needs to have of human anatomy. These images are not only technical references but amazing pieces of art.<
Contributed by David Landis
My name is David Landis, president and manager of Landis Productions in Richmond, Virginia. I started Landis Productions 15 years ago to provide expert creative solutions to clients in a graphic design "studio" format for local, national and international clients. I do a little bit of everything ranging from magazine layout, corporate branding and packaging solutions to web page, multimedia and product design.
Recently, I've been doing more and more illustration work in the form of character concepts, children's book illustrations and advertising cartoons. But where are these new projects coming from? And why, after 15 years of working in this field are these new opportunities suddenly popping up on my job list?
Because of the mischievous Desktop Gremlins, of course.What are Desktop Gremlins? Well, back in 2008, I dreamed up a web site to enable me to interact with my clients and friends in a fun way. I loved the idea of using the internet to form community around art and creativity. It also allowed me the chance to further explore design and illustration for the pure joy of the process. With these hopes in mind, I launched desktopgremlins.com and a companion
Facebook page so visitors could download and build paper craft toys of my original character illustrations - zany and fantastic creatures of fantasy called Desktop Gremlins.
I've been making paper craft ever since I was a young boy. I loved making paper craft vehicles for my action figures (sure was cheaper than buying the plastic versions!) In fact, I created my largest project when I was about 12 years old - a 6 foot long cardboard snow speeder that a friend and I could sit inside back-to-back! It was magical to create paper toys back then and I carried this love to adulthood.
Face it, we live in a digital world, but I really like the idea of shifting gears and doing something organic once and a while. Desktop Gremlins are my outlet to empower people to do this by printing and building ultra-cool paper toys.
What I love about illustrating for paper craft is that it combines so many of my creative interests. Of course, illustration is vital. But along the way, I get to explore many additional creative processes. I love thinking in terms of 3-d space - watching how an illustration changes when you look at it from different angles or the unique shadows that are created when the shape is under lights. Creative writing and story telling is also a huge part of the process - breathing life into the characters.
I created three distinct rules for myself to help me focus on wha
Schin Loong is a fantasy illustrator working out of Atlanta, Georgia. A recent graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, Schin's work has appeared in many publications, including, The Pepper Tree Magazine, Exotique 5: The World's Most Beautiful CG Characters, CHEW Magazine Fantasy Issue and the published volume of student work for the Society of Illustrators.
Although Schin has a solid foundation in illustration working with traditional mediums such as markers and watercolors, many of her illustrations are created digitally using Photoshop.
Schin Loong's digital paintings of alluring, sensuous subjects in mythical environments are rendered exquisitely, employing all the basic understanding of anatomy and composition as well as realistic lighting and tonal values.
With the name LouLou & Tummie how can they go wrong?A site filled with artwork so yummyit keeps you humming along.On Facebook they playand they Tweet and they Flickrso go visit todayuse our link, it's much quicker.How can you resist? Visiting the
LouLou & Tummie website and Facebook page is like taking a trip through Candy Land. They're artwork is a guaranteed smile that lasts all day.
You'll have to forgive my wicked excitement today because the first book in my GHOST HUNRESS series, THE AWAKENING, is available!!!!!! I've been waiting for this day for a long time and I can't begin to put into words how I feel. The reviews on Amazon are really favorable and the feedback has been amazing!
Thanks to my fellow Buzz Girls, we're going to be celebrating ghosts, inevitably, this week, with lots of giveaways, so be sure to spread the word and come back all week to visit us.
So many people have asked me, leading up to this release, if I believe in ghosts. I have to say that I never really thought about it. I definitely believe in angels, as I've had three experiences in my life with angels (another post for another day), but as far as running into a ghost, I just never thought about it...
...until I did think about it.
Through my research for the GHOST HUNTRESS, I have witnessed shadow people, full bodied apparitions, been touched, heard voices on digital recorders when no one was speaking, and I captured some amazing footage of a ball moving around on it's own. These things have made a believer out of me!
However, I think the most poignant touch with the other side occurred on my 12th birthday. My beloved border collie, Candy, was hit by a car and died on my 12th birthday. I remember Dad taking me out on the back steps and telling me...
"Mar, you're 12 years old now and that's really mature...so you can handle anything."
He then proceeded to tell me that Candy had passed away. It was the most heartbroken I had ever felt in my life. I went to bed that night, crying myself to sleep over the loss of my beautiful three year old puppy-girl.
(Sorry for the bad quality...the picture is 30 years old! But isn't she precious???)
Sometime during the night--I thought I was dreaming, but I know I was awake--I sat up in bed and looked to the door of my room. There, I saw Candy walk in. She crossed the room and sat at the edge of my bed. She didn't bark or anything, but somehow I knew that she was...okay. She jumped up on the bed, curled up at my feet and watched as I fell back asleep.
Okay, so maybe this sounds like no big deal. However...Candy NEVER had been in our house. She lived at our farm, which was about five miles away from our house. She had been in the back yard, but never actually inside the house.
I believe to this day that she came to me to say goodbye and to make sure I was okay. Call me crazy, but it's such a strong memory and so real to me that I just can't think of it any other way.
My heroine, Kendall Moorehead, experiences all sorts of paranormal activities in the GHOST HUNTRESS series that are based on other people's experiences. It's my hope that in reading the series, it will help people question what's next for us and give us comfort that we'll always be with the ones we love...even our pets...for'evah.
So...I ask you...do YOU believe in ghosts?
Leave a comment for me and you'll be entered in the first giveaway for GHOST HUNTRESS: THE AWAKENING. You may enter as many times as you'd like!!
Hugs,
Marley = )
It is notable for the large number of nonfiction titles (science! history! the arts!), which is a wonderful spur for fiction addicts like me who tend to avoid nonfiction titles all year - until they appear on "Best of..." lists and/or win awards. We'll see how many of them I can wedge into my reading schedule.
All the usual suspects are present on the picture book list, plus a few surprises (at least to me) - I'll have to check out Fern's Buffalo Music, McGill's Way Up and Over Everything and Rosoff's Jumpy Jack and Googily.
Yum - these Best of 2008 lists are truly feasts, giving us plenty to savor over the long Thanksgiving weekend and the rest of 2008.
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Thanks for the great review of Little Shepherd. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Readers can find a video trailer for the book at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA2KStzoCPo and they can order autographed copies of the book from my website at ccmalandrinos.com
Thanks again.
Cheryl