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Elephant & Piggie Celebrate #bookfacefriday

With this post and $140 to $280, you can bring in huge crowds for costume character extravaganzas! Simply rent a costume character, put on a storytime, and smile for the camera!

Supplies:

• Costume character rental
  • $140 for one character, such as Pete the Cat, Maisy, Clifford or $280 for a pair, such as Elephant & Piggie or Frog & Toad
• Books for storytime
• Music & rhymes for storytime
• Minimum four staff people/volunteers
• Printouts of activities from the character’s website for craft tables (optional)

Program set up: You will need at least four people working your event, one to present storytime, one to BE the character, one to be the character’s handler, and one to control the crowd. More staff is always better because you can expect a BIG crowd.

Pete the Cat relaxes in the Bookmobile

We set up the auditorium with a line (usually made of masking tape) across the front of the room so that the storyteller and costume character(s) have plenty of room to move. Families sit mostly on the floor behind this line, with a few chairs set up along the edges of the room for those who don’t want to get down on the floor.

For the storytime, we like to read books about the character or on topics that the character would enjoy. After each book (about three total), we stand up for a rhyme, song, or dance. For the very last dance/song/activity, the character will make an appearance. The character will be “on stage” for five to ten minutes to dance along with the crowd, wave, be silly, etc. and then will retreat from the room. At this time the crowd is invited out to the children’s department to line up for a photo opportunity/personal visit with the character.

Lilly reads And Tango Makes Three

We prepare the photo area ahead of time with a backdrop, stanchions, and another masking tape line so that the crowd assembles in a nice, orderly line. While the crowd is leaving the auditorium to line up, the character is in the back room, taking a break to catch their breath and take a drink of water.

Elephant & Piggie hand out high-fives at the Meet and Greet

Once everyone is lined up, the character and handler can make their way to the photo area. At this time the storyteller and crowd control person from storytime will help families take photos and ensure that the line moves along relatively quickly. You can expect this part of the program to take 30-45 minutes and I promise you, the person in that character suit is VERY hot and, while having fun, is looking forward to the end of the line. It is a good idea to work out a signal between the character/handler before the event so that the character can indicate if they need to take a five minute break in the middle of the line. Since visibility from inside a large costume character is limited, it is also the handler’s job to let the character know where children are and what they want “little one needs a hug”, “high five on your left”, etc. It is also nice for the handler to give periodic check-ins of how long the line is “just about 10 families left”, etc.

Bad Kitty sliding down the banister

Besides the need to plan ahead to rent a character (I’m terrible at planning ahead) and trying to schedule several staff people to be in the same place at the same time, costume character events are super-duper-easy to put together and a whole lot of fun.

The post Program in a Post: Costume Characters!! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Rochester (MN) Public Library’s core values focus on being a welcoming and inclusive environment. A few years ago we started to hear from adults and teens in the community that there were not a lot of safe spaces for LGBTQIA teens to hang out, so in our 2015 Action Plans we included “Develop programming to specifically meet the needs of Rainbow Families and LGBTQIA teens” and got started.

Before we share our ideas for serving LGBTQIA kids and families, let’s talk about “LGBTQIA”. LGBTQIA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual or Ally. Without including the word “queer”, this alphabet soup is not inclusive of the entire spectrum of sexual and gender identities out there. But as you can imagine, when we use the word queer in our program descriptions or trainings, people have a lot of questions.

Queer is a word with a terrible history, a confusing present, and a bright future. It was used negatively for many years, but over the last 30 years or so has had a comeback as a word that is embraced by many people as an identity, and is used regularly as a positive umbrella term for the LGBTQIA community (think: “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”).

Like any word, it can still be used negatively. It is all in how it is used and delivered. We would not label someone as queer who had not self-identified, nor would we refer to someone as “a queer” – those would be negative and inappropriate uses of the word. Our use is to be inclusive of the many teens and grown-ups in our community who self-identify as queer or under the queer umbrella. Embracing their choice of word further proves our commitment to creating a safe space for them. If you would like to read more try this website, this article, or this.

Why are we focusing on serving LGBTQIA kids & families?

Youth Services at RPL started undergoing changes in 2011 that included things as small as purchasing and displaying more books with LGBTQIA content. Once these books were on display and available in the library catalog, we started to hear from customers who appreciated having access to them. We also started regularly printing and keeping on display a Booklist for Rainbow Families which received a lot of positive attention. The conversations that we had around the books and booklists brought to light a need in the community: LGBTQIA kids and families needed safe spaces, they needed to see themselves represented in the library collection, and they needed to feel welcomed!

We also have bigger reasons for wanting to provide a safe space for LGBTQIA youth and families.  The Human Rights Campaign study “Growing up LGBT in America”  reports that 4 in 10 LGBTQIA youth say the community in which they live is not accepting of LGBT people, and and only 21% say there is a place where LGBTQIA youth can go in their community and get help or be accepted.  LGBTQIA youth face higher rates of bullying, homelessness, substance abuse and suicide, but teens who have supportive families and friends or safe spaces in their community are better equipped to deal with these additional challenges.

So what can libraries do to serve LGBTQIA kids & families?

Create a Safe Space

The most important step a library can take to create a safe space for LGBTQIA patrons is to train staff to be LGBTQIA allies and hold staff accountable. It is important that you have buy-in from the library administration, and that the people at the top understand why safe spaces are important, but it isn’t necessary to start there. Start with yourself and the staff around you, sometimes change has to trickle upwards. If you don’t have resources in your community such as an LGBTQ Community Center or a local college Gay/Straight Alliance which can provide you with training, there are plenty of options online to get started:

• GLSEN provides free toolkits and webinars
• ALA offers online training
• Safe Schools has a free recorded webinar

There are easy things you or your staff can start today to be good allies.  Being inclusive with your language doesn’t hurt anything, and can go a long way to making everyone feel more comfortable.  For example, when talking to kids about their parents, use “grown-ups” or “adults” or another neutral term that feels natural to you. Not every kid has a “mom” and/or a “dad”.  You can also choose to use gender neutral terms to refer to individual kids or groups of kids. Use “people” or “friend(s)” instead of “guys” or “ladies”.

Another easy change is to wear a pronoun name badge. Even if you have never been mis-gendered, wearing a name badge with your pronouns on it sends a message to everyone who sees you that you accepting and welcome conversations about pronouns. It also opens up opportunities to talk about how and why your library is a safe space or the LGBTQIA programs you offer.

Once your staff is better equipped to be allies, you’ll need to make sure you have policies in place to protect your LGBTQIA kids and families, and train staff on how to handle issues that may arise.  For example, does your written code of conduct include a statement about harassment? Are staff ready to step in with words connecting back to your code of conduct if they overhear teens saying, “That’s so gay!” or “No homo.”? For example: “The library doesn’t allow abusive language and your words are not inclusive or nice.”

All staff should pay attention to what is happening in your space (bullying). Some bullying can be subtle; watch the way teens are interacting in your teen space. When a certain group arrives, does another group always leave? Talk to your teens and make sure you know what is going on. Some bullying that starts at school may continue at the library after school.

Your library may also have business practices and procedures that need to be updated in order to be inclusive to your LGBTQIA community.  Does your library card application ask for a person’s gender?  Does it need to? Do you allow a patron to use a preferred name on their library card in addition to or instead of their legal name?  What about your bathrooms – do you have single stall restrooms that you could convert to gender neutral spaces?

The next step is to start the safe space conversation with the rest of the community. Meet with other youth workers in your community to talk about LGBTQIA services and creating safe spaces. The library can be a great neutral ground for offering training that is open to community youth workers.

Create LGBTQIA Inclusive Collections & Displays

It’s important for LGBTQIA youth to see themselves reflected in the books they read.  According to GLSEN’s 2013 National School Climate Survey, only 19% of LGBTQIA students report that positive representations of LGBTQIA people are included in their school curriculum.

There are a lot of really great books (fiction and nonfiction) available with LGBTQIA content, with more and more books coming out (get it?) every year.  Not all of them are published by big houses, and not all get picked up for reviews, but it’s worth the time to seek out the titles to make sure your collection is representative of the full spectrum of gender/sexual identities.  To get started, check out the ALA GLBT Round Table’s Rainbow Booklist.  The Rainbow Booklist Committee reads hundreds of books with LGBTQIA content and publishes its best-of list for kids and teens annually.  In addition, ALA’s Stonewall Award and the LAMBDA Literary Awards  both have categories honoring Children’s and Young Adult Literature.

Once you’ve got the books in your collection, you want your patrons to know they are there!   While special displays highlighting LGBTQIA materials are great, it’s important to include LGBTQIA materials in all of your displays and booklists.

Offer LGBTQIA Programs

Once you have created a safe space and opened dialogues with LGBTQIA customers and community members, you will start to hear about programs and resources that people would like to see in your community.

Our first program focusing on LGBTQIA teens was q club. q club began in September 2014 with just one teen; it now boasts regular attendance of over twenty at each meeting, and is hands down our highest attended teen program. Like all of our teen programs, we let the teens decide what activities we plan and what topics we discuss.  Last summer, in partnership with Gay/Lesbian Community Services of Southeast Minnesota (http://www.glcsmn.org/), we hosted the first ever Pride Prom “Smells Like Pride Spirit” in Rochester. Forty-four teens attended and afterwards some called it the best night of their lives! We are currently in the early planning stages of our 2^nd Annual Pride Prom.

q club teens are interested having the chance to just hang out and be themselves, and they are also embrace opportunities to have their voices heard in the larger community.  They have created zines to celebrate Pride, National Coming Out Day, and Transgender Day of Remembrance which they distributed at the library and at local businesses.  q club teens were a large voice in our October National Coming Out Day celebration, and will soon be participating in a community health needs assessment.

In addition to q club and in response to community requests we currently offer:

• Parents Empower Pride: a meet up for parents of LGBTQIA kids to talk about how to support their kids on their journey.
• Pride Prom: An annual a safe & welcoming after-hours party for LGBTQIA teens and allies in grades 7-12 held during Rochester’s Pride Fest.
• Rainbow Family Storytime: During Rochester Pride we offer Rainbow Family Storytimes for preschool children and families.

Just in the last month we have received two more requests: one to offer a q club for tweens and the other to offer a meet-up group for kids of LGBTQIA parents. As staffing and space allows, we will make these programs happen. Even without special programming just for LGBTQIA youth, you can ge started by integrating inclusive LGBTQIA materials into your regular programs, such as storytime or book clubs. The possibilities for inclusion are endless. We would love to hear what you are doing to serve LGBTQIA kids and families at your library!

Heather Acerro is Head of Youth Services at Rochester (MN) Public Library.

Sarah Joynt is Teen Librarian at Rochester (MN) Public Library.

Heather and Sarah use the pronouns she/her/hers, but they are okay with they/them too, even when you are just talking about one of them.

**YALSA just released research on Teens, Libraries, and LGBT issues.**

The post An Invisible Minority: Serving LGBTQIA Kids and Families appeared first on ALSC Blog.

This weekend I had the most incredible book discussion experience of my life. No joke. I had the joy of meeting with 9 wonderful and incredibly smart people to decide on the best LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning) books for kids and teens that were published between July 2014 and December 2015. You can find the entire list on the Rainbow List site; I am going to highlight the top books for kids through grades 6 here. The final list includes over 40 titles and of these we selected a top 10. Top ten titles are indicated with an *.

I know that book budgets are not limitless, so if you can’t buy all of these titles for your collection, a good place to start is with anything on the top 10 list: Gracefully Grayson, The Marvels (who are we kidding, you already have this book!), and Sex is a Funny Word.
While no picture books made the top ten list, that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth having. They would all make excellent additions to a library collection, but if you can only buy three start with: Red: A Crayon’s Story, Stella Brings the Family and Heather Has Two Mommies.

Picture Books

Hall, Michael. Red: A Crayon’s Story. 2015. 40p. Greenwillow, $18.89 (9780062252098). 3-7 yrs.

The label read, “Red.” However, all of Red’s strawberries and hearts come out blue. Friends and family try to fix Red until new buddy Berry helps this crayon discover his true color.

Newman, Lesléa. Heather Has Two Mommies. Written by Lesléa Newman, illus. by Laura Cornell. 2015. 32p. Candlewick, $16.99 (9780763666316). 3-7 yrs.

Heather’s favorite number is two: she has two arms, two legs, two pets, and two mommies. When Heather goes to preschool, she learns that not all families look alike, but that they all have one thing in common—love. New text and illustrations make this classic accessible to a modern audience.

Rotner, Shelly, and Sheila M. Kelly. Families. 2015. 32p. Holiday House, $17.95 (9780823430536). 3-7 yrs.

A beautiful diversity of family life is depicted through simple text and photographs.

Schiffer, Miriam B. Stella Brings the Family. Written by Miriam Schiffer; illus. by Holly Clifton-Brown. 2015. 36p. Chronicle, $16.99 (9781452111902). 3-7 yrs.

It’s Mother’s Day, and everyone is making invitations for their mothers to come to the school celebration. But Stella has two dads and no mom to invite…What should she do?

Tyner, Christy. Zak’s Safari. Written by Christy Tyner; illus. by Ciaee. 2014. 38p. CreateSpace, $15.00 (9781502325464). 3-7 yrs.

When young Zak’s outdoor “safari” gets cancelled because of the rain, he leads his readers (and his stuffed animal tourists) on an adventure through the story of his family. Zak introduces his two mothers and how they became a family of three with the help of a donor from a sperm bank.

Juvenile Fiction

Gino, Alex. George. 2015. 195p. Scholastic, $16.99 (9780545812542). Gr 3-7.

Stonewall Book Awards–Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s Award Book. When people look at George, they see a boy. But she knows she’s a girl. With the help of her best friend, George comes up with a plan, not just so she can be Charlotte in her school play but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

*Polonsky, Ami. Gracefully Grayson. 2014. 243p. Hyperion, $16.99 (9781423185277). Gr. 4-7.

Twelve-year-old Grayson, through a school play, finds the courage to reveal a deep truth: in spite of being seen as a boy, she knows for a fact that she’s a girl.  

*Selznick, Brian. The Marvels. 2015. 667p. Scholastic, $32.99 (9780545448680). Gr. 5-8.

In black-and-white pencil illustrations, Selznick depicts three generations of actors descending from the sole survivor of a legendary shipwreck. As that story closes, another unfolds in prose as young Joseph discovers his connection to the actors and his family history, and he embraces his uncle’s life story as it affects and changes his own.

Juvenile Nonfiction

Pohlen, Jerome. Gay & Lesbian History for Kids: The Century-Long Struggle for LGBT Rights, with 21 Activities. 2015. 192p. Chicago Review, $17.95 (9781613730829). Gr. 4-9.

From ancient China to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, this narrative history reference gives context to the challenges and achievements of both queer individuals and the broader quest for civil rights.

*Silverberg, Cory. Sex is a Funny Word: A Book about Bodies, Feelings, and YOU. Written by Cory Silverberg; illus. by Fiona Smyth. 2015. 159p. Seven Stories, $23.95 (9781609806064). Gr. 3-6.

For children with questions about bodies, gender, touch, sex, and love, this all-inclusive book guides the conversation between children and trusted adults in an accessible graphic format. Gentle, intelligent humor brings home the message of respect, trust, joy, and justice for everyone’s body. Stonewall Book Awards–Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Award Honor Book.

The Rainbow Booklist Committee had so many wonderful books to choose from this year! If you collect for teens or if you are just looking for something good to read, do check out the rest of the list here. I have already started reading for next year and let me tell you, there are some GREAT books on deck. John Corey Whaley’s Highly Illogical Behavior (May 2016) is so splendid, it is ridiculous. If you read a book for kids or teens published between July 2015 and December 2016 that you think the Rainbow Booklist Committee should consider for next year’s list, please send in a suggestion. We would love to hear from you. Happy reading!!

The post Top Rainbow Reads for Kids appeared first on ALSC Blog.

In 2013, Rochester Public Library (MN) met with local organizations and community groups to figure out a way to work together to increase literacy rates. From these meetings a unique and sustainable program, called Rochester Reading Champions (RRC), was created.

This tutoring program reduces financial, transportation, and other barriers by training volunteers to offer free and targeted one-on-one Orton Gillingham tutoring to underserved individuals who are struggling to read. Orton Gillingham is a proven tutoring method requiring intensive training.

Through a partnership with The Reading Center/Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota, we currently  have 13 volunteers actively working with students. Through September 2015, these highly trained volunteers provided 450 free tutoring sessions. To date, 18 youth and adult students have participated in RRC.  Interim assessment results from 2015 show that students in RRC, who attended between 10-50 sessions made average gains of 20% in vowel sounds, 17% in consonant comprehension, and 32% in phonogram comprehension. This early RRC progress is very exciting!

Four innovative elements contribute to the success of RRC. First, Rochester Public Library worked with key partners to identify gaps, barriers, and local resources. Partnerships were created with local organizations committing staff time and other in-kind support. Second,  RRC relies on volunteers willing to commit to the intensive training and two years of tutoring. By investing in training for 8-10 new volunteers each year, RRC increases the number of tutors to meet the needs of our expanding community. Third, to reduce financial, transportation, and other access barriers for the students, RRC provides unduplicated and free tutoring to underserved struggling readers at the sites they already visit. Fourth, RRC students receive individualized lesson plans, twice per week for 45 minute sessions. With a standard intervention plan of 80-100 tutoring sessions, this intensive strategy produces at least a 20% improvement of skills.

Partners developed RRC to be sustainable within five years. Any community with strong civic involvement can provide a similar system by adapting RRC’s methodology (i.e. volunteer recruitment form, student in-take criteria, parent questionnaire, partnership agreement, assessment process, and evaluation plan). RRC is designed to be scalable and replicable for any community!

The post Rochester Reading Champions: Literacy Tutoring for Every Community appeared first on ALSC Blog.

In May, I wrote a blog post about Rochester Public Library’s new BookBike program. Now that we are waiting for the snow to fall here in Minnesota, it seems like time to update you on our wonderful BookBike season.

The BookBike program took a lot of planning, details, money and scheduling magic. It took us 9 months from the moment we had this bike-tastic idea until we started our outreach schedule; we worked through a single spaced to-do list that was five pages long and involved people from every division of the library. It has been worth every bit of effort that we put into it. So many great things happened out there on the road, where we met people who had never been in our building, where we made connections with kids about reading and biking, and where we shared information and provided access to resources and services. It was a wheelie good time. I’ll stop with the the bicycle puns here. I promise.

We had the BookBike on the road from late April through September. We carried books for check-out, incentives (bike lights, water bottles, sidewalk chalk, bubbles), technology (iPad running Sirsi Mobile Circ, scanner and wifi hotspot), library information (program schedules and brochures), community resource information, and bicycling and safety equipment (spare tubes, first aid kit, sunscreen, etc.). While out at a BookBike stop we signed customers up for library cards, checked out books, talked up library programs and spaces, provided e-book and digital support, and handed out incentives.

We purchased a collection of materials just for the BookBike and shadowed it in the library catalog. We wanted customers to have access to some of the newest and most-popular items when they visited the BookBike. We created our own spine stickers in house to make sure they didn’t get confused with other items in the collection and could make their way back quickly to the BookBike collection storage.

Our outreach schedule was pretty hectic, we had the BookBike out (weather permitting) from five to seven days a week over the summer months. We kept the BookBike within a one-mile radius of the library, which is located in our downtown area. We set up at Honkers baseball games, Rochester Downtown Farmers Market, Rochester Pride Fest, RochesterFest, Art on the Ave and many, many, many local parks.

Seventeen staff volunteered to ride the BookBike and were provided with training on bicycle safety, the Mobile Circ application and general outreach. We also relied on many partnerships to provide us with specialized training, support and opportunities to set-up and meet customers.

We emailed surveys to everyone who checked out materials during our grant period which ran through June 2015. Of the 59 people who completed the survey:

• 54% indicated that they learned something new about the library at the BookBike
• 98% rated their experience at the BookBike as good to outstanding.

For April through September we attended 113 events, had 5,696 visitors, answered 1,172 questions, checked out 697 items and created 60 new library cards.

We are already  making plans for next year for  marketing, outreach, collection development and staffing. We learned a lot and will put all that we know to good use as soon as warm spring weather arrives.

The BookBike project was funded in part with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, through a Community Collaboration grant from Southeast Libraries Cooperating (SELCO).

The post RPL BookBike: A Wheelie Good Season appeared first on ALSC Blog.

With this post and $5 to $40, you can encourage your community to create a glorious piece of collaborative art as part of a self-directed or outreach program.

Supplies:

• Chalk (we like this brand)
• White and/or black construction paper cut into 4″ x 4″ squares
• A sign (optional)

Set up: This is a fun and easy art project for an outreach event or self-directed tabletop activity. Just put up the sign, put out the paper and chalk and let kids and their grown ups create. If you wanted to make it a program, just set up some tables and chairs.

We used this as our outreach art activity for the summer. Staff at the booth would invite community members to decorate a square to add to the collage at the library. Our collage grew as the summer progressed.

The post Program in a Post: Squart! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The Rainbow Book List Committee, a committee of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) of the American Library Association, is seeking suggestions from the field for the 2016 Rainbow Book List. Suggestions from the field will be accepted through September 30, 2015.

So what is the committee looking for? Excellent books for children birth through age 18 that reflect the LGBTQ experience for young people.

The Rainbow Book List Committee members are currently reading over 100 titles (and any that you suggest) and nominating the best of the best for inclusion on the list. The committee will meet at Midwinter to discuss all nominated titles and select those that will make the final list.

You can follow along with committee activities at the blog and see what titles have already been nominated. We would love to know about any great LGBTQ books for kids and teens that you’ve read that have been published since July 1, 2014! For more information about the Rainbow Book List Committee click here.

The post Send Us Rainbow Book Suggestions! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

In April Rochester Public Library (MN) launched the BookBike outreach program. RPL’s BookBike, a little library on wheels, will visit locations within a one-mile radius of the downtown library this spring, summer and fall. Pulled by library staff on bicycles, RPL’s BookBike offers library books, library cards, program information, assistance with digital materials, bike trail maps and fun incentives for kids.

The BookBike is in its infant stages, but we are already making a difference in our community. We are connecting with residents who would not have thought to enter the library doors, promoting biking as a transportation option, and creating positive relationships with kids and their grown ups. We are looking forward to a summer full of fun, biking and pedaling good books. (Get it?)

In order to staff the BookBike we have made some hard choices about in-house programming, ultimately deciding to put the bulk of our summer efforts into outreach. We have a full schedule for May and June, with the rest of the summer expected to fill up soon. We don’t operate on a regular schedule, but work around special events and activities and fill in other days with visits to local grocery stores, parks and other locations.

The BookBike project was funded in part with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, through a Community Collaboration grant from Southeast Libraries Cooperating (SELCO).

The post RPL BookBike: Shifting Gears, It’s How We Roll appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Mini-library in Rochester, MN.

In 2013, Rochester Public Library, MN launched the Neighbors Read program in the Slatterly Park neighborhood with support from the United Way of Olmsted County. Through the Neighbors Read program the library connects with families of preschool children, bringing them to the library for early literacy activities and then planting a mini-library in their yards. With continued support from the United Way of Olmsted County, Neighbors Read is now in its third year and will continue into 2016. Each year, we make adjustments and improvements to the Neighbors Read program to better meet our goals and connect with the community.

The goals of Neighbors Read are to increase school readiness through early literacy information and programming and to increase access to books in economically diverse neighborhoods. Results have shown that preschoolers in the program have increased early literacy skills and families have increased engagement with the library. Families also reported an increased connection with their neighbors.

Rochesterites using the mini-libraries also have many positive things to say:

“We’re very glad to have a few of these mini-libraries in our neighborhood!”

“Whenever we visit our friends, my kids drop off and pick up a book. This is great!”

“This is awesome. I love having access to more books and it’s often such a brilliant variety. Thank you!”

In addition:

• 76% of repeat mini-library users who responded to the postcard survey indicated that they read more in the previous month due to access to a mini-library.
• 75% of mini-library users visit a mini-library once a week or more often.

Many other Rochester community members have purchased or built and installed their own mini-libraries. Through the generosity of the Friends of Rochester Public Library, RPL is able to provide a stock of free books to fill the boxes. Forty-two mini-library users are currently registered with the library and we have distributed over 6,600 books through their libraries. Registrants were surveyed in 2014 and the responses provide more evidence that the libraries not only provide books to community members, but build stronger neighborhoods.

“I’ve found many people love stopping to talk about the books when they see us outside. I’ve been told families will use visiting 3 to 5 libraries as a goal for their evening walks, thus encouraging them to get more exercise with the kids.”

“This is a conversation piece that helps us get to know the neighbors better.”

“Our neighborhood is economically diverse and the library provides books for kids who do not have books in their homes.”

Mini-library in Slatterly Park,   Rochester, MN.

100% of the mini-library hosts who responded to the survey would choose to do it again based on their experience.

Neighbors Read is a powerful and time consuming program; some of the best programs can take the most work!  Every minute is worth it for the positive changes that it is bringing to our community.

Because of the success of Neighbors Read, a local leadership group has focused their efforts on a project to bring 40 more mini-libraries to Rochester. We are pleased to partner with them on this wonderful program. It is going to be a busy year once the ground thaws!

The post Neighbors Read appeared first on ALSC Blog.

With this post, a lot of tape, yarn and a few toys you can create a fun and dynamic program for kids of all ages.

Lazer Maze

Supplies:

• Tape (painter’s tape is the best)
• A few sheets of paper, crumpled
• Yarn
• 3 tennis balls
• 2 large toy vehicles

Prep work: Print signs, gather supplies and collect books about games and rainy day activities for display. If you would like signs with activity instructions, comment here and I will send them to you.

Room setup: Set up four different activities with signs around the room.

• Skee-Ball: Make a target with tape on the floor and assign different point values.
  

  Skee Ball

  Make a line for kids to stand behind and put out tennis balls or crumpled paper balls. Kids will try to score as many points as they can with the three balls.

• Dump Truck Race: Make two zig-zag race tracks on the floor. Put out some crumpled paper along each track. Put the dump trucks at the starting line. Kids will race the trucks along the track, picking up paper balls as they go.
  

  Dump Truck Races

• Spider Web: Run tape between to chairs in a giant messy spider web. Make a tape line on the floor (for kids to stand behind) and put 7 crumpled balls of paper nearby. Kids will stand behind the line and throw the balls into the spider web, trying to get as many to stick as they can.
  

  Spider Web

• Lazer Maze: Make a line of chairs near a wall. Tape yarn from the chairs to the walls and back over and over until you have a “lazer maze”. Throw a few crumpled balls into the maze for kids to pick up. The object here is to get from one end of the maze to the other, picking up the paper balls and not getting hit by a lazer.

Format: Open house.

Tape games work for group visits, up to about 60 kids, depending on the size of your space. It is also a great family open house event. Little kids will need some grown up assistance with the games. Have a blast!

The post Program in a Post: Tape Games appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Photo courtesy of the author.

With this post and $34 you can host a sticky sweet and innovative building program.

Supplies (for about 60 participants):

• Toothpicks (Box of 800) – 5
• Mini-marshmallows (16 oz bags) – 8
• Wet wipes

Prep work: Purchase supplies and pull books for display. Some good topics to display: constellations, buildings, houses, cars, and construction.

Room setup: Tables with or without chairs and a book display at the front of the room. Cut open the long side of the marshmallow bags and put them in the center of the tables and pour some toothpicks into a flat tray.

Format: One hour long open house.

Photo courtesy of the author.

As families arrive welcome them to the program and let them know that they can build whatever they would like. Point out the book display in case they would like to find inspiration there. We had over 60 people attend and many stayed the entire time working on their projects. Some people wanted to take them home so have paper bags (large and small) and paper plates on hand. The prep is super easy for this fun and engaging program!

The post Program in a Post: Marshmallow Building appeared first on ALSC Blog.

With this post, $25 of pantry items and some junk, you can host a delightful Petite Picasso (preschool) program with playdough!

Supplies:

• Pantry items (flour, salt, etc., see recipe) ($25)
• Plastic bags or containers for storing the dough ($0-$5)
• Various junk (cookie cutters, receipt rolls, rulers, craft sticks, etc.)

Use the playdough recipe in MaryAnn Kohl’s First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers & Twos to turn flour, water, food coloring and a few other items into pliable, shapeable, squeezable, colorful dough before your program.

Room setup: Tables (with the legs folded up, just put the tabletop directly on the floor) each with a variety of junk and one color of dough.

Format: Petite Picasso one hour long open house.

Preschoolers and their grown ups had a great time rolling out, cutting up and building with the brightly colored dough. There was a fair amount of prep work involved to make the stove top dough, but the consistency of the finished product was fantastic. Try this program for some squishy, squashy fun!

Here we are in the middle of Banned Books Week again! This is one of my favorite celebrations of the year because I love to read and I love to defend everyone’s freedom to read. I appreciate the conversations that I get to have with customers around banned books and I have a lot of fun working with creative staff to plan our celebrations.

This year at Rochester Public Library (MN) we created posters of staff holding the top ten challenged books of 2013. We also created a banned/challenged books reading area which we put right inside the front entrance. The area includes piles of banned books, comfortable seating, signage explaining book challenges and bans and small cards with the staff photos on one side and the list of the top 10 challenged books of 2013 on the reverse.

There are many creative ideas for celebrating banned books out there. Have you seen the wonderful things that the Judith F. Krug Fund grant recipients are doing?

What are you doing to celebrate the freedom to read?

On a recent solo road trip, I grabbed a random book on CD from the 658s and ended up with “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance” by Tony Schwartz. This book was recently re-published under the title “Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live”. This was one of the best ways that I could have spent my 10 hours on the road. I’m an exempt employee who loves my job, so I tend to struggle with my work life balance, often leaning towards more work and less life.

The basic idea of the book is that we have four core needs that help us perform at our best: security, self-expression, significance & sustainability. We need to make sure that these needs are met so that we can be more efficient and focused when we are at work.

Significance: This is the “why” of your work. Why do you get up in the morning?

Security: Feeling accepted and appreciated for who you are.

Self-Expression: The ability to use your unique talents and skills.

Sustainability: Taking care of yourself so that you can take care of your work.

Sustainability is definitely my trouble area. Schwartz argues, with research to back him up, that powering through a 12 hour day is less productive than an 8 hour day with plenty of “renewal” breaks. Examples of renewal breaks include reading, taking a nap, going on a run or just getting outside for a walk.

Schwartz also argues that we run through a daytime cycle, similar to the 90 minute sleep cycle and we can only give 90 minutes of focused energy before we have to take a break. After 90 minutes, one becomes less productive. He recommends scheduling meetings for a maximum of 90 minutes and some for only 30 minutes. He said that in a 30 minute meeting, you tend to get more done because you don’t have the luxury of time.

He also talked about the myth of multi-tasking and the idea that we are always distracted, giving only a portion of our attention to any one thing; that we don’t fully engage in anything and definitely don’t spend enough time thinking about long term planning or big picture stuff.

Most importantly he mentions that it is important to turn off work and not check email constantly from home, but to fully engage in other activities in order to be better at work.

After I returned home I shared this book with my colleagues and I picked up a print copy for myself. After skimming through the material again I compiled a thirty-one item list of things to do to improve my work life balance. Change doesn’t happen overnight, so although I have only made half of these improvements, I feel good about my progress.

Right now I am looking very much forward to my second to last vacation of the year. I plan to leave work behind and enjoy my family and the last bit of summer.

If you are struggling to leave work at work, I highly recommend this read (or listen). If you are not sure if you could benefit from the book, take this Energy Audit quiz.

With this post and $0, you can inspire community members to create a gorgeous piece of collaborative art.

Assuming you have some paper, staplers, a printer, and markers on hand, you won’t need to buy a thing.

Supplies:

• White paper cut into 2″ x 11″ strips
• Markers or crayons
• Stapler
• A sign (optional)

Room set up: This is a perfect outreach event activity, minimal prep, minimal mess and a fun visual statement. We took this to a booth at a community art fair last month. It would also work well as a tabletop activity in your youth services area. If you wanted to make it a program, you just need to set up tables and chairs.

Quite simply, staff invited community members passing by the booth to stop and decorate a paper strip with markers. The strips were then added to the paper chain hanging from our booth. After the event, we put the Art Links up on display in the library for everyone to enjoy.

Did you see the news about Hop on Pop? It was challenged at the Toronto Public Library and retained. This was only one of seven challenges that TPL received in the past year.

Book challenges happen all of the time.

Please remember to report your challenges to the Office of Intellectual Freedom. Only 20 to 25% of challenges are reported each year! You can report challenges easily and anonymously through this online challenge reporting form.

If you need help with a challenge, there is a lot of information at the Office for Intellectual Freedom’s website. You can also email the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee and we would be happy to support you and help you in any way we can.

With this blog post and $30 you can have kids in your library belching, farting, making poop and all of the other totally disgusting things that adults are usually asking them to please stop doing.

Room setup: Open house style with stations for each of the activities:

• Belching Arena: We used stanchions (chairs and ribbon would work) to block off a corner of the room and put up “Belching Arena” signs. In the middle we placed a table with a supply of dixie cups and root beer. Surprisingly, this was the most popular event in the room and we had some real world class belchers show their stuff. ($5)
• Fart Zone: This area was also created with stanchions and “Fart Zone” signs. One kid asked, “Fart Zone? What are we supposed to do over there? Oh! I know!” and then he ran over to get started. Another very popular, though stinky, attraction. ($0)
• Poop Making: With a few common pantry items we created beautiful examples of excrement. While everything we used was edible, these were not meant to be treats, but mere artifacts. Many a kid left the program proudly carrying fake feces on a plate. The recipe is not mine to share, but you can find it in Hands On Grossology by Sylvia Branzei. ($11)
• Gross Out: Hidden under paper grocery bags with holes cut in the bottom were six  disgusting tubs of stuff for kids to feel: vomit (1/2 can of beefaroni, 2 containers of butterscotch pudding, 1/2 can creamed corn), scabs (slivered almonds), maggots & flies (rice and raisins), brains (cooked fettuccine), and bloody guts (fettuccine & maraschino cherries). We also had hand wipes at this station for cleaning the vomit off ($10).
• Identify the Poop: Here we had the classic baby shower game of melted candy bars in diapers for kids to try to identify. ($4 for candy bars. If you don’t have diapers handy, you can just melt the candy bars on a paper plate and add a clump of toilet paper for a classy touch.)
• Color the Vomit: We put out coloring sheets, a sign that said “What did HE eat? Color in the vomit with your favorite foods” and crayons. ($0 if you have a printer and crayons on hand.)

We also put a selection of gross books on display, so the kids could take home more repulsive fun.

Sixty kids and grown ups came to the hour long open house to belch, color, create, squeal, laugh and have a good time. Our program supplies were $30, but as you can see from the list above, it is a scalable program and there are plenty of fun things you can do for $0-$10. I am happy to share the signs I created with you if you would like try any of these activities.

Photo courtesy of the author.

With this blog post and less than $15 (or $0 if you have the supplies on hand) you can present a fun, easy & creative art program for families and children of all ages.

Supplies:

• glue sticks ($)
• cardboard/cardstock cut into a variety of sizes. We used old magazine covers, pieces of cardboard boxes and old file folders.
• construction paper ($)
• photos from magazines or calendars (optional)

Photo courtesy of the author.

Format: One hour long open house.

Room setup:

• Tables & chairs for attendees.
• Projector to run a PowerPoint presentation of landscape photographs or print outs of landscape photographs taped up near the supply table.
• Supply table at the front of the room with cardboard/cardstock, construction paper & magazine/calendar pictures (optional). Label the supplies (collage bases, colored paper, pictures)
• Glue sticks on each table.
• Display sign with simple instructions and a definition of landscape and collage.
• Music.
• On display: Non-fiction books about collage, picture books with collage illustrations and CDs (by the band/artist you are playing during the program).

When I ran this program a few weeks ago I greeted customers at the door and provided them with a simple explanation of what was happening. “We’re making torn paper landscapes today. Stop & pick up supplies. You’ll need a collage base and some colored paper and/or pictures to tear up. Glue is on the tables and there is a slideshow of landscapes running.” If I was occupied elsewhere, the sign near the supply table provided them with enough information to get started.

The youngest child in attendance was 6 months old and the eldest was 12. Some families stayed for 10 minutes, others for 40.

If you are interested, I would be happy to share the landscape PowerPoint/photos, just comment here.

This weekend I had at least 50 errands to run. I visited a variety of stores (home improvement, grocery, pet, clothing, furniture, you name it, I was there) and there was one recurring theme throughout. Can you guess what that would be? Yep, you bet, Christmas. At one store, as I waited in line, I listened to the cashier talk to everyone about their Christmas plans and I began to dread my turn in the hot seat.

You see, I don’t celebrate Christmas and I would bet that I am not the only one in my community who abstains. Christmas is everywhere right now. Decorations, music, scents, advertisements, and conversations abound. For me and my family, it can be a difficult time of year to go out and do things in the world. For the most part, we can ignore the Christmas trappings or enjoy some, like all the lights. But sometimes when people put my family, including the kids (all under 10) on the spot by asking questions about Santa, etc., it is impossible to ignore. At best these conversations are annoying and at worst they are alienating.

As the Christmas season nears, I implore you to please remember the impression that your library decorations, displays, programs and even chit-chat or salutations make on your community members. Libraries should be welcoming to the entire community, no one who walks through the door should be made to feel uncomfortable.

Be tasteful, be discreet, and be respectful. Your community is diverse and many people will appreciate an absence of Christmas or Christmas-lite, I promise.

Photo by the author.

I don’t mean to brag and I do hope that I don’t make you all jealous, but I won the Heroic Failure Award*!! Squeee!!! I am quite proud of my accomplishment and my certificate hangs in a place of honor (right over my printer) so that I can look at it daily.

The Heroic Failure Award is a new staff award given out yearly at my library to celebrate someone (or several someones) who took a risk on something that didn’t quite work out. The library director and I brought this idea back from the fabulous Risk & Reward Conference in 2012. We thought this was an excellent way to recognize that failure is not a bad thing and sometimes it takes several failures to get to something that is GREAT! Theodore Geisel was not published on his first attempt; he lived through numerous rejections before his first children’s book was published.

I would like to encourage you to take a risk today and try something new. If it fails remember that failure makes the final product better, it is how we learn and grow and build excellent programs and services. Keep on failing!

*I share the honor of Heroic Failure with the cast and crew of this wonderful video.

In September of 2012, we opened an Art Room in Children’s Services at Rochester Public Library (MN). I previously had the pleasure of working with the talented staff of Allen County Public Library (IN) on an Art Room, so I knew just how awesome it could be. Inspired by an article in Children & Libraries* and heavily influenced by a chapter in 20 Under 40: Re-inventing the Arts and Arts Education for the 21st Century, the Art Room is a space where children can explore techniques and materials and exercise their creativity. It is an unrestricted creative space, meaning they can do whatever they want (okay, okay, within reason and following all safety rules, etc.) with the supplies on hand.

For the first year of our Art Room, Jon Allen, Janna Alme and I created monthly themes and changed out the supplies available. Themes included: Sequential Art (Comics), Masks, Flags, Lines in Art, 3D Paper Sculptures and Collage. Over the course of the year 8, 824 people used the room. That is an average of 735 people using the Art Room each month.

In June 2013, we conducted a survey of kids and grown ups who use the Art Room and the results were very positive:

• 82% of parents surveyed somewhat to strongly agreed that their children show more interest in creative projects after visiting the Art Room
• 82% of parents surveyed somewhat to strongly agreed that their children create more art because the Art Room is available
• 79% of parents surveyed strongly agreed that the Art Room is a valuable activity for their family
• 75% of parents surveyed strongly agreed that their children ask to visit the Art Room
• 69% of children surveyed indicated that the Art Room makes them feel happy
• 67% of children surveyed indicated that the Art Room makes them feel creative

And a few comments from the surveys:

“This is a wonderful place we all enjoy! Thanks RPL!”

“We love the art room! It is usually our 1^st stop (and sometimes our last!)”

“You have a wonderful place for children to pass time and not get bored or tired. Thank you for all the help.  My child shows a big interest in art at school or any place she can draw/color/cut anything (even at home). She had a very good time here at the library.”

How did we create this vibrant, well-loved public space, you ask? We started by carving out the space. My office was located right at the entrance to Children’s Services and had a wall of windows, the rest of the staff offices were around the corner. So I decided to join the rest of the Children’s Services staff and open my office to the public.

Then we had to find the money. We were lucky enough to receive a grant from a local arts organization, Rochester Arts Council, as well as some private donations. While shopping for tables, a local school offered us some discards, so we purchased stools, some drawer units, a poster frame, a display shelf and a small book shelf. We replaced the brown carpet with yellow laminate flooring. We also purchased some colorful paper frames, laminated them and cut out the center. Our plan was to display art that kids left behind. We were not expecting the huge volume of art that we received and after just a few months of trying to keep up with it, we simply put out tape dispensers and let the kids put their own art up on display.

Our first theme was Collage, so we spent a month collecting fantastic stuff from staff. We  purchased a lot of basics: safety scissors, markers, marker holders, glue sticks (and more glue sticks), rulers, paper and colored pencils.

With this first year behind us, we have learned a lot about what kids enjoy. Kids prefer to have a wide variety of materials and tools available and the freedom to create whatever they want. With this information, we are planning to do away with the idea of a monthly theme, and instead feature a particular artist, movement or technique on a poster in the room. We’ll leave out a variety of supplies (kind of like what we would put out for collage): ribbon, string, paper in a variety of sizes, paper tubes, old books, photos, cardboard, stickers, etc. and let the kids use them however they like.

It is worth noting that without dedicated staff, the Art Room would be impossible. The room requires daily (and sometimes several times a day) cleaning and restocking.

Personally, my favorite part of the Art Room is watching the space change throughout the month. We start each theme with clean walls and by the end of the month, it is a stunning gallery of art.

*Kramer, Maria V. “Taking Part in Art.” Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children 8, no. 2 (Fall2010 2010): 31-37. Professional Development Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed September 15, 2013)

Like a lot of good ideas, this one was on PUBYAC. We loved the idea and immediately started collecting cars, paper towel tubes and gift wrap tubes from staff. In the planning stages we fell into a donation of a big stack of slightly yellowed poster board (yes!) and stickers from the local Barnes & Noble so our costs were exactly: $0.

The auditorium was set up with two each of three different “Creation Stations”.

Creation Station: Play Mat

• Create a play mat with roads, road signs, places to park or buildings. Use your imagination!

At this station we put out the lovely posterboard, stickers, markers,and tape.

Creation Station: Race Track!

• Design a cardboard tube race track.
• Cut the tubes, tape them together or tape them to chairs to make a downhill race track.
• Decorate your cardboard tube race track with markers or stickers, if you wish.

For this station we provided tubes, scissors, tape, markers & stickers.  At the end we had cardboard tube tracks running up, down and all around the room. Kids (and their grown ups) got creative and made some amazing tracks.

Creation Station: Lego®s

Use your imagination to create a:

• Garage
• Mini-vehicle
• Car wash
• Race car pit stop
• Gas station
• ??????

For this station we put out our supply of Lego®s.

Kids had access to our box of mini-vehicles so they could play and test their tracks while they created. They were welcome to take home their creations (except for the Lego®s, or course) and many did. We had sixty people attend and the program lasted for about an hour and a half. The buzz of excitement in the room was amazing; they were thrilled to create and play and have fun together. Thanks Penny & PUBYAC for the fantastic idea!

I have a friend who will not read any book that she has purchased, she is saving them for retirement. (Hi BW!) I am kind of the same way, but about galleys. I don’t know why. Maybe because there is no due date, I don’t know my reasons, but I always REALLY want to read them. So upon returning from ALA a few weeks ago I promised myself that I would read MOST of the galleys that I brought back with me. So far, I have been doing pretty well. Here are some of the highlights:

• Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers by Dav Pilkey (August 28, 2012)
• Drama by Raina Telgemeier (September 1, 2012)
• Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead (August 7, 2012)
• Bartholemew Biddle and the Very Big Wind by Gary Ross (November 13, 2012)
• Mr. Terupt Falls Again by Rob Buyea (October 9, 2012)
• Will Sparrow’s Road by Karen Cushman (November 6, 2012)
• The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Let the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente (October 2012)
• The Giant and How He Humbugged America by Jim Murphy (October 2012)

I shouldn’t admit this in public, but I am among friends here and I know you won’t tell anyone, but when I read the ninth epic Captain Underpants novel, it was my first. <GASP!> I know. I have no excuse. The verdict: I loved (most of) it. Why only most of it? Well, I was a little disturbed that George and Harold handled the bully by bullying him right  back. The scoop: George and Harold make it seem like the lead bully is making friendship bracelets, asking boys for kisses and wearing dresses – and well, as you can imagine, the rest of the bullies make a lot of “fun”. Besides the bullying the bully behavior, how will this make a boy who likes to make friendship bracelets, kiss boys or wear dresses feel? I imagine pretty bad. So there it is. Mostly the book was hilarious, but it bothered me too. The end.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier is fantastic. It is beautiful. It is perfectly wonderful. I also shouldn’t admit this, but since reading (and loving) Maus in college, I haven’t read many graphic novels. I usually find them too visual or too all-over-the-place or too something for my poor brain, but after reading Drama, I am in love with a new format. Telgemeier manages to convey the awkwardness of relationships and the realities of middle school, but not in a horrifying way. It is gentle and feels true.

Liar & Spy is a must read. As a homeschooling parent I loved Stead’s presentation of a homeschooling family. As a human I loved her presentation of relationships and fears. Brilliant.

I had the honor while at ALA (thanks Candlewick!) of meeting Gary Ross, author of Bartholemew Biddle and the Very Big Wind as well as *big time* movie director. He has so many  excellent stories and insights; positively fun to listen to. His first ever children’s book is written entirely in verse and is overflowing with adventure.

Jim Murphy has successfully written another page turning non-fiction book. I had never heard of the Cardiff Giant before and I have to admit, even though the subtitle gives it away, I completely believed (along with most of America) that the Cardiff Giant was a real and true ancient artifact. It was not.

I haven’t had time to tackle Mr. Terupt Falls Again, but I know that it will be the subject of many a conversation in our workroom. The first Mr. Terupt book knocked people off of their feet. It is next on my list, I had better get to it!