New Year's Resolutions- for programming

No this is not my annual resolution (ie. lie) that I will loss that belly fat, exercise more, give up soda etc.

This is my resolution for my programs in 2015. The gang over at Storytime Underground have challenged youth services librarians and staff to "Resolve to Rock" in 2015. I've actually never set a professional New Years resolution or goal. I have grand ideas and lofty visions that often get lost in the fog of my work. So the start of the new year is the ideal time to write our my goals.

1) Gluten Free Programming!! Huh? I did do this a few summers ago. I was really concerned about exposing young children with gluten sensitivity or allergies while using items in my programs. One kid couldn't eat the hard tack we made for our Civil War program (which is no lost there, it wasn't made to be desirable or delicious) I made a play dough recipe out of baking soda instead of flour. I was being real good.
Then I wanted to do more and more and my allergy free agenda fell to the wayside. I had cloud dough with flour and play dough with flour. I usually don't make snacks a crucial part of my programs, but some other staff members use food all them time.
Then for our Elf Training program this December, we of course had cookies to decorate. One of my favorite regulars came up to ask me "Are these gluten free? And my heart sank. For the hundreds of kids who had played in flour and munched on cookies, there was now one that was who couldn't. No one should feel left out on the fun.

So I resolve that all program snack when I have them should be gluten free. And really there are many options out there that would appeal to all young taste buds. I'm doing a Frozen program in January so I'll be offering carrot sticks and doughnut hole treats, made with gluten free flour because it truly is that easy. I'm also resolved to steer away from fruit snacks, marshmallows or other food that contain gelatin to respect my Muslim patrons' needs.

2) Gender Neutral Programing- I was cutting out crafts for the upcoming Frozen program when some one was asking me what I was doing. "I'm cutting up crowns for the girls to make and reindeer antlers for the boys....or the boys can make a crown too. I don't care let them do what they want."  Yes I was struck mid sentence about how dumb I was sounding. Who did care if the little boys want to make crowns or the girls would rather be reindeer?

I actually think we do a great job at presenting gender neutral programs at our library. We have only a handful of programs geared more to girls than boys (like American Girl program or spa crafts) I think we need to do a better job letting our patrons know about them.  For example we have a fairy tale program that is based on common core practices, but I let parents know it is not just about princesses! My co-worker made an effort to not have only princess story and have it appeal to all genders. At the same time, boys like princesses to. Believe me I worked in the Disney Store for several years and I've seen boy and girls equally excited about princesses.

I did have a parent complain because their two year old son got a Candyland sticker with a fairy on it at my storytime, and that "his father will freak if he brings that home"  I didn't roll my eyes (well not when they were looking) but it's just another example of just eliminating "gender specific" items so children don't feel intimidated and parents don't have anything to complain about. 

Good luck to all fellow librarians and library staff out there in 2015!
(You only have 365 days to get it right...again)

What are you doing on your Holiday break?

If your like me, you've spent everyday at the library since it started and will be here every day until we close on Christmas Eve.

Like a Christmas eve mass/church service you may find your little library filled with a surge of strange guests, defiantly not your regular patrons and folks who never visit the library except twice a year (Christmas and Easter) So what can you do to accommodate these new visitors? If you are like some of my co-workers you probably bemoan the long winter break when caregiver dump their charges off in the kid section while they use the internet on the other side of the building, or complain that your relativity quite time of the year is suddenly shaken and chaotic with the number of people clamoring for you assistance and attention. These co-workers who complain the loudest are coincidentally the ones who always request time off for vacation and left the skeleton crew to man the fort.

So what can you do about this? Instead of bemoaning, be proactive! There are many kids and families looking for something free to do during the holidays. Many parents need a well deserved break from decorating, cooking and being cooped up in the house all day.

If you are worried about hoards of bored children descending into your realm, provide them with a distraction and eliminated the boredom.Some library have designated play sections for children in their youth services department, so this is a no brainier. My department has tables, chairs, and couches, 3 kids computers....and that's it. So if you are in my boat, here a few tips to turn your department into a Winter Break Wonderland.

1) If you have toys, games or other passive activities, put them out now! In plain view! Don't give kids a chance to complain "There is nothing to do here!" Not when they enter the kid's section and see stacks of puzzles and games waiting on the tables for them. I gathered an arm load of large floor puzzles, board and card games and left them out for kids and families to use. We also have Candyland boards and chess boards taped to a few tables. You usually have to ask at the desk for the piece, but I just went ahead and put them out now, so new patrons can go ahead and use them.

2) Display your hot topic books! Do we have Christmas books? We have Christmas books coming out of our ears! They are displayed in a book cart right in front of the children's desk as well as around our Christmas tree. Also since December is a slow circulation month, we have tons of our "Young Reader's Favorites" books in house (any thing that deals with Disney, LEGO or other popular kids characters) They are also placed on a display cart right in the main reading area so kids can find what they are looking for.

3) Create a passive program. Have stations set up around your department. They can be holiday or seasonal; a craft station to make an ornament, a scavenger hunt, or a sensory table. Use what you have on hand; Make snowflakes! Paper and scissors and you're done!

4) Have a coloring table. The kids at my library are obsessed with coloring. Our table gets more visits than our help desk.

5) If you have a movie license, consider having movies during break. We are showing some old school movies (The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Neverending Story, E.T.) all during the holiday break.

6) Impromptu Storytime! If you happen to be starring at a large group of rascally children, pick up a book and do what you do best! Read to the kids. It doesn't have to be a holiday book, but instead you can ask the kids in the audience what there favorite books are and read those.

Sorry for the weak iphone photo

My merry little sign that could reads "Welcome to the library! Please enjoy some board games and puzzles during your visit today. If you have any questions or need to find a book, just ask a staff member and we would be glad to help you. We are happy you came to visit us!"

So as much as I want to "Bah humbug" at this time of year, I feel a little bit of provocativeness can go along way to help my your library a fun place to visit. And yes I'll be here at the desk if you need me.

Old Teen signs....New Teen signs

so much better

Book Review: The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo

This has been on my bucket list for a while. Seen the silent film so I had to read the book. I would say it falls in the middle of my scale of Victor Hugo. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is one of my all-time favorite books; the story of "Les Miz" has no appeal to me what so ever no matter how hard I try (sorry fangirls). The story of "The Man Who Laughs" had great appeal to me as a fan of Hunchback, but it fell flat at times.

One, there isn't much action or events that transpire during the book. We have lengthily introductions to our main characters before a long break, when we are introduced to them again now 15 years later. Other characters are described (at length!) a big secret is revealed, a day passes and then we are reunited with our characters once again. Had Hugo not filled the bulk of his text with excess descriptive passages commenting on almost everything but the plot at some times, this would have been a very short book.

Two, Hugo is not for everyone. I work at a library and when “Les Miz” came into town I had kids left and right wanting to get their hands on the original book. While I applauded their effort to tackle such literature, I did for warn them as a reader that it was a long and difficult book. Their response "That's okay I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and that was over 800 pages!" And I tried not to burst out laughing in their face. By comparison, let say Hugo wrote the story of Harry Potter instead. When young Harry walks into the great hall of Hogwarts for the first time and he remarks on the architecture of the roof. You would then be treated to 20 pages of history and genealogy about anyone who every passed under that roof before Harry all the way back to the founders, probably then followed by another chapter then a lengthy list of events and people not essential to the current plot. 50 pages later, you would find yourself back to poor Harry…maybe.

Okay maybe this sounds cool in the wizarding world, but in merry olde England? Not so much. Hugo just can’t tell you “The nobility of England are rich, like sick rich. They have more money than God.” Nope he has to spend the first preliminary chapter detailing the lineage of lords and how impressive their houses and estates look. Do we meet these lords in the book? Of course not! Description is much appreciated in literature, but Hugo is over kill.

Which makes this a frustrating read. Hugo sets up such suspense and fantastic prose it makes me weep at times. Then he rambles on about the rocks in the sea and I want to take this book and throw it into the sea!

He writes heartbreaking passages about a little boy abandoned in the snow storm, then goes and writes about the cruel people who deserted him on the shore and their ship and whoa that was a big rock we almost hit, and uh oh here comes another big rock and hey did you know what happens on a snow storm at sea…..

When it’s good, it’s really good. There were passages in this book that broke my heart. But you have to work hard as a reader to get there.

(Also just don’t read the last chapter. Stop at section 103, close the book and say out loud “And they all lived Happily Ever after!” Seriously Hugo that was a cop out!)

It's Beginning to look alot like Christmas

Bah Humbug! It's been Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving unfortunately because we had to decorate for early holiday events. And since yours truly worked Black Friday at the liberry, I was the humble decorator. (Though Yuletide decoration are not my forte)

 My co-worker was upset that I was responsible for this display because it had no pictures! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

December 6th is Mitten Tree Day which is a great opportunity for library programing ( keep that in mind for 2015!) Our younger patrons made a make a take mitten craft for our holiday program last Saturday and helped decorate our tree.

Also my boss want us to do a book tree. While I said this was possible, I thought long and hard about the specifics of it. We had a bunch of withdrawn books destined for the recycling plant but worried that kids would still want to pull them off. Plus many of them were thinner books. Then there was the pain of unpacking books just to pack them back up again after Christmas.

Then a Christmas miracle occurred.

Please ignore the cop cars. The police station is across the street from us

Our reference department decided to weed their entire collection of Contemporary Authors which became the branches I used to build our "Blue Christmas" tree. I think it needs some light to make it less Charlie Brown-ish.

Last Saturday we were busy shelf elves. Our city had it's holiday hoopla and we hosted two events at the library! We had a sign language choir and our Elf Training. We had cookies to decorate, toys to make, trees to decorate and present to stack. We had a ball! So much we kept the activities up all day. We had about 60 people show up which is huge for us for a non summer reading program (who usually bring in the big crowds)

Action shot of our shipping and handling department

And when we were all done, the shelf elves and I marched our book carts in the city's parade. Yes so I was pretty Christmas-out by last weekend...and it was on the first week of December. oy.

Another holiday to celebrate. Dewey Decimal Day Happy Birthday Melvil Dewey you old coot. I praise and curse your system in turn, but Non Fiction will always be my favorite section!