Tween Programming 101, 102, and 103

On Sunday I attended a program that focused on well you guessed it "Tweens". So what is a tween? I found it interesting that the term Tween was invented as an alternative term to "teenybopper". Teenybopper is a negative term designed for girls and is pejorative. It has a negative connotation and mainly speaks to all pop culture and no substance. However the term Tween was created by marketing companies as a positive term to define a target segment. The term is used for both boys and girls and it covers not only pop culture but anything appealing to that age group.

A Tween is between the ages of 9-12 or in grades 4-7.

The first speaker was Jeanne O'Grady from Santa Cruz. She spoke about the need for tween programming in her community which became noticeable when tweens started asking for book discussion groups. Given the age range it is understandable that children's books do not necessarily get them excited and teen books are too mature.

The second speaker Julie Zeoli from Yorba Linda Public expanded on the idea of why libraries need tween programming. She pointed out that most libraries are already serving this age group but by providing defined services for tweens librarians are encouraging focusing on this age range at a very important time in their lives.

Here are the reasons to focus on tweens:

*They need defined services tailored to their needs (a 7 year old is not as mature as a nine year old)

*Tweens may not feel comfortable interacting with older teens (they may feel intimidated)

*Parents of Tweens may not want their children interacting with older teens (for obvious reasons)

*We need to keep the momentum going and continue encouraging library habits all the way through to adulthood (I think it may be the last stand before they turn to the dark side-High school Teenagers)

*Finally, Tweens become taxpayers!

The next speaker was Penny Peck. She gave ideas for movie programs and book parties. She has some great ideas such as an origami party for the "Strange Case of Origami Yoda" and the food based program for Hunger Games (what kind of food would they eat in the arena). She also talked about having musical Sing-along ideas such as showing "The Sound of Music" and having a yodeling or Waltz contest. I will probably use some of the book tie-ins but I think a good chunk of the time (maybe 5minutes) will be used explaining what the book is about and in DC every minute is precious. All in all great ideas.

Anna Hartman from SD County gave the next presentation on offering science based programs for tweens such as making rock crystal gardens and exploding volcanos. Also, marshmellow stacking contests and making invisible ink. I enjoyed this segment and may take a few ideas (probably not the marshmellow idea; recipe=disaster, remember I am working with 6 year olds).

On the tech side of things, Yemila Alvarez a Technology Librarian (currently between libraries) gave out some statistics about why tween tech programming is useful. I think it is great that a tech librarian found a way to bridge her love of technology with children's programming. From some research she found that most kids own a phone by age 11 and 67% of tweens have a portable gaming device. She also stated that tweens aspire to use technology and by providing these types of programs we are helping them prepare to use a library's technological resources.

Some of the programs she offered in her library include:

*Creating Digital Book Covers

*Avatar Creation Station

*Picasa Photo Collage

The highlight of the program was a presentation by Joanna Axelrod. She is a youth services librarian at Escondido Public Library and I have seen her present many times at SRP and other programs. She is currently offering tweens an opportunity to acquire community service hours. She has developed a review crew program where tweens go online (with a parent waiver already signed) and create book reviews. The kids have to follow a book review format and every 3 reviews = 1 hour of community service. She also started a craft volunteer project that allows tweens to make crafts for good causes such as chemo caps for cancer patients. I love the idea of providing opportunities to tweens to volunteer. By creating programs for them to participate in she is offering a chance for them to help other people. It is not easy for children under age 12 to find volunteer opportunities and this is a great way to promote lifelong volunteerism. I feel this is something that needs to be instilled in children at a young age and I will probably contact Joanna to learn more about the program.

So how does this fit in with Rancho? I think Discovery Club is a great program and could it be split in two age ranges. Regarding the maturity and the difference in developed skills this is a no brainer. I cannot tell you how many six year olds still have trouble cutting paper. I would love to hand out scissors for free but we don't have a grant for that yet. The program was interesting and I have a lot of new ideas that need to be tweaked for DC.

Finally!

After two busy weeks getting ready for CLA, working long days during CLA, then returning to the City Capitol Christmas Tree event, SIF training in Whittier, the Leadership Academy at Cal-Poly, and a catch-up day with lots of desk time on Thursday, I can finally sit down and reflect on the conference. One of the highlights was dinner on Saturday night at El Cholo--great food and conversation with people I was spending the entire weekend with.

This year's interest list to borrow a Play and Learn Island was even longer than the list we came away with last year. We had one of the more interesting booths in the exhibit hall with a pretty good location. For those of you in the booth last weekend you did a great job sharing our vision with people who stopped by. Right after Thanksgiving we will create our Play and Learn Island lending schedule for 2012. I received a few more calls and emails this week so we'll make sure we have all interested libraries factored in.

Another highlight was attending the Awards reception on Friday night. I had not been to Pasadena Public Library's main library before and found it classically beautiful. There was fun food, lots of people all dressed up and awards of course. Robert took the stage several times to accept awards for RCPL! Don't think that wasn't noted by other libraries as well as John Gillison, our city manager, who attended the event.

One challenge at CLA was getting to all the programs I wanted to attend, especially our own. Karye and Casey presented at the same time as RK and my friend Margaret (CoLAPL), while Rosie's literacy program was at the same time as Angelica, Margaret and Allen were presenting. Since I did not have Hermione's time turner I split my time between programs to get a flavor of each. Audiences could take away from our programs that the Rancho way offers quality programs and services to the public. I also managed to catch part of Adam and Don's poster session which brought people back to the booth who covet the icell.

Finally, even though I said this in an email, I have to thank our staff for doing an amazing job with the booth and programs. A lot of hard work went into the event but the fact that some were still dancing while unloading the truck on Sunday night (you know who you are) speaks to what a great team we have.

A Great Conference!

Over the weekend, I heard so many good things about what we were doing (not only at the conference but in general.)

First of all, it was very apparent that based on the on the programs we presented, we are amazingly multi-faceted: From a model local history project to what we do with our Literacy program to our Play and Learn IslandsTM to the Telethon to the kazillion great ideas we shared for family programming to giving an insight into just how healthy and innovative a culture we share here in Rancho, I can see why so many library school students (and working librarians for that matter) would do anything to work here! Oh yes, I didn't even mention all of the PR awards we received and Rosie's $1,000 poster!)

And I was just so impressed to see the teamwork and support everyone had for each other. Words like "teamwork" and "support" are often just cliches but doing what we did (particularly with the booth) doesn't happen without a lot of hard work.

Finally, a big thank you to Michelle for pulling this conference together. It obviously was of benefit to us but even more important (if something is actually more important than us...) was the potential benefit(s) the entire library community potentially received by attending the conference. The stronger the greater public library community is, the better off we will be.

But now it's time to move forward and continue with our Staff Innovation Fund grant. (I have a feeling there is a 2012 CLA program with this...)

Supersized Storytimes

More Can Be Merrier: What to do when your storytime becomes supersized
Saturday 11/12
Presenter(s)Susan Baier (Santa Clara City Library), Katherine Loeser (Glendale Public Library), Melissa Messner (County of Los Angeles Public Library), Kelly Hulbert (County of Los Angeles Public Library)

Out of all the workshops offered at CLA, I really wanted to see this one because it is pertinent to our own situation. I wanted to see how other libraries dealt with public demand for storytimes by having large scaled (weekly) storytimes, and what their definition of "supersized" really was.

In an ideal situation, experts say storytimes would be limited to 15 children because you can spend time with each individual child BUT that is not the reality for most public libraries. Most of the libraries on the panel had audiences of 75+ for infant and Toddler storytimes including parents/caregivers. One librarian (Melissa from COLA) held 10 week sessions with 3 weeks off between sessions - 3 storytimes a week.
They held their storytimes in community rooms or shifted furniture inside their libraries to create a performance space (like we do with the Archibald children's room during SRP or adult nonfiction during Cultural Arts Nights.) One woman said that they tried holding their storytime in an offsite location (I believe she said a gymnasium) but that affected circulation - they did not come back to the library hence they did not check out library materials. So they ended up creating a large space inside the library.

Key Points:
Crowd control
Show no fear!
Incorporate music and movement
Repetition inspires confidence – 80% repeated material
Crowd favorites – audience relieved they know the song or fingerplay
Use the buddy system – tag team
Have a bouncer – need to remove disruptive child or else lose control
Embrace your inner Rock Star
Wear something eye catching – glittery top, funny hat
Show and tell your demands
Issue clear instructions
Tell mom to stop talking - if they don't tell them they will come up to conduct storytime
Wandering toddlers – approach as a safety issue – for their safety parents should keep toddler in reach - Parents need to be educated
Close book early if they don’t want to listen
Just relax and have fun!
If you don’t love it – don’t share it

Repetion is key to infants and toddlers learning - 80% of each storytime contains same material used weekly. Parents feel comfortable with something familiar and more likely to take home and extend the learning experience

Lots of practical information but nothing earth shattering.

Tools of the Trade
Memorex party cube – speaker system for iTouch
Gymboree tiny bubbles – need to buy these! Use bubbles every week as a way to establish one on one interaction
Blio – Baker and Taylor software – show on big screen doesn’t require internet connection
Use big screen and project books (which we do for our holiday programs)

The alien won!

Just so everyone is clear the alien never fully deflated.  Coincidence? We shall see. 

Wess

My biggest professional challenge: what does a library director does all day and what keeps them up at night

Sunday: 10:15-12:15

RK from RC!
Margaret Donnellan Todd, County of LA Public
Teresa Landers, Sanata Cruz Public
Paymaneh Maghsoudi, Whittier Public

This was by far my favorite program of the whole conference! Great, insightful, educational program! I really appreciated all the directors taking the time, their openess, honesty, and advice.

I knew library directors did more than meetings, that there was lots of politics, city "stuff", any big problem, and meetings. This was very insightful to hear about what you do all day - and very scary! You guys have one tough job!

Teresa Landers - Santa Cruz - shared her story about coming from Oregon to be director at the Santa Cruz system, which was facing branch closures, layoffs, and the retiring of a director who had beent here 25 years. It was so bad they were borrowing money fromt he city fro payroll. She had to face creating a plan of attack for the library to survive - including where money would come from, hours, staffing, and gettign the buy in of the community, 9 member board, staff - all in the press! Very tough - over 2 and 1/2 years. There library has figured out a plan that doesn't close branches, but does limit hours and will be laying off staff. All staff in the library have helped to create a new culture, a learning organization, centralized programming, undergoing trainings and teamwork to create this new library.

What keeps her up - being an agent of change, find a mentor, find a confidant,

Her advice to young library leaders - be true to yourself, follow your passion, develop a thick skin. If the library stays the same it will die. If you love control, this is not the job for you. Look at the job description see the skills needed - decide if it's interesting and pursue. Create a startegic plan for your library. Find a mentor. If you get one thing on your list done in a day that's good. Check policy's, listen to staff - change bad policies.

RK - All about our city and library! I was fascinated to learn about our budget - 79% porperty taxes (that go through a very weird loop through RDA, 3% assessment, to state, then back to us with no guarentees) and he has to *FIND* the other 21%! Yikes - that would keep me up too! It makes all of the fund sources the library does - that much more relevant! Passports, media rentals, friends, foundation, and our telethon - thank goodness!

Rk's advice (hopefully I got this info. right) - be mindful of opportunities to make impression with important people, be entrepreneurial,foster a culture that embraces creativity

Margaret - County of LA - 86 libraries in 50 cities, you have to show up to all city council, library meetings. LOTS of events - this talkt ime is important. Budget is a constant worry. Never discuss personnel. Bad press - can't change, just tryt o warn folks it's coming. You never know what to expect - ex. PETA accusing animal abuse of discount circus tickets being offered and a sled dog performer. Be present. Invest time. Staffing - never hire because you are desperate, feel bad, or it's someone's turn. You hire because the person is right and it is a mutal fit with organization. Don't be paralyzed by lawsuits or bad behavior. This is not our mom and pop company. We are responsible for sheparding tax payers funds - no luxury to be soft hearted. Privatizing libraries is a bad idea - viewed as a corporate service and will loose support of community.

What keeps her up at night - safety

Advice - Reccommend MPA / MBA for position - finance, bonding, personnel experience. Be active in community groups. You will have to make harsh, difficult decisions.

Paymaneh Maghsoudi, Whittier Public - Be true to what you love. Libraries are a hub that connect people. Pay attention library trends. Director is the vision, voice, and knowledge of where library needs to go. Hardest part of job is personnel issues.

Very interesting! Hope this info gives you the idea of the workshop. I would love to see future workshops with directors sharing more experience and info. It would also be intersting to see a workshop about working with library boards (Teresa suggested this workshop and it sounded interesting)!

My Biggest Professional Challenge