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)
I was really interested in this program too and am glad Margaret attended. There are some storytimes I think we could hold in the children's room (outside our story theaters)but I would not have baby or toddler times for more than the 20 families we now have and it sounds like this presentation focused on these younger ages. Can you imagine 40 or more babies crawling and toddling around at once? That's what we would have with 75+ people at a baby storytime. With their developing vision babies beyond the first couple of rows could not see books that we share. We would also lose some of the camaraderie that develops between parents of young children as the same families attend each week during a session and get to know each other. Storytime maybe one of their few outlets to interact with adults in similar situations.
ReplyDeleteI think there are some ideas we can take away for other programs however such as
-crowd control--utilize a "bouncer" if needed and tell attendees our expectations
-wear something that draws attention
-embrace your inner rock star