I had wanted to find an article about Summer Reading program kick-off parties but stumbled across this instead and it definitely struck me.
For a class I took in the spring semester, my final project was a group one, wherein we had to design an entire summer reading program for grades K-6. Among other things, I was in charge of looking into the history of summer reading programs. During my research, I came upon the debate surrounding incentives in summer reading programs and I've been thinking about it since.
This article is mainly an overview of research regarding incentives for inherently interesting tasks, such as reading, and whether the extrinsic motivation of incentives increases or depletes intrinsic motivation. While it seems that, yes, in fact, extrinisic motivation diminishes intrinsic motivation for inherently interesting tasks, the article didn't entirely discourage librarians from using rewards/incentives with their summer reading programs. Here, it is suggested that one can encourage intrinsic motivation by making the children responsible through goal-setting and free choice. This article also points to research that indicates presenting stimulating tasks and books on the same topic, something nearly all library programming for youth does, increases intrinsic motivation and reading comprehension.
I like the paragraph at the end that offers suggestions about what one could do in their summer reading program to touch all the bases covered. My only hesitancy is regarding the verbal praise. While I know nearly everyone enjoys verbal praise for their work, I'm not sure if this alone can replace a tangible reward for children in summer reading. However, all the other suggestions are quite sound and, from what I can tell, the Mooresville summer reading program is adhering to many of them. I think it's especially important to give books as rewards.
One thing I would have been interested in as well was a look at whether or not this argument regarding incentives is true across all age groups. I just wonder if young adults would respond even less without tangible rewards. I'll have to keep an eye out for articles touching upon this.
Stauffer, S. (2009). Summer Reading Incentives. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 7(2), 53-55. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Carnival Time
Friday was our Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival. I went in to work at noon. I met with Suzanne briefly when I first arrived, just to do a bit of check-in. We talked mostly about Little Tykes and decided that we are going to plan and execute the first program together and then I'll be on my own after that. It made me feel a little more at ease to do it this way, and also to have her let me know that she has more of an idea of what they're expecting from us than I do. Other than that, we both agreed that things seemed to be going fine so far.
I had a little bit of time to get started on the Youth Bio project before Carnival preparation got fully underway. Jaymi went over the details with me one more time (and I'll probably have to ask her to show me the cataloging bit again once I get around to that part) and I set to work peeling many, many, many very stubborn labels.
We started prepping for the carnival around two - setting up tents and tables, getting all the supplies ready at each table, putting together equipment, getting food cooking, etc. My main task became blowing up balloons. Because I have "expertise" - I work part-time at a party store right now and have probably inflated more balloons in the last eight months than most people inflate in their lifetimes. So I got to do that for a while and it ended up being rather frustrating. The room we were working in - their programming room - has vaulted ceilings, so I couldn't just let the inflated balloons go until we needed to gather them. And of course everyone was doing their own part to get ready so I was really on my own. I ended up having to tie the balloons loosely in one spot and then a Teen Council member gathered them in bunches to decorate the tables outside. I must admit, I'm starting to get a bit sick of balloons. Thankfully, I got to take my lunch break in the midst of the balloon frenzy and imparted my helium knowledge to Jaymi.
After lunch (well, dinner), it was pretty much Kick-Off time! I got set at the front table, known as "Carnival Registration." This mostly entailed providing all the kids with their "passports" for the carnival and explaining how they worked. The passport had all the different activities on it with boxes to mark off as the kids completed them. Some of the things they only got to do once - like the food items and face painting - and others they could do as much as they wanted. My only criticism with this part of the carnival is that our table was not in the best location - most people were approaching the carnival from a different angle than our table was facing and didn't notice us so we basically had to try to snag patrons as they attempted to sneak past.
Anyway, the first carnival lasted for an hour and was for kids up to grade six - and we ran out of passports! Suzanne had printed 125, so that means we had more than that many kids show up, which is great. We had to dip into the young adult versions of the passports (they were slightly different from the kids'). After the first half hour, action at our end kind of died down so we got to look around and see how things were going for the other booths. There was a duck pond, dunk tank (featuring Suzanne), bounce house, food (including hot dogs, popcorn, juice, cotton candy, and popsicles), Snakehead Ed, balloon dartboard, lollipop tree, face painting and climbing wall. And of course a table was set up for Summer Reading registration. We only really had a direct view of the climbing wall and dunk tank, but those were definitely two of the most popular attractions. However, a number of people told us that the line for Summer Reading registration was longer than the line for anything else!
We closed up that carnival - which was a tricky thing to attempt as many kids were in line for various activities and were not thrilled about having to leave. We only had a half hour to try to get all those people out and things picked up a bit before the teenager carnival began. But we managed. The second carnival was a totally different vibe. There were much fewer people there and the most popular attraction, besides the dunk tank (which apparently everyone loved), was a magician (he was only there for the second carnival). So, this was more of a relaxing end to the day than the craziness the first carnival had been. I should mention that this was all happening outside in 85 degree direct sunlight so that might have contributed to some craziness. Like I said, this was a much calmer carnival and was over quickly. We picked everything up, except for all the rented equipment, and that was the end of our day. The real clean-up came Saturday (which I was not there for) when Suzanne had to attempt to find places for all the leftovers and such.
I think it was a pretty successful day and I'm excited to see things now that it's really in full swing!
I had a little bit of time to get started on the Youth Bio project before Carnival preparation got fully underway. Jaymi went over the details with me one more time (and I'll probably have to ask her to show me the cataloging bit again once I get around to that part) and I set to work peeling many, many, many very stubborn labels.
We started prepping for the carnival around two - setting up tents and tables, getting all the supplies ready at each table, putting together equipment, getting food cooking, etc. My main task became blowing up balloons. Because I have "expertise" - I work part-time at a party store right now and have probably inflated more balloons in the last eight months than most people inflate in their lifetimes. So I got to do that for a while and it ended up being rather frustrating. The room we were working in - their programming room - has vaulted ceilings, so I couldn't just let the inflated balloons go until we needed to gather them. And of course everyone was doing their own part to get ready so I was really on my own. I ended up having to tie the balloons loosely in one spot and then a Teen Council member gathered them in bunches to decorate the tables outside. I must admit, I'm starting to get a bit sick of balloons. Thankfully, I got to take my lunch break in the midst of the balloon frenzy and imparted my helium knowledge to Jaymi.
After lunch (well, dinner), it was pretty much Kick-Off time! I got set at the front table, known as "Carnival Registration." This mostly entailed providing all the kids with their "passports" for the carnival and explaining how they worked. The passport had all the different activities on it with boxes to mark off as the kids completed them. Some of the things they only got to do once - like the food items and face painting - and others they could do as much as they wanted. My only criticism with this part of the carnival is that our table was not in the best location - most people were approaching the carnival from a different angle than our table was facing and didn't notice us so we basically had to try to snag patrons as they attempted to sneak past.
Anyway, the first carnival lasted for an hour and was for kids up to grade six - and we ran out of passports! Suzanne had printed 125, so that means we had more than that many kids show up, which is great. We had to dip into the young adult versions of the passports (they were slightly different from the kids'). After the first half hour, action at our end kind of died down so we got to look around and see how things were going for the other booths. There was a duck pond, dunk tank (featuring Suzanne), bounce house, food (including hot dogs, popcorn, juice, cotton candy, and popsicles), Snakehead Ed, balloon dartboard, lollipop tree, face painting and climbing wall. And of course a table was set up for Summer Reading registration. We only really had a direct view of the climbing wall and dunk tank, but those were definitely two of the most popular attractions. However, a number of people told us that the line for Summer Reading registration was longer than the line for anything else!
We closed up that carnival - which was a tricky thing to attempt as many kids were in line for various activities and were not thrilled about having to leave. We only had a half hour to try to get all those people out and things picked up a bit before the teenager carnival began. But we managed. The second carnival was a totally different vibe. There were much fewer people there and the most popular attraction, besides the dunk tank (which apparently everyone loved), was a magician (he was only there for the second carnival). So, this was more of a relaxing end to the day than the craziness the first carnival had been. I should mention that this was all happening outside in 85 degree direct sunlight so that might have contributed to some craziness. Like I said, this was a much calmer carnival and was over quickly. We picked everything up, except for all the rented equipment, and that was the end of our day. The real clean-up came Saturday (which I was not there for) when Suzanne had to attempt to find places for all the leftovers and such.
I think it was a pretty successful day and I'm excited to see things now that it's really in full swing!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Slowing down?
Well, today was a bit of a different day than my first two. And I apologize ahead of time for any typos I don't catch, but I've been having troubles all day.
Anyway, the first thing different about today was that Suzanne was not around for the majority of it. Instead, I worked mostly with Jaymi and things moved at a bit of a less frenetic pace than they did my first two days. First thing in the morning, I worked more on Town Crier. Then I spent an hour with the women in circulation, getting the basics of things up there. I don't know if I'll ever be working behind the circ desk (I know the Youth Services staff covers the desk during breaks on Saturdays) but it's still useful to see how they do things there. My only circ experience has been at an elementary school library so it's a bit different. Also, their library uses RFID and that is something I've never seen in practice before. After that, I spent some time with Bill. He's in charge of the Indiana Room in the library, which is the source for local history and genealogy information. He seems to be a man set in his ways - his talk with me was peppered with "I prefer if no one but me touches THIS." But he also seems very knowledgable and I'm sure he himself is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in local history.
The afternoon was a bit without direction. I worked a bit more on Town Crier but sort of floundered when I had a question only Suzanne could answer. I researched movie licensing information for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and I think I came across the answer, but I suppose we'll see for certain when Suzanne follows up on the information I gave her. After that, I tried to get started on programming for Little Tykes but I feel I'm lacking information. I emailed my contact in the program and asked if they had expectations or ideas of what they wanted us to be doing each week and have yet to receive a response. So, I'm not sure I can really plan a program until I get a little bit more information. Additionally, Little Tykes runs Monday through Friday for two hours and I will only be doing 45 minutes on Tuesdays. I would ideally like to know what they are doing each week so I don't do anything redundant and bore the kids (incredibly important as this program is for preschoolers, already notorious for short attention spans). I don't know if I'm going to get the sort of information I want before it's time to just jump into this programming (my first day there is June 8th). I will have to try to talk to Suzanne a little bit more about it and see if she has any ideas.
When Suzanne arrived, I asked her my questions and finished up on Town Crier and then it was time for me to leave.
Today was a little less frenetic and structured than my first couple days were and I don't know that I liked it better than the fast-paced days. I felt sometimes that there wasn't really much I could do for lack of information about what exactly I should be doing. I don't necessarily need rigid definitions, but at least a more general idea would be helpful. I also panicked when Jaymi went to lunch and left me alone in the department. I prayed no one would ask me any questions because I still haven't really gotten any training on the desk.
I'm looking forward to Friday - our Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival. It's going to be crazy and fun and different. I hope it all goes smoothly!
Anyway, the first thing different about today was that Suzanne was not around for the majority of it. Instead, I worked mostly with Jaymi and things moved at a bit of a less frenetic pace than they did my first two days. First thing in the morning, I worked more on Town Crier. Then I spent an hour with the women in circulation, getting the basics of things up there. I don't know if I'll ever be working behind the circ desk (I know the Youth Services staff covers the desk during breaks on Saturdays) but it's still useful to see how they do things there. My only circ experience has been at an elementary school library so it's a bit different. Also, their library uses RFID and that is something I've never seen in practice before. After that, I spent some time with Bill. He's in charge of the Indiana Room in the library, which is the source for local history and genealogy information. He seems to be a man set in his ways - his talk with me was peppered with "I prefer if no one but me touches THIS." But he also seems very knowledgable and I'm sure he himself is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in local history.
The afternoon was a bit without direction. I worked a bit more on Town Crier but sort of floundered when I had a question only Suzanne could answer. I researched movie licensing information for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and I think I came across the answer, but I suppose we'll see for certain when Suzanne follows up on the information I gave her. After that, I tried to get started on programming for Little Tykes but I feel I'm lacking information. I emailed my contact in the program and asked if they had expectations or ideas of what they wanted us to be doing each week and have yet to receive a response. So, I'm not sure I can really plan a program until I get a little bit more information. Additionally, Little Tykes runs Monday through Friday for two hours and I will only be doing 45 minutes on Tuesdays. I would ideally like to know what they are doing each week so I don't do anything redundant and bore the kids (incredibly important as this program is for preschoolers, already notorious for short attention spans). I don't know if I'm going to get the sort of information I want before it's time to just jump into this programming (my first day there is June 8th). I will have to try to talk to Suzanne a little bit more about it and see if she has any ideas.
When Suzanne arrived, I asked her my questions and finished up on Town Crier and then it was time for me to leave.
Today was a little less frenetic and structured than my first couple days were and I don't know that I liked it better than the fast-paced days. I felt sometimes that there wasn't really much I could do for lack of information about what exactly I should be doing. I don't necessarily need rigid definitions, but at least a more general idea would be helpful. I also panicked when Jaymi went to lunch and left me alone in the department. I prayed no one would ask me any questions because I still haven't really gotten any training on the desk.
I'm looking forward to Friday - our Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival. It's going to be crazy and fun and different. I hope it all goes smoothly!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Article 1: "Reaching Out to Young Adults in Jail"
Since I have done a lot of outreach type work this first week at my internship, I wanted to try to find an aritcle about the importance of outreach in youth services. I ended up stumbling across this article and thought I'd check it out.
Throughout my first year in library school, we have often talked about providing outreach services, especially from a public library. While I have learned about outreach to youth and outreach to incarcerated persons, I don't think I've ever before come across outreach that combines the two. This article provided a brief overview of providing outreach library services to incarcerated youth. While this is obviously not something every library can or should do, it seems to be something that should be considered if presented with the opportunity.
One of the things I liked best about this article is the discussion of measuring this sort of outreach program's success. If you only look at statistics and traditional methods of evaluation, these programs make little to no sense. However, if you take a more qualitative approach and look at outcomes and not outputs, they look much more successful.
I also liked the discussion of dealing with issues of intellectual freedom in this situation. Correctional facilities can and do limit what materials their prisoners have access to. This can be a frustrating obstacle to many a librarian who supports intellectual freedom for all patrons. But by focusing on the good one is doing simply by providing any sort of service to this population, it may be easier to push that issue with intellectual freedom to the back of one's mind.
This sort of outreach is something I would definitely have an interest in seeing on a first-hand basis. I know Mooresville doesn't do anything like this (at least not in youth services; I'm unsure about adult services) and it may be because there isn't a call for it. But I would very much like to see how this sort of outreach functions and how the librarians who do it feel about it, as well as the patrons being served.
Jones, P. (2004). Reaching Out to Young Adults in Jail. Young Adult Library Services, 3(1), p. 16-19. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Throughout my first year in library school, we have often talked about providing outreach services, especially from a public library. While I have learned about outreach to youth and outreach to incarcerated persons, I don't think I've ever before come across outreach that combines the two. This article provided a brief overview of providing outreach library services to incarcerated youth. While this is obviously not something every library can or should do, it seems to be something that should be considered if presented with the opportunity.
One of the things I liked best about this article is the discussion of measuring this sort of outreach program's success. If you only look at statistics and traditional methods of evaluation, these programs make little to no sense. However, if you take a more qualitative approach and look at outcomes and not outputs, they look much more successful.
I also liked the discussion of dealing with issues of intellectual freedom in this situation. Correctional facilities can and do limit what materials their prisoners have access to. This can be a frustrating obstacle to many a librarian who supports intellectual freedom for all patrons. But by focusing on the good one is doing simply by providing any sort of service to this population, it may be easier to push that issue with intellectual freedom to the back of one's mind.
This sort of outreach is something I would definitely have an interest in seeing on a first-hand basis. I know Mooresville doesn't do anything like this (at least not in youth services; I'm unsure about adult services) and it may be because there isn't a call for it. But I would very much like to see how this sort of outreach functions and how the librarians who do it feel about it, as well as the patrons being served.
Jones, P. (2004). Reaching Out to Young Adults in Jail. Young Adult Library Services, 3(1), p. 16-19. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Ah, the Joys of PowerPoint
Friday was my second day on the job and, as before, it was a pretty busy day. I arrived bright and early and Jaymi went over opening procedures with me. I hope I get plenty of practice with them before I have to do them by myself. I mean, it's mostly pretty basic stuff but I still worry about missing anything. After that, Suzanne went over Town Crier with me.
Town Crier is basically a PowerPoint presentation that runs on various computers throughout the library. There are a few different versions depending on where in the library you are - one for adults, one for young adults, and one for children. I'm going to be in charge of the Town Criers for young adults and for children. They highlight programs and library policies and occasionally, specific titles or sections of titles. So, after Suzanne showed them to me and explained what exactly she wanted them to contain, I got to work on updating the young adult Town Crier. I haven't done a lot with PowerPoint because, honestly, I just don't really like it. But, I don't think it's difficult to use, just tends to get a bit tedious. I worked on that for a few hours (there are a lot of programs for summer reading and we wanted each art class to have its own slide) and I definitely felt the tedium. However, by putting everything into one giant Town Crier and then deleting slides as events pass, I won't have to do as much in the long run. But, I didn't finish yet and I still have the children's version to do. I'm hoping to get time on Tuesday to work on them because I'd like to get them finished before the Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival next Friday.
Suzanne and I went to the local high school for some more outreach. We set up a laptop and some prizes near the cafeteria and, if students had their library card, we would scan it. By showing their library card, we would forgive any fines or late fees (unless they had lost a book) and they could get some small prizes. We also, of course, had The Abstract, the library's teen newsletter, with all the information about the Summer Reading Program. I met a few of the regular teen patrons and got a feel for the teen population in the area.
When we went back to the library, I worked a bit more on Town Crier and then Jaymi introduced me to the Youth Bio Project. This is a project they started when they began to run into space issues. They've decided to move all their 921s, from juvenile and young adult, to a separate shelving section in the children's department. This means that all the books in the 921s currently have to be re-stickered and updated in the catalog. So this is another project that I'm going to be working on over the summer. I don't expect it will last me the whole summer; Jaymi has already completed all the juvenile 921s and about half of the young adult ones. But it will be another tedious bit of work. Still, I like the idea of having a more technical services piece to work on as well.
Finally for the afternoon, I was put in charge of the Wii Gaming program in the Young Adult Zone. This was really simple. I just had to stay in the room with the kids and make sure everyone took turns and no one damaged any equipment. I guess it also includes jumping in when they need a singer for Rock Band. There were only three boys there to play this time, so it was pretty low-key.
Finished up the day by going over closing procedures, which I'd also like to practice more. Thankfully, I think I'll have a chance to go over opening and closing most Fridays since I'll be working open to close those days. Throughout the day, I also sent a couple emails to people I need to be in touch with regarding programs throughout the summer. It looks like I won't have to work at the Twilight Prom, which could have been fun but I'm okay sitting that one out since I have a lot of other programs to look forward to.
I think the first week has been successful. I have a lot of work ahead of me for the summer, but nothing that I don't think I can handle. I'll be busy and I think I'll learn a lot.
Town Crier is basically a PowerPoint presentation that runs on various computers throughout the library. There are a few different versions depending on where in the library you are - one for adults, one for young adults, and one for children. I'm going to be in charge of the Town Criers for young adults and for children. They highlight programs and library policies and occasionally, specific titles or sections of titles. So, after Suzanne showed them to me and explained what exactly she wanted them to contain, I got to work on updating the young adult Town Crier. I haven't done a lot with PowerPoint because, honestly, I just don't really like it. But, I don't think it's difficult to use, just tends to get a bit tedious. I worked on that for a few hours (there are a lot of programs for summer reading and we wanted each art class to have its own slide) and I definitely felt the tedium. However, by putting everything into one giant Town Crier and then deleting slides as events pass, I won't have to do as much in the long run. But, I didn't finish yet and I still have the children's version to do. I'm hoping to get time on Tuesday to work on them because I'd like to get them finished before the Summer Reading Kick-Off Carnival next Friday.
Suzanne and I went to the local high school for some more outreach. We set up a laptop and some prizes near the cafeteria and, if students had their library card, we would scan it. By showing their library card, we would forgive any fines or late fees (unless they had lost a book) and they could get some small prizes. We also, of course, had The Abstract, the library's teen newsletter, with all the information about the Summer Reading Program. I met a few of the regular teen patrons and got a feel for the teen population in the area.
When we went back to the library, I worked a bit more on Town Crier and then Jaymi introduced me to the Youth Bio Project. This is a project they started when they began to run into space issues. They've decided to move all their 921s, from juvenile and young adult, to a separate shelving section in the children's department. This means that all the books in the 921s currently have to be re-stickered and updated in the catalog. So this is another project that I'm going to be working on over the summer. I don't expect it will last me the whole summer; Jaymi has already completed all the juvenile 921s and about half of the young adult ones. But it will be another tedious bit of work. Still, I like the idea of having a more technical services piece to work on as well.
Finally for the afternoon, I was put in charge of the Wii Gaming program in the Young Adult Zone. This was really simple. I just had to stay in the room with the kids and make sure everyone took turns and no one damaged any equipment. I guess it also includes jumping in when they need a singer for Rock Band. There were only three boys there to play this time, so it was pretty low-key.
Finished up the day by going over closing procedures, which I'd also like to practice more. Thankfully, I think I'll have a chance to go over opening and closing most Fridays since I'll be working open to close those days. Throughout the day, I also sent a couple emails to people I need to be in touch with regarding programs throughout the summer. It looks like I won't have to work at the Twilight Prom, which could have been fun but I'm okay sitting that one out since I have a lot of other programs to look forward to.
I think the first week has been successful. I have a lot of work ahead of me for the summer, but nothing that I don't think I can handle. I'll be busy and I think I'll learn a lot.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Day One
Today was my first day at Mooresville and I guess you could say I jumped right in! As soon as I arrived at the library, Suzanne and I took off to Neil Armstrong Elementary for an Access Giveaway program. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this when I was a kid, but this was a fantastic outreach program. Suzanne and I visited all the fifth-grade classrooms (which she has been booktalking to all year) and gave a presentation on the summer reading program. Well, Suzanne gave a presentation and I watched but, come on, it was my first day! Anyway, after that, we headed to the cafeteria where we set up a table. The kids had all been told to bring their library cards to lunch today and any child that did received a free book! The kids were all excited and even the ones who didn't bring a library card were happy to see us (we gave them bookmarks). This was a great way to get kids interested in the library as well as to give them a book for their own collection and keep them reading.
I know that I never had a librarian come to my school and give booktalks when I was younger and I never got free books to keep just for having my library card, so this whole thing seemed fantastic to me. Outreach is incredibly important when it comes to youth services, I think, and obviously schools are a great place to do that. Ever since deciding to come to library school, I've been thinking about libraries and promotion. I think libraries really need to work on promotion all around. Giving kids books and bookmarks and just talking to them about the things they can do at the library is a great way to promote your library.
After we finished up our giveaway, we headed back to the library and Jaymi showed me how to register patrons for programs using the Evanced software. Then we had a staff meeting regarding the summer reading program which I think went really well. I had a chance to meet and interact with all the youth services staff and I think I'm going to get along well with them. Everyone seems laid back and friendly. There are a lot of things planned for summer reading which is great - this library is lucky to have an endowment for children's programming. It got a bit hectic trying to arrange schedules to accommodate staff vacations and such, but we all managed to work it out. Suzanne and I had a meeting after this where I discovered that I'll be responsible for planning some programs in partnership with the Parks and Recreation Department. I'm a little bit nervous about doing this completely on my own, but I know I'm capable. I'm just a natural born worrier! Suzanne gave me information about some other tasks I'll be in charge of over the summer and we talked briefly about my goals for the internship. We staffed the reference desk for a while and I made my calendar for the summer and then it was time to go home!
All in all, it was very much a headfirst, hands-on first day but I think it went great! Suzanne is going to be a fantastic supervisor - she is not at all intimidating and very personable and friendly. I think she knows that I am willing and able to do pretty much any and everything she needs to give me and I appreciate her faith in me. I'm really excited to be working for the duration of summer reading and getting to see such a variety of programs. I'm also excited about doing the everyday work at the library - reference and readers' advisory and upkeep and all that stuff. I think this is going to be a wonderful internship experience!
I know that I never had a librarian come to my school and give booktalks when I was younger and I never got free books to keep just for having my library card, so this whole thing seemed fantastic to me. Outreach is incredibly important when it comes to youth services, I think, and obviously schools are a great place to do that. Ever since deciding to come to library school, I've been thinking about libraries and promotion. I think libraries really need to work on promotion all around. Giving kids books and bookmarks and just talking to them about the things they can do at the library is a great way to promote your library.
After we finished up our giveaway, we headed back to the library and Jaymi showed me how to register patrons for programs using the Evanced software. Then we had a staff meeting regarding the summer reading program which I think went really well. I had a chance to meet and interact with all the youth services staff and I think I'm going to get along well with them. Everyone seems laid back and friendly. There are a lot of things planned for summer reading which is great - this library is lucky to have an endowment for children's programming. It got a bit hectic trying to arrange schedules to accommodate staff vacations and such, but we all managed to work it out. Suzanne and I had a meeting after this where I discovered that I'll be responsible for planning some programs in partnership with the Parks and Recreation Department. I'm a little bit nervous about doing this completely on my own, but I know I'm capable. I'm just a natural born worrier! Suzanne gave me information about some other tasks I'll be in charge of over the summer and we talked briefly about my goals for the internship. We staffed the reference desk for a while and I made my calendar for the summer and then it was time to go home!
All in all, it was very much a headfirst, hands-on first day but I think it went great! Suzanne is going to be a fantastic supervisor - she is not at all intimidating and very personable and friendly. I think she knows that I am willing and able to do pretty much any and everything she needs to give me and I appreciate her faith in me. I'm really excited to be working for the duration of summer reading and getting to see such a variety of programs. I'm also excited about doing the everyday work at the library - reference and readers' advisory and upkeep and all that stuff. I think this is going to be a wonderful internship experience!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
