Bookend Decorating [Library Programming]

My library has a very small teen area. There isn't a whole lot of space to work with, just lots of shelves with awesome books. I drool when I see beautifully designed teen spaces with comfortable furniture, the latest technology, and teenagers actually utilizing the space. In an effort to make our teen area have a more teen feel to it, I started to search for "quick fixes" that could improve the space using materials we already had (read: cheap!).

I stumbled upon this post from Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian's blog (which has now migrated to A Mom's Spare Time). Bookend decorating? Oh, yes! We had plenty of bookends, magazines, and craft supplies to get creative with! This was a totally doable program based on our budget ($0), time, and resources.

Here's what I did for this program:

I publicized the program for all teenagers to attend. I encouraged teens to bring any art supplies they might want to use for decorating (except glitter - I have a no glitter policy for my craft programs). I collected teen magazines and any other cool-looking magazines that teens might like to find inspiration from. And, of course, I gathered an assortment of bookends that we could use to decorate with (and I got permission from my manager to "deface" the bookends). 

Other materials to have on hand include glue, scissors, paint, permanent markers, Mod Podge, and anything else you can think of that would turn boring bookends into bookends with sass. Also, have plenty of space for teens to spread out while they work. 

Once their creations are made, I left them out to dry overnight. When they were set, I trimmed the edges so nothing hung over and added a layer of Mod Podge to seal everything. Here are some of the bookends that were created during the program (click to enlarge).

I invited the teens back to replace the boring bookends with their newly designed ones. This gave them a sense of ownership of the teen area, and the bookends added some much needed personality to our teen area. I definitely recommend this for any youth librarian who is looking for a fun, low- to no-cost program for teens. 

LEGO Club at the Library [Library Programming]

LEGO clubs have been sprouting up at libraries in recent years. They are great programs to attract children of all ages and they are easy to set up. Honestly, it doesn't get much better than that for library staff.

As LEGO clubs became more popular, I entertained the idea of getting one started at my library. After discussion with my manager about logistics and budget, I set to work on getting the word out that we were going to start a LEGO club. The first thing I did was create in-house advertising to solicit donations of LEGOs. Have you looked at the cost of LEGOs? Definitely not library-budget friendly! 

I started the donation campaign in May, right before Summer Reading. Donations slowly trickled in; we'd get a small box here and there, and a few patrons even donated money to purchase LEGOs. The best place I found to use the monetary donations was Ebay - especially for LEGO bases. As summer continued on, the donations steadily increased. I don't have much storage space in our library, and the few months of solicitation racked up enough donations to max out what space I had allocated for our LEGO collection. But I wasn't complaining. From monetary donations, I spent about $75 to enhance our collection through Ebay. Our collection right now includes thousands and thousands of LEGO pieces, the majority through donations from patrons.

TIP: If you're able to, get in contact with someone who sorts through donations at local thrift stores (especially those that run on volunteer efforts). A patron who volunteers at a thrift store near us got word about us looking for LEGO donations, and whenever someone donated LEGOs to the thrift store, she set them aside for the library. Come to find out, the thrift stores in our area won't put donated LEGOs out to sell because the LEGOs are considered a choking hazard. 

Once I gathered all our donations and assessed what we had to work with, I set a date to hold our first meeting of our LEGO club. Once the date rolled around, it was simple to get everything set up. Here was my set up:

Tables and LEGOs equal fun!

The big totes on the floor hold DUPLO-size blocks for little patrons to participate. I put up rules around the room for the children to follow (I borrowed the rules from the Canaan Town Library). I set out various LEGOs at each table in shoe boxes. And that's it! When the children came in, they grabbed at spot at a table and started working on their masterpieces. Many would roam from table to table to borrow pieces and see what the other kids were making. I let everyone build for 50 minutes before asking everyone to help clean up. Once their creations were finished, each participant filled out a slip with their name, age, and title of their creation. I took what each child made, paired it with the respective slip, and placed the creations on display in the main part of the library for all to see. This is an excellent way to get extra publicity for the program. 

We had 20 participants for our first meeting, which is awesome! There were several children I had never seen before at a library program and I love that! I feel like I get into a rut sometimes with programming and starting the LEGO club really inspired me to seek out new ideas. Another thing I love about the ease of hosting a LEGO program is that while I'm on maternity leave, any staff member can run this program. When you're a one-person show in the youth department, that's a big positive. 

Does your library have a LEGO club? Tell me about it!

Small Acts of Kindness

Hey there, Wendy!

Working with the public is, for the most part, pretty enjoyable. One of the best things about working in a public library is that it brings me out of my shell. It forces me to be an extrovert. Of course, when I come home, I'm completely introverted. But I meet some amazing people, hear incredible stories, and I like knowing that some of the small things I help others with can impact them in a big way.

With the good comes the not-so-good. Fortunately, the percentage of the not-so-good is very small, but those people tend to stick out in your mind more than the amazing people. I try my hardest to remember the good and forget the bad, and sometimes that's difficult. However, in the past week, I experienced two beautiful acts of kindness directed to the staff at my library from regular patrons.

One man has brought us two "deliveries" of carnations on two separate days. The carnations were beautiful and still in displayable condition, but the florist he works at was going to just discard them. Come to find out, he was making regularly deliveries of the day-old flowers to a local retirement home, and the past few days he rescued more flowers than usual. He comes to our library at least twice a week to use a computer and thought we could appreciate the flowers. Many of the bouquets made it to vases strategically placed around the library for everyone to enjoy, while some of the staff took bouquets home to enjoy.

Fast forward to the end of the week: A patron visited us at lunch time and brought everyone one on staff a small treat from Wendy's... just because she appreciates the work that we do. Seriously.

My faith in humanity is continuously renewed by these sweet acts of kindness and appreciation. Because while it's so easy to focus on the negative, focusing on the positive takes effort. The reward for the effort is worth it though. Most of us don't do what we do for the praise or recognition -  we do what we do because we love it.

Someone's appreciation for what you do just makes life that much more wonderful.

Black Light Party for Teens [Library Programming]

I can't express how grateful I am to the numerous librarians out there who blog about books and programs that they host. The wealth of information in the blogosphere for all types of librarians is incredible. I've been in my position as a youth services coordinator for three years now, and there are so many bloggers who have inspired me to try new things!

While I don't discuss much about my job, I have wanted to contribute something to the Internet to help out others. I've had programs that rocked and others that have been major fails. I've learned to not take the failures to heart because you have to try new things all the time. If it doesn't work, so what? You learn what you can from the failures and just move on. 

A colleague of mine had hosted a black light party for teenagers at her library, and she recommended that I give it a shot at my library. Getting teenagers into the library is like herding cats (at least, it feels like that to me sometimes). I love teenagers because they are passionate about whatever they set their minds to. I loved the library when I was a teen, but I never participated in any teen-focused events that were hosted. So when I was first hired for my job, I was terrified of working with teenagers. 

How in the world can I interact with this age group and provide good programming for them?

Three years in, I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on what teens in my community are looking for and what will bring them into the library. I'm so happy I took the recommendation of my colleague and host a black light party... it was a smashing success!

Neon paint art!

If you're looking to host a black light party for teenagers, here are the absolute essential materials you need:

• Black light bulbs - I used nine bulbs plus a large black light a teen brought with her. Use what you need for the space you have, but you'll want good coverage. (And don't forget lamps, of course.)
• Something to block out light if the room you're using has windows - We used black trash bags and they worked perfectly.
• Neon paint - Don't buy glow-in-the-dark stuff. It just doesn't translate as well as neon paint does. I provided T-shirt paint and regular paint for whatever creative endeavors the teens embarked on.
• Glow sticks and bracelets - These just add a fun element to the party.
• Tonic water - If you're providing refreshments, tonic water glows under black light. I had plain tonic water and lemonade made with tonic water available. The teens thought it was really cool.

Twister under the black lights.

The party in full swing!

At our party, I provided arts and crafts, coloring pages (teens LOVED them!) with neon markers, the paints, snacks, and the game Twister. Most of the teens came wearing neon colors, which looked awesome under the lights. We decorated the room with neon balloons and neon paper crafts. I spent about $60 for the entire party (materials and snacks). We had 13 attendees, which is a really great number for my library. The teens I talked to afterwards said they had a great time and would want to do it again. That right there is what I consider success!

Three Awesome Things

Recent awesome in life lately:

- I'm done with one class this semester. I'm one small paper away from finishing the other class. This girl is not taking summer classes because of my work schedule, and I'm pretty excited for the break.

- Oh, and we bought another car last week. We have been a one-car family for 5 years and it feels pretty awesome to have flexibility in life. I want to do a large post about this, so I'm going to leave you in suspense right now. 

- A little girl I hadn't seen in over 6 months reappeared in my library this week. She saw me sitting at my desk and exclaimed, "Miss Olivia!" A little later, I was working at the circulation desk when she came up and said, "I really missed you." Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have the job that I do.

Tell me something awesome going on with you!

When Pigs Fly, Miracles Happen

A young lady named Danielle* came up to me one afternoon while I was working the circulation desk to see if I could print out different coloring sheets for my coloring table. She wasn't too jazzed about the winter-themed pages that were currently stocked in the coloring basket, and many of my regular children know that I will print out whatever they want if they ask nicely. I had never talked to Danielle before, so I was impressed with her forwardness to ask me for something different.

However, she didn't give me something specific to work with. After a few questions and ideas, she told me she liked pigs and flowers. I told her I could make that happen and said I would bring her the coloring pages once I printed them out. She thanked me and returned to the coloring table.

I found this page of pigs, along with a few other pages I thought would be fun. I printed up a batch and hand-delivered them to Danielle, who was looking through a picture book. I sat down the page of pigs and asked her if she liked it, and I'm telling you, you could feel the happiness radiating off of her.

Danielle then shared her story with me. As she told me her story, I got goosebumps from her optimism and zeal.

Danielle is around 18 years old and confined in a wheelchair. She was in a car accident that she shouldn't have survived. Her doctors told her mother that she would most likely not recover her basic capabilities. Her mother's response? "When pigs fly, miracles happens." Danielle was tickled by the coloring page because it looked like flying pigs. She told me that ever since she was released from the hospital, she sees pigs all the time. And what were the odds I would find her a coloring page with pigs that look like they were flying?

Danielle has recovered most of her speech capabilities. She has good function of her arms. And she was able to tell me her story, give me a hug, and ask her caretaker to bring her to the library more often. Danielle is a miracle. After she shared her story with me, I walked away changed. Because it's not every day you meet a miracle.

*Name has been changed.