In part 2, I mentioned the importance of having a mission statement and goals for a library system's children's services program. As an illustration, here is what the Sarasota County Public Library recently came up with as a basis for the programming and services they will offer over the next 5 years. This comes from an email that Carole Fiore posted on the PUBYAC listserv:
Strengthening Sarasota County's Youth through Robust and Vigorous Public Libraries
Strategic Plan for Youth Services 2009-2013
"Plan for the future because that's where you are going to spend the rest of your life."
Mark Twain
The mission of the Youth Services Team of the Sarasota County Library System is to help youth succeed in school and in life by:
. Nurturing young readers and learners;
. Stimulating imagination;
. Satisfying curiosity; and
. Providing comfortable real and virtual places.
Goal 1: Sarasota County school age children and teens will have access to age and developmentally appropriate resources and programs to support their success in school.
Goal 2: Children, tweens, and teens and their parents, teachers, and caregivers know about summer library programs and know the value of these programs.
Goal 3: Families with preschool children, birth to age five, will have access to age and developmentally appropriate literacy resources, programs, services, and environments, and trained staff to service them and the children to support the development of young readers and learners.
Goal 4: Children ages 0 through 5 years will have access to age and developmentally appropriate books at home.
Goal 5: Families with children birth through 5 years of age will understand the importance of early and emergent literacy activities have the resources to read to their children, be encouraged to use the library, and become the best first teacher for their children.
Goal 6: Children served by members of the Sarasota County early care and education community will participate in programs designed to nurture young readers and learners and originated by Sarasota County Library System staff.
Goal 7: Youth in the Sarasota County Library System service area will have access to library materials in various formats that encourage the development of independent learning practices, research proficiency, and the development of literacy skills.
Goal 8: Youth in the Sarasota County Library System service area will have opportunities to participate in library programs that encourage creativity and imagination so that they may develop and express innovative ideas in a dynamic and rapidly changing society.
Goal 9: Youth in the Sarasota County Library System service area will have opportunities to publicly express ideas through the arts so that community members of all ages develop respect for their insights and capabilities.
Goal 10: Children and teens in the Sarasota County Library service area will have information and resources that will instill a love of life-long learning and enrich their recreational experiences.
Goal 11: Children and teens in the Sarasota County area will be offered programs that will instill a love of learning and enrich their recreational experiences.
Goal 12: Children, teens and their parents, teachers, and caregivers will find the children's and YA spaces in all Sarasota County libraries accessible and conducive to reading, study and library-appropriate recreation activities.
Goal 13: Sarasota County children, teens, and their parents, teachers and caregivers will recognize the library as a popular and socially acceptable place to go for school-related assignments and for recreation.
Goal 14: Youth in Sarasota County who use the libraries' children's and teen's web pages will find them relevant, exciting and current.
I don't exactly what programs and services were changed, eliminated, or added as a result of the new strategic plan, but Carole did mention that it was not a painless process! Those goals do seem to cover just about every possible service the library could offer youth, so I'm wondering how Sarasota is using them to prioritize services - perhaps the goals are listed in order of priority?
LAPL also created a strategic plan, covering the years 2007 through 2010. Service to children (or to any other group) wasn't focused on specifically, but here are some of the goals that specifically mention service to children:
Goal 3: Help Students Succeed
Children and teens in Los Angeles will have resources that assist them with
their assignments and help them succeed in school.
Goal 4: Provide Reading Readiness
Infants, toddlers and preschool children in Los Angeles will have access to
collections, programs, and services that will help them develop a lifelong
love of books, reading, and learning.
Goal 6: Offer New and Popular Material Now
Children, teens and adults will have access to materials, programs and
services that stimulate the imagination and provide a variety of leisure
activities and experiences.
For each of these, there is a list of objectives and actions, most of which are services we already provide and a few of which are new. For most goals, the objectives seemed to be to simply increase what we're now doing and whom we're now serving - increase enrollment in summer reading club, increase the number of kids going to programs, increase the number of kids who have library cards, and so on. Certain benchmark goals are also set - a certain number of classrooms should be visited, a certain number of presentations should be made to preschool teachers, and so on.
There's nothing wrong with those goals at all - but measuring our success merely by trying do more, more, more doesn't seem to me to be the way to go. I won't even go into some of the panic children's librarians feel when they wonder if they will "get in trouble" if their statistics don't pick up - or have declined! - by the end of 2010.
I would like to measure our success not just in numbers but in outcomes. Here is how outcome is described in Dresang , Gross, and Holt's Dynamic Youth Services Through Outcomes-based Planning and Evaluation - "Outcome...is the change in attitude, behavior, skill, knowledge, or status that occurs for users after a purposeful action on the part of the library and library staff." To be fair, LAPL's strategic is not devoid of outcomes-based objectives; for instance, objective 4.3 states "By FY09-10, at least 75% of the parents/caregivers who bring preschoolers to the library will say the library plays an important role in helping children to develop a love of
books, reading and learning." I assume this will be captured by a survey, though I haven't heard of any plans for one.
However, I want to know more. Let's take my old pal the Summer Reading Club. I already mentioned in a previous post on the SRC that the California Library Association launched a pilot project this past summer to measure certain outcomes in certain branches of certain library systems. Although I was sent some information on this, it was in draft form, so although I can't quote the document, I can mention that different outcomes were decided on for preschoolers, school-age kids, and teens and they included such simple things as "Children enjoy reading." Information was gathered both before and after the SRC in the form of surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The librarians involved in the project have met and will continue to meet throughout this next year to figure out what worked and what didn't, what needs to be changed, and how to implement the project on a larger scale without driving staff to an early grave.
I don't know the results of this project, but I do have to wonder about one thing. My experience has been that kids who participate in the Summer Reading Club (and here I'm talking about the part where kids read and maybe earn incentives of some sort, rather than the programming part) do it for one or more of the following reasons: they already like to read, their parents make them do it, and/or they want to earn those incentives. For the kids who already liked to read at the beginning of summer (which is probably most of them), the desired outcome of "children enjoy reading" doesn't apply. For the other two categories, it only applies if they disliked reading (or didn't like it much) at the beginning of summer but at the end of summer they like reading. For those kids who now like reading at the end of summer, what brought on the change? And for those who dislike reading at the end of summer despite the summer reading club, what can be done differently next year? I'm not sure that it's very likely that a child who dislikes reading will suddenly learn to like it over the course of one short Summer Reading Club - although perhaps such miraculous conversions do occasionally occur ("The Diary of a Wimpy Kid changed my life!!!") At any rate, I'm not sure we can reasonably expect that outcome.
Things start to get complicated as the questions mount! One of the many things I always wondered about my own Summer Reading Clubs was: how many of the kids were coming to the library for the first time because of SRC and of those kids, how many would continue to come to the library throughout the school year? That's something I might try to measure - although the thought of trying to track those kids is daunting, to say the least. That's the thing about any kind of evaluative project. Not only do the results have to be meaningful, but the process has to be feasible.
I seem to have rambled on quite a bit over these past three posts. You may have noticed I have offered no answers, only many questions and things to think about.
That's my message, I suppose. Don't stop thinking about what we are doing. Keep pondering what we are trying to achieve and how we can best achieve it. By doing this, we'll stay receptive and relevant to the needs and desires of kids and their families.
Heh! Sermon over - but the topic is not. Please feel free to write voluminous comments - and you'll hear from me again.
Showing posts with label children's library services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's library services. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Looking at children's library services with new eyes - part 2
In yesterday's post on looking at children's library services, commenter Sophie makes a good point when she says of storytimes "...they are hugely beneficial in bringing people into the library, at least in my community. Our morning storytimes consistently bring in big numbers, and many of the audience members were brought by others, or heard about us word of mouth, and so they started coming to the library. Even if the storytime isn't their cup of tea, most leave with library cards and a sense of the resources that are available."
Absolutely. It wouldn't do much good to go out into the community extolling the wonders of the public library if families then came to the library and didn't find any programs for them. Storytimes might be considered a core service that most or all libraries should provide. What I question is the complacency that might set in (as it did to a certain extent with me) when librarians devote lots of energy to keeping a relatively small portion of the community happy. We might be serving 50 or even 100 families really, really well - but what about those families that don't come to our storytime?
Now, they might not want to come - perhaps their kids are too old or storytime isn't their scene or it's too much of an ordeal to pack up the kids and haul them to a program at the library (all those scenarios have fitted me as a parent at one time or another). But it's also possible that these families haven't heard about the storytimes, or can't get in because the storytimes are too full or at an inconvenient time, or aren't sure what the benefits of attending storytime are, or don't even know where the library is or have never been to it. Don't we need to worry about these unserved folks too?
And yet we can only do so much - it's not reasonable to expect a children's librarian in a busy branch to provide all the storytimes and other programs the community both needs and expects AND go out and make sure the whole community knows about the library AND find out what unserved families might need that isn't being provided AND go back and add yet more programming. We need to partner, we need to focus, and we need to have reasonable and well-reasoned-out priorities.
It might be a good time to look beyond one's own branch at the services offered by community agencies and by neighboring branches. While we'd love to be able all the services our community demands, we can't. However, if two neighboring branches have made baby/toddler storytimes a priority and both the neighborhood recreation center and the local YMCA are offering inexpensive mommy-and-me classes, it might be reasonable to focus on a different, as yet unmet need in the community. As Ginny said in her comment "One library might discover a need for intensive early literacy programs. Another might need to focus on after-school homework help. Another might start a father-son book discussion group or manga club." And perhaps a community agency could be beguiled to help fill a service need. In her comments, Sophie mentioned LAPL's partnership with the LA County Museum of Art, in which volunteers come to the branches to present a series for school-aged kids on art creation and appreciation.
In order to focus on how best to serve the community, it's necessary to have a mission, some goals, and some notions about how to achieve them. In my next post, I'll look Sarasota County Public Library's recent efforts at creating a plan for the next five years of youth services and I'll ponder (yet again!!) the Summer Reading Club.
Please add your thoughts. The comments on yesterday's post were thought-provoking and fascinating - more, please!
Absolutely. It wouldn't do much good to go out into the community extolling the wonders of the public library if families then came to the library and didn't find any programs for them. Storytimes might be considered a core service that most or all libraries should provide. What I question is the complacency that might set in (as it did to a certain extent with me) when librarians devote lots of energy to keeping a relatively small portion of the community happy. We might be serving 50 or even 100 families really, really well - but what about those families that don't come to our storytime?
Now, they might not want to come - perhaps their kids are too old or storytime isn't their scene or it's too much of an ordeal to pack up the kids and haul them to a program at the library (all those scenarios have fitted me as a parent at one time or another). But it's also possible that these families haven't heard about the storytimes, or can't get in because the storytimes are too full or at an inconvenient time, or aren't sure what the benefits of attending storytime are, or don't even know where the library is or have never been to it. Don't we need to worry about these unserved folks too?
And yet we can only do so much - it's not reasonable to expect a children's librarian in a busy branch to provide all the storytimes and other programs the community both needs and expects AND go out and make sure the whole community knows about the library AND find out what unserved families might need that isn't being provided AND go back and add yet more programming. We need to partner, we need to focus, and we need to have reasonable and well-reasoned-out priorities.
It might be a good time to look beyond one's own branch at the services offered by community agencies and by neighboring branches. While we'd love to be able all the services our community demands, we can't. However, if two neighboring branches have made baby/toddler storytimes a priority and both the neighborhood recreation center and the local YMCA are offering inexpensive mommy-and-me classes, it might be reasonable to focus on a different, as yet unmet need in the community. As Ginny said in her comment "One library might discover a need for intensive early literacy programs. Another might need to focus on after-school homework help. Another might start a father-son book discussion group or manga club." And perhaps a community agency could be beguiled to help fill a service need. In her comments, Sophie mentioned LAPL's partnership with the LA County Museum of Art, in which volunteers come to the branches to present a series for school-aged kids on art creation and appreciation.
In order to focus on how best to serve the community, it's necessary to have a mission, some goals, and some notions about how to achieve them. In my next post, I'll look Sarasota County Public Library's recent efforts at creating a plan for the next five years of youth services and I'll ponder (yet again!!) the Summer Reading Club.
Please add your thoughts. The comments on yesterday's post were thought-provoking and fascinating - more, please!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Looking at children's library services with new eyes - part 1
Like other library systems all over the country, the Los Angeles Public Library has been weathering some tough times, and things may well get worse before they get better - an early retirement incentive plan that is expected to be approved by the City Council this Friday could mean hundreds of retirements in the library department alone. The 3.5 hour per payperiod furlough that goes along with this package will mean a staff that is stretched even thinner. That something has to give is clear, and hopefully it isn't our sanity!
Our library director, Martin Gomez, recently said to staff, "The one thing I'm certain of is that the Los Angeles Public Library of today, will be different tomorrow."
It seems like a good time to take a good look at the services we offer to children. Except for a few grant-funded programs that have requirements about, say, how many Read To Me LA storytimes are offered in each branch, each branch children's librarian works with his or her branch manager to figure out which programs and services to offer children in the community. This means that we have an amazingly eclectic array of programs throughout our 71 (soon to be 72) branches, but it also means that the type, quantity, and even quality of programs can vary from branch to branch. Is it possible to offer some kind of consistency throughout the City while avoiding cookie-cutter programs and encouraging the creativity of children's librarians? Something to ponder.
What I believe for sure is that we as a library system need to figure out what the needs of our community are, which of those needs we will make it a priority to meet, and then what services we will offer to meet those needs. It doesn't work to try to be everything for everybody - if nothing else, we'll go bonkers in the attempt. And continuing to offer programs and services "because we've always offered them" isn't going to cut it in a era of teeny-tiny budgets and staff.
What does it mean for children's services in libraries? Take storytimes. In a branch I worked in for almost 10 years, I offered preschool storytimes every two weeks on Monday evenings all year round. They were very popular - kids and parents loved them and I drew a steady audience of 15 to 25 preschoolers and their families. That was great - we were all happy. But now I look back and wonder if that was the best use of my time. Yes, storytimes are essential for introducing books, stories, songs, and rhymes to kids and their caregivers, for demonstrating to caregivers how the 6 preliteracy skills can be taught and reinforced, and for helping preschoolers practice their sitting still and listening skills. In addition, parents and caregivers can meet each other and share ideas and resources. And all this happened at my storytimes - and my storytime families benefited.
But! What about all those families who DIDN'T come to storytime? Let's face it, most families in my community didn't come to storytime. Most probably didn't even ever come to the library. And many of them probably didn't have many or any books at home and didn't read to their kids or understand that they were their children's first and best teachers. With stories like this one about Latino kids lagging behind other groups by Kindergarten, this isn't something that can be ignored.
So - most children's librarians are keeping their regular patrons very happy with storytimes and other programs, and meanwhile there are huge numbers of families with no connection or possibly even knowledge of the library and its services. But how to let them know about our services? More importantly, how to ensure that the library even has what they need? What DO they need?
The answer to the first question is simple - outreach and partnerships. Although one children's librarian in one branch may not have much time between info desk shifts and programming to go out to all the schools, preschools, daycare centers, clinics, churches, WIC centers, and so on in her community, she can visit some of them. And he can work with other organizations that serve families to help get the word out, as well. LAPL is partnering with First 5 LA, an organization that uses tobacco tax funds to sponsor and fund organizations and agencies that serve kids 5 and under and their families, in a literacy/library card campaign - they are using their vast network to encourage families to visit their local libraries. Those families who sign up for a first-time library card in November will receive a canvas bag filled with informational materials courtesy of First 5 LA. We'll hoping to welcome hundreds or thousands of first-time visitors to our libraries.
The last questions - what do people need from us and how do we fill that need? - are the hardest to ascertain, and they involve some hard decisions. Needs assessment (research, focus groups, surveys, etc) is difficult, sometimes expensive, and time-consuming - and we don't have time or money right now. But we need to be judicious in prioritizing our programs. We don't want to do what we've always done just because it's "traditional," but we don't want to start slashing and burning programs without good cause either.
Watch this space for a continuation of this discussion - and please add your thoughts.
Our library director, Martin Gomez, recently said to staff, "The one thing I'm certain of is that the Los Angeles Public Library of today, will be different tomorrow."
It seems like a good time to take a good look at the services we offer to children. Except for a few grant-funded programs that have requirements about, say, how many Read To Me LA storytimes are offered in each branch, each branch children's librarian works with his or her branch manager to figure out which programs and services to offer children in the community. This means that we have an amazingly eclectic array of programs throughout our 71 (soon to be 72) branches, but it also means that the type, quantity, and even quality of programs can vary from branch to branch. Is it possible to offer some kind of consistency throughout the City while avoiding cookie-cutter programs and encouraging the creativity of children's librarians? Something to ponder.
What I believe for sure is that we as a library system need to figure out what the needs of our community are, which of those needs we will make it a priority to meet, and then what services we will offer to meet those needs. It doesn't work to try to be everything for everybody - if nothing else, we'll go bonkers in the attempt. And continuing to offer programs and services "because we've always offered them" isn't going to cut it in a era of teeny-tiny budgets and staff.
What does it mean for children's services in libraries? Take storytimes. In a branch I worked in for almost 10 years, I offered preschool storytimes every two weeks on Monday evenings all year round. They were very popular - kids and parents loved them and I drew a steady audience of 15 to 25 preschoolers and their families. That was great - we were all happy. But now I look back and wonder if that was the best use of my time. Yes, storytimes are essential for introducing books, stories, songs, and rhymes to kids and their caregivers, for demonstrating to caregivers how the 6 preliteracy skills can be taught and reinforced, and for helping preschoolers practice their sitting still and listening skills. In addition, parents and caregivers can meet each other and share ideas and resources. And all this happened at my storytimes - and my storytime families benefited.
But! What about all those families who DIDN'T come to storytime? Let's face it, most families in my community didn't come to storytime. Most probably didn't even ever come to the library. And many of them probably didn't have many or any books at home and didn't read to their kids or understand that they were their children's first and best teachers. With stories like this one about Latino kids lagging behind other groups by Kindergarten, this isn't something that can be ignored.
So - most children's librarians are keeping their regular patrons very happy with storytimes and other programs, and meanwhile there are huge numbers of families with no connection or possibly even knowledge of the library and its services. But how to let them know about our services? More importantly, how to ensure that the library even has what they need? What DO they need?
The answer to the first question is simple - outreach and partnerships. Although one children's librarian in one branch may not have much time between info desk shifts and programming to go out to all the schools, preschools, daycare centers, clinics, churches, WIC centers, and so on in her community, she can visit some of them. And he can work with other organizations that serve families to help get the word out, as well. LAPL is partnering with First 5 LA, an organization that uses tobacco tax funds to sponsor and fund organizations and agencies that serve kids 5 and under and their families, in a literacy/library card campaign - they are using their vast network to encourage families to visit their local libraries. Those families who sign up for a first-time library card in November will receive a canvas bag filled with informational materials courtesy of First 5 LA. We'll hoping to welcome hundreds or thousands of first-time visitors to our libraries.
The last questions - what do people need from us and how do we fill that need? - are the hardest to ascertain, and they involve some hard decisions. Needs assessment (research, focus groups, surveys, etc) is difficult, sometimes expensive, and time-consuming - and we don't have time or money right now. But we need to be judicious in prioritizing our programs. We don't want to do what we've always done just because it's "traditional," but we don't want to start slashing and burning programs without good cause either.
Watch this space for a continuation of this discussion - and please add your thoughts.
Friday, May 8, 2009
E-coolness at the library
Reading is, in general, a solitary and anti-social activity - so how do we get kids not only to read but to demonstrate their love of books in such an exciting and innovative way that other kids can't help but be hooked?
Some libraries have found some fantastic answers to these questions. Several encourage kids and teens to make video reviews or trailers of their favorite books, which are entered in contests and shown on the library's website. King County Library System uses this approach for their teen Summer Reading Club - here is a winning video in the 2008 contest:
A similar library program is Storytubes, which looks totally cool. Check out the 2009 winning entries here.
Kids aren't old enough to post videos on YouTube and some of them don't have the equipment or savvy to make anad upload a video - so why not use an inexpensive video camera like the Flip to make book-review movies in the library? Kids could come to a series of programs that prepare them to make props, plan out the action, write a script - and then the librarian could film them or they could even film each other. Finally, the videos could be uploaded (with parental permission) onto the library's website. E-coolness!
Podcasts are even easier, if less glitzy. And of course, an interactive section of a library website could allow kids to upload written book reviews via blog comment or special form.
Cool apps like Glogster combine visual effects, including videos, and sound to create multi-media poster displays (see my own attempt here) - what kid wouldn't have fun with this? In fact, videos made in the library can be embedded into the poster. And how much better to load kids' creations onto the library's kid website, so that other kids will see these cool book-based creations.
This sort of application is absolutely free and requires only some computers and some creativity, making it a natural for a library program. Videos are a bit more involved, but really, only one inexpensive video camera (and support - tech and otherwise - from your library system) is needed.
And if you dream really, really big, perhaps you can envision someday having a library like this one in Aarhus, Denmark:
Wow - maybe some day. But in the meantime, we can provide cool, digital ways for kids to express their creativity and love of books, and we can use those same methods ourselves to promote our books and services to kids.
Some libraries have found some fantastic answers to these questions. Several encourage kids and teens to make video reviews or trailers of their favorite books, which are entered in contests and shown on the library's website. King County Library System uses this approach for their teen Summer Reading Club - here is a winning video in the 2008 contest:
A similar library program is Storytubes, which looks totally cool. Check out the 2009 winning entries here.
Kids aren't old enough to post videos on YouTube and some of them don't have the equipment or savvy to make anad upload a video - so why not use an inexpensive video camera like the Flip to make book-review movies in the library? Kids could come to a series of programs that prepare them to make props, plan out the action, write a script - and then the librarian could film them or they could even film each other. Finally, the videos could be uploaded (with parental permission) onto the library's website. E-coolness!
Podcasts are even easier, if less glitzy. And of course, an interactive section of a library website could allow kids to upload written book reviews via blog comment or special form.
Cool apps like Glogster combine visual effects, including videos, and sound to create multi-media poster displays (see my own attempt here) - what kid wouldn't have fun with this? In fact, videos made in the library can be embedded into the poster. And how much better to load kids' creations onto the library's kid website, so that other kids will see these cool book-based creations.
This sort of application is absolutely free and requires only some computers and some creativity, making it a natural for a library program. Videos are a bit more involved, but really, only one inexpensive video camera (and support - tech and otherwise - from your library system) is needed.
And if you dream really, really big, perhaps you can envision someday having a library like this one in Aarhus, Denmark:
Wow - maybe some day. But in the meantime, we can provide cool, digital ways for kids to express their creativity and love of books, and we can use those same methods ourselves to promote our books and services to kids.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Kids as readers; kids as media junkies
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study called "Generation M," kids ages 8 to 18 spend almost 6.5 hours a day using media, 7 days a week. Mostly, they're watching television (nearly 4 hours a day), but they're also listening to music (almost 2 hours a day), using the computer for non-homework purposes (1 hour a day), and playing video games (5o minutes a day). Yes, that adds up to more than 6.5 hours, but that's because kids are multitasking - using more than one medium at a time.
As for reading books, magazines, or newspapers for pleasure - they're doing that 43 minutes a day! (You think that's bad - chores only get 32 minutes and homework gets 50 minutes). And yes, many kids are reading while listening to music, watching tv, and so on.
This might get a big so-what shrug from a lot of people - 43 minutes of reading a day isn't so bad, considering how busy kids are, and they're exercising their fascinating new Net Generation brains with all this non-sequential, non-linear electronic multitasking. Read Marc Prensky's "Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Reading" or Don Tapscott's Grown Up Digital for some positive takes on this new phenomenon.
Consider, though, what the National Endowment for the Arts has to say about the ramifications of not reading. Its 2007 study "To Read or Not to Read," based on 2004 data, concludes that Americans are spending less time reading, their reading skills are eroding, and (most importantly) these declines have serious civic, social, cultural, and economic implications. People who can't read well are less likely to graduate from high school and to get good jobs, and they are much more likely to go to prison (only 3% of the U.S. prison population reads at a "proficient" level). In contrast, people who read well get better jobs, are more likely to donate time and money to their communities and to engage in cultural activities.
What it boils down to is - the more you read voluntarily - for pleasure - the better you get at it. And the better you are at reading, the more likely it is that you will succeed in life.
So when I think about those 4 hours of television-watching (as opposed to 43 minutes of reading), I get worried. And what are we to make of this statistic? - in 2004, 53% of 9-year-olds read for pleasure almost every day, but 33% of 13-year-olds and only 22% of 17-year-olds read for pleasure. What happens at puberty that makes books so dang unappealing to teens? And how can we children's librarians get more 9-year-olds to read for pleasure?
Sophie Brookover and Elizabeth Burns of Pop Goes the Library! fame - the blog and the book - argue that all those hours of media saturation is why a firm knowledge and even embracing of pop culture is essential to making our libraries relevant and exciting to kids today. If we don't know what kids care about, believe me, it shows. So perhaps one key is to attract kids by appealing to their media-savvy souls. Are the kids in your community crazy about a particular tv show? Throw a Dance With the Stars party (maybe a dance instructor? maybe a contest?), but be sure to use books, music, and DVDs from your collection to give your program substance.
Another approach might be to use digital media to enhance children's enjoyment and sharing of old-fashioned books. Kids can create multi-media extravaganzas in the library using cool computer applications; their creations can be posted on the library's website, on YouTube, shared via Facebook (13 and older only, please!) or iPhone, and so on. An example is Storytubes, a library contest in which kids make videos of themselves promoting their favorite books, and the Learning Curve program at the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library is a high-tech paradise.
I believe with all my heart that reading well is more important than ever, and that reading for pleasure can set kids on that road. Libraries have always been the best at leading kids to books that make them want to read, and we need to figure out ways that we can continue to do this. Times are changing - no, times have changed already - and librarians need to meet the future with open arms but also with eyes firmly on our mission. No groaning, no wistful backward glances. Onward!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Those opinionated children's librarians of yore
It was an odd coincidence that Roger Sutton recently quoted Effie L. Power's outrageous and fairly hilarious statements concerning the reading habits and tastes of the children of various ethnic groups, from Jews to Germans to Czechs. I've been browsing through her 1943 Work With Children in Public Libraries (a revision of a 1930 edition) in preparation for teaching a UCLA GSEIS course on "Library Services and Programs for Children" and find it a fascinating window into the mores and sentiments of the time.
After listing all the many attributes that a children's librarian should possess (knowledge of child psychology and educational principles, interest in sports, natural history, botany, science, etc, being "simple and straightforward in manner, without affectation or brusqueness..."), she adds, "(Children) respond intuitively to youthfulness in others, buoyancy of spirit, and colorful beauty. Knowing this, the wise children's librarian wears pretty clothes and keeps her library room cheerful and bright." I do try to keep my spirit bouyant, but that youthfulness thing is just beyond me these days.
In discussing vocational and professional opportunities, Power states, "There is a need for men workers to aid with administrative problems and with boys' reading." Yep, the poor guys get stuck behind a desk wrestling with paperwork and supervisory problems except when the children's librarians on the floor need assistance with that most thorny of issues - figuring out what to give boys to read.
Even more fascinating is a collection of essays and speeches called Library Work with Children, compiled by Alice I. Hazeltine and published in 1917. From William Isaac Fletcher's famous 1876 article "Public Libraries and the Young" and Caroline Hewins' 1882 survey "Boys' and Girls' Reading" to a 1903 article on "Maintaining Order in the Children's Room" and any number of essays on storytelling, collection development, and the fascinating "Work with Children at the Colored Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library" from 1910, this is an amazing look at library services to children when they were at their most formative stage. I thought that telling stories to kids in the neighborhood playground was a 70's phenomenon, but no - there are not one but two articles on this practice, one from 1901 and one from 1911.
One Clara Whitehill Hunt wrote in a 1913 about the dangers of what she saw as a growing trend toward "harmless" mediocre children's books and a tendency to overprotect and coddle children ("...in this day when parents are frantically protecting their children from the deadly house fly, the mosquito, the common drinking cup and towel; when milk must be sterilized and water boiled..." - sounds familiar!).
She rages, "And when children of good heritage, good homes, sounds bodies, bright minds spend hours every week curled up among cushions, allowing a stream of cambric-tea literature gently to trickle over their brain surfaces, we know that though the heroes and heroines of these stories be represented as prodigies of industry and vigor, our young swallowers of the same are being reduced to a pulp of brain and will laziness that will...affect their moral stamina, since fighting fiber is the price of virtue." Ouch! Think what she would have said about television, graphic novels, and video games.
Ah, my spiritual ancestors - they were opinionated, strong-willed, sometimes a bit bonkers, and absolutely dedicated to their mission - which they were creating as they went. They make me proud - even Ms. Effie Powers and her bizarre thoughts on collection development (she does have wonderful things to say about a number of other elements of children's services). We've always been an interesting and sometimes controversial group of folks - from the very earliest days.
After listing all the many attributes that a children's librarian should possess (knowledge of child psychology and educational principles, interest in sports, natural history, botany, science, etc, being "simple and straightforward in manner, without affectation or brusqueness..."), she adds, "(Children) respond intuitively to youthfulness in others, buoyancy of spirit, and colorful beauty. Knowing this, the wise children's librarian wears pretty clothes and keeps her library room cheerful and bright." I do try to keep my spirit bouyant, but that youthfulness thing is just beyond me these days.
In discussing vocational and professional opportunities, Power states, "There is a need for men workers to aid with administrative problems and with boys' reading." Yep, the poor guys get stuck behind a desk wrestling with paperwork and supervisory problems except when the children's librarians on the floor need assistance with that most thorny of issues - figuring out what to give boys to read.
Even more fascinating is a collection of essays and speeches called Library Work with Children, compiled by Alice I. Hazeltine and published in 1917. From William Isaac Fletcher's famous 1876 article "Public Libraries and the Young" and Caroline Hewins' 1882 survey "Boys' and Girls' Reading" to a 1903 article on "Maintaining Order in the Children's Room" and any number of essays on storytelling, collection development, and the fascinating "Work with Children at the Colored Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library" from 1910, this is an amazing look at library services to children when they were at their most formative stage. I thought that telling stories to kids in the neighborhood playground was a 70's phenomenon, but no - there are not one but two articles on this practice, one from 1901 and one from 1911.
One Clara Whitehill Hunt wrote in a 1913 about the dangers of what she saw as a growing trend toward "harmless" mediocre children's books and a tendency to overprotect and coddle children ("...in this day when parents are frantically protecting their children from the deadly house fly, the mosquito, the common drinking cup and towel; when milk must be sterilized and water boiled..." - sounds familiar!).
She rages, "And when children of good heritage, good homes, sounds bodies, bright minds spend hours every week curled up among cushions, allowing a stream of cambric-tea literature gently to trickle over their brain surfaces, we know that though the heroes and heroines of these stories be represented as prodigies of industry and vigor, our young swallowers of the same are being reduced to a pulp of brain and will laziness that will...affect their moral stamina, since fighting fiber is the price of virtue." Ouch! Think what she would have said about television, graphic novels, and video games.
Ah, my spiritual ancestors - they were opinionated, strong-willed, sometimes a bit bonkers, and absolutely dedicated to their mission - which they were creating as they went. They make me proud - even Ms. Effie Powers and her bizarre thoughts on collection development (she does have wonderful things to say about a number of other elements of children's services). We've always been an interesting and sometimes controversial group of folks - from the very earliest days.
Photo of the Aguilar Branch courtesy of the NYPL digital collection.
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