Week 14 Post

This week had me leading my own library program!  IPPL had partnered with a local police department for a passive program - Book Bingo - and as that program was concluding we invited a uniformed officer into the library to read to kids in grades 1 through 6 as they made their own super cute bookmarks.  Amy, the head and Programming and Operations, and I sat together and ordered supplies, picked titles, and came up with book-talk scripts that could be available if the officer needed them. It was really gratifying to have her appreciate my craft and book selections.  

Apparently in past times when they had done this event (it's a drop-in, not a program that needs to be signed up for) there had been maybe 1 or 2 kids wandering in to make a bookmark and grab some swag that the officers brought. I'm happy to say that this time we had a whole 8 kids and their grown-ups.  I know that it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you look at the percentage of growth, that's actually quite large.  

The Association for Library Services to Children (a division of the ALA) has several professional standards that I am glad to say that I met in planning and executing this program.  

I: Commitment to Client Group

III: Programming Skills

IV: Collection Knowledge and Management

V: Outreach & Advocacy

The fact that this was a mid-kid program was a boon as well because I have accepted a position as a mid-kid librarian and am very excited to get started.  Good things are coming in 2025!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1 Post

My first week as an intern at the Indian Prairie Public Library has been everything that I had hoped that it would be. The staff was warm and knowledgeable, the patrons were engaged, and the facility was clearly well used and appreciated. Upon my arrival I met with Amy Merda, the head of the Programming and Outreach (P&O) department. Her team is in charge of all of the fun events that the library puts on for the community, as well as venturing out into said community to raise awareness of library services, facilitate book checkouts, and engage with educators.   As my current role as a library assistant at a high school limits me to working with those in grades 9 through 12, I am particularly excited to learn more about library programming for other age groups. One of the activities that I assisted with during my shift was a library managed Dungeons and Dragons gaming campaign. Sara, the librarian in charge of the event, was able to build a dedicated group of role-players t...
Read more

Week 2 Post

Anyone who has ever had to come up with a username - which is everyone -  knows how difficult it can be. You want it to be fun, but not too fun, relevant, and understandable. We've all been through the cringe-inducing college aged usernames, the professional level first-initial-last-name usernames, and anything related to our favorite pop culture, but after I've finally myt recent week of working in the Technical Services Department of the Indian Prairie Library,  my new username is TacticalLibrarian. You probably want to know why it isn't TechnicalLibrarian. Tactical calls to mind a me wearing a bandolier of Demco supplies; book tape, spine glue, barcode labels, vistafoil, anything I would need to keep the operation running smoothly.  And isn't that what Technical Services is all about? TechnicalLibrarian makes it sound like “well technically she's a librarian…” which I'm actually not…at least for a few more months. Thank goodness usernames aren’t legally bindi...
Read more

Week 3 Post

Week 3 of my Indian Prairie Public Library Practicum was Doggone wonderful..literally. I was back with the Programming and Outreach team for one of their fantastic evening offerings. “Read to a Pet” is geared towards emerging readers who are developing confidence in the skill. Reading to a friendly registered support dog in a judgment-free environment can be hugely supportive. I assisted Chrissy for this program. Chrissy often works with programming for “mid-kids,” meaning those from approximately grades 1 to 8. They're not little enough for the board books and guided storytime, but not ready to be fully unsupervised either.  Chrissy had an excellent system for keeping the kids, dogs, and parents organized, which is vital as this is a very popular program. The dogs (normally at least 3 are scheduled) arrive about 15 minutes early to sniff out each other, the meeting room and get settled. Then the kids begin to arrive in waves about 15 minutes apart. If they don't bring or selec...
Read more