I am announcing a new project: “Let’s Move! Libraries.” At the project website you will find information on movement-based programs in public libraries throughout North America (think yoga/tai chi/Zumba in the library, StoryWalks, music and movement, walking groups, etc.). The overall goal of this project is to strengthen work already underway in public libraries that seeks to get our communities up and moving.
If you work in a public library in Minnesota, please consider taking a few minutes to fill out this short survey about any programs or services your library provides, has provided in the past, or is planning to provide in the future. The results from this survey will be shared on the project website in Fall 2017.
Please share this message with others you think may be interested in this project. Thank you for your time! I look forward to your feedback.
CMLE members – this discussion was happening on a listserve, and had some great ideas you might want to try in your library! Don’t forget: if you do baking projects in your library, CMLE Headquarters is available for taste-testing!
“Like I’m guessing many of you, I was excited by the idea of a baking club posted over at SLJ here:
We are able to cook food and have it as part of our events, at least as of right now, so we’re not as restricted as many libraries are.
However, I am curious how, if you have a cooking or baking club, how do you handle:
Kitchen safety and knife skills?
Allergens and making sure the food is as safe as you can make it?
Permission slips — if so, examples?
Favorite recipes?
Different types of cuisine to try?
Thanks for any and all advice or tips! I know my teens will really love this, but I’d love to hear from any other librarians who do similar programs.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could just read you a story?
For kids, it’s an ultimate treat to get storytime! And now it’s even available while patrons are away from the library: Dial a Story! Kids love to use the phone anyway – letting them hear a story can be an additional fun activity. Dial a Story programs are going strong in many libraries around the country!
The Broward County library offers one of them: “Convenient, quick and always available – that’s Broward County Library’s Dial-A-Story, a free storytime-by-phone service that’s available 24/7 to anyone with access to a telephone. Dial-A-Story features four different stories at a time, and the stories are changed every other week. Geared toward younger children, the stories are a mix of contemporary tales, timeless classics and favorite fairy and folk tales. Professionally recorded, the stories are easy to access and loads of fun. To hear the latest stories, just call 954-357-7777.”
Professional storytellers are in on this action as well! “The Dial-A-Story program is an outreach service of the Jackson County Library System and the Storytelling Guild for pre-school age children. Guild members record stories on the phone for children to listen to from home. Stories change every two weeks, or more, depending on the storyteller. Children call the library at 541-774-6439 and hear the stories.”
A few other libraries offering Dial a Story programs:
Kansas City Public Library (listen online or over the phone)
Have you provided a service like this? Have you recorded stories?? This could be a great way to provide some Reader’s Advisory services to patrons – sharing suggestions for some fun books kids would love!
They sound amazingly fun! And they are a great way to involve kids in a book – and hopefully interest kids in many more books!
“StoryWalk® is an innovative and delightful way for children — and adults! — to enjoy reading and the outdoors at the same time. Laminated pages from a children’s book are attached to wooden stakes, which are installed along an outdoor path. As you stroll down the trail, you’re directed to the next page in the story.”
A library person was recently talking about StoryWalks on the ALSC listserve, and asked for suggestions on other titles to use. She collected the responses, and we are sharing them with you here:
Life on Mars by Agee
The Three Little Aliens & the Big Bad Robot
Seymour Simon has several NF space books
The Aliens are Coming
Company Coming
Postcards from Pluto
Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman
I Want To Go To The Moon by Tom Saunders
The Darkest Dark
Oh No, Astro!
Star Stuff
Clearly, this would be a fun program in itself. You can also expand on that by involving some Reader’s Advisory work.
Add in signs with additional books on topics for each page. Picture of an ant on one? Recommend an ant book! Ms. Frizzle stops at Jupiter? Have a Jupiter book ready to go!
Create a bibliography you can give to parents and caregivers at the end, with similar books to the StoryWalk book you just had fun reading. Also put this online, so everyone can find it!
Have kids yell out their favorite books! We are already running (fun!), and adding in a yelling component could be even more fun! Keep track of their suggestions, so you stay in touch with the books important to this community group.
“by Elizabeth Bonsignore, Katie Kaczmarek, Kari Kraus and Anthony Pellicone from the University of Maryland; and Derek Hansen from Brigham Young University
A card from the catalog, with the ISBN, page, line, and word location from a published book that will lead players to the “right word” for this particular Tessera puzzle.
The following scenario offers a glimpse into gameplay for ARG The Tessera:
Ms. Edmunds is a middle school librarian running a #ReadyToCode after-school club that has been playing The Tessera, an interactive online mystery that introduces teens to foundational computational thinking concepts and key individuals from the history of computing. Her 8th graders have just entered a room within the game world that contains materials curated by members of a secret organization called the Tessera.
Here, they discover an old library catalog whose cards contain “book ciphers” that, once decoded, will reveal a letter from Ada Lovelace, a Tessera leader who is known today as the author of the world’s first computer program. The teens must work together to find the books listed in the catalog cards, then follow the encoded clues to locate the words within those books that comprise the contents of Ada’s letter.
Ms. Edmunds helps her club members to find several of the books in their media center or online via resources like Project Gutenberg. They page through the books together, compiling a growing list of words that disclose the letter’s contents. Once complete, Ada’s letter rewards players with key details about the Tessera’s secret mission against the evil “S.” During after-school sessions, Ms. Edmunds shows her teens how they can share their questions, frustrations, and successes with others in-game, through the Tessera players’ forum. She also encourages them to contribute their own findings and musings on the public-facing Tessera community wiki.
Like the teens in her club, Ms. Edmunds has a player profile, which she uses to respond to players’ questions and share her own thoughts. Over the course of 8-12 weekly after-school sessions, Ms. Edmunds facilitates online and face-to-face meetups with teens in her media center as they tackle the multi-level computational thinking challenges in this interactive, multiplayer mystery.”
