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Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 18:38:47 -0400 (EDT)
To: pubyac-digest@nysernet.org
Subject: pubyac V1 #455
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Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 16:50:30 -0500
From: Phyllis Davis <pdavis@htls.lib.il.us>
Subject: Re: Library Booth
We have a "Lollipop tree" purchased from U.S.Toy(?) that we bring to =
festivals and fairs. Children get to pick a lollipop. If thier =
lollipop is marked with black on the end, they receive a small prize. =
Prizes are usually left-overs from summer reading, donations, and =
whatever else we are trying to get rid of!. We also do handstamping. =
We bring a small variety of stamps and a few colors and allow the =
children to choose. Kids like this just as much as face painting. In =
fact, sometimes kids ask us to stamp faces, ankles, etc. Be sure to =
bring stamps which are of interest to a variety of ages and ink that =
shows up both light and dark skin tones. You can get many washable =
non-toxic colors at craft stores. =20
Phyllis Davis-Youth Services Lead Professional
Joliet Public Library
Joliet, IL=20
pdavis@htls.lib.il.us
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Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 13:22:13 -0400
From: "Hudson, Sarah" <shudson@plcmc.lib.nc.us>
Subject: RE: Have you heard these authors?
Hello,
I heard Bruce Brooks in 1991 at YALSA's preconference Genrecon '91.
Brooks spoke about sports literature, and why society seemed to
accept boys reading sports books and magazines when society may
not accept boys reading other materials. I know he included other topics,
but that was a while back, and I don't remember it all.
I found him very interesting. That particular lecture may be more
appropriate for parents than youth.
Sarah
Sarah Hudson
Information Specialist
Independence Regional Library
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
shudson@plcmc.lib.nc.us
Opinions are my own, and do not reflect those of the Library
- ----------
From: Vicki Fox[SMTP:vfox@ppld.org]
Sent: Friday, September 25, 1998 6:54 AM
To: pubyac@nysernet.org
Subject: Have you heard these authors?
If anyone has heard Alfred Slote or Bruce Brooks as an author, I would
appreciate your reactions. We are exploring using one of these for a program
geared for youth and parents as part of a sports and arts festival.
Thanks so much.
Vicki Fox
Children's Services Manager
Pikes Peak Library District
vfox@ppld.org
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Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 17:15:24 -0500
From: Adelaide Rowe <arowe@egvpl.org>
Subject: easy shelves
Is there any law that says that easy or picture books have to be shelved
on low shelving? Ours are three shelves deep now and overflowing.
Wouldn't it be simple just to add another layer? The kids already have
new books in bins they can browse, and they can still destroy , I mean
reach, the lower three shelves. We have our dinosaur books on high
shelves and they still are found by the young set. In fact our whole
non-fiction collection is marked with easy reader stickers, and seems to
work. Any comments, or am I being unrealistic, mean, old, and crochety,
not to mention politically incorrect? We have a wonderful picture book
collection, and I hate overweeding just to make more space.
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 12:52:14 -0400
From: "Sherburne Mem. Library" <SHERBURNE@dol.state.vt.us>
Subject: RE: pubyac V1 #450
dear janeet have you tried a puppet show. I find it always draws a crowd.
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 9:29:21 -0500
From: JODIR@ALCON.ALC.ORG
Subject: RE: Library Booths
The best thing to draw people is puppets! and giveaways! We usually do a
puppet show when we go out, but this can be a problem in noisy areas. If we
aren't able to do a show we take several puppets to talk with passers-by and
attract kids. Then we hand out our stuff and pitch storytime. We also do
"walk about" One person mans the booth while the other walks around
with a
puppet on their arm handing out book marks or telling when the next puppet
show will be. We also raffle off things like a desk lamp and we always have
candy in a dish. Balloons are great givaways too.
Oh one more thing it is good to have on a offical nametag or t-shirt or some
other identification when walking about. Parents are cautious.
Good luck
Jodi Rocco
Children's Library Asst.
Abilene Public Libray
Abilene Tx.
jodi.rocco@alcon.alc.org
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:58:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: Sue Ridnour <sridnour@metro.lib.ci.carrollton.tx.us>
Subject: Re: [the internet and children]
What I find funny is the friends who sit down side by side and get into
the same chat room (although we technically do not provide that service)
and "chat" back and forth to each other. Fortunately, the two major
offenders are basically good kids who were just testing the limits, and
didn't give me any grief when I suggested that maybe they should consider
just talking to each other.
On 24 Sep 1998, Carol Exner wrote:
> this is a gift, not a right, and they can blow it pretty easily. The
funniest
> ones are the friends who get on the same sites at side-by-side terminals
and
> comment to one another.
Sue
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Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 20:21:51 -0400
From: roger hall <rdhall@iclub.org>
Subject: Worms Storytime
Hi y'all, I am trying to plan a storytime featuring worms and I am looking
for any picture books, finger plays, crafts and any other suggestions. I
will have 3 age group storytimes: toddlers, pre-school and school age. I
already am planning to use How to eat fried Worms with the school age group
and already know the cute song about Ooey, Gooey Laid on a Railroad Track.
(Worms are being provided by the local bait shop). Thank you.
Also, I have another question: How many of you are purchasing the Arthur
Chapter Books?
They seem too difficult for most of the children. I have the first four
books but the children don't seem to like them as well, perhaps because they
are not as colorfully illustrated or because the words are too difficult.
Anne Hall
Anne Hall
& Roger Hall
Kentucky
rdhall@iclub.org
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:06:43 -0500
From: Peggy Northcraft <mdu002@mail.connect.more.net>
Subject: Re: Encyclopedia skills
Melissa,
Please, whatever you do, make it clear that they need to start in the index
volume. My firt Library Science teacher had lists of questions we hade to
find the answers to by going to various research souces - the first being
dictionaries and encyclopedias. We had to site our source, etc. If you
did this in the form of a scavenger hunt, it might appeal more.
Peggy
At 08:44 AM 9/25/98 EDT, you wrote:
>Hi, does anyone have any ideas or lesson plans for how to teach kids
>encyclopedia skills. Or if anyone knows of a web site that would be good
>also. Thank You Melissa
>
>
>
Margaret "Peggy" Northcraft
Children's Librarian
Hannibal Public Library
Hannibal MO
mdu002@mail.connect.more.net
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 18:07:54 EDT
From: BSH5587@aol.com
Subject: chat rooms
We recently started allowing chat rooms on our public-use internet terminals.
I've had young adults asking me if I know of any chat rooms for them. Well,
my first thought was that I don't want to promote the use of chat rooms so I
purposely did not try to find chat rooms to recommend. But, it seems that all
of the YA patrons are passing the word about a particular chat room
"www.sportschat.com". I do not like the chat room - they do not talk
about
sports. It can get pretty nasty. It obviously isn't monitored.
So, since my original plan did not work, I'm hoping to steer them away from
"sports chat" by offering them a list of decent chat room sites. I do
believe
there are chat rooms that are monitored. Am I right? Can any of you
recommend some good chat rooms for YA's? I will post the list to PUBYAC if
anyone is interested.
Brenda Hauck
Young Adult Specialist
Swanton Public Library
305 Chestnut St.
Swanton, OH 43558
bsh5587@aol.com
(419) 826-2760 (v)
(419) 826-1020 (f)
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:14:14 -0500
From: Hope Baugh <HBaugh@imcpl.lib.in.us>
Subject: face and flush
Dear Carol Chatfield and Patrice Prevost and other Pubyac-ers,
I thought Carol had some excellent suggestions for ways a blind
volunteer (or any volunteer!) could be of service to the library. I
want to add to one suggestion in particular. Carol wrote:
"Your volunteer could help align books on the shelves - stand
them up,
> pull the spines to the very edge of the shelf. Our staff really
> appreciates having this done. It is aesthetically appealing and staff
> simply does not have time to do it."
>
Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, research shows it helps "sell"
books. Or so I was told when I worked for Borders Books and Music as a
bookseller. Part of my job was to put out the new books as they came
in, and to work with the Marketing Committee to market my section.
Razzle-dazzle displays were important, of course, but simply putting as
many books face-front as possible, and keeping the spines of the others
even with the front edge of the shelf, also made a big difference. Our
trainer told us "Whenever you have a spare moment, Face and Flush!" It
was a never-ending task.
As a librarian, of course, I have many (MANY!) more
responsiblities than I had as a bookseller working for a large chain
like Borders. I try to face-and-flush as much as I can, but I can't, in
good conscience, devote a lot of my time to it. Yet I can't help
thinking that in many ways, our "bottom line" is circulation, and so
we
should be doing whatever we can to make our collection inviting to our
patrons.
Until I read Carol's suggestion I had been thinking along the
lines of training pages to face-and-flush as they shelved, but in many
libraries, the pages have enough challenge just in getting the books
re-shelved. It would be WONDERFUL to have a volunteer who came in every
day, or even once a week, to face-and-flush.
Best wishes,
Hope Baugh
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 09:00:03 -0700 (MST)
From: Marijo Kist <mkist@lib.ci.phoenix.az.us>
Subject: Re: Library Booths
I have finally found the magic solution to our problems with this:
bookmarks. We are usually asked to do storytelling, and after the year I
was palced between the ex-bookmobile, now gangbuster mobile unit turned
boombox and the dunk tank, I swore never again. Then I had an epiphiny
moment: book marks. I found some leftover flyers that had been to promote
something, cut off the date of the event, leaving thye message of get a
library card at your local library, stamped our branch name and address on
it and set up a table with Kidstamps@ and kidsafe pads. The kids stamp
favorites from Sendak, Viola Swamp, and now Arthur. All around the table
are squeals of "look mom, here is that funny teacher I told you about in
the book where she runs away and the mean lady comes" We issue cards and
lately our Fiends group hoards childrens books and goes to each festival.
They sell the books for .25 and I have on hand bookplate stamps, also from
Kidstamps@. The kids buy their very own book, many for the first time
ever, and get to put their name in it. Now the crowd hanging out at the
library table is as long as the ballon and bubble tables.
We also give out previous years summer reading prizes. Another big help
has been that for the past 10 years or so, we have had a mascot on all
children's programming. He is Bookbreath the Dragon and about two years
ago we purchased costumes and he attends these as well.
Before I came up with these competitive things we would give out about 50
cards per day. I started tracking these and only about 4 were ever used.
Now the average is 150 and about 25 are used. Still not a super
percentage, but much improved.
If any one need Kidstamp info, they have a web site and I believe it is
http://www.kidstamps.com.
Marijo Kist mkist@lib.ci.phoenix.az.us
Acacia Branch Library
(602) 262-6224
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Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 13:59:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: Julie Linneman <juliel@wichita.lib.ks.us>
Subject: Library charges
I am currently working for a public library that is rather besieged
financially, in a city where tax reductions hold great appeal for many of
our constituents. Our library currently charges .25 for daily fines (up
to $4), $1 for lost cards, .25 for each hold placed or each book requested
from a branch library (although there is no charge for books borrowed on
ILL), .50 per half hour on using the wordprocessor or typewriter (not
Internet), and adding $5 processing fee for those whose accounts reach
final notice and go to collection agency. There is a $1.00 limit on the
amount of debt allowable before borrowing privileges are revoked. There
are a number of other charges ($1 per day for videos, $2.50 penalty for
leaving A-V media in a bookdrop, etc.).
The charges seem high to me, but maybe I am out of touch. The city which
funds us does not have a separate tax levy for the library specifically,
so each year it is a fight to the finish by all city agencies for the tax
dollars available, with the library usually the loser. All agencies
funded by the city are REQUIRED by the city to raise a given percentage of
their annual revenue through user fees (e.g., meeting room rental, fines,
charges for services, etc.), although it is up to each agency how the
monies will be charged. (By the way, these monies do not belong to the
agency itself, but go back into city coffers to be fought over again the
next year.)
We are now doing strategic planning on our finances and being asked what
else we can charge for. Charging for library cards has been thrown out as
an idea. I REALLY, REALLY hate to see us go to this step, but once again,
maybe I'm just unaware of other places where this is happening. (I am
planning to counter that idea by saying I would rather we could sell
totebags and bookmarks as a fundraiser for the city rather than charge for
library cards.)
Is anyone else experiencing this? Am I out of touch? Does anyone else
have to charge to the extent we are doing it here? If the day ever comes
that we charge for library cards, we will no longer be eligible for state
funds (I'm not sure if that is a state rule or a federal rule), but I fear
we may be gearing up for loss of one funding source for another.
As a side note, an article in our city's paper today stated that we came
in ninth in a recent study of per capita book sales by U.S. cities. The
article was very self-congratulatory on how "literate" we are, but
when I
saw that Dallas, Seattle, and Chicago were among the lowest on per capita
booksales, I suddenly realized that there may be an inverse relationship
between communities which fund libraries and communities in which people
MUST buy their own books.
Julie Linneman
Wichita (KS) Public Library
juliel@wichita.lib.ks.us
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 22:30:48 EDT
From: BSH5587@aol.com
Subject: Christmas Parade
Sorry for the delay in getting this "Christmas Parade" list to you,
but
unfortunately I don't know how to cut and paste e-mail, so I had to retype
everything. Thanks again to all who contributed suggestions.
From: Celeste Fong
...In the interest of simplifying, we will have children and adults dress up
as book characters for next year's parade.
From: Torrie Hodgson
...You could have a Santa's Reindeer entry, if you have young patrons actively
participate. A front banner could say something to the effect of,
"Christmas
only comes once a year, so we read over the other 364 days!" The kids use
giftwrap tubes as the "sticks" for hobbyhorses. They attach mirror
image
paper reindeer heads and "ride" them down the street. They can dress
up as
Santa Elves or not...
Other things we have done....
kazoo band with paper marching band hats
Chinese dragon style world's largest cow (used Gateway Holstein-patterned
boxes)
wild west hobby horse riders
cardboard cars to wear with suspenders (travel the reading highway - we won
first with this one)
carry "fishing poles" with colorful fluttering paper fishes attached
(we also
bellowed the crawdad song)
From: Shari Hetzke
...Our most successful appearance was to the tune of YMCA... We have a very
clever staff member who wrote new words to the song and we got a professional
singer (and husband of a former staff member!) to record it for us. This was
very popular - the crowds along the route danced along with us. (About 35
staff members volunteered to "march".)
We also "marched" to Celebrate! (Celebrate Good times, come on!) which
was
popular.
From: Mary K. Rice
In July our community had a Founders Festival parade. Some of the library
staff and patrons (both kids and adults) rode a wagon and we did a kid of
drill team routine. (We had been toying with the idea of doing this while
marching and using books as props, but we couldn't arrange it). Anyway, I
shouted "Do you like green eggs and ham?" and the others in the wagon
shouted
back "Yes, I like green eggs and ham." And it continued... "Do
you like them
Sam-I-Am?" "Yes, I like them Sam-I-Am." "One-Two"
"One-two" "Three-four"
"Three-four". Then all together, "One two three four one two Read
More!"
This continued with "Do you like them in a car?".....We always thought
it
would be fun to march wearing Cat in the Hat hats or wear t-shirts with Seuss
characters and use books like drill teams might use rifles.
From: Teresa at Rivershore Reading Store
... Rivershore offers red or green baseball-type caps that read "HATS OFF
TO
LIBRARIES". They sell for $4.00 each.
From: Jeri Kladder
How about making "sandwich boards" to look like books and cover with
illustrations of well-known children's books. Then top the head of the wearer
with a big bow?
From: LaRae Muselman
"Give Your Mind a Present - Read" Wrap a large box like a Christmas
present.
Cut holes for a person's head and arms. Slip it over the person so it rests
on their shoulders. Have someone else carry the sign/s. You could have a
number of the "presents" marching.
From: Debra S. Bogart
One idea would be the theme "Your Library is Full of Enchanted Places"
and
have the participants dress up like characters from enchanted places such as
Namia, Wonderland, The Enchanted Forest, etc.
_________________________________________________
I think that's all of them. My apologies if I missed anyone's suggestions.
Something that I do know is that I REALLY need to learn how to cut and paste.
(-:
Brenda Hauck
Young Adult Specialist
Swanton Public Library
305 Chestnut St.
Swanton, OH 43558
bsh5587@aol.com
(419) 826-2760 (v)
(419) 826-1020 (f)
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End of pubyac V1 #455
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