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Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 16:29:59 -0500 (EST)
To: pubyac-digest@nysernet.org
Subject: pubyac V1 #597
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 09:11:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Kate Carter <katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us>
Subject: Re: Librarian -- "not-so-hot" career?
What is interesting about these "hot" and "chilly" careers
is that
Knowledge Manager is hot -- seems to me that's just another name for
librarian. Working Woman Magazine's take on the world of librarianship is
private librarianship (i.e., business) is a great field with plenty of
opportunity and pay, while public librarianship (including schools) is
risky due to funding basis. I agree that there seems to be a shortage of
children's librarians. And it may not be a "hot" career, but I find my
job much more gratifying than I ever would as a corporate librarian.
The URL for the magazine's web site is http://www.workingwomanmag.com/
Kate Carter, Youth Librarian
Multnomah County Library
801 SW 10th (503)248-5235
Portland, OR 97205 katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Larry Gainor wrote:
>
> That's what the February issue of Working Woman magazine
> said in an article that discussed career prospects
> for various occupational fields. I don't know
> about other areas of librarianship, but it seems to me that
> there is a pretty serious shortage of children's librarians.
> If you'd like to share your thoughts with Working Woman
> magazine, their e-mail address is wwmagazine@aol.com (please
> include a daytime phone number and your location).
>
> Larry Gainor
> Fort Worth Public Library
>
>
>
>
>
citizen vols can do. Teens are great - IF they will follow the
guidelines and have some common sense. [At a recent program for the schools, I
was the guide for a 9th grader in a Clifford costume. Some guidelines had been
carefully explained to this young lady beforehand - mostly safety stuff.
Within the first 10 min she disregarded almost every one of them.
She was a law unto herself! She
almost catapulted down a whole section of the Civic Arena.]
Plus, you actually need someone to be
the mascot AND someone to be the guide. The mascot doesn't talk and has
limited vision. The best ones develop a schtick - and demonstrate a lot of
personality non-verbally - while still staying safe (for selves and for the
kids). I also once escorted KD Bear from a local TV station - the man has
been doing this for years and is a pro. As we walked throughout the whole
library, to watch the looks in (adult) people's eyes when they saw him with
his arms outstretched to give them a hug was astounding. You can't believe how
many adults in this world need a hug! (It was Valentine's Day) People wept
spontaneously.
Anyway, our system has a brief manual of info for people who are going to wear
the CaroLion costume. If you'd like a copy, I'm sure Community Relations could
send you one. E-mail Gina Pferdehirt pferdehirtg@clpgh.org She can
also tell you who made ours in case you don't have a local co.
I'm sorry we don't have a photo on the web.
*********
In our Library system we have a mascot that we debuted last spring. He is
Dewey the Dinosaur. He visits schools, community events and festivals,
and was featured in our Summer Reading Club video. The kids all respond
well to the mascot. We have a coloring sheet that also gives information
about the library and crayons that Dewey hands out when he/she makes
appearances. Oh yes, Dewey was also interviewed on the local cable
station. Dewey did not talk but the library spokesperson was there and
interpreted for Dewey. Only once during the year do we do a video for
marketing. It is to promote the Summer Reading Club. We have copies of
the video made and it is shown at all the elementary schools in the
county. We write and produce it ourselves so it is not professional
quality. The local cable stations never want to air it for us. We also
air the video in the libraries the week prior to the start of SRC.
************
The library's mascot, for children anyway, is Lawrence the Library Bunny.
Lawrence is a puppet who attends all storytimes, both in-library and
outreach. He's been working here for 12 years and gets Christmas cards,
fan mail, treats, and so many hugs his fur is wearing off. High school
kids have been seen stopping by to say Hi.
The videos we made of storytime (with an LSCA grant) ten years ago are
still circulating. Children see me and want my autograph because I was
on TV. It is the feeling around here that those videos were very
helpful in passing a bond some years ago to form a county-wide service
district. In today's video age library video is a definite asset.
We've also had excellent response with PSA's filmed in the
library.(done free by our local cable company, TCI) These gave us a
chance to get non-children's staff on film and some recognition. Our
outreach clerk gets stopped in the store to answer library questions.
***********
Many years ago Seattle Public Library created a summer
reading club around a character we called Supercat which really caught
fire with the kids' imaginations. The drawing (we had a stamp for
stamping the charts for each book read) was a Superman type figure with
a cat head and cloak. For a personal appearance at the end of club party
it was a really simple costume to duplicate and the kids went wild when
the character appeared. I think you have a great idea going and could
really build up some "name brand loyalty/recognition with it!
If you get information about mascots would you share with me, please.
Apparently a long time ago this library had a bookworm costume that was
worm by a group of library staff (as legs) for parades & festivals.
Long since gone. Now we have a new director would like to do these
things again.
**************
We have had a mascot at our library for about 7 years now. He is a warm,
fuzzy tan colored bear named BOOKER. We held a naming contest when he first
arrived and a small child picked the name BOOKER. He has been at the grand
opening of our new facility, at storytimes, in both a Halloween and 4th of
July parade, made school visits and more. One of the biggest things we have
done with Booker is a birthday book club. Children (or adults) can be
honored with a birthday book from the Youth Department. Everyone who has
been honored during the year is invited to his birthday party in January. We
add about 50 books per year this way. All of the graphics we use are bears
and are included on invitations, bookmarks, bookplates, thank you notes,
etc. (All computer generated and photocopied except the bookplates.)
We also used Booker for the children's portion of our website.
www.rbls.lib.il.us/bpl
A couple of things to consider:
* The fabric you use choose -- I wore the costume for the 4th of July
parade when it was 98 degrees and about died!
* Who might where the costume -- make sure you get the costume made to
accomodate different size volunteers.
* Does it talk or not? Many want the character to talk, but sometimes
it was all I could do to maneuver in the costume. Plus, the kids know my
voice from storytime so if I was wearing the costume I didn't want to take
away the surprise.
* Make a policy about where you will visit -- you will get calls to
appear at every function. Which sounds great for the library, but can be a
pain if you don't have volunteers to wear it all the time. We also wanted to
make sure a staff member was either wearing or accompanying Booker at all
times so no one was giving out false/wrong information.
************
At my current library, we have a seagull (because we are near the water)
as a symbol on our library sign and on the mailings. When a coloring book
was made a few years ago, a contest was run to choose a name (good for
publicity too) The seagull ended up as Sandy (for not only the beach
images, but also because it is fairly unisex)
My previous library had a pet (an iguana, but now it has a frog and fish)
and occasionally they'd include the iguana in pictures or trivia
questions.
I think it would be wonderful if you could choose a character that you
could make a costume for. You would save the expense of renting a costume,
and it could be a great publicity stunt, and something for the kids to
look forward to.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:22:32 -0500
From: szampino@brdgprtpl.lib.ct.us (Steve Zampino)
Subject: Dial-a-story
Dear Pubyackers:
The Children's Services Dept. of the
Bridgeport (CT) Public Library is looking in to offering dial-a-story to
our patrons. We are considering buying a Windsor Dial-A-Story machine and
making 2 1/2 - 7 minute stories available to people who call in on the
phone.
Does anyone or has anyone done a dial-a-story program? Do you have
anything particularly positive to say about it? Are there pitfalls or
dangers we should know about.
Thanks for any imput
Steve Zampino
Children's Librarian
Bridgeport PL
szampino@brdgprtpl.lib.ct.us
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 09:11:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Kate Carter <katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us>
Subject: Re: Librarian -- "not-so-hot" career?
What is interesting about these "hot" and "chilly" careers
is that
Knowledge Manager is hot -- seems to me that's just another name for
librarian. Working Woman Magazine's take on the world of librarianship is
private librarianship (i.e., business) is a great field with plenty of
opportunity and pay, while public librarianship (including schools) is
risky due to funding basis. I agree that there seems to be a shortage of
children's librarians. And it may not be a "hot" career, but I find my
job much more gratifying than I ever would as a corporate librarian.
The URL for the magazine's web site is http://www.workingwomanmag.com/
Kate Carter, Youth Librarian
Multnomah County Library
801 SW 10th (503)248-5235
Portland, OR 97205 katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Larry Gainor wrote:
>
> That's what the February issue of Working Woman magazine
> said in an article that discussed career prospects
> for various occupational fields. I don't know
> about other areas of librarianship, but it seems to me that
> there is a pretty serious shortage of children's librarians.
> If you'd like to share your thoughts with Working Woman
> magazine, their e-mail address is wwmagazine@aol.com (please
> include a daytime phone number and your location).
>
> Larry Gainor
> Fort Worth Public Library
>
>
>
>
>
citizen vols can do. Teens are great - IF they will follow the
guidelines and have some common sense. [At a recent program for the schools, I
was the guide for a 9th grader in a Clifford costume. Some guidelines had been
carefully explained to this young lady beforehand - mostly safety stuff.
Within the first 10 min she disregarded almost every one of them.
She was a law unto herself! She
almost catapulted down a whole section of the Civic Arena.]
Plus, you actually need someone to be
the mascot AND someone to be the guide. The mascot doesn't talk and has
limited vision. The best ones develop a schtick - and demonstrate a lot of
personality non-verbally - while still staying safe (for selves and for the
kids). I also once escorted KD Bear from a local TV station - the man has
been doing this for years and is a pro. As we walked throughout the whole
library, to watch the looks in (adult) people's eyes when they saw him with
his arms outstretched to give them a hug was astounding. You can't believe how
many adults in this world need a hug! (It was Valentine's Day) People wept
spontaneously.
Anyway, our system has a brief manual of info for people who are going to wear
the CaroLion costume. If you'd like a copy, I'm sure Community Relations could
send you one. E-mail Gina Pferdehirt pferdehirtg@clpgh.org She can
also tell you who made ours in case you don't have a local co.
I'm sorry we don't have a photo on the web.
*********
In our Library system we have a mascot that we debuted last spring. He is
Dewey the Dinosaur. He visits schools, community events and festivals,
and was featured in our Summer Reading Club video. The kids all respond
well to the mascot. We have a coloring sheet that also gives information
about the library and crayons that Dewey hands out when he/she makes
appearances. Oh yes, Dewey was also interviewed on the local cable
station. Dewey did not talk but the library spokesperson was there and
interpreted for Dewey. Only once during the year do we do a video for
marketing. It is to promote the Summer Reading Club. We have copies of
the video made and it is shown at all the elementary schools in the
county. We write and produce it ourselves so it is not professional
quality. The local cable stations never want to air it for us. We also
air the video in the libraries the week prior to the start of SRC.
************
The library's mascot, for children anyway, is Lawrence the Library Bunny.
Lawrence is a puppet who attends all storytimes, both in-library and
outreach. He's been working here for 12 years and gets Christmas cards,
fan mail, treats, and so many hugs his fur is wearing off. High school
kids have been seen stopping by to say Hi.
The videos we made of storytime (with an LSCA grant) ten years ago are
still circulating. Children see me and want my autograph because I was
on TV. It is the feeling around here that those videos were very
helpful in passing a bond some years ago to form a county-wide service
district. In today's video age library video is a definite asset.
We've also had excellent response with PSA's filmed in the
library.(done free by our local cable company, TCI) These gave us a
chance to get non-children's staff on film and some recognition. Our
outreach clerk gets stopped in the store to answer library questions.
***********
Many years ago Seattle Public Library created a summer
reading club around a character we called Supercat which really caught
fire with the kids' imaginations. The drawing (we had a stamp for
stamping the charts for each book read) was a Superman type figure with
a cat head and cloak. For a personal appearance at the end of club party
it was a really simple costume to duplicate and the kids went wild when
the character appeared. I think you have a great idea going and could
really build up some "name brand loyalty/recognition with it!
If you get information about mascots would you share with me, please.
Apparently a long time ago this library had a bookworm costume that was
worm by a group of library staff (as legs) for parades & festivals.
Long since gone. Now we have a new director would like to do these
things again.
**************
We have had a mascot at our library for about 7 years now. He is a warm,
fuzzy tan colored bear named BOOKER. We held a naming contest when he first
arrived and a small child picked the name BOOKER. He has been at the grand
opening of our new facility, at storytimes, in both a Halloween and 4th of
July parade, made school visits and more. One of the biggest things we have
done with Booker is a birthday book club. Children (or adults) can be
honored with a birthday book from the Youth Department. Everyone who has
been honored during the year is invited to his birthday party in January. We
add about 50 books per year this way. All of the graphics we use are bears
and are included on invitations, bookmarks, bookplates, thank you notes,
etc. (All computer generated and photocopied except the bookplates.)
We also used Booker for the children's portion of our website.
www.rbls.lib.il.us/bpl
A couple of things to consider:
* The fabric you use choose -- I wore the costume for the 4th of July
parade when it was 98 degrees and about died!
* Who might where the costume -- make sure you get the costume made to
accomodate different size volunteers.
* Does it talk or not? Many want the character to talk, but sometimes
it was all I could do to maneuver in the costume. Plus, the kids know my
voice from storytime so if I was wearing the costume I didn't want to take
away the surprise.
* Make a policy about where you will visit -- you will get calls to
appear at every function. Which sounds great for the library, but can be a
pain if you don't have volunteers to wear it all the time. We also wanted to
make sure a staff member was either wearing or accompanying Booker at all
times so no one was giving out false/wrong information.
************
At my current library, we have a seagull (because we are near the water)
as a symbol on our library sign and on the mailings. When a coloring book
was made a few years ago, a contest was run to choose a name (good for
publicity too) The seagull ended up as Sandy (for not only the beach
images, but also because it is fairly unisex)
My previous library had a pet (an iguana, but now it has a frog and fish)
and occasionally they'd include the iguana in pictures or trivia
questions.
I think it would be wonderful if you could choose a character that you
could make a costume for. You would save the expense of renting a costume,
and it could be a great publicity stunt, and something for the kids to
look forward to.
------------------------------
End of pubyac V1 #597
*********************
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