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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 13:58:21 -0400 (EDT)
To: pubyac-digest@nysernet.org
Subject: pubyac V1 #730
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Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 15:17:06 -0400
From: casseri@juno.com
Subject: Re: Cliff Notes
Nanci,
We keep our cliff notes in the Careers/College area. Why, I
don't know, it was that way when I got here to start the YA stuff.
Good luck. RMC
Rosemarie Casseri, YA/Reference Librarian
Olean Public Library, 134 N. 2nd St., Olean, NY 14760
Ph: (716) 372-0200; Fx: (716)372-8651
casseri@juno.com
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 16:36:39 -0400
From: sprite@pop.uky.edu
Subject: questionnaire
This message has been posted to several sites; please excuse duplication.
My name is Beverly Spitzer, and I am a graduate student at the University
of Kentucky's School of Library and Information Science. I am due to
graduate in August with a MLS, and I specialize in children's services.
I am conducting an independent study on library programs for children aged
7-11. My final proposal will be tailored for towns of approximately the
same size and geographical area as my hometown of Louisville. If anyone
reading this is in a library system that fits the profile below, I would be
eternally grateful if you would take a moment to answer ANY OR ALL of the
questions below and e-mail it to me in the next week or so (by Saturday,
June 26).
POPULATION OF CITY/LIBRARY DISTRICT: 400,000-600,000
LOCATION: Midwestern/Southern state (South or west of New England; east of
Rockies)
PLEASE SEND RESPONSES TO THE SPRITE ADDRESS ABOVE -- NOT TO LISTSERV.
Thank you again. I promise you credit on my paper, heartfelt blessings,
and my first-born child.
ALL QUESTIONS BELOW APPLY ONLY TO CHILDREN AGE 5-12
1. Do you find that children are nore likely to attend programs when they
are offered on a regular basis?
2. How do you accomodate timing of library programs for this age group,
given the trends of children's packed schedules, after-school arrangements,
and working parents being unable to provide transportation?
3. What topics/programs/formats are the mosrt popular with this age group?
Which library staff members runs programs? Are most of the programs run by
"outside" people or librarians?
4. How do you persuade modern media-centered children to read for pleasure?
5. How do you attract children (and their transporting parents) to the
kids' programs? What publicity do you use?
6. What portion of the library's budget is earmarked for programs for
children aged 5-12?
7. If childrens' programs are conducted at unusual hours, is staffing
problematic?
8. (MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION) Are your programs for this age group
consistently scheduled or sporadic? When are they held (month[s], day of
week, time of day)? What is the approximate number of programs a year? How
many children attend?
Thank you again, kind and graciuos souls. Beverly Spitzer (Sprite)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 14:14:44 -0400
From: "Patricia S. Cheney" <cheneyp@lcm.macomb.lib.mi.us>
Subject: Re: summer reading
Hi Everyone!
This is an age old problem, and I, for one, see no end in sight. This
summer our library is asking kids to read fifteen minutes a day for 30 days
in order to earn a certificate and be able to enter a grand prize drawing.
Along the way, every 5 days they read, they get a small prize (sticker,
pencil, etc.). They may also read a fiction or nonfiction book related to
our theme, to earn a coupon to the local McDonald's (our local McDonald's
has participated for many years, and the owner requests that the kids read
in order to get the coupon). Children may read a Caldecott or Newbery title
(winner or honor) and be entered in a drawing to win a free Caldecott or
Newbery book. Believe it or not, this is less confusing than it's been in
the past few years!
Looking forward to others' responses to getting away from prizes (or so many
prizes) for reading!
The naive part of me wants to know why they don't read for the joy of it?!
Patti Cheney
Washington Branch Library
Washington, MI
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Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 16:30:10 -0500 (CDT)
From: Trudy Terry <tterry@hpl.lib.tx.us>
Subject: Re: pubyac V1 #728
After three years of only giving out state library reading certificates
after the kids read 10 hours this year we give a certificate after 5
hours of reading and a junky prize for 10 and 15 hours of reading and the
person who reads non stop all summer most minutes will get a
giftcertificate for a bike. I spent 300$ on junk from Orential trading
company. I already have one kid who has read the 15 hours. I'm also doing
our library programs in the civic center for children in the federal
feeding program but so far I can't tell if this prize stuff is working
any better than the one certificate. I also can tell that the huge bused
in crowd of kids is running off my traditional family group types for the
library entertainments. We made so many changes this year I don't know
what is working and what is not. Trudy Terry Port Arthur Public Library Tx
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Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 23:07:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Serchay <a013213t@bc.seflin.org>
Subject: Good week for children's books
There are now three children's books on the New York Times Best Seller
list: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (#1), Oh the Places You'll
Go (#4), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (#8). That's ahead of
both Stephen King and John Grisham. Anyone have any ideas why the Dr.
Suess book got back up there again?
David Serchay
Deerfield Beach Library
David Serchay
a013213t@bc.seflin.org
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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 04:27:15 -0400
From: Elizabeth Gallaway <egallaway@netway.com>
Subject: Re: Poetry Night
Dear Barb,
The February 99 issue of Voya had great articles on successful poetry
nights.
I held a "Poetry Slam and Coffeehouse" on April 30 this year. Details
follow for those who are interested.
In early April, I got my supervisors to approve a Friday evening program
and started planning! I created bookmark sized fliers and 8 1/2" x 11"
posters, got the superintendent of schools to approve them, did a LOT of
photocopying, and distributed them to the high school and middle
schools. I sent the bookmarks to each homeroom teacher with a note
asking them to publicize the event, consider giving extra credit to
students who attended, and inviting them to participate as judges or
audience members. The event was publicized at the library and in the
local papers, and I talked it up with kids in the library, in my book
group, and with the teen volunteers.
The event was held after hours, from 7-9 PM on a Friday night. The
event was held in the auditorium, which has its own separate entrance
and lavatories. The rest of the library was locked. A custodian was on
duty, and one other staff member from the library (Sue) offered to help
out.
I called local businesses asking for donations to be used as prizes.
They were very supportive, and I thanked them in our library newsletter,
which is published in the local paper, and had signs on each table
thanking the businesses for their donations. Prizes were $20 worth of
glo-bowling, 4 free passes to the discount movie theatre, passes to a
karate demonstration, $14 worth of free pizza, a CD of Jewel preforming
her poetry, a $10 gift certificate to a local second hand bookstore, a
high quality pen, free passes for minigolf, a free manicure, free movie
rentals from Blockbuster, yoyos and keychains from the Friends Gift
Shop, and the circulation department allowed me to create waivers for
our $1 video rental fee.
I was expecting 15-20 kids to come; my goal was to triple attendance of
the previous years program (7 kids). I was thrilled and shocked when 60
people showed up! Luckily my husband was present to staff the door. He
made everyone sign in, put a checkmark next to names of teens who wanted
to read, and got people to fill out raffle tickets for the door prizes.
Although I had advertised the event for 12-18 year olds, many middle
schoolers attended. I told parents and teachers who called me on the
afternoon of the event that if the kids felt they could hold their own
with kids 12 & up, they were welcome to come, but I reminded parents and
teachers that it was an open mike night, I was against censorship, and I
couldn't be held responsible if the material was not age appropriate for
the younger kids. Two teachers and approximately 10 parents attended.
I provided cheese & crackers; chips; cookies; hot water for instant
coffee, cappuchino, and tea; and made lemonade. The food & drinks went
very quickly! One of our teen pages came, and brought juice.
We started the evening at 7PM with a magnetic poetry contest ( I had
laminated about 400 words to be used with our flannel board; the giant
sized kit had been displayed on the main floor of the library as an
ongoing activity for National Poetry Month). I used the words and
distributed them randomly to tables, instructing each table to work as a
team to create a poem. They did well, considering some tables didn't
have words like "the." Sue and I alked around reading the poems, and
selected the same poem as the best. The winning table received the
waivers for library video rentals.
After announcing the winners, a local artist who is creating a 'zine
invited kids of all ages to sumbit their work to her for possible
publication. I announced rules (no smoking, be considerate when others
are on stage, etc.) and introduced the band.
Yep, we had a band! A middle school band performed a cover of The Way by
Fastball. They weren't very good, but the audience was very polite!
Beacause they were not performing original songs, I told them they were
ineligible for prizes. They didn't care, they just wanted to play for a
real audience.
Finally, we started the poetry slam. I acted as MC and called kids up
randomly to read their original poems. It was hard to MC and judge at
the same time, so Sue did most of the judging. After I ran through all
the names with checkmarks, many other kids wanted to read, so I called
on people who raised their hands. After everyone read once, I invited
to re-read, or read another poem.
I let the band play again, and we took a break to allow them the
breakdown their equipment. I signed certiificates of participation to
all kids who wanted to get extra credit, and began deciding on winners.
We chose 3 names for door prizes, and gave out 12 prizes for the top 12
poems. We finished just about 9PM. The event was a lot of work, but
also a lot of fun. Many kids came up to me and said the coffeehouse
should be a monthly event. They also requested that we try a talent
show or battle of the bands. I thanked everyone for their ideas and
invited them all to our next teen advisory board meeting; sadly, no one
came :(
We had one problem with a table that was disrepectful. One of the two
teachers came to me and asked me to address the a group of kids who were
socializing instead of listening. Before I could get to the other side
of the room, the other teacher told them to get out! I told the kids I
was giving them their last warning, that they could stay if they
behaved, and spoke with the teacher, who had caused more of a
disturbance than the kids.
Overall the evening was very successful and evaluations were positive.
The evening had many successes:
1. The large turnout was wonderful to see.
2. Two girls who come into the library all the time to use the Internet
had noticed the posters and came to the event. They didn't read, but
they looked a the book display of poetry I had set up, and came back at
10AM on a saturday to check some of the books out.
3. A 15 year old who read and placed in the top five (for best poem)
called me the following week inquiring if there were any poetry clubs
for teens in city. I told him no -- but we could start one! He created
the Teen Poets Society, a new creative writing group that I advise (he
runs it!) and we have had 4 meetings to date. The Teen Poets Society is
planning on publishing a literary magazine and will host the next
coffeehouse, which will be held on Friday August 27 1999.
4. The director has asked that some of the kids who won prizes read
their poems at the next Rotary meeting in July!
5. The local paper is writing an article about the coffeehouse and the
new Teen Poets Society.
However, there are still things to do differently next time:
If I have another during the school year, I will personally go around to
classrooms to hand out publicity myself. I heard from some of my
volunteers that the teachers failed to pass out the slips and threw them
away May 1st. :(
At the next coffeehouse, I am going to ask each kid to signup in
advance, and submit a typed copy of the poem s/he will read. Content
wasn't really a problem; only one teen had expletives in his work (of
course, when he read his poem it went "mumble mumble mumble @#$! mumble
. . ."). Subject matter of nearly half the poems was "depressing"
(said
one parent) -- topics were war, suicide, hate, loss, death -- but I
didn't feel any of the poems were too heavy or scary or
"inappropriate"
for the younger kids who were there. I will request copies of poems
because sometimes the poets were not gifted in public speaking, and our
PA system isn't all that great. Also, I would like to publish winning
poems in our new literary magazine.
At the next event, I will have more support. Hopefully, other library
staff members will assist. Several parents and teachers have offered
already! The Teen Poets Society members will help with publicity,
replenish snacks, judge work, register participants, and draw names for
the raffle. Someone else will be the MC. This will leave me free to do
crowd control & discipline.
I will be more specific for behavior guidelines.
I am starting my planning a little earlier, so we have more time to
publicize the event.
Becuase the PA system was so bad, I am considering borrowing a
microphone and amp.
The poetry slam was more competitive, and open to poets, rappers, and
songwriters. The next event will be an open mike night for writers and
musicians. Prizes will be for specific things, like "funniest poem,"
or
"loudest band, instead of "top 10."
Hope this is helpful to others as well!
Beth Gallaway, Young Adult Librarian
Haverhill Public Library, Haverhill MA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 10:22:25 -0400
From: RoseMary Honnold <honnolro@oplin.lib.oh.us>
Subject: Re: YA poetry night
April 98 VOYA has a n article. I had a Teen Poetry Night in April and had
48 teens attent, we had a great time!
Barb Tack wrote:
> Has anyone done such a thing??
>
> My assistant is doing a program in the Fall and needs as much
> information as possible. We have both been looking like mad dogs in our
> past issues of SLJ to find an article on Poetry night at the library.
> We both remember reading an article about a poetry night program but can
> not remember if it was actually in SLJ or VOYA. We have had no luck so
> far on finding the article so we would appreciate any information on
> this sort of programming.
>
> Barbara Tack
> Youth Service Coordinator
> Ashtabula County District Library
> tackba@oplin.lib.oh.us
> Steve Miller
> Assistant Youth Service Coordinator
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 10:17:07 EDT
From: Pisces0243@aol.com
Subject: Re: ALA NEWS - ALA president addresses filtering amendment
*If* the filtering amendment just passed by the House of Representatives
is passed by the Senate and signed by the President, how many of our
public libraries would be willing to turn down or withdraw from e-rate?
Will principles or political practicalities be our real 'bottom line'?
thom stuart
St. Cloud, MN
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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 10:20:31 -0400
From: Charles Schacht <schachtc@libcoop.net>
Subject: Re: Cliff Notes
But of course they WILL be so used, even though they SHOULDN'T be; I've
always figured that their main function was to make it possible for the
less industrious to not read the book and still pass. Don't ask if this is
the voice of experience speaking; that was too long ago to remember.
Chuck Schacht
Romeo District Library
Romeo, MI.
Kathy Walzer wrote:
> My personal opinion is that they can be useful as a review of
> the story and for understanding character development but of course
> shouldn't be used as a replacement for reading the story.
>
> Kathy Walzer
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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 11:10:23 -0400
From: "Bonnie Banks" <banksbo@oplin.lib.oh.us>
Subject: Children's magazine titles in the library
Our library has several (20) subscriptions to children's magazines.
However, the collection, overall, is not used very much. And I sometimes
wonder if we should carry fewer titles or try different titles. I apologize
if this topic has been discussed in the past. I tried to access the
archives and they are currently not available. I am attempting to gather
information regarding children's magazines (preschool through grade 6) and
their use for a presentation I am going to do in the fall at our state's
annual library conference. What I would specifically like to know is:
1. Do you think libraries should have children's magazines? If so,
2. What titles do you feel are a must for every public library to have?
3. What titles do you have at your library?
4. Do your magazines circulate well?(average circulation per title)
5. How do you display children's magazines in your library?
6. Do you promote your collection?
You may send your thoughts to me personally. I appreciate all the help I
can get. If you are interested in the results I compile, let me know and
I'll send you my findings. Thanks in advance.
Bonnie Banks
Amos Memorial Public Library
230 E North St
Sidney Oh 45365
banksbo@oplin.lib.oh.us
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 11:12:17 -0400
From: "Helen Mochetti" <helenmi@lori.state.ri.us>
Subject: Re: rocking chairs
helenmi@lori.state.ri.us
Hi, At Westerly, RI, we have two rocking chairs--one adult size and one
child size. Both were purchased with memorial money. They're very popular
and we have had no problems with these. We did, however, have an
inexpensive rocker for kids that tipped over backwards if stood on or
rocked too hard. Be sure that the chairs have good long rockers at the back
to stop this problem.
- ----------
> From: Jan Gilgore <jgilg@nioga.org>
> To: pubyac@nysernet.org
> Subject: rocking chairs
> Date: Thursday, June 03, 1999 5:22 PM
>
> Hi
> Does anyone have a rocking chair or gliding chair in the children's =
> room. A family is very interested in donating one as a memorial. I am =
> a little worried about pinched fingers . Has any one any pros or cons? =
> Is there a certain kind that is best?
> Thanks in advance
> Jan Gilgore
> Youngstown Free Library
> 240 Lockport Street
> Youngstown NY 14174
> jgilg@nioga.org
>
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End of pubyac V1 #730
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