Youth Yak Meeting Notes, Friday, February 15, 2013

1. PLS Puppet Giveaway

The PLS puppet collection was disbanded. Each attendee was given the opportunity to select a puppet for their own library. All puppets were claimed and now have new homes!

2. Teen Tech Week gadgets

Teen Tech Week is March 10-16, 2013. PLS offered a box of broken/obsolete gadgets for libraries to use as part of a "take apart" event to discover the technology used to create these items. PAL acquired this box.

3. 2013 Summer Reading Planning Workshop

The Summer Reading Planning Workshop will be held on Friday, March 22, from 9:00 am - 2:30 pm. The theme for early literacy and children is "Dig Into Reading" and the teen theme is "Beneath the Surface." This year's format will be a roundtable discussion. Members of YSAC have offered to facilitate each segment of the workshop. Registration can be found on the PLS Calendar of Events. Each participant is asked to bring a brown bag lunch and a theme-related snack OR craft to share with the group.

4. Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library, 2nd ed.

Nancy Herzig, Outreach Assistant, asked Kathryn to share with everyone that the second edition of Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library is now part of the professional collection and ready for your use. Nancy requests that users share anecdotal information with her related to how you use this material in your library. You can contact Nancy at nherzig@pls-net.org or call the PLS office.

5. Grants – the old and the new

Kathryn explained that 2013 is the final year for the LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grants. This year, instead of sending a small amount of money to each library, PLS will be assembling 10 theme-related kits that will include a number of unique items that libraries can use during their summer programs. The kits will focus on a variety of age groups -- each kit containing age-appropriate materials and manipulatives.

Pat Finnerty, Development and Outreach Librarian, then discussed the new Family Literacy Grant that will take the place of the LSTA grant for Summer Reading. She announced that the funds will be used to hire performers that will supplement programming at Pioneer libraries. She was currently slated to meet with the director of Wildlife Defenders, a group that trains brain-injury survivors with endangered animals for educational programs to schedule visits to all 42 libraries. There are enough funds remaining to hire a second performer for some of our libraries, so Pat is library staff to contact her if they are interested in hosting a second performer and invite neighboring libraries' patrons to attend. You can either email Pat at pfinnerty@pls-net.org or call her at the PLS office.

6. Hits and Misses in Teen Programming – facilitated by Kelley Blue (CAN)

Kelley Blue, teen librarian at Wood Library in Canandaigua, facilitated this portion of the meeting. She shared her challenges and successes with teen programming and asked attendees to do the same.

Kelley planned a teen event and required registration. The program was an Anti-Valentine's day party. She advertised in a variety of ways and there was general excitement about the program. Of the 8 kids that showed up, 5 had actually registered. She has had to rethink her definition of how many attendees constitute a successful teen program since it is hard to get this age group to participate. Kelley believed 8 was a triumph for a teen program, but wished her efforts had a better pay off. An open discussion followed. These are the highlights:

• "Top down" programming doesn't work for them -- it's better to have the teens involved in the program planning
• Competing with school activities is a challenge
• Wii bowling tournaments have been sucessful in some locations -- be prepared to deal with system glitches
• A candy & chocolate "bar" was an event held at one of the libraries and the teens had a lot of fun
• Numbers really aren't the way to judge the success of a teen event. Instead, ask these questions:
  • Did they have fun?
  • Are they (teens) using the library more following the event?
• Remember that it may be lots of effort for few attendees, but quality counts!
• Bloomfield had a opportunity to acquire new furniture for a teen space in the library and invited teens to participate in the plannning. Excitement was generated among the half-dozen teens that joined in the process.
• Word-of-mouth acheives better success than other means of communication. Although some sucess was achieved via email, better results are had via texting
• Palmyra connected with middle school students by forming a book club consisting of 5 girls. These girls are now in 9th grade and are bringing friends to other library events.
• In months were schools were visited to promote events, attendace increased
• You can have more success with teens if you can get them while they're younger and then keep them than it is to get new teens in your door
• As kids get older, there is less free time and they do less pleasure reading
• Marcy from Red Creek suggests that focusing on common core assistance for older teens might encourage library participation. Maybe feedback from teachers for idea would be beneficial
• High school book club where you talk broadly about the books works better than more "book-centric" discussions for middle schoolers
• Food is important for teens!
• How to get boys involved?
  • Game nights are good. Killer Bunnies is popular with boys.
  • Food
  • Games brought in by the boys work better than games provided to them
  • Video games are a big focus for teen boys
  • They are more social than literary
  • Since some kids don't have a gaming system at home, the library can give them a chance to play
• Game and event suggestions
  • Apples to Apples
  • Killer bunnies
  • Jackass
  • Dodge ball (using Nerf balls) -- used during the final 10 minutes of a program
  • Nerf arrow throug Cupid's head
  • Marshmallow war
  • Lock-ins
• You need to have fun, be goofy, and let loose -- playing with them is important
• Consistency in program scheduling is vital to success -- if teens know that, for example, every Tuesday is teen night at the library, you will do much better than if you have randomly scheduled events throughout the year
• Phelps started a Twisted Tales program on Wednesdays
• Food program ideas
  • cupcake decorating
  • snacks
  • smoothies
  • Teen food challenge -- provide the with ingredients and let them make the best item
  • Fear-factor program -- eating gross-looking things popular with boys
• Other program ideas
  • MuV Chat -- works much like Mystery Science Theater 3000 where their text messages appear on the screen while watching a really bad move. Software does need to be downloaded and the cost is $35.00 per movie but it is lots of fun!
  • Mad Hatter program
  • Spa time -- bring supplies from home, you can chalk hair
  • Have a "mani" party -- simple manicure
  • Pokemon/Yu-gi-oh Club is held at Newark monthly in the evening. It has been very successful
  • Xbox Kinect Olympics
  • Avengers (2 player-videogame -- rotate players in/out ; teams)
  • Uno Attack
  • Charades board game (Clifton Springs will loan)

There was then discussion about how to get adults out of the teen room and programs. Suggestions included setting Cassie on the computers to the Teen profile to prevent anyone else from logging into dedicated computers. Having someone else at the library begin an adult program similar in theme to the popular teen program. Be strict in enforcing the age limit for your programs.

Palmyra library will be having a karaoke program during Teen Tech Week in March.

The question was asked if PLS could investigate the cost of having a puppet-sized & styled Booker made for use at the libraries. Kathryn will find out and get back to everyone.

Our next Youth Yak will be held in the fall.