Youth Yak Meeting Minutes

Krystina Hardter (Newark); Tanya Thompson (Geneva); Anne Reher (Ontario); Sarah Matthews (Wadsworth/Geneseo); Mary Conable (Warsaw); Debbie Elliotto (Geneva); Mary Ferris (Canandaigua); Pam Dibble (Macedon); Laurie Newell (Bloomfield); Tracy Whitney (Marion); Jessica DeMarte (Avon); Janet Rossman (Perry); Wendy Beman (Clifton Springs) ; Roxanne Rosup (Sodus); Terry Dearing (Dansville); Heidi Jensen (PLS); Pat Finnerty (PLS).

Summer Reading 2013. What worked and didn’t work? Some responses were:

• Wood library did not use the Evanced system. They were happy that they did not use it. They used Google docs and spread sheets to track registrations and information.
• Krystina from Newark also did not use Evanced. She used paper sign up only. She found in the past that lots of people signed up using Evanced, but then didn’t come to programs. She decided not to use it this year and was pleased with her system.
• Anne from Ontario did not use Evanced. She created her own spreadsheet and saved it to digital Drop Box.
• Tanya from Geneva did use Evanced. She also saw an increase in teen program attendance. They had some bigger prizes for teens, which seemed to help attendance. They gave out raffle tickets to be used for the big prizes. If the teens read five books they received a ticket and if they came to a program, they received a ticket. Some of Geneva’s prizes included a Kindle Fire, Darien Lake tickets, Zoo memberships and many more.
• Anne from Ontario stated that the Seneca Park Zoo is very generous with donating Zoo memberships.
• Laurie from Bloomfield used Evanced. She felt it was easy to use.
• Tracy from Marion did not use Evanced. She said Marion was up 25% in registrations from last year. Marion did random drawings for prizes. There were no prizes for the most books read. She felt this helped discourage dishonest participates.

Terry from Dansville asked a question about prizes. Do libraries give big prizes? Does everyone get a prize?

• No top prizes for anything (an example is a bike).
• Random prizes worked great.
• Wood Library gave 4, 5, & 6th graders who read 200 minutes a small prize.
• Ontario had bingo and gave out books as prizes.
• Dansville had no big prizes but did give out weekly small prizes.
• Macedon asked local business for donations

Wildlife Defenders

Pat announced that each library would have Wildlife Defenders present a program for 2014 Summer Reading. This program is of no-charge to the member libraries and is part of the Family Literacy grant. Wildlife Defenders will have different animals for next year and will have a show that is tailored to the 2014 Summer Reading theme, “Fizz, Boom, Read.” Wildlife Defenders will contact each library they will be presenting at one week before their scheduled performance.

A few concerns were raised about Wildlife Defenders.

• Scheduling was a problem for some libraries. Pat suggested that for next year, PLS will try and coordinate which days of the week work best for member libraries, with the understanding that it’s very hard to schedule 42 different programs and make everyone happy.
• Another concern was brought up from Anne at the Ontario Library. Ontario was not happy with the program. They felt the children were asked to sit quietly for too long. Anne also said that an animal (toad) was left behind. Ontario was also upset with the speakers. They would have preferred Noelle as a speaker.
• Clifton Springs also had concerns about the program. Clifton Springs felt the program should be billed as a school-age children’s program, not a family program.
• Perry Pubic Library said they don’t like to schedule the same program two years in a row.
• Pat stated she will talk to Wildlife Defenders to work out some of these issues. She will send a survey to libraries asking which day of the week they would prefer having the performance and will do her best to accommodate. Since libraries will have approximately a 7-8 month lead time, it is hoped that libraries can work around the date assigned to them. Pat did also mention that if a library did not want to have Wildlife Defenders at their library for the 2014 Summer Reading program, they were not required to have them.

Second Summer Performer:

There is money in the grant to hire a second performer to come to some (not all) of the libraries for next summer. If a library received a second performer this year, another library will have the performer for next year. Some suggestions for performers included David Mooreland, The Bubbleman and Ron Kane. If anyone has any further suggestions, please let Pat know.

Pat encouraged everyone to view and post on the youth services blog. A suggestion was made to have the blog link sent out to the YSS list serve along with directions on how to use it. The link for the blog is http://plsys.blogspot.com/. You will need a google email address to post to the blog. Please remember to check the blog periodically and post the great ideas and events happening at your library.

Disney ebooks are now available on OWWL2go. These are always available books. They can be viewed from a desktop computer and are not tablet friendly; however Sarah from Wadsworth stated she used her Nook tablet to view the books.

Geneva talked about how wonderful these books are and that they have used them on a laptop with a projector at Story time and the children loved them.

Summer Reading 2014 supply catalogs were distributed to attendees.

14 Summer Reading 2013 Nerf cameras were raffled and given out to 14 libraries.

Extra book plus kits and extra supplies were available for attendees to look over and take to use in their libraries.

Submitted by Heidi Jensen