Dawn states: Teen Programming is Great! : August 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

800 Minute Party

Summer has wrapped up and with it all the reading and crazy programs (well, mostly) To celebrate, we had an 800 Minute Reader Party. At this party we had food, fun, and crafts that included perler beads, bottle cap pins, and yarn beards. It was pretty cool! We also had an Easter egg hunt with candy that turned into a potato hunt because the teens said that it was not the time for eggs. (They were right) So we had to hide actual potatoes and the teens got to run around and look for them. The potatoes were the grand prize. It was a blast! Read on to see some pictures from the event!

Teen Time!

One of the regular teens wrote an awesome blog post about volunteering in the library more! I want to share this post and showcase not only the awesome writing, but all of the volunteer opportunities that are available at the library. It is really exciting to be able to offer this experience for teens, and I encourage other libraries to consider having teen volunteers. Read on to check out the article!

A few words of inspiration

If you do any work with teens, you sometimes know that it feels like you are not getting through to them, not making a difference, and not impacting lives. I know it may feel like this, but let me share with you some inspiring words that I just came across that I hang on to when it seems like I am not making an immediate difference or not impacting in all the ways I want to.

What Social Media do Teens Use?

What Social Media teens use:

Hey everyone! I am figuring out what sort of social media teens use and this is what I got from TAB. (Teen Advisory Board) Read on to see what they said! (It is really funny!)

Awesome Omni Con!

We just hosted Omni Con at Martin Library and it was really fun and awesome! A con is a big event that people gather to and participate in, a few examples in case you are unfamiliar are: Comic- Con and CatCon for Omni Con, we collaborated with other libraries and librarians within the system to organize different workshops and crafts. For workshops we had face painting, comic drawing, crochet, and an author talk with Jessica Eppley. For crafts we had Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) with artist Kate Hufnagel, fuzzy tails, yarn beards, bottle cap pins, and a coloring contest with rejected Pokemon drawn by our staff member Ross.

Read on to see some of the great photos from the event!

Article on Teen Services

At our most recent Youth Services meeting I got to review some awesome points about working with Teens. My talk was based on this amazing article: http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2015/07/30/10-questions-to-ask-about-your-teen-services/. I highly recommend this article to not only Teen Services librarians, but to other librarians who come into contact with teen library users. It has a ton of great information, and really addresses the main concerns and things teens are looking for within a library.

Here are the things I covered at the meeting:

Teen Space (even just being welcoming if you do not have a designated teen space/quiet spaces, some libraries do not because of size constraints.)

Fine leniency (This is case by case and may need to be discussed with a director. Try to keep fines as least detrimental to the teens as possible, teens generally do not have money! This is also a great conversation starter with teens, because you can really find out ways that the teens can pay things off, for example, maybe giving a list of a great manga series the library needs in lieu of money or shelving books. It also encourages the teens to be responsible and start working with money in a less high-pressure environment.)

Get teen input on activities, materials, magazines, books

Outreach Find out where the teens want to go, what areas of the community they want to reach out too, and how to make that happen. Schools are an obvious and good place to start outreach with the teens, but when possible find out where it is they go or want to go.

Positive attitude/Positive language

Cater to teens interests An example of this is polling them for different activities. I do this with our Art Club by giving the teens a picture list of different art activities to choose from. It gets them interested, invested, and makes it more likely they will show up to be part of Art Club! This can apply to lots of other interests and activities, it is so important to just get teens involved in the conversation and provide ways to cater to their interests.

Talk to them like people ( You do not have to be cool or anything just be you!) If you do not know what lingo a teen is using, do not try to use it too! Instead, use this as a conversation starter by asking them what the word/thing/phrase is that they are talking about. I have done this with the teens, and trust me, it is infinitely better than trying to be cool and talk like they are without really knowing what it means.

BE GENUINE!!

That is all I really have, I do not think I can put it better than this article, so please read and leave your thoughts in the comments!

Email me to talk more Teen Services: dstates@yorklibraries.org

Dawn states: What is your best teen tip?

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Capt. Dargo!

We got to meet an awesome police dog this week! Captain Dargo is with the York City Police Force and is a specially trained canine who can do everything from locating bombs to finding a missing child. Not only is his nose super sharp, so is his mind! Captain Dargo was definitely a joy to meet and hear about, and his partner Lieutenant Godfrey did a great job describing not only what Captain Dargo does, but also his personality. (Apparently Captain Dargo likes getting chicken, bacon, and other various treats at the local market, and is very spoiled there!) Captain Dargo does visits throughout the county to get people familiar with him and his unique abilities. Here is his facebook page, check it out! https://www.facebook.com/K9Dargo I really enjoyed having Captain Dargo here, and I hope to have him visit again! This is a cool program that encourages cross-promoting with an important public presence and figure, and is something I would encourage other librarians to consider doing in their libraries! Service animals have so much to teach us and are appealing to a wide audience.
Dawn states: Service cats: not a thing because everyone knows cats do what they want.

Email me for more info! dstates@yorklibraries.org. Check out these cool pictures of the teens and I and Captain Dargo!

Monday, August 10, 2015

Equality Fest

The beginning of this month the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) group got to do something really unique and cool. They were able to attend the local Equality Fest that promoted equality of all kinds. I was so proud that the teens from GSA wanted to take part in this and that they showed up to help out and make a stand for equality! Read on for more information and pictures!

Food Science: Smoothies

Think that smoothies are just a yummy, fruity treat? Think again! Smoothies can actually be really scientific! We studied this in the most recent Food Science program and find out about some of the ingredients in smoothies and how these ingredients have scientific properties that impact our bodies.
The first thing that the teens did was create a control sample that they would use for later comparison and analysis on the ingredients of the smoothies. They took a small cup of water and a glucose test strip and tested the water for any trace of sugars. (Thankfully and of course, there were none) They then used a glucose strip and tested the sugars of a glucose tab that was dissolved in a cup of water. These brought back results of high sugars! These strips were saved for later looking at with the results from the smoothies.

Control Strips

Next, the teens divided in two groups and each made a different smoothie recipe. The one group made a sugar packed smoothie and the other group made a not so sugary smoothie. They took glucose strips and tested the contents of their smoothies and found out how high or low each was in glucose and then compared this to their control samples earlier. The results surprised them! We were then able to talk about what glucose is and how it interacts in the body. We were also able to discuss what lactose was because the one smoothie recipe called for milk. There was a great deal of science involved, and at the end the teens created their own smoothie recipe. It was pretty cool!
Dawn states: I love smoothies!
Email me for information, the handout used, or any other smoothie information! dstates@yorklibraries.org

smoothie making and science!

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Swinter!

A party that the teens have a lot of fun with is the Swinter party. It is a summer/winter mashup party and takes place in the summer. Many of the activities featured are typical winter activities, such as make your own hot cocoa, paper snowflakes, snow globes, and finger knitting. This party is a lot of fun to plan, and could be implemented in your own library very easily! Paper snowflakes can be made with little effort, hot cocoa mixes help with the make your own cocoa, and finger knitting is not nearly as hard as it looks!
Check out the photos from the event, the teens had such a good time with winter in summer...or swinter!
Email me for more ideas or a party outline from out Swinter Party! dstates@yorklibraries.org
Dawn states: I like summer better than winter!