2020-11-20 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 6, Issue 1

Featured Story

Little Known Book Awards

The Caldecott Medal, The Newbery Medal, The National Book Awards, The Hugo Awards, The Booker Prize, The Young Readers Choice Awards; I am sure that these are all book awards with which you are familiar. As librarians we often look to these award lists for making recommendations to patrons as well as for ordering materials for our libraries. I thought I would take a moment to highlight some lesser known awards that have emerged in recent years.

You can find a link to many other literary awards at the following website: https://americanwritersmuseum.org/literary-links/literary-awards/

Did you know that you have the power to create your own book award? About 12 years ago our children’s librarian, Kathryn Lopez Luker, started her own award for outstanding works in children’s literature called the Idaho Pocatellecott Award. Publishers have even listed this under the awards section like Simon and Schuster’s I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin.

– Jackie Wood
 

Fail Forward

We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.

Curbside service and phone alternatives

Our library recently returned to curbside service after the local health board moved us into the highest-risk category for community spread. Even though we’d gotten the kinks worked out for curbside just a few months ago, it was not at all like riding a bike- we have had to retool everything from where we store holds to the regular daily workflow of our staff. One major change was that last time we were on curbside, we had a station set up by our main doors and patrons could receive walk-up service. That was nice in May when spring was springing, but we went to curbside immediately before the first snowstorm of the year & a dip down to 12-degree temperatures. Anyway, we moved to a system where patrons would call us from the parking lot and we would bring holds out to them.

Day one problem: what do we do with patrons without phones, or who can’t hear to make a phone call? We have plenty of loyal patrons who either have a landline only or who have no phone at all. We also have a regular Deaf patron base, and calling isn’t an option for them either. As an interim solution, we have set up a wireless doorbell that rings inside for walkup customers. As a longer-term solution for those Deaf patrons, we are exploring options for being able to exchange text messages. It’s hard to predict what difficulties are going to arise with the pace of all the other Covid-related changes, but learn from me and try to keep a suspicious eye on seemingly easy, one-size-fits-all solutions.

– Tyler McLane

Crush Corner

Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!

Valley of the Tetons Escape Room

I’m totally crushing on Valley of the Teton Library’s Star Wars Escape Room They recently created a full digital Escape room based on Star Wars! I love that they were able to take a physical event and recreate it in a form that can be enjoyed from anywhere. What a cool idea!

– Mike Sloan
 

SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org

SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.