2023-02-10 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 13, Issue 6
Featured Story
Youth Services and Social Interactions!
Social interactions have always been important at the library. This is not new information. Libraries are a community space for all people. When it comes to a library’s youth services areas social interactions are even more important. Children are learning, growing, and exploring at the library. The front-line staff that is in the youth services areas have great ideas to engage young patrons. Having stickers or little giveaways at the desk is always popular. Kids love to walk away with a bookmark or a sticker. Kids that might be crying or upset about leaving the library will change their mood so fast if you offer them something. I see libraries doing passive programming at the youth services desk like scavenger hunts or break-in bags. Scavenger hunts in the youth service or throughout the library can be good for young patrons to learn about the different parts of the library or library facts. At our library now we are having spooky characters from the book’s scavenger hunt. Children have to walk around the youth service area and find the characters from children’s picture books (Creepy Carrot, Mummicula, Goon, Pumpkin Jack, Vampirina, and Johnny Boo). If they ask for a hint the person at the desk can give a hint but also take the opportunity to teach about the library, an example of this is “The library has books to take home and check out, but the library has books you cannot check out and those are called reference books. Go look in the Reference area for Pumpkin Jack.” A fun little game for the month is now teaching about the library.
Passive programs at the youth services desk can also teach about the different subject matter in creative ways. We are also doing a passive program about Fat Bear Week. It is a program where young patrons can vote on what bear in the wild will gain the most weight to get ready for the winter. The kids love talking about how fat their bear is getting. We have some adults laugh and talk about the importance for bears to eat food so that they can survive during the winter time when food is scarce. Fat Bear Week
When I am working at youth services I try to interact with the children and ask them questions. I love it when adults inform the kids to go ask the librarian worker their questions. These social interactions with adults are important for children of all ages. It is always great working in the youth service area.
By Eric Hovey
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.
Failing Forward
In an effort to make my one-shot online library instruction sessions more engaging, I created a series of polls in Zoom. The first class I tried it out on, I hadn’t practiced enough with it and soon, just gave up using it because I felt like I was taking up too much time and that my fumbling around with an unfamiliar technology was way too obvious. I don’t teach many online sessions, so I haven’t taken the time to come up with other ways to get students involved yet, but I learned a valuable lesson that I need to be way more familiar with the technology before I try to use it in a classroom setting.
By Tania Harden
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!
Forum Groningen
Lately I have been turning to European libraries for ideas and inspiration. The Forum Groningen recently caught my eye, with its distinctive physical shape and its all-purpose mission statement. Located in the northeastern most province of the Netherlands, Forum Groningen is a public library, but it is also so much more: exhibition halls, a movie theater, a museum (focused entirely on comics, animation, and games), a medialab (which is a place to learn about film, animation, and visual culture), a cafe, a skylounge bar and restaurant, and a roopftop terrace. There is even an impressive smartlab on the premises. The designers’ aim was to imitate “a nice living room, for all the people of Groningen. A place that people would like to visit, that would offer an enriching experience.”
From the website:
“Globalisation. Digitisation. Visual culture. Technology that affects all areas of our lives. Lifelong learning is a necessity. A world that’s changing faster than ever. This has become a reality for people. More choices, more information. So many opportunities, which can be overwhelming at the same time. We see Forum Groningen as a response to the major developments of our time. Our eyes are wide open, based on the motto: it’s better to know what lies ahead than to be caught by surprise. If we can convince people to open their eyes to the world of tomorrow, we’ll have accomplished what we set out to do.”
What fascinates me most about this place is how it and the use of its space has been conceived. Instead of serving to meet only one function, the designers took a broader approach to its utility. In essence, this space resembles something for the people; a kind of love letter to the citizens of Groningen.
By Chris Thielen
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 https://libraries.idaho.gov/splat/
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.