Hey, I got a job!

Hey there everyone is libraryland. Well, good news. I got a job! I am now a Youth and Teen Services Librarian at the Chelsea District Library. It's a big change from being a stay-at-home mom and I miss my boy terribly, but I love being back at work. There's a great programing culture at this library. And though, like all public libraries, the budget has suffered a lot of cuts lately, the program budget here is still WAY bigger than it was at my last library. So I've got big plans.

Make your own ice cream - Brainstorm

Ok, it's been a while so I owe it to you to tell you where I've been. I do a lot of rock climbing,I'm learning Spanish, and I've started getting back into chess. Oh, and I've started my first garden this summer. All of this, plus the baby raising of course, has left me less time to blog. But that's not to say I haven't thought about you. I have a whole back log of ideas in my head that are just waiting to be blog entries, so stay tuned.
The most recent idea came from my family reunion. Did you know that you can make ice cream by pouring milk, cream, and flavoring into a 1 quart zip lock bag, then putting that bag (sealed) into a one gallon zip lock bag filled with ice and rock salt. Then just mash and shake the two bags together for about 10 minutes. Open the bag, insert spoon, and enjoy.
The great thing about this is that each child can make their own. You can have a variety of flavorings, sprinkles, cookies crumbles, and chopped up candy bars for the kids to choose from. You may want to provide gloves or suggest that they bring their own since the bags can become very cold to handle, but overall, this could be an awesome summer program.

I promise it's OK to leave your books on the reshelving cart

Today I read a friend's blog entry about how a fellow library patron chased her into the parking lot to reprimand her for not reshelving the books her toddler had taken off the shelves. She actually felt quite bad about it. She wrote, “I know...libraries are places of quiet where books are treated as objects of reverence...But, if you've ever dealt with an almost 19-month-old, you realize that getting them to comply is sometimes easier said than done. ” I was happy to inform her that librarians actually prefer that patrons leave books on the tables or shelving cart for library employees to reshelve. Not only is it good customer service but it also prevents books from getting lost by being misshelved by well meaning patrons.

A few months ago I did some grant research with another women and we had pulled quite a few books from the shelf. When we decided to call it quits for the day I picked up half the stack and brought it to the shelving cart . She picked up the other half and dashed into the stacks trying to reshelve the books as fast as she could so she could get home on time. It took her a lot to convince her it was OK to leave the books on the shelving cart, even after reminding her that I am a librarian and explaining to her the reasons I mentioned above and adding that it helps give the librarians an idea of which reference books are being utilized. Finally, after it took a while to reshelve only a couple of books, she conceded, but instead of placing the books on the cart she brought them to the librarian with a shamed apology and an explanation about how she had to get home and didn't have time to reshelve the books. She, like my friend, felt terrible about it.

In fact, a lot of patrons seem to have difficulty with this. I feel like as a librarian, I was often approaching patrons who were hastily reshelving books and telling them it was OK to leave the books on the table or shelving cart and that's it is, in fact, preferable that they do so. So many times patrons would put their books on the table and look at me uncomfortably like I was trying to get them into trouble. It just feels so unnatural for people to leave “a mess”, especially in a place that they have been raised to treat as a place of reverence. But to my friend with the 19-month-old, my grant research partner, and all my past and future library patrons, I PROMISE you, it's OK. Librarians are not going to think that you are a bad person if you don't reshelve your library books. Now I wish I could track down that man who chased my friend out of the library and explain that to him.

Ghost Hunts

Ghost Hunters...not just for October. Paranormal investigators are always a popular program for all ages or teen events. There are several paranormal societies in Michigan so you can easily find one near your library. Most paranormal societies will give presentations for free or for a small donation. If the society that you contact doesn't have a presentation ready you can always ask them to do a presentation on one specific aspect of ghost hunting such as EVP's, orbs, cold spots, etc. to make an interesting presentation. You can also ask them to lead an investigation of your library. I have contacted a few paranormal societies that would love to do library programs:

Grimstone Inc. out of Carlton, MI is one of the longest continually running paranormal research organizations in the Midwest and has experience providing educational courses at area schools. You can contact them by email at investigators@grimstone-inc.com or by phone at number is (313)444-GRIM and check out their online newsletters at http://www.grimstone-inc.com/News/GrimstoneGazetteWin2011.pdf.

The Metro Paranormal Investigations (MPI) is enthusiastic about working with libraries. They are willing to travel and don't charge for their presentaions. They told me they have a fun presentation unlike any other team out there that they have presented to several local schools, libraries, and community groups. You can contact them at 810-853-8573 with any questions or to book them for your library.

South Lyon Area Paranormal Society (SLAPS) also has experience giving library presentation and loves educating the public about paranormal investigations. They can be contacted at slghost1836@yahoo.com.

Silly Bandz Party - Brainstorm

Name brand Silly Bandz are 10 or 10 at Kroger right now, which got me thinking...Silly Bandz Party for upper elementary and tweens. For a cheap in-house Silly Bandz program, have the kids win Silly Bandz by playing Silly Bandz themed games, and do a Silly Bandz themed craft. A few games and crafts I came up with are:

• Have the kids shoot the Silly Bandz at a target on the floor and see who is closest, or have them shoot at a bucket to see who can get the most inside the bucket. Each team can have their own color so you know whose is whose.

• Have a Silly Bandz team race where one person has to run around the room looking for their team's color Silly Bandz and then bring it back and put it on the wrist of the team member waiting at home base. The team whose home base person has the most Silly Bandz around their wrist when time runs out, wins.
• Put Silly Bandz around someone's wrist or around a paper towel roll and see who can figure out what shape the Bandz are.
• Make homemade Silly Bandz with silicone sealant and food coloring
• Put out a jar and guess how many Silly Bandz are in the jar.
• Make rubber band bouncing balls out of regular colored rubber bands.
• Make Silly Bandz necklaces and braclets by linking Silly Bandz together.

Does anyone have any other ideas to add?

Author visit and children's program

Elizabeth Lange Cannella, author of There's a Monster in My Lunch Box gives her “Imagination Presentation” to spotlight reading and creative writing for children. She will read a copy of her own book, as well as focus on other local authors and some well-know classic authors - everything from Devin Scillian to Dr. Seuss . This program can be modified to be geared toward K-3^rd grade or 4-5^th grade. Elizabeth Lange Cannella can be contacted at:

Ph. #248- 935-5496 or email elcbooks@elcbooks.com

For more information about the author you can visit her site: http://www.elcbooks.com

And the winner of the Chattski goes to...

I want to give a special congratulations to the Westland Library. Being a youth services librarian and a mother of a toddler, I have become a connoisseur of library story times over the past few years and I was particularly impressed by the Westland Library's Toddler Time. There were several activities during the story time that enabled the kids to get up and move around, keeping them actively engaged throughout the whole session. One activity involved giving each child a small sticker and letting them place it on a printed drawing of a bridge. The older children had fun choosing whether to put the sticker above or below the bridge, while the younger children, like mine, were just excited to put a sticker on something. A pack of stickers and a sheet of copy paper....genius. I did something similar with velcro sets at my library, but I only had about five sets and each set had a limited number of pieces. If I was still doing story times, I would steal this activity.

The story time wasn't the only thing that impressed me about the Westland Library. While my son was placing his sticker, I was talking to a father of another tot. He was telling me how a librarian told him he didn't need to pay for a membership and about all the different resources the library had to offer. 'So', he said, 'I got a card and after story time we're going to check out some books and dvd's'. Be still my heart! A convert! This library really takes advantage of the fact that library programs get new people in the door and uses it to actively reach out to potential patrons. After story time my son and I wandered out to the children's area and sure enough, a librarian asked me if I had been to the Westland Library before, if I lived in Westland, welcomed me to the library, and made sure I didn't leave without a program schedule in my hand. Now that's how it's done.

Congratulations, Westland Public Library. You win the first Chatty Librarian award. Let's call it....hmmm. A Chattski! Good job, Westland.