Sammy Interviews Author Tom Angleberger!

So, Sammy got an opportunity to interview the author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda!  Ahhh!  This was a very exciting time for our feathered reporter.  So sorry the sound isn't better.  This was one of the most magical moments at ALA for our Sammy.

Sammy Meets a Friend at ALA

Sammy met a fellow puppet...I mean animal...at the conference.  Something about this video seems a little disturbing.  The friendly pig wasn't a talking animal like Sammy (Sammy got her "speaks" from Narnia, by the way), but grunted and oinked instead.  But, as you can see, they still got along famously.  I am an extremely bad conference goer and cannot remember what business card goes with what person (bad bad bad networker) so, if this is YOUR pig, please tell me!

Late:  It has been confirmed that the pig in the video is none other than Bacon from the Ak-Chin Indian Community Library in Maricopa, Arizona!

Sammy at the Exhibits at ALA 2012

Here is Sammy excited about picking up ARCS (Advanced Reading Copies) in the exhibit hall at the conference.  I might add that because of all of Sammy's grabbiness, my luggage was overweight to come back to Indy.  Most people at ALA are savvier than me (and no doubt, if Savvy had been here, she would have been) and ship their boxes back.  But I just didn't feel that I had enough to warrent all that extra effort. 

Fortunatley, I was helped by the BEST worker at US Airways who found me a coffee-maker box to put my books in.  She taped it all shut, created a handle out of tape, sent me through security, met me on the other side, and checked my box (for free) all the way to Indianapolis (and I had a stop in Phoenix!).  I might add that my flight number for Indy was 500.  They kept saying "If you are on flight number Indianapolis 500 blah blah blah blah..." Because once they said Indianapolis 500 I couldn't focus enough to hear what the blah blahs meant!  Flight Indianapolis 500!  Ha!

So when Sammy and I got back to Indy, Dad met us at the airport (at 1:30 in the morning) and I told him the story of the coffee-maker box and when it finally came through the luggage carosel (at 2:30 in the morning) we did a little dance.  Well, ok.  I did a little dance.   I probably jumped too.  Gosh those US Airways people are amazing. 

Lego Mania!

Sammy has a few things in common with me.  While I try not to scream and squawk quite as much as Sammy does, Sammy and I both love Legos.  I mean we really do.  A lot.

Suzanne

What to expect when your expecting blog posts from Suzanne

The internet at this hotel is not fast enough to do pics and videos in any way that will not drive me insane.  I ran this morning and am now packing too many books in my suitcase.  I'm sure it will be overweight.  So, I will be updating this (I know I said that once...oh well) with all my last sessions and more pictures and videos soon. 

Today's agenda?  Pack / shuttle / airport / home!

Sammy's First Night at ALA 2012 / Exuse the Toilet in the Shot

Typo City

Miraculously, today I'm posting from the convention center...meaning im using mynipad and im certain to make mistakes, so please bear wuth me...im sure thisbalso means that im missing something wonderful while i sit here and wait for my cell to chsrge. Oh well. Such is life at ALA. So thisnmorning I had another great run with my Minnesota library friend then made my way to the CC (czonvention center) where i got to hear Dan Rather speak!!! He was a real class act. He has a new book outbsoon, andeven thoughindontusuallyread booksforadults (no judging) I may try his. That'swht happens when you hear authors speak. Then i heard Daniel Handler speak with his illustrator. Personal dream of mine. Awesomeness. Went to a great session about connecting readers to books with technology and also a session about young adults, theur brains, and how we need to communicate with them. More sessions now! More later!

Sunday

Sunday morning I did the Yoga Fit class which was a GREAT deal…you got an amazing yoga class in the California sun with over a hundred other librarians, a free very healthy breakfast, AND a yoga mat, bag, pedometer, and water bottle!  What a deal!  Cauli and Sammy enjoyed as well. 

After that wonderful start to the day I headed to a session about library spaces for little ones.  It was really a great session.  We need self-check in our Youth area.  We need to get rid of our Book Nook mat (that’s why we have jumpers all the time), we need to add a rice table (yup…you read right) and we need to read up on Family PlaceLibraries.  I keep hearing about them everywhere! 

Why get rid of the Book Nook, you ask?  Well, it's all about what message we are sending our patrons.  If we have a nice soft area that is surrounded by things to climb on, what do you think will happen?  You're right!  Chidlren will jump!  Librarians will be annoyed!  So, Suzanne's recommendation for the day is:  get rid of book nook.  However, play is very important (learn about SPICE!).  Very important.  So important, that instead of calling crafts crafts, let's call it playing-with-paper-and-stickers instead.  This will also take away the whole let's-make-a-craft-that-looks-just-like-the-teacher's-craft attitude.  We are all set for good play-spaces...we've already got the train table and the puzzles.  But we can also teach through the space.  Tell parents it's good to play with their kids through placards placed around the area.  The Parent / Teacher area should be closer to the play areas. 

Some other ideas from this program: 

• no shelving over 66 inches (we do pretty good with this in our lower level areas but not in our upper level areas...space issues)
• tackable surfaces that look good when nothing is on them (we neeeeeeeed more surfaces like this)
• stroller parking or cubbies for patron stuff...maybe in our RR hallway?
• magnetic poetry / magnetic PAINT!  Wow!
• white board paint
• we really need to change our mini-lab into a Create Space with video equipment, a green wall, editing software, the whole nine yards.  We have the space!  Let's write an LSTA grant and do it! 
• young people learn what they discover themselves
• parents and caregivers like to learn informally
• when I do my ECRR parent training (coming up!) I should open with a social time for them to network
• Oh!  Let's get more toys and put them on the bottom shelves of the R2R area!
• Weed!  Weed!  Weed!  In almost every session I went to I heard about weeding!
• Don't make areas too young (worried about our mural by the train table)...have things for kids and adults as well
• And here's a good quote:  The more complex the toy, the simpler the learning and teh simpler the toy, the more complex the learning.  We want complex learning!  Yay simple toys!
• Here's another "know your community idea..."  Go through your community and look for PUBLIC spaces that really ARE for both kids and parents...how many do we have?  Um...us...the park, McDonald's and that's about it.  So we have to make our space awesome!
• Encourage lingering...we want them comfortable in our building.

Places to get more information about this session...Rethinking Libraries and the Norfolk Public Library!  I was excited about Norfolk because my sister lived there! 

Then I attended an AMAZING session about using apps in your library and ways to share them with your patrons.  It was great and amazing and warrents its own post, so look ahead or behind and you will find it! 

I had a quick lunch and grabbed up lots of free books in the exhibitor hall then it was onto a speaker event with Sherman Alexie, the author of Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  He was hilarious!

Then I went to an AMAZING session about reorganizing your Picture Book collections based on topic.  I know…crazy and a lot of work but so much easier for our patrons, who are, after all, why we are here.

The Newbery / Caldecott banquet was incredible.  I met some more wonderful librarians, this time from Arizona and got to hang out with Renee, a librarian from Chicago who sat with me during Chris Colfer the day before. 

Amazing day.  Lots more later!  I promise!

Brushes with Fame

It really is exciting to be at such a huge national conference.  I’m seeing people from everywhere!  This morning I started my day off right J with a run around the Disneyland Park accompanied by a librarian from Minnesota who used to serve on the CYPD board with me!  It was a great fun and we did about 4 miles. 

Took the shuttle to the Convention Center and ran into my Washington friends.  We all decided that it is probably just as easy to walk as to take the shuttle.  It doesn’t really save you any time and the weather has always been great here so walking is a treat.

I did a bit of session hopping this morning.  First up was a session about eBooks.  I was a little late, so I don’t know if they covered this, but I was really hoping to hear how quickly they think eBooks will take over, but mostly they talked about the nuts and bolts of eBooks…how to find money in your budget, streaming vs. downloading, and platforms available.  They really encouraged getting the records into your catalog. 

After that, I scooted over to a session that talked about marketing tools available on the internet.  I just caught the tail end of their discussion, but they were talking about a tool that I think a library created called Gimme.  I believe it is a Reader’s Advisory tool.  They also talked about Goodreads and how they feed that directly onto Twitter and a tool called Hootsuite that gives you a platform to tie all your social media together so you can update them all on the same page.  Some other ideas for connecting readers to books...put a staff review box in your staff lounge and input reviews later, have a copmputer station set up right there for staff to use on their break to review a quick book, make it personal. 

After that, on a whim I visited Houghton Mifflin’s Book Buzz and learned about some new titles including (drumroll please) Lois Lowry’s new book Son, the last book in The Giver quartet.  And guess who now has a free Advanced Reading Copy of said book!  Me!  I’m so excited!  Today was a good ARC day.  I got several freebies that I’m pretty excited about!

My last session before lunch was about programs that were funded with LSTA grants.  They gave some tips for getting the grants but mostly described their programs.  One was a great video project called Rhyme Time that was directed towards parents of emerging readers and another project concerned a product called Brain Boxes.  The second part of the session focused on making your space work for your patrons, especially your spaces for young children.   I was introduced to Family Place Libraries and am really looking forward to learning more about them. 

I attended a luncheon today honoring the great Susan Cooper for winning the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Young Adult fiction.  We each got a copy of one of her books, but the really exciting thing for me was that I randomly got to sit next to the Newbery Award Winning Author, Susan Patron!  She was lovely to talk to and even let me take my picture with her and Sammy.   Susan Cooper’s talk was touching, evocative, and entertaining.  It was wonderful to get to be there for that event. 

It was really a star-studded day.  After that I stopped by Jack Gantos’ book signing area.  I didn’t have any books to get signed but I said hi and reminded him of the time I picked him up from the airport.  He said he remembered my cautious driving and gave me a huge stack of bookplates to put into books.  He squeezed my hand and I was off to yet another heart stopping moment with famous people.  Yes, this time it was Nancy Pearl!  She was sitting in a booth and I just went right up to her and told her that my mother and I heard her speak in Indianapolis and thanked her for being wonderful.  She was great and said she’s be in Indy again soon for the ALSC Conference!

Oh, but the brushes with fame didn’t stop there. I headed upstairs and hung out in a line to get front row seats for Chris Colfer’s talk. I met a real live mover and shaker (hi Renee!) and managed to get front row seats for Chris! He was just darling and funny and so charismatic. And to top it all off, we got free ARCs of his book. Amazing.

One last session to wrap up the day…I attended one about marketing based on libraries that have won the John Cotton Dana Award.  I was a little late for that session as well (things are just so far apart and it’s really easy to get caught up in the exhibit hall) but heard all about the Como Public Library and their successful marketing campaign to draw attention to their unique music materials related to their blues history.  They created a DVD and and had a DVD release party!  Great idea!  Very powerful stuff. 

Some other notes from that session included some ideas for swag to give away (maginfiers, post-it notes, generic business cards, magnets) and they also stressed the idea of focus groups as well.  I'm starting to see informal focus groups walking around my library everywhere!  I just want to grab those people and be like, "would you like to spend 10 minutes talking about the library?  I'll give you a Diet Coke..."  Because you can get really really good info that way. 

Some notes on applying for the award (which we should do because we had a really good marketing plan for our 100 Year Celebration including a new website...coming soon...a new logo...see below...a butterfly release, a new tag line:  "You're Very Welcome!"  and, my favorite, dancing through the ages)...they said to find out what makes your community YOUR community and focus on that.  Also, they said to put all the infomation on one file instead of several little ones all linked together, and here is an idea that came out of this session that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.  You want to get your staff engaged more with your databases?  Offer a quick award for the first staff member to answer a question using the databases.  Don't know where that idea came from but it's in my notes!

It was a long day, so I headed back to the hotel and wound down in front of the pool with Susan Cooper’s book for a while and now I’m being a loser and staying in just to plan out the next couple of days and to update you all on what’s going on.  Oh well.  Sometimes it’s fun to be a loser.  J

Here’s a bit of knowledge I learned at some session today but can’t remember which one:  Don’t go after non-library users right off the bat. Go after casual library users and make them into power users. They will then tell their friends how great the library is and voila!  Word will spread and you will have non-users become casual users and the cycle starts all over again until everyone in your community is a card-carrying member of the library community!  So, something to think about.  Tired.  Good night!

Sammy at the Preconference at ALA!

Sammy at the Preconference...

Summer Reading Program Tied to Outcomes

Okay folks...I have a lot of catching up to do so here goes. 

Yesterday for the preconfererence day, I started out doing the Unconference and then moved onto a session all about changing up your Summer Reading Program (SRP) and tieing it to Outcomes instead of Output. 

Output are things we easily measure.  Diane knows that I love tracking Output.  I love seeing how many programs we have in any given month, how many volunteer hours we've racked up, and my favorite:  how many kids we reach through library programming.  Of course, my favorite statistic over the summer is sometimes stressful - How many children are signed up for summer reading?  It's stressful because I always want to beat my number from the year before.  This year we have real goals tied to our Strategic Plan that have framed what we are trying to accomplish very specifically and it's tied to guess what?  Output.

Outcomes are different.  They are things like skills, knowledge, attitude, behavior, condition, and life status.  This program, which was presented by some California librarians (LAPL was at least one of the systems presenting) says that outcomes basically reflect how people change because of participating in your program or the library.  It's the impact that your program actually has.  It's hard to measure if reading scores in your community improve because of your SRP, but you can show if people feel differently after your program.  Outcome measurements are great to have when applying for grants or presenting info to your library board or anytime you need to prove your worth.

They gave us lots of ideas including doing focus groups, "pre-tests" and "post-tests," targeting a specific underserved group to tie outcomes to, and of course, do a Needs Assessment (what are your reading scores doing, who is moving in and out of your area, get a goup of local leaders together and ask them, partner with your principals, find out what else is going on in the summer in your community...) before starting the whole thing. Even just taking a walk through your community can help you discover a lot.  They said if you do this, identify your self as a librarian (usually a tote bag, comfortable shoes, and an embroidered sweatshirt that says LIBRARIAN AND PROUD OF IT will accomplish this) and get people to talk to you.  Also, talk to your own staff and the clerks who work at your circ desk.  They can be very knowedgable about your community and might welcome the chance to share their local knowledge. 

The librarians who were presenting focused on getting all their participants to feel like they belonged to a community of readers and not just individual people participating in the Summer Reading Program.  They did many things to make this goal happen, including getting targeted community members to participate in their SRP. 

Just from my notes, here are a few other things...turn the SRP into a community service project for teens...I don't know about your library, but the teens in my community are just itching for community service all the time.  I have so many teens that want to volunteer and I just don't know what to do with them all!  Choose a goal but direct it from the patron's point of view, not the library's.  Create a benchmark by choosing an attainable goal. You can use teachers' observations as part of your outcome.  It's always good to tie your outcomes to your strategic plan (Yep.  We've got one of those.)   Another note, they stressed not to try to do everything on your own!  Have a SRP committee and have all of them help.  Survey your staff after the SRP to see how it went.  This is really important for planning for the next year.  Oh, and what about this?  Swap libraries when you are doing focus groups!  You will be much less biased when talking to people who aren't your own patrons. 
It was a very worth-while session made even better by the fact that a woman I went to IUPUI with was there!  She now works at the Cincinnati Public Library system and I ended up joining her and two of her co-workers for dinner at P. F. Changs (I know...fancy.) 

Then it was onto the exhibits.  This was the biggest one I'd ever been in.  Super fun with lots of things to see.

After that, I went to a really fun session all about playing games in the library.  I played Blokus and Tellestrations, and also played a fun simple game called the Dancing Eggs Game.  This was really more of a social event than a session and was lots of fun.

Then (and the reason I had no time to blog yesterday) I went out for drinks and dancing with a group of hip students from Washington.  I had fun, but headed back to the hotel at the early hour of 11:00.  It really felt like 2:00 am for me and you all know, I never stay up that late.

Here are Sammy and Cauli at PF Changs!

In the land of Mickey, walking characters are everywhere...even if you might not know what they are...any guess as to what this happy fellow represents?

And here I am with Spidey.  He wanted me to keep my bird away from him.  Said his uncle was eaten by one...

Broadways Gal - aka, Suzanne

Unconference

Went to two sessions today...I guess you could say one session and one "unsession."  The Unconference was an unscripted event for attendees to get together and talk about topics we wanted to talk about.  There were lots of great topics mentioned included ebooks, career paths, hackerspaces (I know...I didn't know what they were either), but I ended up joining a table talking about programming for teens and adults.  It was a pretty good discussion...heard some great ideas including the following:

• partner with area teachers to find the local ringleaders in the high school or middle school and get them involved at the library.  Their friends will soon follow.
• require all teen volunteers to participate in the summer reading program
• do a round table with local librarians and share just one great program idea (a little more formal than your typical round table
• if teen volunteers are scheduled to work and there is not much to do, tell them to find a nook and have them read for their SRP goal
• it's always good to get a local person to come give a talk.  Patrons like being asked to help and patrons like listening to someone other than you.
• we also talked about how important advocacy is in your library.
• learned about the best games to use in gaming tournaments (Smash Brothers / Marvel vs. Capcon 3 / Double Dash / Super Street Fighter 4)
• talked about how great it is to have animals in your library, snakes are a good choice
• we discussed having a Read-a-thon as a money maker, like those walk-a-thons you remember from school
• someone reminded us all of the website www.librarygrants.blogspot.com as a source for library grants.
• one way to do prizes is to have a generic box of "really great things" (read, leftover crap you can't get rid of) for teens or kids to pick from for any time you need a reading incentive
• someone mentioned the amazing blog The Unquiet Librarian 
• I learned that the Smithsonian Institute has a lot of great online resources for educators
• Of course we talked about Pinterest and how you can make a Pinterest board and have the teens follow you...you can talk about crafts, books, and anything else they might be interested in.  An aside...Pinterest is a force to be reckoned with.  Must pin more!
• One librarian in California did an awesome program with his local college...he partnered with the Physics department and did a program all about how to build rollar coasters!
• What about this for an idea?  Build mini-weapons of mass destruction?  Adventure Club program anyone?   I could get a military guest to come into talk to round out the program!
• someone suggested Cupcake Chess...although I try to stay away from pumping kids full of sugar, but that's just me.  Sugar definately makes for fun, easy programming...I will say that.
• Oooo...listen to this!  One librarian suggested having a bike for mobile service!  Now I can totally see myself biking to the close schools for booktalking!
• Someone mentioned renting a Star Lab...I mentioned Google Sky which I'm in love with
• someone said teens really need solid relationship information...so maybe a dating without drama program?  Could use this website:  http://www.teenrelationships.org/abuse/
• I met Thomas Vose and he shared this article about Dungeons and Dragons, after I talked about how you don't have to know anything to have a great D and D program...oh the good old days of Dungeons and Dragons lockins!
• More game ideas...Portal, Mindcraft, Roblox (this is Legos!  Must remember to look up!)
• What about this?  Someone suggested doing a pumpkin patch for library families!  I'd be all over that if Diane would let me!
• technology classes taught by the teens.  Unfortunatly, I'd be the first one to sign up for Twitter.  ;)
• Try dry erase contact paper for the walls of your Teen Area!  Or chalk board paint!
• Or how about some moss graffiti?
• Also heard about Karen Jensen's Blog

After that session I approached some friendly looking folks and was like "um...can I join you all for lunch?" and I did and we had cheap Mexican fare and it was maaaaaaaaaarvelous.

The Good Life

 

So, I was innocently wondering around the hotel looking for something to eat that was not pizza and I come back (banana and cereal in hand) to find that Sammy has turned our room into a TV studio. She is still mad that I stuck her in a suitcase for our whole flight here (sorry Sammy) but she shouldn't be that mad because I took her to the pool today along with Cauli!

I got to the hotel with no issues at all. Am meeting librarians left and right. So far I've met Penny, Erin, and Jennifer by name. After getting lunch at a close restaurant I decided to take it very easy today and get settled into my room (our room if you count my feathered and feline friends...don't worry...they aren't sleeping near each other) and then hang out at the pool. Kate, I got all my ordering caught up. Expect a deluge of Publisher's Weekly's when I get back!

Tomorrow AM I'm doing 4 miles (it's safe Dad, I check with the concierge) to make it to the closest grocery store so I can stock my fridge with food that isn't pizza then after that it's get ready for the convention! I'm hoping to be at the convention center by 8 to get registered and all set for my first preconference event, the Unconference. After that, it's a session on Summer Reading and then the exhibits open! I'm actually kind of scared of the exhibit hall. It seems like a jungle.

Enjoyed seeing the statue of John Wayne at the airport and boy did I love seeing mountains from the plane!

More (library related) updates coming tomorrow!  Hopefully I'll get Sammy's video uploaded tomorrow too.  It wasn't playing nice today.

By the way, the Disneyland Fireworks are very spectacular, but not when you are trying to sleep...

Airports, Travel and Planning!

Well, I'm on my way to the American Library Association Annual Conference!  Thanks to mom for dropping me off at the Indy Airport at the uncivilized hour of 5:00 AM.  I'm now safely in Phoenix getting ready to board my flight to the John Wayne airport in Orange County!  Once there I take a shuttle to my hotel and then it will be time to really delve into the ALA Scheduler.  I already have plans to hear Susan Cooper, Jack Gantos, Dan Rather, and Chris Colfer (yes, you read right!) all speak and am very excited about that.

 

There are lots of good sessions on eBooks, library spaces, graphic novels, leadership, etc!  Can't wait!  It's getting pretty intense here at the airport.  I think they are boarding 5 flights all at once.  I should be soon!  So, I forgot they have mountains in Phoenix (no judging).  I just love looking at mountains.  It's so restful after the flatness of my native land. 

Here's Flat Cauli on the plane and I took a picture of See's Candies in the Phoenix airport because I think my Walker family loves them.  More later!