GreenBeanTeenQueen

Happy Summer everyone! We are two weeks into our Summer Reading Program at my library (our program runs for 12 weeks!) and our programming starts today. I was inspired by my awesome friend Angie who tweeted this last week: Summer is the MOST stressful time for a public librarian. BUT the secret they don't tell you is...it's also the most FUN. (Miss P and me on the first day of Summer Reading!) When people think of Summer, they still think of lazy days, lots of reading, vacations, and relaxing. When you become a public librarian your Summers become full of reading, programming, busy days, possibly working even more than you are scheduled to, and making it your mission (even more than usual) to get kids to read. This is can be tons of fun but it can also be stressful, exhausting, and incredibly rough. I try to explain what it's like to my friends and family and even our regular patrons who wonder just why we're so busy. But it's hard to tell pe...

Summer is here at if you work in the Public Library, than Summer equals Summer Reading and Summer Reading Programs. Summer Reading encourages kids to read during their school break, read for fun and enjoyment, and keep up their reading so they avoid the Summer Slide . I think we do a great job promoting that kids should read during the Summer at my library and we have great involvement and feedback about our Summer Reading Program. Parents comment that kids were motivated to read, they had fun, and that they used the activities on the game board to create fun activities for their family over Summer. This is all great and I love it, but there is a very hard part to Summer Reading that happens each and every year. No matter how much I try, I always hear the following comments: "Read real books."  "You can only read books on your level." "Listening doesn't count in our house." When I hear these or other similar statements, I have to try r...

We have just finished our third week of summer reading!! The first week of June means that our programming is back full time, which means we're even more crazy busy than before! Here's what my Youth Services Department did this week: -We answered 692 reference questions , which averages out to 99 questions a day! -We told patrons about SRP/gave out SRP game boards & info 395 times -which averages out to 56 families  a day! We had 11 in house programs this week! (Crazy, I know!) -We hosted six storytimes (three birth-3 and three age 3-6) that had 188 kids and 107 adults . -I introduced a new Bookworms Early Reader storytime for ages 4-8 that had 6 kids and 4 adults . -Staff member S hosted a tween program that included a Gnome craft-they built adorable gnome houses-and a big screen showing of Gnomeo and Juliet for 8 kids and 3 adults . -Staff member M hosted a Pirate Treasure Hunt for ages 3-12 that brought in 49 kids and 36 adults. The highlight was hunting down...

We're two weeks into our Summer Reading Program (SRP) which started May 18th and the library is buzzing with summer readers! We have been extremely busy passing out summer reading game boards and prizes and helping kids find books to read this summer. One of the most fun, and most frustrating, aspects of summer reading is that our bookshelves get raided so all those popular series titles kids want and parents are familiar with ( Harry Potter, Junie B. Jones, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Magic Tree House ) tend to be frequently checked out with few to no copies left on the shelf. This is frustrating for patrons who only want what is familiar but also can be fun for us as we get to jump into reader's advisory more and help these readers branch out and find something new (which can also be tricky as frequent go to readalikes tend to also be checked out!) So here's what we've been up to in our first two weeks of summer reading: -This year I did a kickoff party on the day SRP s...

I love this photo of Nedd Stark warning everyone that Summer Reading is coming! It makes me laugh every time. So Summer Reading is coming! I love learning how libraries run their summer reading programs, so I thought this summer I would do a weekly breakdown of what exactly it is librarians do during the summer. I've learned that my non-librarian friends have no idea how much time and effort goes into summer reading-and it's a ton of work and also a ton of fun. So after giving my summer reading spiel to thousands of kids over the past few weeks, now I'll give it you! (Sorry, this will be a long post!) About Summer Reading Program: -Kids can read anything they want! Books from home, school, library, bookstore, friends, etc. ANYTHING! We let them read various formats as well-fiction, nonfiction, comics, ebooks, audiobooks, reading aloud to someone, being read aloud to-all that counts for summer reading. -We count hours, not books. Each level is four hou...