Childrens Services Minutes - March 10, 2021

Kate Cornwell – DN – first children’s meeting 

Children’s Librarian since November 

Kimberly Boldt – New Director of Outreach & Engagement Services 

Will be visiting locations and meeting staff & customers 

From WI 

Bridget Harkin – RE 

Second children’s meeting 

Drew winners recently 

Feedback 

Everyone loved the mugs! 

Collectible mugs – new one for next year with different design (like Starbucks!) 

Lovely messages on bingo cards 

Seniors had fun participating 

Putting “adult” in name of program would have been helpful 

We will re-examine having this program be available to all ages 

We we continue as all ages, we could ffer something different for kids (sticker sheet, etc) 

Kellie will add to discussion guide for further development and analysis 

Bingo was more engaging as an adult compared to regular SR 

People liked reading outside of normal genres 

We have activity sheets for adults for SR, perhaps those activities could be more similar to Bingo card with reading challenges 

Blew goal out of the water! Ordering additional supply of mugs for next year to keep up with demand. 

Shared stats for the program: 3,300 participants, 2,164 read at least 5 books, 1,200+ picked up a mug, 444 read 25 to get a blackout! 

Teresa will send out info on sending back and/or keeping mugs 

Very similar to 2020 with flattened goal structure and prize pickup in August 

All activities will be able to be done at home or online 

Minutes from meetings are posted on intranet 

SR Training will happen in April  (Edubrite – all staff) 

Library TikTok and Teen Instagram 

8 ways for virtual volunteering - https://www.metrolibrary.org/volunteer/teen-opportunities 

Quiet by Susan Cain – power of introversion 

Up to 30% of the population can feel very overwhelmed by many of the traditional types of volunteering opportunities 

Up to 119 teens this year 

Hopefully we have enough usable, teen-generated content to populate TikTok and Teen Instagram  

Sign up opens in April 

Interviews by phone or online 

Limited amount of volunteers per location and a list of alternates 

Volunteer training 

One training video for staff and volunteers 

Niche academy for volunteers 

Record of volunteer training in their profile 

Location sign up example 

Ex. ED – 19 teen openings 

Main volunteer opportunity – the teens apply for this and then it’s hidden 

Under the opportunity, it shows all the ways ED is choosing to use volunteers via hyperlink 

After accepted as volunteer, they’ll be assigned to all the opportunities 

The volunteer will email supervisor after they complete a task, then the supervisor logs them into a sign up station Heidi is creating which automatically logs the correct number of hours 

Coaching, feedback, and mentoring then occurs 

T-shirts for gift at the end in case they don’t actually participate 

Volunteering will remain virtual until we are fully open 

Many libraries have a lot of 5161 funds leftover 

Ability to use funds to support systemwide programming 

Earth Day, Poetry Month, Pride, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Women’s History Month 

Talk with engagement manager and EPS so they can communicate with Business Office  

Tax Help 

Connecting customers to Tax Help this year  

https://www.metrolibrary.org/explore/topic/tax-help 

Printable flyer for customers with tax help – on All Engagement SharePoint 

123 Play With Me 

Take home kits in April 

4 EC activities (450 systemwide kits) 

Free book and collection lists 

Youth Poetry Contest 

March 15 – April 15 

Grades 4 – 12 in Oklahoma County 

Prize pack for top 5 winners – iPad, Fire Tablet, headphones, poetry books 

Staff judges 

Poetry workshop videos for youth on website 

National Poetry Month – Joy Harjo 

US Poet Laureate 

Announcing winners of Poetry Contest – during April 25th Virtual Author Talk 

Earth Day 

Free seed giveaway with Myriad Gardens 

Seeds tied with classic book or fairytale 

Cinderella, Peter Rabbit, Jack and the Beanstalk (500 kits systemwide) 

Landing page on website 

Linda Sue Park 

Possible mid-May talk to promote new middle school book (The Things You Take) 

Hula Halau O Leilani 

Local dancer with hula performance 

Premiere in early May 

Andrew Soliven Storytime 

Reached out to other community movers and shakers 

Some libraries are doing related take home kits 

Author Hour focused on AAPI 

Landing page for each big program 

Black History Month, etc.] 

If you’re creating a relevant program, check the appropriate universal tag to make it show on specific landing page 

Poetry Month 

Earth Day 

Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 

GeekCon 

Etc. 

Planning through end of May 

Publishers have not extended permissions past June 

Need ~6 more storytimes to get through end of May 

Some of the performers will perform at Festival of the Arts in June 

Working with Arts Council for outside performances in mornings, possibly at the Myriad Gardens 

Some virtual performances 

At least one new performer and in talks with others 

Want to focus on more performers with less performances from each to avoid over-saturating like last summer 

Belle Isle  

Allie Barton 

Take Home kits every 2 weeks – going really well 

Intermediate Sequoyah team 

Teen Story Sacks w/ extra books – flying off the shelf 

Figuring out similar options for other age groups 

Katherine Hickey 

More inclusive Mother’s & Father’s Day 

Donuts with Grownups 

Take home kit with prepackaged donuts and activities and crafts with a special woman or man in a kid’s life 

No programming space til back in permanent building 

Almonte 

Amy Upchurch 

Take home kits – one for EC, one for Elem., one for Teens every week, one for Adults every 2 weeks 

Seeing beginning plans of new AL location (diagonal to current location) 

More virtual programming – looking for tips from other libraries 

Del City 

Breanna 

EC kit every 2 weeks 

Book of the Month kit for kids (Josh) - amazing feedback  

Moving into new DC library 

Ralph Ellison 

Bridget Harkin 

New take home kits – mosaics 

Selected 4 Oklahoman and 4 nationally famous women – How to Write Postcards kits for Women’s History Month 

Edmond 

Brittney Logan 

Every other Monday ST and every other Tuesday ST – so storytime every week 

24 people last time 

May – Music with Miss Joy 

Bag with instruments and scarves they get to keep 

Zoom meetings with help adults and kids have more confidence in making music 

SRP Sign up bags full of logs, info, stickers, and activities 

Andrew Patton 

Share time at the end of storytime 

Kids are comfortable participating at home  

St. Patrick’s Day craft + zoom  

Leprechaun story with related craft 

Marc Pezzell 

Cute leprechaun jar craft 

Afternoon in the Amazon – snake craft 

Anne Hall 

Take and makes in June and July – collaborations across the sytem! 

Downtown 

Chelsee Bumann 

GeekCon in May – lots of take home kits 

Preparing for volunteers 

Kate Cornwell 

Take home kits 

Story and song zoom storytime with a lot of classes attending 

Southern Oaks 

Cheryll Jones 

New Dog Man book – Dog Man Party! on Zoom 

Preschool Activities – different things each time – songs, stories, and craft they make together 

Zoom Kid’s Yoga w/ OSU Extension – lots of sign ups, about 9 participants per program 

Midwest City 

Tara Golden 

Happy that people are back in the building! 

Carol Roberts 

Take home kits 

Working with adult staff on parent/child interactivity in kits 

Outside of technology ideas – Interactive Imagination- created their own book like Press Here 

Ideas for folklore characters? 

Community Libraries  

Ashley Smith 

Take home kits 

Storytime on Demand kits  

Take home kit with 3-5 activities and crafts and a link to a recorded storytime to watch 

Poetry Journal kit for April 

Mary West 

Read Across the Community Libraries 

Storywalk at CT, take home kits for each location with prize pack if they visit at least 3 CLs 

Shana Lancaster 

Garbage Science for Earth Day 

Provide kids with soda and chips and then turn the garbage into science experiments 

Village 

Juliet Alavicheh 

Take home kits – creating extra kits for those who didn’t know about sign ups 

Origami paper circuits 

Mars-related STEAM kit in Feb 

Sally Gray 

Kits once a month – 25 for EC, 25 for Children 

Music with Miss Ginger 

Play-doh kits 

Capitol Hill 

Gloria Melchor 

Spoticus Around the World 

Puzzles, crafts, a related reading list 

In a box – mimics luggage, visits different places around the world 

Bethany 

Laura Pool 

Busy with take-home kits.  

Weekly, all-ages 

Registration for specific age groups 

Monthly artist-inspired kits 

Rocket readers, 3D printing, storywalk 

Planning a reader kit that would combine tailored titles with a goodie bag 

Northwest 

Tess Botkin 

Take home kits 

Making concerted effort for EC kits – about 40 

People want tangible items in their kits 

Elephant and Piggie paper lanterns 

Planned take home through end of the year 

Robin Miller 

Astronomy kit  

Science walk w/ Blue Thumb water conversation group 

Outside water cycle program – beading a bracelet on Zoom call w/ Blue Thumb rep 

Warr Acres 

Alma Brown 

Rhyme Time with Granny Goose 

Lots of take home kits 

Request giveaway books – many available -http://my.metrolibrary.info/drupal/eps/giveawaybooks