YA Services Minutes - April 28, 2021

EPS Updates 

Transforming Teen Services Training/Project READY– Emily – Training for Transforming Teen Services starts in 2 weeks. It’s three trainings, one each month in May, June, and July lead by Leah Weyand, who is the Teen Services Coordinator for the Tulsa City-County Library in Tulsa, OK. This is a good training to attend for anyone who works with teens, either with programming or just in general in the library. Project Ready is also available for training, and is specifically designed for youth services staff in public libraries. 

Earth Day + Poetry Month, Pride, GeekCon Dance Party, Captain Supertooth, & 123 Kits– Jessica – Earth Day is wrapping up with programs, GeekCon Dance party is set to start on Sat. May 1 with panels and a Spoticus dance party. EPS will provide kits for Pride Month. 

Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month – There is an author talk with Linda Sue Park, as well as other AAPI events such as Author Hour and community story times throughout the month. 

Online Storytimes, Neighborhood Arts – Kristin – Online story times have slowed down, last one was held Tuesday. Individual libraries can continue holding their own online story times as they see fit. There is a special online story time towards the end of May with Sally Gray explaining SR. Neighborhood Arts will be partially virtual and also hold outdoor performances at Scissortail Park, Myriad Gardens, and the Festival of the Arts. 

Outdoor Programming Best Practices – Kristin – There is a living document of these best practices online. It is always changing, so be sure to check it before moving forward with programs. There are also supplies being bought for outdoor programming, including PA systems, pop-up tents, etc. 

Summer Reading  

Training – Emily & Heidi provided an overview of Summer Reading and talked about updates for this summer including prizes and virtual teen volunteers. Email Emily for a copy of the slides.  

Teresa and Margo are the go-to people for SRP supplies. Anyone at your library can order new supplies if noticed that supplies are low. Prize books and rack cards should be coming to the libraries soon. Paper bags should already be at your libraries. All events for SRP this year are either virtual or kit format. All teen volunteer opportunities are also virtual, which will hopefully attract and retain more introverted volunteers this year and keep them next year if we off these sorts of opportunities again. There are 120 opportunities right now, with only about 25-30 who have applied. 

SR training for staff is due by the end of April, teacher training for SR due by end of May. Teachers will be entered into a drawing upon completion of survey. 

Sharing and Virtual Programming Discussion  

Staff shared news, upcoming programming, and ideas.