Pieces of Programming: Otaku Training Day

Teens are interesting creatures.  They have absolutely no interest in you until you're not paying them any attention.   

I've learned to use this to my advantage. 

If I visit the teen room and just start doing something, that's the easiest way to get them to wander over and investigate.  I try to remain as aloof as possible, or at least appear as though what I'm working on is truly no big deal and right when they start asking questions, BAM!, I've got them. 

Occasionally, they get me too. 

I am not an Anime or Manga enthusiast.   

By any means. 

In fact, whenever I see it plastered into teen services guides, I usually flip right past it. My teens here are very big on Anime and Manga, but our relationship has pretty much been that I won't bother them about it, if they don't bother me about it.  We live and let live in that way. LOL 

However, my teens don't care that I don't like anime.   

What they saw in my indifference, I've found, was an opportunity to teach.   

So I decided to exploit it.  

On a random day of being lovingly bugged about watching or reading an episode of whatever their latest fandom is, I finally offer them an olive branch; 

"What if I give you all a whole day to just completely engross me in all things Anime/Manga?"   

Eyes got wide.  Activity began to buzz.  There were monsters being created. 

As the weeks rolled on, I began to gently drop little pieces of responsibility on them: 

"You need to come up with a schedule, you know."  I'd say. 

As they began to see how serious I was about it, they would also have tasks for me: 

"We would like a projector and a laptop for the day." They would tell me.  They'd bring me choices to circle, so that they could meet together and decide on their plan. 

These little repartee's continued, and I have to say that their excitement did two things for me: 

1. It made ME a little excited about it also. 
2. It reminded me that it really didn't matter what the program was going to be about.  The most important thing was that these teens had an adult willing to sit and listen to them about something that was important and valuable to them, for an extended time period.  It was the driving force behind most of their excitement, and the ownership of it, made them not want to take it for granted.    

On the day of training.  I made sure that all of my work was out of the way.  The teens were in charge of schedule, setup, and even snacks.  At exactly 1:30pm, they were standing in my office giving me the "It's time", face. 

They served popcorn, arranged seating in our activity room to accommodate everyone, and setup the projector and laptop.  A couple of them greeted me by calling me an "Otaku Cadet".  By the time I came into the room, they had tabs open for each anime title they wanted me to view.   

Here's what they shared with me: 

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood  Fairy Tail Reborn Akame Ga Kiru Squid Girl  Medaka Box and Sword Art Online  

Some I liked: Fullmetal, Akame Ga Kiru 

Some I was kind of put-off by: Squid Girl, Medaka Box 

Three anime titles in, I asked, "I thought you all were going to show me Attack On Titan"?" A room of disgusted faces turned it me and said: "Nooooooooo, Miss Regina. Too mainstream." Then one put a hand on my shoulder and whispered, "Too mainstream..." 

So how did it go? 

I think it went exceptionally well.  There were over 16 participants(with males and females!), including two off-duty staff members who stopped in.  I was so proud of how they handled this event and a couple of hours in, I even ordered a couple of pizzas and sodas as a thank-you.  Throughout the day, they repeatedly asked me my thoughts on what they were exposing me too.  I tried to be honest, but was also careful to be mindful of their feelings, and particular shows they felt strongly about. 

At the close of the event, to show that I was fully respectful of the time they'd taken, I also took a moment to put in orders for any titles they'd shown me, that we didn't have full seasons of in the library.  I also offered them the opportunity to reinstate the long dormant Anime club.  They are going to get back to me about that. 

A full program executed by teens, reverse teen-advisory, and a crash course in Japanese.  Time well spent, I'd say.

This Frantic Pace!

It dawned on me this week that I hadn't posted here in quite a while.  Regardless of the fact that we've been doing TONS of programming around these parts, and I've been trying to gullet down as many books as possible, none of this has made it onto the actual blog.  :(  Oopsie!  LOL  Sometimes the subtitle of this blog: "Tales and Tools from a Librarian who is MOSTLY JUST TRYING TO KEEP UP" is more true than I'd first joked.

So what does librarianship look like in the wee months of the year?
It looks an awful lot like librarianship in the latter months of the year.   I'm nearing my 1 year mark as a public librarian and I've learned quite a few things about the differences between this life, and my former one as a school librarian.

Banned Books Week Passive Programming

It is Banned Books Week!!

I don't know why I get so excited about BBW each year.  I think it has something to do with the rebel in me. LOL  Something about sharing things with people that for whatever reason, someone else has deemed inappropriate for the rest of the world, gives me a rush.  This year, my greatest kick came out of telling people that "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" had been challenged at one point.

Most of my FB friends and younger patrons were completely taken aback by this news and it sparked an outstanding discussion about the other books people have challenged in the past.  My Facebook discussion lasted about three hours actually, and garnered great comments from friends who had no idea how passionate they were or could become about the subject..  Take THAT, Social Media critics!  

Weeding: A Spooky Trip Through our YA Fiction

I often visit AwfulLibraryBooks.net to laugh at the ridiculous things some librarians find on their shelves during weeding.  This week, however, I didn't even have to leave my own library to get a good chuckle.  With the summer being so busy, there isn't time for things like weeding and reorganizing so it is one of the first things we're getting started on now that the kids are back in school.

Each member of my department has an assigned section to weed, and I am the proud gardener of our Young Adult books, movies, and series.  When I tell you I have literally guffawed this week at some of the things I've come across, I am not exaggerating.  While some of these were taken off primarily because of age, and the fact that I doubt any of our current teens would touch them, there were also a few that contained just enough bad or misleading information to make me cringe, but just enough ironic cover-choices or contents to make me laugh out loud.

I use the MUSTY system when weeding:
Misleading (factually inaccurate),
Ugly (covers or damages that make you cringe),
Superseded (a better edition has come about),
Trivial (of no merit),
Your collection (The book is not of interest to the members of your library community or out of place in your collection)

Some of the books I found were in fact still relevant, but the covers were so bad that I had to pull them anyway and put in an order for updated copies. Others were ancient, the oldest I found had been purchased in 1987, but hadn't been checked out in years, or not at all.  I've decided to showcase a few of my favorite weeds of the week.
Enjoy, LOL.

Random Librarian Thoughts: Farewell SRP

I am ecstatic that our Summer Reading Program is over.

Shhh, don't tell anyone.

Storytime: It's Raining Cats and Dogs

So I came up with this theme today as I worked on my storytime for this month and I thought I'd hit on some amazing idea, then I found that there have actually been a few other witty librarians who have come up with the very same.  You know what they say about great minds. A couple of the titles: Raindrop, Plop and Kitten's Summer, are great to tie this theme together because they actually feature cats and dogs in the rain. However, if there is anything I've learned from libraries and librarians over the past few years though, its that no matter how simple the theme, each person will execute it differently.  So, that being said, here's my take on the Raining Cats and Dogs theme.

I tried this theme with my nieces last weekend and I think it'll be great for my library kids.  I do Family Storytime, which consists of a LOT of different age groups.  In that respect, I've added books for toddlers as well as older preschoolers.  With the amount of summer storms we've been having, I think this one will be great.

Theme: It’s Raining Cats and Dogs

Books for Babies and Toddlers:

Kitten’s Summer by Eugenie Fernandes

Bad Dog, Marley by John Grogan

Raindrop Plop by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
I Got Two Dogs by John Lithgow
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Going to Sleep by Bill Martin

Good Boy, Fergus by David Shannon

Cat the Cat, Who is That by Mo Willems

Books for Preschoolers:

Diggy Takes Charge by Caroline Jayne Church

Doggy Dreams by Nancy Kapp Chapman

Dogs Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

The Cat Barked by Lydia Monks

There are No Cats in This Book by Viviane Schwarz

Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton

No Dogs Allowed by Anne Davis

The New Teen Room is finished!

It took about six months or so, but the library has finally finished updating and renovating the former meeting room in the lower level into a fully-functioning (and quite attractive) Teen Room. The Teen Advisory Board and Youth Services librarians did an amazing job decorating and designing it, don't you think?  Now teens will have their own space in the library for computers, materials and even gaming.  The entire space now has a cafe feel, with a really cool color scheme and brand new furniture. The grand opening party was yesterday and I hear it turned out great. Although this project was underway and pretty much complete long before I got a job here, I can't wait to get involved in getting it running!