Haunted Libraries

'Just in time for Halloween, George Eberhart has compiled his list of "Haunted Libraries Around the World" on Britannica's blog. The list focuses on the U.S. with a break down by region, but it also includes libraries from other countries/continents.

http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2007/10/haunted-libraries-around-the-world-the-complete-list/

If I had wings...

A couple of years ago, I attended my oldest grandchild's "graduation ceremony" from preschool. At that event, there was a wonderful video presentation of each student in his class stating "what I want to be when I grow up." Out of a huge class (this preschool had well over 50 students), not one child wanted to be a librarian. There was the usual list of police officers, teachers, moms/dads, a cowboy, and even a "paleontologist" (spoken and defined correctly by one student whose uncle is a paleontologist). But no librarians. I left that ceremony wondering what is wrong with my career. Have we not promoted ourselves enough to young children? Have they not been exposed to us? Have they been exposed to us but not liked us well enough to imitate us? Have they been exposed to us but not realized what we're called?

Today I visited a preschool for one of the early childhood literacy presentations I regularly give. In the school's hallway was a bulletin board with the title, "If I had wings, I'd fly to...." Preschoolers' comments were listed. I scanned the list as I passed it. I'd fly to the playground. I'd fly to the candy store. I'd fly to the toy store. I'd fly to my grandma's house.

And then...at the very bottom of the list was this comment: If I had wings, I'd fly... "to the library." A preschooler named Yaire said she would fly to the library. YES! This child knows the joys of being at a library! And hopefully, she knows the joy of having a librarian in her life. I am making it a point now to begin all of my preschool programs (or any presentation) with, "Hello, my name is Maryann, and I'm from the library. I'm a librarian!" Maybe Yaire or her other classmates will not only want to fly to the library, but maybe they'll want to be the pilot.

YALSA's Call for Contributions

Posted October 7, 2008 on ALA's website:

YALSA is seeing contributions for its upcoming book, "Cool Teen Programs on a Shoestring," edited by Jenine Lillian. Expected publication is by Neal-Schuman in 2009.

"Librarians who have hosted inexpensive (under $100) programming or special events at their public or school libraries are invited to submit their programs for possible inclusion in the book."

See the form at http://tinyurl.com/yalsashoestring and email it to coolteenprograms@gmail.com by November 20.

Note: You must be a YALSA member in order to be included in the book! All the more reason to join this fastest-growing division of ALA!

Teens and Gaming--Some Good News!

I love the Pew Internet & American Life Project. They release some of the most interesting reports, and I especially appreciate the research they do regarding teens. One of their most recent reports (released last month) is "Teens, Video Games, and Civics" and it's got some interesting results.

According to the survey, 99% of teen guys and 94% of teen girls report playing games (we're talking electronic gaming here). That aspect of the report is not too surprising. What may be more surprising to the average adult is that these teens are not suffering from "social isolation" when they are gaming. 71% of teen gamers are playing with other people. Some of this interaction may be through online gaming with others (MMOG), but 65% of the teens surveyed specifically say they play games "with others in the same room." Could any of those teens be playing games AT THE LIBRARY with other teens there??

As a former Teen Specialist Librarian, I saw first-hand the benefits of sponsoring teen gaming events at the library. I saw how those teen flocked to the library in droves to socialize, play games, and yes--to check out books. Those same teens undertook the responsibility of overseeing the gaming events (setting up, monitoring, putting away), and they also volunteered for other activities at the library. They came up with creative teen programs as spin-offs from the gaming events.

So I wasn't too surprised by the Pew's report regarding teen gamers and civic activity: "The survey indicates that youth who have these kinds of civic gaming experiences (playing games that are about social issues or that involve decision making about leading a group) are more likely to be civically engaged in the offline world."

Click the link below to view the press release and to access the full report (all 76 pages of it!). Quotes in this post are from the following link as well:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/263/report_display.asp