Just in case you didn't know, Halloween at my library is a big deal. Because I make it a big deal. My Teen Advisory Board has planned 'killer' Halloween celebration programs for the past four years: Alien Autopsy, Monster Mash, The Book Drop Demon Library Wing, and finally The Thriller Challenge. I think this year was by far my favorite! Participants got a Thriller Challenge passport as they entered the door. They were then challenged to collect stamps for their passports by doing as many activities as they could stomach including the Killer Buffet, Crawly Creature Touch, the Scary Cemetery, Tombstone Treat (craft) and the famous Michael Jackson Thriller Dance. Pictured above are the teens in the Scary Cemetery. They made several children scream in terror as the Grim Reaper sliced open our Michael Jackson impersonator! Great fun!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Thriller Challenge
Just in case you didn't know, Halloween at my library is a big deal. Because I make it a big deal. My Teen Advisory Board has planned 'killer' Halloween celebration programs for the past four years: Alien Autopsy, Monster Mash, The Book Drop Demon Library Wing, and finally The Thriller Challenge. I think this year was by far my favorite! Participants got a Thriller Challenge passport as they entered the door. They were then challenged to collect stamps for their passports by doing as many activities as they could stomach including the Killer Buffet, Crawly Creature Touch, the Scary Cemetery, Tombstone Treat (craft) and the famous Michael Jackson Thriller Dance. Pictured above are the teens in the Scary Cemetery. They made several children scream in terror as the Grim Reaper sliced open our Michael Jackson impersonator! Great fun!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Christmas at the Library
So, I was a little disappointed at the beginning of the month with the turn out of one of my programs. I thought it would be a spectacular idea to have a "Deck the Library" program where community members could come in and help us decorate the library. I had hoped it would save me (and my teen volunteers who always get stuck putting up the two library trees) a lot of valuable time and would be super fun. We also had decorations for the kids to make, one to take home and one to stay at the library. Fantastic idea, right? I don't know what the problem was but only six people showed up. Luckily, I had a good number of my Teen Advisory Board members show up so that job still got done.
However, today I am very pleased. Last night the TAB members and myself went Christmas caroling. (We even put on Santa hats...so cute!) We called it "Wii Carol" because we changed some lyrics to a few Christmas songs and visited local homes and businesses to raise money for a Nintendo Wii at the library. I was a little apprehensive about this because I had never heard of anyone going Christmas caroling for money before but I called ahead to everywhere we went to get permission to solicit donations.
Well, it was a huge success! We had so much fun and made a very decent amount of money for our Wii Fund. "Please help us to get a wii/Fa la wii wii wii wii wii wii wii! We are from the library/ Fa la wii wii wii wii wii wii wii!" Oh, it was great!
Today our staff came in late because of the ice storm last night. It was a nice opportunity to sleep in! It also feels slightly reminiscent of the ice storm of 2004 (or whenever that was) when I lost power at home for a week, schools were shut down, and there was nothing to do but bundle up, read with flashlights, play stupid card games where people steal your "milk money," and look at all the "pretty" ice glistening on the trees (and power lines!).
Tonight is the staff Christmas party and I'm very excited. The stocking are hung and are starting to look fat with Secret Santa gifts!
My confession: even librarians like to party, sing carols, and drink egg nog! Though sometimes we wear very ugly Christmas sweaters, too...guilty.
However, today I am very pleased. Last night the TAB members and myself went Christmas caroling. (We even put on Santa hats...so cute!) We called it "Wii Carol" because we changed some lyrics to a few Christmas songs and visited local homes and businesses to raise money for a Nintendo Wii at the library. I was a little apprehensive about this because I had never heard of anyone going Christmas caroling for money before but I called ahead to everywhere we went to get permission to solicit donations.
Well, it was a huge success! We had so much fun and made a very decent amount of money for our Wii Fund. "Please help us to get a wii/Fa la wii wii wii wii wii wii wii! We are from the library/ Fa la wii wii wii wii wii wii wii!" Oh, it was great!
Today our staff came in late because of the ice storm last night. It was a nice opportunity to sleep in! It also feels slightly reminiscent of the ice storm of 2004 (or whenever that was) when I lost power at home for a week, schools were shut down, and there was nothing to do but bundle up, read with flashlights, play stupid card games where people steal your "milk money," and look at all the "pretty" ice glistening on the trees (and power lines!).
Tonight is the staff Christmas party and I'm very excited. The stocking are hung and are starting to look fat with Secret Santa gifts!
My confession: even librarians like to party, sing carols, and drink egg nog! Though sometimes we wear very ugly Christmas sweaters, too...guilty.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Book Sniffing like a pro
Anyone but a librarian would be shocked to find out that I like to sniff books. It's like any crack addiction, you just can't resist. What do I sniff? The glue. Or perhaps it's the pages that smell so nice. There's just something about that new book smell that's intoxicating to me.
As a children's librarian, I am responsible for ordering all new children's and young adults books for the library. When they come in and after they are processed, they are brought to my office. My job is to check them and make sure they are processed correctly and given a call number that best fits our library. I also read a few pages so that I am familiar with the book, thus expanding my knowledge of what is available in our collection in case a patron would ask.
My confession is this, though this task serves an imporant purpose, I often feel like Homer Simpson in Dunkin Donuts when the new books are brought to me. The glossy book covers, bright, attractive colors, new, crisp stickers, and unexplored (and unsniffed) pages are more appealing to me than a chocolate-covered doughnut!
As a children's librarian, I am responsible for ordering all new children's and young adults books for the library. When they come in and after they are processed, they are brought to my office. My job is to check them and make sure they are processed correctly and given a call number that best fits our library. I also read a few pages so that I am familiar with the book, thus expanding my knowledge of what is available in our collection in case a patron would ask.
My confession is this, though this task serves an imporant purpose, I often feel like Homer Simpson in Dunkin Donuts when the new books are brought to me. The glossy book covers, bright, attractive colors, new, crisp stickers, and unexplored (and unsniffed) pages are more appealing to me than a chocolate-covered doughnut!
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