TEXAS TEEN LIBRARIAN ROARS!

Welcome to Library Lions Roar -- interviews Raising a Roar for libraries and the outstanding librarians serving youth in schools and public libraries across the U.S. Please Roar today’s guest, Teen Librarian Veronica McKay!

Hello All,

I am the Teen Services Librarian at the Rita and Truett Smith Public Library in Wylie, Texas. 

I have worked at the library for eight years. I started as a Circulation Tech and then went to get my Masters in Library Science. In February 2011 we moved into a brand new building and I became the Teen Services Librarian. I created new programming that has gotten bigger every year. My biggest program to date has been our cupcake challenge that had 80 teens.

It was organized chaos. I also established a very successful TLC program with anywhere from 10-20 teens who do everything from advocating for the library at City Council Meetings to helping the Friends raise money for the library.  My latest project is an outreach book club with the local high schools. I noticed that when teens reach high school they forget about us as well as being so busy to par-take in activities I decided to go to them. They read the same book as us and we go to the school once a month to discuss. I noticed that when they love what we are reading they then come to the book club at the library so they can further discuss the book. It has been very successful so far ranging from 10-25 teens each month at the high school and this endeavor has also increased participation in the Teen Book Club at the library to about 25-30 kids each month.   

The Skinny:
I love interacting with all types of people. Teens always amaze me and I am sad that we as adults over look how bright and insightful they can really be. Their outlook on the world is very interesting and they tend to pick up on things that I never thought about. I also love that my job is always changing and that every day I learn and encounter new things. Also, working in Wylie my co-workers have become part of my family. I love that the Children’s Department is such a close nit group of people who really take the time to get to know you and care a great deal about you.    

A Mighty Roar!
Libraries to me are the gatherers of knowledge. They are an ever changing environment because its’ patrons need to know how to use certain technology or want information about a new hobby, thus librarians have to keep with these demands and keep libraries relevant. It is also a place where there is no judgment because all different types of people use them and their interests are all different so the people working in them have to learn to be neutral. They are also very much a place that has something for everyone.

A Lion’s Pride of Programs:  I would like our teen patrons to know about all the programs that we do at no cost to them. We do everything from cooking classes, author visits, to gaming classes.  We have a room dedicated to them with gaming systems, board games, and loud music playing. We also have a Facebook, book club blog, and tumbler accounts just for them. I would really like to hear from them on these social media sites as well as know how many teens actually use these sites to communicate with their local libraries.  

My favorite programming when summer rolls around. We have programs for teens 6-12^th grade twice a week in the summer. These programs are heavily attended. This is the time we experiment to see what works and what doesn't and it’s my favorite time to be innovative and creative. I also love that I get to meet new teens that don’t typically use our facility in the fall. I also love that we are still able to give away great prizes and coupons due to the wonderful community business support we receive every year for our summer programming.  I am enclosing photos of all the summer programs we had this year, they include: Stage Combat, 

World Building Writer’s Workshop, 

Photography, 

Craft-a-paloza, Archery,

Cooking,

Face Painting: Zombie style,

CSI and End of Summer Bash!

They were all a lot of fun.

Library Laughs:
Our Teen Library Council President loves the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. We had our TLC Halloween and we had creepy pictures hung on the walls so our TLC President decided to put pictures of what her fantasy Kai looked liked on the wall next to the creepy pictures.

I took all these pictures of her doing this and sent it to the author explaining how much she loved her series. The author wrote me back and asked if she could send her a bunch of swag. I asked her to send it to the library

and took a bunch of pictures of Wynne freaking out as she opened the gifts. It made me feel really good making her day and having a teen get that excited about an author.  

We also get into Halloween.

Readers Roar: (Let’s hear from the kids!) 

“This is the best library in the world”-Wynne 10^th grade

“Arrr..Pirates are the best”-Jacob 2yrs old

“Thank you for bringing all these authors”-Dakota 9^th grade

“Mom, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the best book ever. Gregg is like a boy I know”-Unknown-maybe 5^th grade.

Let’s Link:
Blog: SmithTeenBookClub 

Library Website

Facebook: Teen Center Smith Public Library 

Tumbler: teencenterspl 

Thank you Veronica for your terrific interview!

Love Libraries? Give a Roar in “Comments” below.

Note to Librarians: If you’re a Youth Librarian working in a school or public library we’d love to hear about you and your library. Contact Janet at jlcarey@hotmail.com for an interview slot. The calendar for 2015 is currently wide open J

Note to Authors: If you’re interested in Roaring for Libraries on this blog, contact Janet at jlcarey@hotmail.com for an interview slot. 

PAWS TO READ ROARS!

Welcome to Library Lions interviews Raising a Roar for libraries and the outstanding librarians serving youth in schools and public libraries across the U.S. Please Roar today’s guest, Lin Look!

Lin leading the Library Circle

Tell us a bit about yourself, Lin:
I am the Youth Services Librarian at the Orinda Library, part of the Contra Costa County Library System in the Bay Area of California. I’ve been in that position since 2000, and helped move into the then-new building in 2001. I started the Toddler storytime program and the first continuing Paws to Read program in the county.

 

The Skinny: What do you love most about your work?
Helping people find the right information, whether it is a travel book to Malaysia, a picture book featuring trucks AND dinosaurs or when the next Dork Diaries is scheduled to come out.

 

A Mighty Roar! In your own words tell us why libraries are so important.
Print books will always be important to my generation; but I think libraries are discovering many other ways of connecting.  I work in an affluent community where most people have a computer at home (not to mention several smartphones and an iPad), but we still have people at our public workstations every day.  People also sit at our tables with their tablets and laptops.  The library is a quiet space (for the most part), but also a community space.  Our window seats are tremendously popular.

A Lion’s Pride of Programs:
My Paws to Read program, started with Ginger Wadsworth, combines my favorite things: reading and pets.  In it, kids practice their reading with therapy dogs that have passed certification programs, proving there are both temperamentally stable and extremely people-friendly. 

 

Because the dogs just enjoy being with the children and don’t care if  they are reading at grade level, it can be less stressful for the kids than reading out loud in class or in front of their parents.  Many of the kids don’t have trouble reading but just enjoy hanging out with the dogs. 

 

Some can’t have dogs at home, some are allergic but Paws gives them indulge in furry love.  My dream would be to have a Paws to Read cat.

 

But therapy cats are harder to find than therapy dogs.

 Readers Roar: (Let’s hear from the kids!)

“I love to check out Batman books at the library”

“I like to read by the window” (we have window seats, and a toddler area with steps and big windows)

“Orinda Library Rocks! Thank you!”

Thanks again for the terrific interview, Lin!

Note to Librarians: If you’re a Youth Librarian working in a school or public library we’d love to hear about you and your library. Contact Janet at jlcarey@hotmail.com for an interview slot. The calendar for 2015 is currently wide open J

Note to Authors: If you’re interested in Roaring for Libraries on this blog, contact Janet at jlcarey@hotmail.com for an interview slot. 

 

AUTHOR, GINGER WADSWORTH ROARS FOR LIBRARIES

Happy July! Author Ginger Wadsworth has agreed to swing by to share her books and her Library Love with us here on Library Lions. Take it away Ginger.

 

Ginger at Yosemite National Park. Half Dome in the background.

Hello! My name is Ginger Wadsworth, and my newest book is Yosemite’s Songster: One Coyote’s Story, illustrated by Dan San Souci and published by the Yosemite Conservancy. 

Yosemite’s Songster just won the Spur Award in Storytelling from the Western Writers of America. Dan and I are teaming up for the second title in the series! 

Besides being a nonfiction author, I am a sister, wife, mother, grandmother, cousin, aunt, and a friend.  My favorite things to do: read, walk, body surf, enjoy nature, garden with California native plants, bird watch, go to the library, travel, hang out with family and friends, collect information, cook, and did I mention I like to read?  I live in Northern California with my husband, Bill, our three dogs (Oreo, Scout and Willa), our chickens (Egg-O-Land Farm), and rooms full of books . . . too many to count!

 

Library Love When You Were a Cub

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need," Cicero

 

Ginger getting ready for Brownie Camp, 2^nd grade

Going to our local library was a regular family activity. I remember walking along the low brick wall edging the building, up the steps, and inside to the children’s room on the left.  Tall stacks invited me to search for the perfect titles, usually about horses or dogs. We always lugged home armfuls of books. Every night, my father read library books to my two brothers and me before we headed off to bed.

 

After my parents said goodnight and closed my bedroom door, I scurried beneath my 4-poster bed with my flashlight, pillow, and a book to read. And I wonder why I’ve been wearing glasses since the fourth grade. J

“Libraries raised me.” ― Ray Bradbury

More Library Love
I write nonfiction for young readers, so I always begin my research at my local library.

Ginger at her local public library, Orinda, CA

Google is great, but there is nothing better than perusing a real book. I usually start by reading the back matter, where a treasure trove of information waits . . . where/how the author did research, the individuals that he/she contacted, and a bibliography of titles for further reading. I’ve traveled around the United States to do research in libraries in Yosemite National Park, the Beinecke Library at Yale University, the Bancroft Library at the University of California/Berkeley, Herbert Hoover’s Presidential Library, and many more. Each spot is different, and I feel so lucky to “work” in one of these amazing edifices.

 

 

Author’s Roar
Funding for libraries, especially school libraries, is currently under threat. As an author, what are your thoughts about that?

“When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.” ― Isaac Asimov

This quote pretty sums up my feelings!  The only way I know how to help is to suggest that you join your local Friends of the Library group. I did, and now I’m actually a board member. There is a smorgasbord of ways to volunteer from sorting donating books to working at a monthly Friends book sale. I’ve written the Friend’s newsletter and found speakers for various programs. For the past twenty years, I’ve also run and helped judge our Friend’s creative writing contest for local high school students. I currently participate in the Paws toRead program. Along the way I’ve met some totally dedicated library folks and our universal goal is to serve our library, i.e. our readers and our community, and to make sure the building is open, staff is in place, and a plethora of books, etc. is ready!

 

At a library with my golden retriever, Willa. Children learning about the summer reading program.

 

A Lion’s Pride of Programs
With Lin Look from the Orinda (California) Library, I helped start the first Paws to Read in our county. Now there are programs in many other local libraries. Elementary schools are also initiating similar afterschool reading sessions. Children in grades K-5 sign up to read out loud to a trained therapy dog.

Nicholas reading to Willa in Orinda Public Library, taken by Michelle Bea (his mother) and used with permission.

Children get to practice their reading and hang out with a dog. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, and it’s actually part of a national program called R.E.A.D.  With my golden retriever, Willa, I have been doing this for eight years. We visit three public libraries and two afterschool programs. Willa can’t wait to prance into the library in her yellow vest that denotes that she is working.

We’re affiliated with arfnet, a local animal rescue foundation. I hand out Willa’s business card to each reader. Many children have read to her; she even has her own little fan club!  My goal as a writer is to put books—any good books—in the hands of children. And to have them be able to read!! What could be more perfect than at the library with a trained, gentle therapy dog lounging beside a young reader! 

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”  ― Maya Angelou

Roar For Librarians
I’m going to ROAR for Lin Look, Youth Services at Orinda Library, part of the Contra Costa County, California library system. 

 

Willa with Youth Services Librarian, Lin Look, from the Orinda, CA public library.

I just spent several days with her at our local elementary schools, helping her introduce the countywide, summer reading program and prizes our many libraries are offering young readers.  I won’t go into all the details of what she does, but as you can probably imagine, she wears multiple hats as she works with toddlers on up! 

"At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better." Barack Obama (Keynote Address, ALA Conference, 2005).

ONE LAST ROAR
"A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them." - Lemony Snicket

I love this quote in so many ways because this describes how I feel about my community library AND about my library in my home.  Or should I say my home, which is actually a library.  You get the picture . . . books everywhere!!

Let’s Link Up
http://www.gingerwadsworth.com

http://www.facebook.com/ginger.wadsworth

Thanks for the interview, Ginger!

Love Libraries? Give a Roar in “Comments” below.

Note to Librarians: If you’re a Youth Librarian working in a school or public library we’d love to hear about you and your library. Contact Janet at jlcarey@hotmail.com for an interview slot. The calendar for 2015 is currently wide open J

Note to Authors: If you’re interested in Roaring for Libraries on this blog, contact Janet at jlcarey@hotmail.com for an interview slot.