@rt library

@rt library - that's the way I want to be introduced to art.  Maybe with sparkers too.

Library Activities & Special Events - sleepover?

With life's typical unfurling style despite the months' advance notice of my obligation to present a library event, with seven days to go I have still not decided what to present. Leave aside that I don't work in a library so will be presenting on a theoretical event, the wealth of ideas (eg one list and another[book week]) is just too distracting to make a decision.

I like the idea of a sleep-over for older children ( Gracie Woodard claims it helps the library staff bond with the community:

• Most impressive was Julie Page's Girl Scout book badge earner: with its heavy theme on book preservation.
• Locked in the library - Apparently the Town of Newington library has one annually for children ages 6-12. Children bring their own sleeping bags, pillows and parent/caregiver. They sing karaoke, make crafts, hear bedtime stories, eat snacks and have breakfast in the morning.
• A halloween sleepover at Enfield featured a spooky campfire, special candles and ghost stories.
• Joy Hanchett of Southern Adirondack Library System found the American girls sleepover book and Statewide Summer Reading Program manual useful in filling out her library campout night.
• As an unschooler I'm not convinced of the value of using a sleepover as a prize/enticement for reading volume such as a Robert W Rowe Public Library although I'd like to know more from their perspective, and what happened at the sleepover.
• At Northland Public Library they had a family sleepover - I'd love to know more about it and their other Library Week activities: customer appreciation contest, a read-a-thon, book nook discounts, and special adult and children's programs. They also have regular teen movie nights, and game nights.
  
• Not sure that this would transfer to a public library, but Bement School's sleepover sounds like it was fun (elements: movies, pizza, facials [it was all girls] and a conga line]). I wonder what other items were auctioned at the Spring Fling and were "the Jacksons" the parents who won the sleepover at auction?

Book/activity ideas

Then, when surfing from that one list:

• From book/activity ideas for fathers & sons, I brainstormed more of my own:
• Combining crafts and books: Reading (search library for picture books re: trip, travel, postcards) then make some postcards and send them to friends and relatives.  Maybe Australia Post might sponsor the event with some postcard-backing or blank postcard supplies.
• From "Take a low-key field trip in conjunction with a picture-story book. Read Matthew's Meadow and then take a walk in a meadow."  I began thinking about taking a pseudo-trip through the library - with super-large models between the stacks or in window-spaces - craft/colour activities could be placed near the window-scenes (I'm envisioning  window-sized scenes now!
• Could the make your own book idea be done in a library?: Perhaps in a 6-10 week program?  Library (sponsor?) provides a blank 'book', and week by week different illustrative methods are used to expand a story or anthology.  Add an "About the Author" paragraph.
• Having music by a composer/musician playing in the background during a children's biography of the composer/musician - and continue with free-form drawing to the music.
• An ongoing book club or storytime program might "travel around the world" with a map in the library progressively charting locations from books read/discussed.
• This one "Read a novel in conjunction with a trip to a geographic region: Go Fish for Florida, Nekomah Creek for Oregon, and so on..." I thought, well unless there are a lot of stories about local places its not a library event - but then if the library's website has discussion boards or a wiki (which I think is a great idea with libraries connecting local people online) then this could be a topic for the board - first a suggestion to families with an invitation to write back about it (and maybe send a postcard - all of which could be displayed as they come in and collected, bound for the local history collection).
• Many other ideas could also be expanded through such a discussion board: including the stories of our travels with audio-books.
• Same list, no additional inspiration, but I like them and want to find the books that put it together (but get an artist-type to do the activities)
  
• After reading a book illustrated with collage, try making a collage. Or paint with watercolors after seeing watercolor illustrations in a book.
• This idea didn't take me anywhere for a library promotion but I am very curious about the books: "If you live in a city, read Alphabet City, then go look for letters in your urban setting. With older children, read Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Building That Wriggle Like a Fish, then take a walk and talk about the buildings you see." (Actually this also might be a theme for a library field-trip combined with a discussion board topic, with photos being collected for a local history collection).
  
• Clearly for an teen or pre-teen book club: match a novel to a  movie, enjoy & compare.
  
• Same list, not sure how appealing it would be in a library - but would love to hear experience that supports the idea (in a library setting):
• Read a biography together about an artist and take a trip to a museum. Paint a picture or make a sculpture together. Since children's book have a limited number of reproductions of paintings, find a book for adults with even more pictures to look at.

Marketing the Library

This online training package fairly well covers the point of one of my
current subjects.

http://www.olc.org/marketing/

It is prettier than my subject handbook.

How well is WebCT used at University of Ballarat?

I think Ryan Tansey is luckier with his experience of how well Blackboard is used by faculty at University of Puget Sound than I have been with WebCT and University of Ballarat.

It might be interesting to see an evaluation tool for such a judgement.

In my course at UB (Advanced Diploma of Library and Information Services):

I have been happy that assignments must be posted online rather than in print, and that all assignments are accessible online. I have enjoyed using the quiz feature on those few occasions when it is part of the assessment.

It is great that course material is also posted online - although I think considerable face-to-face time is wasted not with the handout of the same thing in print because that doesn't take long, but in plowing through that print material together. To me it would be more valuable to require reading of material and an activity such as one of Ryan's professors: "generate at least one question and two comments for every reading assignment" or even better - a quiz or two - leaving class-time for discussion, clarification, valuable collaborative assessment tasks.

I have enjoyed being able to easily email lecturers whenever I am tackling a problem rather than trying to schedule a phone call during the day.

Ms Stackman fun

I wonder if I'll ever get time to find out whether Ms Stackman is fun?

Feed Fun

This one from SLV's Read Alert: Writing, good and bad