If librarianship has a zeitgeist it may be "It takes a village and brainstorming is the way"! Floating ideas, adding or subtracting bits, working together are some of the defining terms in programming. Things work when everyone knows how they work. Clear communications is key and nothing beats a good spreadsheet!
Supervisor: Renee Kirchner
Friday: 9am-2pm
For a library with a small staff, efficiency is key to patron services and creating a valuable resource in the library. Therefore, passive programs (or mostly passive) can be workhorses for busy departments like Youth Services. Passive programs involve little or no direct involvement from the staff. At Lewisville Public Library, passive programs include the Welcome Baby and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten programs. After creating the initial gift bag for the participating patron (which can be done by teen volunteers and not librarians), the only effort involved is handing the bags out or posting the reading medal on the readers board. Conversely, active programs involve a great deal of brainstorming, planning, gathering, and execution on the part of the librarian, most of which can not be farmed out to others. Even self directed programs such as Family Craft Night or Crafternoon require time and staff for supplies to be gathered, examples to be crafted, marketing to be produced for each event, and supervision of the event itself.
Renee asked me to compile a list of brainstorming ideas for passive programming specifically for the tween demographic. Of course, once you start down the rabbit hole of ideas, there is really no good way to stop! I ended up with many ideas that could be implemented for the under 9’s, tweens, and teens. I then had to winnow those ideas down based on feasibility and interest. This was the most difficult part as I don’t have the patron or staffing familiarity necessary to decide on the most appropriate options. I erred on the side of “more is better” and provided ideas, links, extensions, and possible “in action” ways the ideas could be executed. I included a breakdown of suggested staff and budgetary considerations as well as any thoughts or notes on the idea. As this was only for brainstorming, I did not spend too much time on precise budgetary breakdowns. After going over the list with Renee, she chose several ideas that seemed very fun or interesting to bring before her staff during their program brainstorming meeting. I will be interested to see which programs, if any, are implemented in the future.
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