Story time outreach can be a bit like entering the final frontier! You only have a vague idea of what you will find when you get to your destination. So be prepared! Go long? Shorter? Song? Your story time toolkit must be fully stocked for outreach.
Friday: 9am-2pm
Supervisor: Renee Kirchner
The library hosts 2 monthly outreach programs that bring storytimes into the community. One is the monthly Story in the Park with story time on the first Friday of each month at 2 parks. The other is a monthly story time at a participating daycare. This month was storytime at Garden Ridge Daycare. A library staff member performs storytime for children at the daycare ranging from Infants to 5 years old. Typically, 2 different story times are prepared with options for lengthening or shortening the presentation by adding or subtracting books or songs. The mantra of “Be Prepared!” still holds and presenters should be prepared for wiggles, tears, hyper-enthusiasm, and complete disinterest.
This story time was a bit of a surprise to me. I believe I was expecting one type of storytime based on my experience as a preschool teacher. The daycare storytime was completely different. First, the storytime was not presented as a “special visit” or in any way indicated to the children or staff that visitors had come to share stories with the children. In fact, most children were having their breakfast at the table or waiting to go outside to play. One class missed storytime entirely as they were already at morning recess. Next, there was little to no interaction from the children with the presenter. The children were all sitting in chairs or strapped into their highchairs. As a teacher, I have certainly read stories as a time filler and this experience felt very similar. This is a daycare that the library visits regularly. While the children may not remember from month to month a library storytime visit, the staff certainly should. I would expect more of an effort to create a meaningful experience for the children on behalf of the facility as well as the library. However, there may be parameters in place, such as facility regulations or library staff and time constraints, that prohibit the library from creating that experience. Contrasting with Storytime in the Park, the daycare storytime seemed at best a missed opportunity and somewhat wasted effort in its current form.
In the ongoing saga of the Great Library Decor Switcheroo, the Youth Services workroom has been finished. The librarians have had their boxes brought back to the workroom and the unpacking has commenced. Renee asked me to unpack and restore the contents of a supply cabinet and move some files that had been placed in the wrong file drawer. I did and all I can say is that I would have expected more precision from librarians! Clearly marked containers with wildly random things in them were a bit more “normal person problems” than I was expecting!
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