SLP Zen

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The class shared ways that they worked to calm summer madness at their libraries.

SIMPLIFY 
Over the years I have learned to "loosen up" about [summer] story time. We make it very simple and not too many "rules". First off all, it makes it easier for the staff. When there is only one person on duty at a time during the rest of the week it can get stressful if the staff has to keep track of a bunch of details and steps. We have volunteers who take over during program days, freeing up the staff member to concentrate on the other library services. We made the reading slips/reward very simple to deal with. We have timed slips-each a different color. It doesn't matter if the child does it in a day or a week or more. When they turn in that slip, we have a box with a same colored slip attached to it and that is the reward for that reading slip. We have a counter in the back of the circ desk where the different boxes for each reward are lined up so the staff member can easily know which reward to give out. I have also learned to do very general themed story times so I am not too locked in to a theme that finds you obsessing over trying to find an activity to fit into the theme. It's amazing how many 5 letter words can be found to set to the song BINGO so you can easily have a song for a theme. ( last week's H-E-A-R-T - for Valentines day for example or P-I-Z-Z-A is a food I like to eat-save a bite for me) I also feel that when we went to timed reading it was better for the kids- after a school year of "having to read a particular thing" it is great that with timed reading we give the kids a chance to read what they want to read- we can help develop the fun of reading that way.

PRIZES? 
In Wisconsin, our Department of Public Instruction consultant is trying to emphasis that we shouldn't put all of our eggs in one basket for the summer library program which typically runs 8-12 weeks. She likes to ask, "What about the rest of the year?" Some of our librarians are considering ditching the cheap summer reading prizes and just going with a book for a prize at the end of summer reading. I am still trying to figure out why we put all of this pressure on ourselves to put on a show every summer? Who is demanding this? Does our community even notice? 

DIY

Over the past few years we simplified record keeping of books read or minutes read, that was one stress reliever. We make it fun for the younger kids to track their reading success by using die cuts and having them decorate the library with die cuts for each book or for every 5 books read.  They love to do this and helps in keeping the library fun and decorated throughout the summer months.  

I have also gone to more of the DIY programs for families.  Our summer school schedule for our district has under gone several changes, the biggest one is this years summer school schedule.  So it is easier to plan one or two scheduled events and then having several DIY programs throughout the summer for families to participate in on a given day throughout the day.  Some of the programs we have set up for DIY are Minecraft day, Digital Photography Scavenger Hunt, Loom bracelets, art activities, and Lego builds.  

ONE DAY OFF 

I will always plan one day during the week of Summer Reading with NOTHING to do--no programs, no entertainers--nothing.  This day is usually Friday.  We run two sessions per day, Monday -  Thursday for different age groups to check-in, listen to a story or two and complete a craft.  These days might also include a special program in the evening.  Fridays are for de-stressing, straightening the department to re-connect with our collection, and if needed, prep for the next week.  It is so nice to have this day to look forward to!

We also bring in teen volunteers to help with our weekly sessions.  They help with check-in, playing games, and helping hand out/clean up craft supplies.  It is a huge help to have the extra set of hands!

COMMUNITY HELP 

...something I am doing that hasn't been done so much in the past is incorporating outside community help. Nothing is set in stone yet since it's only February, but I've been making connections and talking to some community members in the school about them possibly helping me do programming this summer. I don't have many volunteers and our staff is always very busy with their own duties. I've spoken to the guidance counselor at our elementary school about offering free yoga sessions for kids this summer, to a local therapy dog owner about bringing her dog in for the kids to read to, to the middle school media specialist about doing some sort of two session program, and some of my teen advisory board members about running programs that they're interested in, like Pokemon. Not only would this keep the weeks filled with fun and interesting things, it would also help keep the pressure off me to facilitate all of these activities. Yes, I need to make the initial contact, but once the semantics are figured out, it's up to them. I am loving this so far because I moved to a small town of 2,900 people and knew no one, and this is giving me an opportunity to make connections with others in the community who serve children. I also think this will be a great stepping stone for collaborating with the schools so they'd be more open to letting me come visit classes or advertise our programs. 

GET A GRIP

In previous years, the children's librarian ran herself ragged trying to make sure all the kids have events each week and this and that and on and on.  This year will be my first summer reading programming. I don't want to be stressed out. I don't handle stress well. I have one to two programs a week planned. I only have 2 paid performances that will happen and there is only one project for each age group that I will be putting together completely by myself. We are not doing weekly prizes this year. One because they are a pain and two because they are generally cheap prizes that either get broken or lost. Instead, we are saving that money for incredible end prizes. 

I have to say, my director has pretty well given me free reign to operate any way I want as long as I have a well thought out plan. She hasn't said no to a single idea yet. And I think that the less we overplan and stress out, the better a program runs anyways. We can tell when the host is a mess. It's not fun for the kids when programs are like that. So we are doing all a favor by calming down and just having some fun instead of spending so much without really having it to spend or driving ourselves crazy.

De-Stressing Strategies to Achieve SLP Zen - Part 2

Every library looks for ways to make summer a little more fun and less frantic for kids - and for staff. The class shared alot of ways they have tinkered and toyed and thought about ways to make summer better:

• We're implementing the concept of sessions into our SRP this year because there were so many people who weren't able to register for events because they were so crowded.  Basically, we will have a 5 week schedule of programming in June-July and then repeat that with another group of kids in July-Aug.  That cuts the load in half and allows parents to sign their kids up for the session that they won't be on vacation, involved in sports/swimming/activities, etc.  
• About a year ago, someone gave me a tip that I'd never considered before, "Just because you've done the same rhyme or song a million times doesn't mean the kids in storytime have." I hadn't really thought about this before, and I love coming up with "new" material.  Since kids grow up and age out of programming fairly quickly, it is actually possible that the fact that you are bored with a performer doesn't mean your audience is bored.
• This will be our 3rd year as a team putting together SRP. We've already learned a lot (Debrief immediately after the kickoff party and start a doc on the shared drive with ideas for next year! Don't even attempt to register kids at the party because the technology you've tested 9000 times will fail the day of the kickoff! Having 8 crafts that need to be executed with staff intervention is too many crafts for the size of our community! If there is money in the budget, hire outside performers especially for the first few weeks when the real crazy is in the air! Stop the multiple programs per week for teens as they won't show up! Put passive/DIY programs on the SRP chart!) and we will continue to try and get out of the way of ourselves in the future.  I think the number one thing I've learned since moving to youth services is the need to be flexible and improvise. SRP magnifies this times a thousand. Every program we plan now goes through the goals and objectives we've set up as a department. If it doesn't fit one of our goals? It doesn't happen for now. This has really helped our team which tends to be full of ideas, but still doesn't know its limitations.
• Logging: When I started in my job, I was told that the most recent summer reading program had been a big disaster for staff, and many families. It took me a while to piece things together (no written record of how it was managed), but there were booklists, book logs and book reports, different requirements for different ages, points for various activities, paper and computer logs. I completely simplified things based on my previous library's SRP and things ran very smoothly. Best of all, no one at the circulation desk had to be involved at all - which is how they wanted it. I did get some push-back from a handful of parents who liked the old system because of the required written reports so my solution is to put a box at my desk into which kids can submit reviews. I pull one out each week and give an extra prize.
• Last summer was my first expiernce with SRP, being the intern last summer, I helped with running a few of the programs, and by the end of the summer, I was exhausted, as well as the rest of the staff. This year is also my first year taking the driver seat, and I think we have done a really great job so far, by not only cutting back, but making our programs more user friendly. This year, we are not requriing registration. Open house style for all our programs, except for the reading logs and such. We have been doing that for our big programs so far this year, and we have had amazing turn outs, compared to having them register and needing to make that comnmitment. Also, a big thing this summer is we are going to do longer time frames and less number of programs, and concentrate on the quality. My director and I also have agreed to take turns the running the programs, not only to keep things fresh for the kids, but so we dont burn out. We are also very lucky because we have some moms in our town that love to run programs for us, so they take over that for us, and we have one less program to stress over. We also are moving our performers from our traditional Wed's at 1:30, to Tuesday nights at 7:30, right after softball so that not only can some kids come, but its an invitation to get more families to attend.

What do you do to make summer easier and more sane?

Graphic courtesy of CSLP, Approved Slogans and Artwork: Images are copyrighted. 

De-Stressing Strategies to Achieve SLP Zen - Part 1

Every library looks for ways to make summer a little more fun and less frantic for kids - and for staff. The class shared alot of ways they have tinkered and toyed and thought about ways to make summer better:

• A less stressful SLP? I'm not sure if that is really possible.  However, I've made it a point to always have one day each week (two if we are lucky) without any programs scheduled.  It gives a day to not only catch our breath but have a day for finalizing that week's last minute needs (supplies); a day to update reading records, etc. 
• One of our most successful stress reducers that has evolved over the years is that, in addition to the children earning free books, we set up a "school supply store" at the end of our SLP program for the children to browse through and select as their prizes. For that week, our meeting room is the best "store" in town...choose the school supplies you want and a book of your choice (I buy multiple copies of popular titles; series; or characters through our vendor and get good discounts) and no money needed! 
• We also changed our programming schedule so we could potentially allow everyone on our staff one week off in June and July (but only one at a time ;->). Because we work with kids, we shouldn't have to give up two of the best months for vacations and family time in the year. It is radical and not everyone does it (many are used to August vacations after so many years when June-July weren't allowed). But it has definitely made it more zen!
• Our craft room contains files of every SRP held in the past 30-some years, organized by statewide theme, with notes as to success or failure and ideas to improve each activity. Bigger craft activities have their own files. Statewide themes tend to cycle between games, food, animals, mysteries, etc. so we revisit a file from a similar theme to jumpstart planning. Ideas are recycled a lot with new ones thrown in for balance.
• A few years ago we decided that the five of us who do programs would each take a week of the SRP.  The sixth week, we would split up the programs.  We do four programs a day, four days a week during the summer.  This includes one story time.  We hold programs for all of the area summer day camp kids (Boys and Girls Club, Parks Department, etc.). It's been so nice to be responsible for one week of programs for all of the camps than the previous one day a week.
• I decided I needed a committee to assist me in planning Summer Reading.  When we created this committee it was comprised of myself, one representative from each branch and my director (she plans the adult summer reading) and teen librarian when she was hired.  This has been very helpful because there is more than just me that knows what is supposed to be going on.  Also if staff have questions and I am not available, chances are there is someone around that was part of the planning.
• The very first thing I do to eliminate some of the Summer Reading Program stress is to talk over with my assistant some of my ideas and what I would like to do.  I would be absolutely lost without her as she keeps me grounded.  I try not to have programs on Mondays or Fridays as this helps us "catch up or even "get ahead".   The most important factor for me is to be organized and well prepared.
• We decided that the reading portion of the program would be the same for all ages, which is different from years past. Our goal is to keep people coming to the library, so we're giving reading logs out on a weekly basis. Each returned log is an entry into a grand prize drawing. Everyone gets a book and bookmark at the end. We don't care how many books are read, how many minutes you read, just that there is reading happening!

What do you do to make summer easier and more sane?

Graphic courtesy of CSLP, Approved Slogans and Artwork: Images are copyrighted.