“The gate count is over 1,000!”

On August 8, 2015 we were two hours into our library’s first ComiCon and attendance was surpassing anything we had imagined. By the end of our four-hour event, over 1,700 had come to share their love–correction, passion–for everything that the heroes and villains of Sci-Fi, fantasy, comics, games, graphic novels, and gaming meant to them. Community “geeks,” obsessed with their hobby, had discovered our library!

How did four young library staff members, who share their love of geek culture and the literature that inspires this fandom, manage to stage such a fantastically successful event? Never have I met committee members on any project who spoke in such concert, who agreed on their goals from the start, and who never faltered in what they hoped to achieve. What follows is their collective voice relating how they brought the first Electric City ComiCon to our library. Perhaps the specific details and the actual process they went through will inspire you to host a Comic Con at your library.

OUR MISSION
We are fascinated with the geek culture, especially when fans bring their favorite characters to life from literature. We all promote literacy and already had formed a bond through social media. When we found out two years ago that the 2015 theme for Summer Reading would be “Heroes,” it hit us that a comic convention or Con would be the ideal way to culminate the program. Some of us had been to Cons and were already familiar with how they worked, but they were more adult-oriented. We wanted to offer a safe place to our library patrons in real space for their passion and interests, and what place better represents a safe haven to our community than our library! And, more importantly, we wanted to focus on our younger patrons, our Tweens and Teens. We wanted parents to come with their kids to find out what we have to offer, and we insisted that our Con be “family friendly.”

PERMISSION AND PLANNING
We pitched the idea, first, to the Head of our Children’s department. She gave us overwhelming support, became part of the initial planning stage, and was integral throughout the process. Next, we had to convince our library director, Faith Line. She was reluctant to let us hold such a venue without a lot more research on our part. Did we really know what we were getting into? As we worked on gathering more information, she took a leap of faith and gave us the go-ahead. She was a very exacting mentor, and we learned to think more from her position as director and to consider all the issues involved: Library Board approval, security, staffing, and a hundred logistical matters. Well in advance of our Con we had to write our photography policy and post it publically. We wanted to have those who attended in costume have the opportunity to be photographed digitally against the green screen with the background of their choice. Those photographed were advised that their digital photo might be posted on any of our social media sites.

Our learning curve was huge and the planning took us over a year to complete. We deeply appreciate the guidance Faith gave us and the hard work she put in with us, right up through the day of our event.

FINDING FUNDING, PARTNERS & SPONSORS
Faith sent some of us to Spartanburg, SC, to attend their SpartanCon. Their organizers graciously shared all their planning notes with us, but it was obvious from their event that they had a substantial budget while we had zilch to spend. We concentrated on where to find funding. Friends of the Library gave us money and we wrote an LSTA grant tied into the Summer Reading program to help pay for publicity. The Children’s department purchased a green screen for us to use for the photography part of the venue.

This was a brand-new library event and we had no track record to convince potential partners or sponsors. We developed a sponsorship packet, which didn’t turn out as effective as we wanted because we started too late in the year to approach big corporate sponsors. We had no way to judge how popular our ComiCon would be, so we couldn’t make solid projections or promises of return for their participation or advertising. We did a lot of pleading to our sponsors,and they too, had to take a leap of faith.

Books-A-Million and Planet Comics agreed to be our major partners. Smaller local businesses donated gifts for the panelists or food for our Green Room. The Independent-Mail, the local newspaper, provided free ad space. An up-scale downtown inn, The Bleckley, provided lodging for one of our guest panelists. People’s Bank, BlueRidge Security, Forx Farm, (ever taste goat’s milk fudge? Wonderful!), and the SC  State Library sponsored us in significant ways. We were fortunate that, as we evaluated the costs, we only had to use library funds for prizes for the FanArt and Cosplay contest.

PLANNING PROGRAMS
As lead-ups to our ComiCon, we engaged regional artist Enoch Vaughn to hold three Super Hero Creation workshops aimed at teens to adults. We also decided to sponsor a FanArt Contest, which we initiated two months ahead of the Con. FanArt is a huge part of the geek culture, as you can see when you go to Instagram and Tumblr and search the hashtag #fanart. Artists are constantly reimagining characters or placing characters in weird worlds and having character cross-overs. Although FanArt contests are not typically held at ComiCons, we used the contest as an inexpensive way to advertise our Con and to get our community engaged in the world of heroes. We were hoping it would appeal to our teen demographics; however, our contest was open to all ages. Entries would be judged on the day of the ComiCon. Two weeks before the Con, we only had a dozen entrants and we were worried that it wasn’t being well-received. In that last week the entries flooded in and we were blown away by their quality, in all age divisions.

We weren’t sure if the patrons understood what “cosplay” was—that it’s a combination word: costume + role play, not intended for a stage production. Our director bought a dozen or so books on cosplay topics and we set up a display. Those books were checked out immediately! To heighten interest we contacted Sybil Todd of White Knight Cosplay—who knew we had such an expert in our own backyard?–and she presented two “Getting Into Costuming and Cosplay” workshops for teens in early July.

GETTING PANEL PARTICIPANTS
Since our ComiCon was the culminating event of the Summer Reading program, we planned two sessions for our local young heroes in the Children’s Department on “How To Be a Hero.” These were presented by Heroes in Force, a regional group specializing in motivational activities for kids. Thanks to them, Batman made an appearance at our Con and wowed the kids. We scheduled their programs so that panel sessions would not be competing with them.

We sought experts for the authors, cosplay, and artists panels who understood heroic characters for young adults, and we wanted local or regional authors and artists. We also wanted artists of comics and graphic novels who could speak to young people about combining art with words.

We contacted local cosplayers to talk about cosplay etiquette, how to approach weapons and mask making, what steampunk costuming is, and what cosplay design involves. We already had been going where authors, artists, and cosplayers were appearing—the DragonCon and AnachroCon in Atlanta, SC Comicon, and other regional Cons—in order to make personal contact with them. We attended book signings. We sent them brief inquiries via email and told them what we were planning. We also sent out letters and made myriad phone calls inquiring whether stated fees could be waived. We worked on the philosophy of “why not ask?” and took a chance. Our mantra became, “They can’t come if you don’t invite them.” The trick was to get them all to come for free!

One of the most pleasant surprises was to find out how willing authors, artists, and cosplayers were to work with us once we told them our objectives. Those who responded “yes!” are great advocates of libraries and literacy and we were thrilled to have them as our panelists. We owe special thanks to David Weber, Megan Shepherd, Delilah S. Dawson, Robert Venditti, Tara Lynne, George Farmer, Allen Swords, Marla Roberson, Gypsey Teague, and Amanda Finley for their support of our event. On the day of our Con, we were very disappointed when Robert Venditti cancelled due to illness. Enoch Vaughn agreed to substitute and the panel went on as planned. ComiCon people do form a very cooperative community.

STAFFING AND DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITIES
We shared the responsibilities and all of our decisions were made by consensus, although we each had specific tasks we worked on. We didn’t move forward until we all agreed that what we were going to do met our basic goals. And we also knew that there was no way our library could hold this event without the help of staff.

The Summer Reading/Electric City ComiCon staff T-shirts were designed by Sara Leady. With special ALA approval, she modified the official library logo by dressing the Big L in a green superhero cape with mask. Each staff member who worked our Con wore a special T-shirt, with the same logo on the front as the Summer Reading T-shirt, but with the logos of all our sponsors on the back, a salute of thanks to them for their support.

VENDORS
You can’t have a ComiCon without vendors, but we had to get Library Board approval to waive the rule of no commercial activities in our library. We started looking for potential vendors almost two years ago. We visited vendor booths at all the major Cons, craft fairs, and through location-based searching on the internet. We narrowed our list of over one hundred down to thirteen—the number determined by our space limitations. One advantage for the vendors was that we did not charge a booth fee. The authors had booths and their books were available for purchase and autographing. Some of the cosplay panelists had booths dedicated to costume accessories. Our IT department installed an additional access point to our Wi-Fi so that vendors had internet access from their locations.

MAPPING THE FLOW
We mapped what we thought would be effective crowd flow. We had no idea how many people to expect and how much open floor space in our two-level library we would need for crowds. We wanted everything located in logical, accessible places, with freely-flowing traffic between events, without blocking the day-to-day routines—we performed normal library operations during our Con! For weeks prior, we posted signs throughout the building warning our patrons to expect a lot of noise on Con day.

We debated how we would set up the vendors and eventually agreed to assign them all to one space to allow equal access to the attendees. We had to deal with the main stairway and elevator ingress/egress to the upper level when locating the FanArt display, the panel tables, and audience seating. We were concerned that the activities in the Children’s area on the main level would be overlooked by those immediately going upstairs to the panel presentations and the gaming stations in the Teen Center. Our fears were unfounded. The huge attendance meant that all areas were visited by large numbers of people.

SECURITY
One major concern, of course, was security. Since our building is County-owned, our director arranged for two additional county deputies (three in all) to be on duty throughout the event. One deputy manned the main entrance as a weapons inspector. In cosplay many participants come with prop weapons as part of their costume, and we did see several really convincing Uzi’s in the hands of storm troopers! The deputy inspected and tagged each one to reassure us that they were not real.

The other two deputies circulated through each level during the event. They commented how well-behaved the crowd was. We understood why. For the most part, those who attend Cons come seeking others to bond with, to meet up with others who they may have already communicated with via various social media avenues. We saw several teens from several different schools laughing and talking with each other about their costumes. After all, a Con is a community of fellow-fans geeking together. We also planned a combination vendor supply room and public first aid/lost and found station adjacent to the vendor area and near the main entrance.

FOOD & REFRESHMENTS
We discussed having a public food concessions but our director nixed the idea for valid reasons. We had already bitten off a big hunk of this Con to manage, and having to deal with food, inside or out, would add another responsibility or headache, not to mention burden the clean-up crew. We decided that a Green Room for panelists and vendors would be sufficient for this year.

POST EVENT ANALYSIS
For us, the Electric City ComicCon was a mind-blowing success! We already have our second Con calendared for August 6, 2016, from 10-5. We learned a lot about how to improve our event:

HOURS AND ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING

• Add three more hours to avoid overlaps in the schedule and provide more time between panels.
• Relocate the panel stage to avoid crowd noise and traffic.
• Add a steampunk panel.
• Have an Artists Alley with prints and posters for sale.
• Host more lead-up events for Tweens and Teens.
• Provide more cosplay workshops.
• Have more comic books for sale.
• Readdress the location of photo station and traffic flow by it. It was such a popular activity that traffic got jammed up and blocked access to other areas for children.

STAFFING

• Involve more geek volunteers. (We had one enthusiastic volunteer this year.)
• Involve more staff in the preplanning.

PROMOTIONS

• Create a brand for our Con that is used on all our advertising and everything we print, display, or digitally broadcast.
• Consider selling Con T-shirts. Many, many attendees wanted to buy our staff T-shirts.

FUNDING

• Start early to solicit corporate partners and sponsors for next year. Funding will always be the big issue, but fortunately we’ll have this year’s impressive gate count to entice more sponsors for 2016!

OTHER ISSUES

• Consider shuttle buses to and from city parking lots to address limited parking issue.
• Investigate providing ATM access.
• Print more programs. We only printed 500 and had to run off copies on-the-fly.
• Encourage survey returns. We had a survey on our website and included a printed survey in the tri-fold program. Although the survey results were overwhelmingly positive–Bigger! Longer!–we didn’t get back a significant percentage of them.

We overheard one of our attendees say enthusiastically, “The library is interested in what I’m interested in!” That’s why we held our own ComiCon, not only to have people come through our doors, but to shift the attitude held by so many of what they think a library is into what we know it can be for them…to see the possibilities of libraries…the possibility of their library. For more information, contact us at: electriccitycomicon@andersonlibrary.org

Resources:

Banaszak, Mark. “Library Articles. Convention Development: Creating A Mini-Con At The Library.” Diamond Bookshelf. January 20, ? http://www.diamondbookshelf.com/Home/1/1/20/181?articleID=130000 (accessed August 28, 2015).

Cruz, Rebecca. “Comics, Super Heroes, Pop Culture, and Libraries.” Public Libraries Online. August 17, 2015. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/08/comics-super-heroes-pop-culture-and-libraries (accessed August 28, 2015).

Hamdan, Kate Denwiddie and Kareemah. “We Put On a Comic-Con (And So Can You!).” Virginia Libraries. July-September 2013. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v59_n3/pdf/denwiddie.pdf (accessed August 28, 2015).

Lynne, Tara. “Introducing Electric City Comic Con!” The Geekiary. June 3, 2015. http://thegeekiary.com/introducing-electric-city-comic-con/25050 (accessed August 31, 2015).

MacDonald, Heidi. “How to Throw a Comic Con at Your Library.” Publishers Weekly. April 18, 2014. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/61940-how-to-throw-a-comic-con-at-your-library.html (accessed August 31, 2015).

Anderson County, SC website: http://www.andersonlibrary.org/

Electric City ComiCon Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/electriccitycomicon

Spartanburg, SC Spartancon website: http://www.infodepot.org/zReaders/Spartancon.asp

David Weber’s website: http://www.davidweber.net/

Megan Shepherd’s website: http://meganshepherd.com/

Delilah S. Dawson’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DelilahSDawson

Robert Venditti’s webpage: http://www.dccomics.com/talent/robert-venditti

White Knight Cosplay: https://www.facebook.com/whiteknightcosplay

Heroes in Force website: http://www.heroesinforce.com/

Enoch Vaughn: https://www.facebook.com/enoch.vaughn

George Farmer’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArtofGeorgeFarmer

Gypsey Teague’s website: http://www.gypseyteague.com/

Amanda Findley’s Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/AmandaFinleyCrafts

AnachroCon, Atlanta, GA: http://www.anachrocon.com/

DragonCon, Atlanta, GA: http://www.dragoncon.org/

The post Geeking @ the Library: Con is Community! first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Benjamin, Ali. The Thing about Jellyfish (9/22)
Seventh grade narrator Suzy Swanson must come to terms with the death of her best friend after a drowning accident. When Suzy becomes convinced that Franny actually died from a rare jellyfish sting, she sets out to prove it—even if it means traveling the globe for answers. This is an imaginative and multi-layered story that will touch readers.

Cline, Ernest. Armada (7/14)
This follow-up to Cline’s popular debut, Ready Player One, will not disappoint fans. Zach Lightman trades his boring videogame existence to save the planet from an alien invasion. Here, readers will find not a realistic sci-fi plot, but a pop-culture infused coming-of-age adventure story that will unleash their the inner geek. Read on.

Hilton, Marilyn. Full Cicada Moon (9/8)
This historical novel may take place in 1969, but it is chock full of everything that has been happening in children/teen literature in the last few years. Written in verse (fans of Brown Girl Dreaming take note!), the story focuses on half-black, half-Japanese Mimi, recently relocated to Vermont. She encounters bigotry and sexism as she prefers shop class to home economics, and dreams about becoming an astronaut. Give this to spirited girls everywhere.

Hoose, Phillip. The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club (5/12)
Denmark didn’t resist German occupation at the beginning of WWII—this is the true story of a group of teenage political resistors who did. After many acts of sabotage, the boys were eventually imprisoned, but not before inspiring a true Danish resistance and becoming war heroes. Perfect for a non-fiction project.

Novak, Ali. The Heartbreakers (the Heartbreak Chronicles 8/4)
Stella will do anything for her sick sister, Cara, even though leukemia has overshadowed their lives for too long. When her siblings take Cara to see her favorite boy band, it’s Stella who meets the lead singer in Starbucks, and embarks on a relationship that leads them all to heartbreak, adventure, and self-discovery. It’s never too late for a summer romance…

Pearsall, Shelley. The Seventh Most Important Thing (9/8)
After Arthur’s father dies, Arthur loses it when he sees the neighborhood “Junk Man” wearing his father’s hat. Arthur throws a brick at him, earning Arthur court-imposed community service with the very man he assaulted. Inspired by real life artist James Hampton’s life and work, the story follows Arthur as he helps the Junk Man complete his creative masterpiece (collecting the seven most important things along the way) and also learn some life lessons in this coming-of-age novel.

Schlitz, Laura Amy. The Hired Girl (9/8)
Fans of period detail will enjoy Newbery award-winner Schlitz’ story of a farm girl in 1911, as she records her hopes and dreams for the future in her diary. When she is hired as the help to a wealthy Jewish family in Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Joan learns lessons about hate, love, and what it means to grow up.

Stead, Rebecca. Goodbye Stranger (8/4)
Newbery-winner Stead is back with a story of middle-school friendship unlike any you’ve read. With a cast of characters all navigating the awkwardness of being new teens, Stead perfectly captures the perils of love, change, and decision. Give this to a realistic fiction fan.

Check out these other recent titles for middle-schoolers:

Alender, Katie. The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall
Alifirenka, Caitlin & Martin Ganda. I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives
Caine, Rachel. Ink & Bone: The Great Library
Danticat, Edwidge. Untwine
Gaiman, Neil. The Sleeper and the Spindle
Holt, K.A. House Arrest
Johnson, Hal. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: 20 Chilling Tales from the Wilderness
Kinsella, Sophie. Finding Audrey
Martin, Darragh. The Keeper
Norris, Andrew. Friends for Life

The post The Latest and Greatest Middle School Reads first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Uniondale Library is a safe, well-utilized institution in the community and Kendrick-Samuel knew that music would bring teen patrons in the doors. Through funding from the Best Buy Community Foundation, Margaret E. Edwards Trust, and a Uniondale School District 21^st Century Learning grant. Kendrick-Samuel made “young adult services” music to the Uniondale Library’s teens’ ears.

The program initially was offered as a two-part workshop led by vocalist and music teacher, Michelle Taylor Bryant. Bryant drew on her first hand experiences at Carnegie Hall and the Long Island Conservatory of Music. She offered students vocal coaching and most of all, lots of encouragement and positive praise. Bryant put together a curriculum that included getting the kids up and singing as a group plus offering tools and techniques to improve individual and group singing. She also developed students’  music appreciation—increasing their sensitivity to the power of a song, its impact on a listener, and how a song’s message can be communicated by a singer’s individual rendition. All of this culminated in a small group of the Dewey Decibels performing as an all-female group, “The Jolies,” in the library’s annual talent show. It was a hit.

When it looked like Bryant’s broken ankle would shut the show down the following year, Uniondale native Twyla Sommersell, an academic designer/editor at McGraw-Hill School Education specializing in music, stepped in. Sommersell added a few more workshops and partnered students as performers and directors, creating an interesting dimension. Students performed and the audience provided carefully guided constructive criticism. The library had assembled its own rendition of “The Voice”—and soon there was huge interest (that is, a large number of boys joined the group).

Sommersell’s goal was for “students… to perform in some way or another, promoting confidence.” Kendrick-Samuel’s goal: to get students into the library and off the streets. Both women realized their dream—when the group stood and performed its rendition of Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me” at the annual talent show. Students were empowered through music and through the library.

The Dewey Decibels are now a permanent part of the Uniondale Library Young Adult Services programming, one that everyone can’t wait to hear. Syntychia Kendrick-Samuel said, “Sure, it was great to see kids get up on stage…or see painfully shy kids perform for the first time, but the best thing about it was seeing how the library could make a difference. That’s why I became a librarian. This is the kind of thing that makes it all worth it.”

The post Dewey Decibels: Teens Creating Music at Their Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Teamwork
This author event was achieved with the help of a large number of people. Ally Condie’s visit was the first author event that I have planned. As the Teen Services Coordinator, I was in charge of the event, but I didn’t do it alone. Thirty-two staff members from the Teen Services Team, Community Engagement and Outreach Office (public relations), Facilities, and Security made this day go smoothly. We also had 20 teen volunteers.

Funding
The Kirkpatrick Family Fund sponsored Condie’s fee for the day with a very generous grant, which we applied for with the help of the PPLD Foundation. Once we received the grant we had one year to find an author and plan the event. Additional funding was donated by the PPLD Foundation to, in part, pay for buses so students from area schools could join us. One teacher commented in a survey, “Thanks so much for providing the transportation. Without that, my students could not have attended.”

Schedule and Statistics:
9 am student presentation: 281 students and adults

11 am student presentation: 311 students and adults

6 pm reception: 24 winners and guests

7 pm public presentation: 417 patrons

8 pm book signing only (just waited in line; didn’t see the presentation): 75 (many more people had their books signed!  Condie signed books for 2.5 hours!)

We had 1,108 people attend the five programs associated with the event!

Promotion:
School visits for booktalks and resource classes provided us with a captive audience to promote the author event.

Partnership with Barnes & Noble: They sold books at the event, so they were willing to put bookmarks and posters up. Independent book stores also helped us promote by putting up posters, but selling books at the event wasn’t something they could do.

One of the local newspapers (The Colorado Springs Independent) had an article about the event.

PPLD’s one book, one community program is called All Pikes Peak Reads. Matched was the teen selection. This synchronicity provided another way for the event to be promoted.

Word of mouth was very important. Staff members were excited, so it was easy for everyone to talk about it. We also used social media to get the word out on Facebook and twitter.

Feedback
I put together a survey for the teachers. The comments were wonderful! Here are a few:

“Great presentation, and very motivational and engaging.”

“The day went exceedingly well. Our students enjoyed the presentation very much. Condie was well prepared for all of the questions and gave many helpful tips to aspiring writers.”

“My students liked the personal nature of her remarks. Several of them talked about wanting to write books. I think hearing her, they realized that they could write too.”

When I started planning this author visit, I was quite intimidated. To prevent myself from having a nervous breakdown, I took a lot of deep breaths, created checklists for every aspect of the day, and got help from a lot of people. Amazing things are possible and, as Condie’s characters frequently remind each other in Matched, “Do not go gentle”[1].

The line at the Ally Condie book signing (Click to expand):

Photo by Tori Sparrow

Works Cited

[1] Thomas, Dylan, “Do not go gentle into that good night,” Poets.org, Nov. 29, 2014, http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night.

Cover Photo Credit: Jeffrey Beall CC BY 3.0

The post Ally Condie Visits Pikes Peak Library District first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

1. Current trends in early literacy practices and education. My school district recently began to follow the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading. When children and their families come in looking for a “level M” book, it’s a huge cause of frustration for my circulation staff. A trained children’s librarian should be aware of developments such as this and be able to offer recommendations. Similarly, a familiarity with the Common Core can aid not just in customer service, but also in collection development.
2. The importance of the reference interview. Reference interviews aren’t just for reference anymore! They can also be helpful in performing reader’s advisory. A librarian who is able to assess exactly what a patron is looking for is a huge asset to his or her department.
3. Understanding the needs of all levels of readers. Some children read far above their grade level and are not ready for the mature content that can come with higher-level books. Others struggle, and in the words of Marie Joyce, Children’s Librarian at the Free Public Library of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, “it’s important to get them books they can read but that are not ‘babyish.’” A successful children’s librarian should be able to help find resources for all reading levels.
4. An awareness of pop culture. Just as it’s important to be cognizant of current educational trends, it can greatly help a children’s librarian to be aware of what’s going on in popular culture. Some of the highest-circing items in my library’s juvenile collection are LEGO books and Star Wars tie-ins. Similarly, we recently held an American Girl tea party that was an overwhelming success. Staying up to date on these things can help a professional relate better to young patrons, not to mention make the library a “cooler” place to hang out.
5. Management and networking skills. “Children librarians seem to be doing more and more on less available time. We are not an island…we need staff help, whether it is preparing crafts and props to marketing programs to patrons. Good management skills help rally the internal staff and outsiders who support the library with time and money,” points out Robin Rockman, Youth Services Librarian at Oradell (NJ) Free Public Library. Furthermore, many children’s librarians are also tasked with making sure their department runs smoothly. Having a good professional rapport with support staff makes this duty far easier.
6. How to talk to children. It seems obvious, but providing good service to children is far different than working with adults, or even teens. Establishing a non-intimidating but still authoritative stance with young patrons is key in a public library.
7. Technological know-how. That’s not to say every children’s librarian should be fluent in three different programming languages, but being able to leverage different resources can be a huge aid in both program development and customer service. It is also important to understand how screen time can affect our youngest patrons. It’s no longer out of place to have a parent or caregiver come into the library looking for app suggestions for their preschooler.
8. How to be a creative problem-solver. Children are unpredictable! You never know when a scheduled performer might not show up, or a kid has an accident during story time. Flexibility and being able to think quickly on his or her feet will pay off greatly during those moments of uncertainty.
9. Time management. Many children’s librarians are responsible for scheduling programming. Yet providing enough events for the public without burning themselves or their staff out can be a tricky act of balance. Similarly, most people in this position wear many different hats, from programming to collection development to community outreach and more. Being able to manage anything without being overwhelmed is vital.
10. How to promote library services. I come from a digital marketing background, and what I learned while working in that industry has helped me almost every day in my library career. Now more than ever, it’s necessary to stay relevant in the eyes of the public and elected officials. We can’t do that if no one knows about what we offer. From social media marketing to creating catchy in-house displays and merchandising, a keen sense for promoting library awareness will ensure the longevity of our field.

What other topics do you think a children’s librarian needs to know about? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Ten Things a Children’s Librarian Needs to Know first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Westport Library in Westport, Connecticut, has contributed a great deal of resources towards several expensive high tech purchases. One such acquisition is the SolidWorks computer-aided design software.[1] This was used to reach out to a niche community—primarily postgraduates trying to hone their skills—a purchase that benefits a fairly small audience.  Funding such projects could be controversial in some communities since it is funneling general funds towards a service that requires a fair amount of expertise to use and hence is fairly limited in reach.  The other way to view this is that the library is providing value to a group that might not otherwise look to the library for services.  It can also be a way to create advocates in the community from different sectors, particularly in this instance where it was in response to a suggestion from a local biomedical engineer.[2]

Generally, these decisions might be difficult to gain support for, but outside funding sources can greatly impact how an idea is sold to the Board of Trustees and the broader community.  The funding for a pair of programmable NAO Evolution robots was provided by a family foundation.[3]   While the funding for the robots was provided, it still required time and effort to promote these purchases, create programming around them, see that they are used in a manner that keeps them in good repair, and avoid any usages that might cause harm to patrons or the device.  This is not for every library, but it seems to have been well utilized by Westport.  The library received a great deal of media attention from news services throughout the country and from Russia, Spain, and Vietnam.[4]  This publicity can greatly enhance the library’s visibility and can inspire community members to look to the library for non-traditional services.

Yet investing in makerspaces is not only about creating media coverage. The high tech resources allow the library to create and share knowledge in new and unconventional ways.  Maxine Bleiweis, executive director for Westport Library, has noted how these additions are in line with the latest information on learning theories and how creating new content shows a high level of understanding of a given concept. She also correlated these costs to subscription costs for databases.[5]

Libraries should consider whether they can and should contribute part of their collection development budget towards new learning technologies. A key question that every library needs to consider when making a large investment of time and resources is how it relates back to the institutions mission.  The mission of the Westport Library “to empower individuals and strengthen the community, providing a welcoming destination that stimulates curiosity, encourages lifelong learning and promotes the open and lively exchange of information and ideas.”[6]  The high tech additions of the makerspace seem to effectively fit into this mission, and they have the resources to support this new technology.

A recurring question in library circles is what the library of the future will look like.  A key aspect of this is the extent to which makerspaces and particularly high tech makerspaces are a part of this future.  While it is unlikely that every library will have highly technical, expensive equipment, it should not be inconceivable that a library can provide this type of support if there is the community desire and the available resources.

Works Cited

[1]    Enis, Matt.  “Westport Maker Space Expands with Robots, SolidWorks Courses and Volunteer Training.”  Library Journal.  Accessed November 22, 2014.  http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2014/10/hardware-2/westport-maker-space-expands-robots-solidworks-courses-volunteer-training/

[2]    ibid

[3]    ibid

[4]    ibid

[5]    ibid

[6]    “About WPL.”  Westport Library.  Accessed November 22, 2014. http://westportlibrary.org/about

Cover Photo Credit: CSM Library CC BY 2.0

The post High Tech Makerspaces first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

At the outset, I would like to point out that there is value in working with different age groups.  A teen may actually benefit more (both educationally and with regards to self-efficacy) by tutoring a tween in a particular subject than by being taught the information by an adult.  In creating activities, however, a librarian needs to consider if opening an event up to a wider public will alienate some of the potential participants.  An example might be creating a coding class that is open to everyone ages 10-18.  If there are teens ages 15 to 18 with some coding experience and then younger attendees with no coding experience, the instructor is going to have a difficult time keeping everyone engaged.  In this instance, there might be greater value in creating both a beginner and an intermediate class.  Will teens engage differently in a book group that is more selective or more inclusive?

To some extent this is about knowing the community you serve.  Some communities find it impossible to reach those between the ages of 15 and 18. If that age group comes into the library at all, it is only to checkout a book and be on their way.  In these communities it makes sense that a teen event might be catered to those between the ages of 10 and 14, because that’s the population who attends.  It can, however, be difficult to determine whether these older teens are not attending because they feel the library does not cater to their needs, or because they simply do not wish to be involved with the library.  For this reason, it is incredibly important for teen librarians to reach out to local high schools and other places where teens are and ask how they can best support what teens want.  Increasingly the library is becoming a place where teens can learn about vocations, college, and other educational opportunities, but that does not mean that they will naturally be drawn to the library.  “Teen” events that do not speak to their interests will reinforce this devaluation of the library.

I am not advocating for every program to have a very specific community in mind, with a different book group for those aged 10-12, 13-15, 16-17, and 18-25 (the growth of “new adult” programming is another topic that was brought up and whether or not this group should be under the direction of young adult or adult librarians).  Firstly, there are very few libraries that would have the space, personnel, or budget to make this a viable option. Secondly, not all programs would benefit from this exclusivity.  Yet, seventeen and eighteen year-olds may face very different issues from younger teens as they get ready for college, leave home, and/or start a vocation.  Focused outreach to this group might not only be of benefit to them, but could also create events that are well attended and future supporters for the library.  Similarly, a program bringing together incoming freshman with those entering their sophomore year could help first year high school students make a smoother transition.

Perhaps my greatest takeaway from this session was that none of these changes happen overnight, but if we can achieve even moderate success, some of these changes can last generations.  Teens have friends and siblings, and if a librarian can convince a few teens that the library can be an ally to them, this can have a rippling effect.  Perhaps, the libraries that have teens attending their events are the ones who listened to the needs of their teen community five or ten years ago and have been flexible enough to meet their changing needs in the ensuing years.  Successful programming is not about what we create, but how we respond. Particularly with teens, we only get a response if we can grab their attention.

Cover image credit: SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget

The post Teen Programming – Who Comes and Why first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Tweens are typically defined as age ten to twelve. Many of the programs the library offers for kids seem too childish but they are still too young for the teen events. We want to make sure this age group isn’t leaving the library and that they see it as a valuable resource. My library has a lot of tweens who utilize the library for a tutoring space and visit us when it comes to looking for homework resources, but we don’t want them to forget that the library can be much more than that.

Offering programming for tweens doesn’t have to mean extra work for staff. Since my children’s and teen departments are combined under one youth services umbrella, tween programming offers my staff a chance to collaborate. We define our tween programs for grades four through eight and the age groups overlap giving staff a chance to try something new. A lot of teen programming can be adapted into tween programs and the tweens love the chance to have something that is just for them.

So what can we provide for tweens? The following suggestions may help you figure out how to serve your tween audience.

Tween Advisory Boards

A great place to start is with feedback from tweens. Many libraries offer a teen advisory board, but what about a tween advisory board? This gives tweens a chance to get connected with the library, offer suggestions for what they would like to see happen for their age group, and assist in planning programs. If you can’t host an official tween advisory board, look for times when tweens are visiting your library and talk to them. Ask them what they are interested in and what types of programs they would want to attend. Take note of what times they seem to be using the library most—is your library overrun with tweens on Saturday afternoons? That might be a good spot to try some programming for this age group. If you don’t have a group of tweens regularly visiting your library, try visiting your area schools to gather feedback. Why don’t they visit the library and what stands in their way? What are their interests and hobbies? What type of programs would get them interested in coming to the library?

Book Clubs

Book clubs can offer great tween programs as well as a chance to collaborate with your local school libraries. Because we noticed a big drop in attendance for tween programming,we decided to go to where the tweens were and started “Chat & Chew” book clubs at the school library. A staff member attends the book club for fourth- and fifth-graders once a month where they discuss a selected book over lunch. The books are chosen from the state award nominees. This ensures that the tweens are already reading these books and that the school libraries and classrooms have some copies available. The book clubs are usually held in the school library but are sometimes held in a classroom. The tweens get to attend something special and they love having something just for them. Our Chat & Chew book clubs visit ten different schools, so we have a lot of members. To tie everything together and bring it back to the public library, we have a party at the end of the year. Anyone who has attended at least one of the Chat & Chew book clubs is invited to the party held at the public library. Their families are also invited to attend, which helps us show students and parents that the library has things to offer this age group. At the party we serve ice cream and have activities based around the books we’ve read all year long.

Pop Culture

One of the best ways to find out what tweens are interested in is by listening to what they are asking for. When they come into the library and ask about a book, TV series, or movie, pay attention and think about programming around what they are interested in. I recently hosted an Origami Yoda program based on the book series of the same name that was a big success with our tweens. They loved getting together and making their own origami and talking about the book series with other fans. My library has also hosted programs around cupcakes (because we noticed a lot of tweens coming in and asking for cupcake and baking-themed books), Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Minute to Win It. This winter we’re planning programs around The Chronicles of Narnia, Ninjago, and Egypt in response to tweens interests.

Drop-In Programs

Tweens are very dependent on adults to drive them places, which means they may want to come to a library program but might not always be able to if the transportation isn’t available. One way we’ve worked to help with this is to offer drop-in programs that last all afternoon and offer various activities. We’ve had the most success with craft programs at my library, but we’ve also hosted drop-in game days and movie marathons for tweens.

Trivia

The tweens at my library love a little competition and the chance to show off, which means trivia contests are always a popular choice. Tweens can be obsessive about their fandoms and they love to share their knowledge. The trivia can either be done as a program where you have a big competition and teams, or on a smaller scale as a passive program set up in the department. We offer small prizes for trivia and the tweens love the chance to show off their knowledge about a particular subject.

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are another always popular choice for programs—either passive programs taking place in the department or as part of a larger program. I love scavenger hunts because I can sneak in learning about the library and how to find things and the tweens love them because they get to be competitive. I’ve done scavenger hunts two different ways. The first is to give the tweens clues as to where to find things and they have to answer questions, such as “Who is the author of The Wizard of Oz?” The second scavenger hunt I’ve done has been to hide a certain amount of objects (photos of hobbits for our Hobbit Day celebration, pyramids for a summer reading kickoff) and have the tweens write down the location of where they found each object in the library. This is a great way to incorporate other departments in the library as well. I’ve had several patrons tell me after they participate in these scavenger hunts they visited an area of the library they had never known about or been to before.

Conclusion

Tweens are members of an age group that often gets overlooked by the library. But if we work together to reach them, we can provide great programs and help build our teen audience by reinforcing to tweens that the library is a valuable resource.

The post Don’t Forget the Tweens first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Establishing Your Own Criteria

Why should you choose a particular film for your library’s film program? You could establish criteria for making film evaluations. Some relevant standards, criteria, or questions you might ask yourself include the following:¹

• Are you able to identify the purpose or aim of the film (i.e., to inform, educate, entertain, persuade)?
• Who is the film’s intended audience?
• Does the film have a storyline/plot?
• How are the characters developed/portrayed in the film?
• Does the motion picture have dramatic appeal?
• Does it contain a point of view, logic, closure, metaphysical statements/arguments, ambiguity, etc.?
• What is the central theme, message, or concern of the film?
• Is the film persuasive? How does the film persuade you of its message (e.g., by emotional appeal, factual evidence, estrangement/detachment, symbolism, an overtly manipulated point of view tantamount to propaganda, etc.)?
• What do you see as the film’s importance or relevance?
• What do we learn or fail to learn from the film?
• What, if any, are the values/ideology expressed?
• In terms of the film’s technical qualities and aesthetics, how would you rate the overall direction, the acting, the visual elements (e.g., cinematography, special effects, sets, lighting costumes, color, and use of space), the aural elements (e.g., dialogue, music, sound effects, silence) in addition to the editing (e.g., cutting, the film’s rhythm, continuity, disjunction, or effective use of montage sequences)?

Other Routes to Follow

If you are not interested or confident in developing your own film evaluation criteria, you can always depend on the judgment or critical opinions of others
whether it takes the form of reading professional movie reviews, examining the selections of experienced film programmers, or placing reliance on the winners of film awards and festivals, or notable “best film” lists prepared by various cinephiles.

Film Reviews

Newspapers, magazines, broadcast, and online outlets are all pertinent sources for current and retrospective movie criticism. Some notable sources on the Internet include:

Movie Review Query Engine
Established in 1993, Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE) claims it is the Internet’s largest database for movie reviews. It contains a searchable index of published and available movie reviews, news, interviews, and other material associated with films.

Rotten Tomatoes
Provides reviews from critics of accredited media outlets (i.e., print and broadcast) and online film societies in the form of Tomatometer ratings. “A Tomatometer measures the percentage of ‘Approved Tomatometer Critics’ who recommend a certain movie—or the number of good reviews divided by the total number of reviews.”² Tomatometer criteria are described in detail on the website.

Metacritic
Metacritic compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for movies, DVDs, music, television, and games. Contains Metascores showing the critical consensus at a glance by taking a weighted average of critics’ grades.

TimeOut
This website contains 20,000 capsule reviews of movies and DVD releases prepared by critics at TimeOut magazine including lists of the fifty greatest sports movies, top twenty vampire movies, and so on.

Not Coming to a Theater Near You
This film review site assumes a bias towards older, often unpopular, and sometimes unknown films that warrant a second examination.

Video Librarian and Video Librarian Plus!
Video Librarian is a video review magazine for public, school, academic, and special libraries, as well as video fans who are interested in a wider variety of titles than what’s found in the average video store. Written by staff, librarians, teachers, and film critics, Video Librarian offers more than 225 critical reviews per issue, alerting readers to upcoming new releases of special interest, documentary, and feature films. Video Librarian Plus! offers subscribers both the print magazine and online access to a searchable database of more than 22,000 full-text video reviews.

Film & History Guide to Documentary Films
This website, from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, reviews significant documentaries and provides useful commentary for scholars, educators, and students.

Box Office Statistics

If you are interested in tracking the financial earnings of domestic films, then you should investigate the following online sources reporting theatrical box office revenues. They provide economic indicators of the public’s acceptance or rejection of specific motion picture fare.

Box Office Guru
This website contains box office data on motion pictures released between 1989 and the present. The statistics are manually updated on a weekly basis and more than 3,600 films are contained in the database.

Box Office Mojo
In addition to being a movie publication, this website publishes several sections reporting box office receipts by time period, including daily, weekend, weekly, monthly, quarterly, seasonal, yearly, and all time.

Film Ratings

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
MPAA is a film industry association and a source of movie ratings providing parents with advance information about the content of films. Parents can then determine what movies are appropriate for their young children to view. The ratings are assigned by an independent board of parents.

Film Awards

The list of film awards issued by organizations from around the world is lengthy. Some of the more longstanding prizes, both prestigious and notorious in nature, include:

• Oscars, awarded annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (www.oscar.com and www.oscars.org)
• National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards
• Golden Globes, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association
• National Society of Film Critics annual film awards (no official website)
• New York Film Critics Circle awards 
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
• Women Film Critics Circle Awards
• Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE) Awards (annually presenting dis-honors for worst achievements in film since 1980)
• BAFTA Awards, issued by the British Academy of Film and Television
• César Awards are the main national film awards in France
• Deutscher Filmpreis, the German film award colloquially known as the Lola, is the highest German movie award given by the German Film Academy
• Goya Awards are Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars
• Japan Academy Prize, often called the Japan Academy Awards
• Ariel Award is the Mexican Academy of Film Award
• Golden Eagle Award is a Russian national award for motion pictures and TV series (issued since 2002)
• Nika Award is the major national film award issued by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences modeled on the Oscars
• Genie Awards are the equivalent to the Oscars in Canada
• Golden Rooster Awards are the most prestigious awards for motion pictures in mainland China (no official website)
• Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s Chinese-language equivalent of the Oscars )
• Grand Bell (“Daejong”) Awards are the most prestigious South Korean film awards
• David di Donatello Awards are the Italian equivalent of the Oscars
• National Film Awards are the most prominent film awards in India
• Czech Lion is the equivalent of the Oscar in the Czech Republic (www.ceskylev.cz and www.cfta.cz)

Film Festivals

Film festivals call attention to new and critically acclaimed works released by filmmakers. With more than one thousand film festivals taking place annually throughout the world, how does one become aware of their existence? I suggest visiting one or more of the following useful websites:

• World’s largest film festival list
• Movie festivals and events worldwide at the Internet Movie Database
• International Film Festival Database
• FilmFestivals.com
• Directory of International Film Festivals 
• Venice Film Festival
• Cannes Film Festival
• Berlin International Film Festival
• Toronto International Film Festival
• New York Film Festival presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center
• Sundance Film Festival
• Tribeca Film Festival produced by the Tribeca Film Institute
• Locarno International Film Festival
• International Film Festival Rotterdam
• Lübeck Nordic Film Days
• Pusan International Film Festival

Film festivals devoted to specific film genres and audience interests:

• International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, France
• New York International Children’s Film Festival 
• The International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival
• Fantasia Film Festival
• Lone Pine Film Festival, celebrating westerns

Prominent Art-House Movie Theaters

The exhibitors of classic, foreign, independent, and documentary films at prominent art-house theaters might stimulate your thoughts when formulating solid programming. I suggest you investigate the following venues for possible ideas:

• Pickford Film Center, Bellingham, Washington
• Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, Massachusetts
• Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
• Music Box Theatre, Chicago
• American Cinematheque, Los Angeles
• Avalon Theatre, Washington, D.C.
• Castro Theatre, San Francisco
• Film Forum, New York City
• Walter Reade Theater (Film Society of Lincoln Center), New York City
• Anthology Film Archives, New York City
• Maysles Cinema, New York City
• IFC Center, New York City
• BAM Rose Cinemas, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Preeminent Museums and Film Archives

Leading educational institutions with small cinemas screening classic and art-house films include:

International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House
The Dryden Theatre, Rochester, N.Y.
The George Eastman House, an independent nonprofit museum, collects and preserves objects that are of significance to photography, motion pictures, and the life of George Eastman. The motion picture department at the George Eastman House covers every fact of film history and houses an extensive film collection. The Dryden Theatre was constructed in 1951.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, New York City (www.moma.org); (http://12.172.4.131/visit/calendar/films)
The Museum of Modern Art’s department of film, established in 1935, consists of a film study center, a film stills archive, and a circulating film and video library covering the history of film from the 1890s to the present.

Museum of the Moving Image
Astoria, N.Y.
The museum’s film screenings are often presented with personal appearances by directors, actors, critics, and scholars. With live music for silent films, restored prints from the world’s leading archives, and outstanding new films from the international festival circuit. The museum’s rich collection is an invaluable resource.

Pacific Film Archive
Berkeley, California
One of the largest university art museums in the United States, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) opened its doors on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus in 1970. There are more than 14,000 films and videos in the PFA collection. With daily screenings—more than six hundred different programs are offered each year— PFA presents rare and rediscovered prints of movie classics, new and historic works by the world’s great film directors, restored silent films with live musical accompaniment, thematic retrospectives, and exciting experiments by today’s film and video artists, including provocative, independently made fiction and documentary films.

Library of Congress Film Programs
Movies are shown at:
Mary Pickford Theater, Washington, D.C.
Packard Campus Theater at the National Audio-Visual Center, Culpeper, Va.

American Film Institute
Washington, D.C.
AFI provides year-round programming at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Md. Since 1967, AFI has devoted its efforts in preserving and conserving our American film heritage.

British Film Institute
London, United Kingdom
BFI Southbank screens more than one thousand films a year, from rare silent comedies to cult movies and archive television screenings. The venue hosts previews and gala screenings as well as events and on-stage interviews with filmmakers, actors, producers, critics and writers.

Cinémathèque Française
Paris, France
The Cinémathèque Française is one of the largest archives of films, movie documents, and film-related objects in the world. It continues to fulfill its original mission of preserving and restoring films and archives within its collections, and programming major classics as well as complete retrospectives and tributes to filmmakers, actors, producers, and film technicians.

Best Films Ever Made

Periodically, a number of organizations, publications, and critics devoted to film prepare so-called “best” movie lists or rankings. Several notable lists include:

The British Film Institute (BFI) 100
Early in 1999, the BFI surveyed one thousand people embracing all segments of the film, cinema, and television industries throughout the United Kingdom:
producers, directors, writers, actors, technicians, academics, exhibitors, distributors, executives, and critics. They were asked to consider (and vote for up to one hundred) “culturally British” feature films, released in cinemas during the twentieth century, which they felt had made a strong and lasting impression. Altogether, more than 25,700 votes were cast, covering 820 different films. The final selection spans seven decades, from 1935 to 1998, and includes the work of seventy film directors and much international talent.

American Film Institute’s 100 Years . . . The Complete Lists
Similar to BFI efforts, the American Film Institute (AFI) has produced a series of lists including AFI’s 100 Years of 100 Winning Movies.

Films Selected to The National Film Registry, Library of Congress (1989-2009)
The U.S. Congress first established the National Film Registry with enactment of the 1988 National Film Preservation Act, and most recently extended the registry with passage of the Library of Congress Sound Recording and Film Preservation Programs Reauthorization Act of 2008 (PL 110-336). Along with mandating continuing implementation of a plan to save the American film heritage, this law authorizes the Librarian of Congress (after reviewing public suggestions and consulting extensively with film experts and the forty-four members and alternates of the National Film Preservation Board) to select up to twenty-five films each year for inclusion in the registry. The 525 films chosen during the first twentyone years illustrate the vibrant diversity of American filmmaking, and range from well-known Hollywood classics (Casablanca, The African Queen, and A Night at the Opera) to landmark independent, documentary, and avant-garde masterpieces.

Locating Existing Filmographies and Creating Your Own

Comprehensive lists of films in a particular category, such as those by a given director, performer, writer, or in a specific genre, are referred to as filmographies. They can be useful in creating your film program. Filmographies can be located by accessing the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) or examining the Bowker’s Complete Video Directory 2010 Edition.³

IMDB is one of the most popular online entertainment websites. It offers a searchable database of more than 1.3 million movies, television, and entertainment programs and more than 2.8 million cast and crew members, making it the web’s most comprehensive and authoritative source of information on motion pictures.

A good example of a filmography, pertaining to the literary works of Edith Wharton, has been prepared by The Edith Wharton Society.

Other Considerations

After compiling a list of movies comprising your program, the following requirements should carefully be considered:

• Procuring the necessary equipment for screening the films.
• Getting permission or obtaining a motion picture performance license.
• Publicizing the film program in terms of attracting and building an audience.

Film Screening Equipment

For this article, I am limiting my discussion to DVDs as the medium of choice. This necessitates the use of DVD players, DVD projectors, projection screens, audio amplification, and speaker equipment. The basics consist of a screening room, comfortable seating, appropriate flooring, the proper acoustics, lighting, and a fully functional HVAC system.

Depending on the availability of a particular film title in standard or high-definition television (HDTV) disc format, you may need to obtain a standard DVD or Blu-ray HDTV player. Many Blu-ray machines can now play the new HD discs as well as standard DVDs and audio CDs. Please understand, DVDs, in today’s format, are still TV. That translates to 525 lines of resolution per picture. Even with HDTV, you are only getting approximately 1,100 lines and that’s still far less than the clarity of film or digital cinema, which is measured in pixels, not lines. Most Digital Cinema installations in commercial movie theatres are capable of a resolution of 2048 pixels by 1080 pixels (2K) or 4K Digital Cinema systems which are 4096 x 2160 pixels. By contrast, HDTVs are 1920 x 1080 pixels or 1280 x 720 pixels.

Furthermore, the majority of DVD players available in the United States play only Region 1 discs, which are produced for the U.S. and Canadian markets. DVD discs are encoded into six different regions. There are foreign DVD titles from Europe (Region 2), Australia (Region 4), or anywhere else which you wish to screen that can’t be played on Region 1 DVD players. In order to remedy this problem, you can purchase a region-free DVD player.

Detailed discussions of television or HDTV standards, digital cinema, aspect ratios, frame rates, reviews of digital projectors, DVD players, multiregion DVD players, projection screens, and audio equipment can be accessed at:

• DVD Buying Guide
• Projector Central
• Planet Omni “Multiregion Blu-Ray Players”
• “What is Digital Cinema Projection?”
• Home Theater magazine
• CNET Reviews
• ZDNet Reviews

Public Performance Licenses

According to the Federal Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code, Public Law 94-553, 90 Stat. 2541), a motion picture is not for screening, free or for pay, without obtaining the license for public exhibition. Said license is issued by the holder of the exhibition rights, usually known as the distributor. And then, there are two types of distributors for each work. One grants theatrical rights, and another non-theatrical rights. Theatrical exhibition is for the public at large and the screening is advertised to them. Nontheatrical exhibition is to closed, non-general public groups, such as K–12 schools, colleges, churches, clubs, hospitals, museums, film societies, planes, prisons, libraries, and the screening is only promoted within the group, not publicly. Whether there is a charge for viewing doesn’t enter into obtaining rights and licensing.

The film studios who own copyrights, and their agents, are the only parties who are authorized to license sites such as libraries, museums, film societies, businesses, and so forth. No other group or person has the right to exhibit or license exhibitions of copyrighted movies.

Exhibition rights are not tied to the format used. It makes no difference if the film is a 35mm, 16mm print, a VHS tape, or a DVD.

Obtaining a public performance license usually requires no more than a telephone call. Fees are determined by such factors as the number of times a particular movie is going to be shown, how large the audience will be and so forth. Most licensing fees are based on a particular performance or set of performances for specified films. The major firms that handle these licenses include:

• Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC)
  (800) 462–8855 — MPLC is an independent copyright licensing service exclusively authorized by major Hollywood motion picture studios and independent producers to grant umbrella licenses to nonprofit groups, businesses, and government organizations ensuring the public performances of home videodiscs and videocassettes comply with the Federal Copyright Act.
• Movie Licensing USA
  (888) 267–2658  — A corporate division of Swank Motion Pictures, Inc., Movie Licensing USA addresses the specific movie public performance site licensing needs of schools and public libraries. Movie Licensing USA provides an exclusive license that satisfies the copyright protection needs of the movie producers, while offering a worry – and liability-free movie license.
• Swank Motion Pictures, Inc.
  (800) 876–5577 — Swank is a major film distributor and a public performance licensing agent in nontheatrical markets where feature entertainment movies are shown. Swank has exclusive distribution arrangements in many markets with most American movie producers for the films seen in theaters. Creating an account requires basic information and pricing varies by format, title, and venue.
• Criterion Pictures USA, Inc.
  (800) 890-9494

If the film title you are planning to screen is not represented by one of these firms, it’s still necessary to obtain a public performance license from the copyright owner. You can research motion picture and video copyrights using the database at the U.S. Copyright Office. This database lists claimants and copyright ownership to works registered after 1978. To search for works registered before 1978, one must search the Library of Congress online catalog, LOCIS, or in printed Copyright volumes.

Many DVDs or videocassettes, such as educational and special interest titles, are purchased with public performance rights. Certain videocassettes and film DVDs in the public domain do not require a license.

Getting the Word Out

Your film programs need to be publicized to your intended audience. This should consist of but is not limited to:

• Press releases prepared and submitted to local newspapers or broadcast media (e.g., public service announcements disseminated to local radio or cable TV stations). A release should include a description of the program’s content, venue information, date, time, etc.
• Lobby displays created for your organization (i.e., eye-catching posters).
• Printed materials announcing the screenings (e.g., flyers). The use of photos and color in the printed materials will aid your publicity campaign.
• Postings to your library’s website.
• Social media.

Conclusions

Whether your aim is to entertain or enlighten the viewing public, or a combination of both, there is no dearth of tools to assist you in the film selection and programming process.

Celebrating filmmakers (directors, performers, writers, and so on) or devoting an entire program to a specific genre requires due diligence and a little imagination. Diligence takes the form of reading critical reviews, studying “best” film lists, surveying selections made by other programmers at film festivals and art houses, scrutinizing existing filmographies, and appraising movies through the use of self-developed criteria.

Film presentations devoted to a specific theme — such as the most controversial movies of all time, the best high school movies, best romantic versus anti-romantic movies, or strangest holiday films — are pertinent examples of screenings devised by programmers. The only formula for success in this entire process is that of trial and error, which leads me to one final recommendation.

Please don’t ever forget or underestimate your audience! Your viewers are the essential source for feedback and their suggestions for specific program fare can be quite useful.

References

1. Emily S. Jones, Manual on Film Evaluation (New York: Educational Film Library Association, 1967).
2. Rotten Tomatoes, Frequently Asked Questions,  (accessed March 26, 2010).
3. R. R. Bowker LLC, Bowker’s Complete Video Directory 2010 Edition (Armenia, N.Y.: Grey House, 2010).

The post Real to Reel Film Programming: A Guide first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The task force defines a digitally literate person as someone who:

• possesses the variety of skills—technical and cognitive—required to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats;
• is able to use diverse technologies appropriately and effectively to retrieve information, interpret results, and judge the quality of that information;
• understands the relationship between technology, lifelong learning, personal privacy, and stewardship of information;
• uses these skills and the appropriate technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, colleagues, family, and on occasion, the general public, and
• uses these skills to actively participate in civic society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community.²

Reading that definition describes exactly what a librarian working with teens is charged with every day—connecting teens with technology and making sure that teens are able to effectively utilize that technology for themselves and to connect with others.

Teen librarians have taken the idea of digital literacy and introduced it to teen audiences in creative ways through programming. I talked with two teen librarians, Kelly Jensen, associate librarian at Beloit (Wis.) Public Library, and Angie Manfredi, head of youth services, Los Alamos County (N.Mex.) Library System, who have implemented successful programs that have digital literacy as a goal.

Public Libraries: Can you explain the digital literacy program you ran at your library? How did you prepare for it and how was it promoted?

Kelly Jensen: I ran a QR code treasure hunt with Andrea Sowers at her library [Joliet (Ill.) Public Library]. Preparation involved designing a scavenger hunt with books located in the teen area of the library, the creation of videos for prompts (using authors to do so), and purchasing an iPod and putting a QR code on it. We also had to create our own QR codes as well.

Angie Manfredi: This year I decided to combine our most successful teen program, our teen lock-ins, with some digital literacy education tied into YALSA’s Teen Tech Week. Our teens are always interested in attending lock-ins, so this was a great chance for us to get good attendance numbers for a digital literacy program. To prepare for the program, I worked with our electronic services librarian to think of the resources and materials that would be the most appropriate to cover and used ideas from YALSA’s Teen Tech Week website.

PL: How did the program work?

KJ: To begin the QR Code Treasure Hunt, I had to make one large purchase: an iPod Touch. This cost roughly $200. I decided to purchase this because in my area, teens do not have much access to smartphones. It seemed unfair to me to expect anyone to participate in a program without the expensive equipment. Fortunately for me, I received a donation from a local organization, and the money went toward this purchase. Additionally, I decided that teens who completed the treasure hunt would have the opportunity to win big for participating. The iPod would be the prize. So, while this was a pricey start up, it ensured fair access to the equipment and served as a prize/incentive for participation.

When I got the iPod I loaded a free QR app onto it. I taught staff how to use the equipment by encouraging them to run through the hunt so they could answer questions that might arise. In addition, I made all of the books involved in the hunt non-circulating; this was done in the event one of our codes would check out. Fortunately, we’re part of a big enough system that kids interested in checking out these books would be able to get them in a day or two from another library.

There were only a few instructions for my hunt. The teens were given a small handout with problem-solving tips. They were allowed to borrow the iPod for the program with a library card or student ID. The first QR code led them to a video produced by one of Andrea’s teens that explained how the program worked. She also revealed their first clue. On the back of the book was the QR code. After snapping that clue, they were then led to their first author video, featuring young adult author Melissa Walker. Melissa’s clue took them to one of our reference desks. From there, they were led to a few other places around the library.

Our final clue was to the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. When kids snapped that code, they were led to a Google form to fill out and be entered for the grand prize.

AM: For our event, I created a bingo card featuring digital literacy activities. Each teen was given a bingo card and challenged to complete as many activities as possible during the lock-in. Several stations, with desktop and laptop computers, were set up around the library with library
staff on hand at each station prepared to help teens through any of the activities. Tasks included editing a Wiki page, looking up a favorite author on Twitter, testing the security of their passwords, using a library database to find out a ridiculous fact, filming a video booktalk, and playing with the code of a website using Hackasaurus.

PL: What were the program’s benefits?

KJ: The QR Code Treasure Hunt let teens learn a new piece of technology. For my rural teens, this was something they don’t get exposed to daily, and the opportunity to do so while having fun (I mean, they got to see videos from real authors!) made the learning part more enjoyable.

AM: This was such a wonderful program! It gave us a chance to really reach out to teens about digital and information literacy in a way that was interesting, relevant, and hands-on. Tying it to a successful program (our lock-ins) also gave the old program a whole new appeal. We not only had the opportunity to teach them new things about digital literacy but it was also a wonderful chance to share some of our library’s resources.  Another unexpected benefit was the chance to connect librarians from outside youth services with teens.

PL: Would you repeat this program?

KJ: I would do this program again in a heartbeat and I recommend something similar to other libraries looking for a way to incorporate technology and reading. As someone who’d never used a QR code, I thought this was such a cool introduction to the power they have, and it really encouraged me to think about how I could incorporate these things into my work.

AM: Absolutely, particularly in connection with [YALSA’s] Teen Tech Week.

PL: Why should teen librarians incorporate a focus on digital literacy in programming?

KJ: It’s important to give teens new experiences in safe environments, especially since not all teens are digitally savvy. I think the assumption is that if they’re young, they know technology. Not true.

AM: Our Teen Tech Week program really showed us the ways teens need digital literacy education—this is an area YA librarians are uniquely qualified to step up and take part in. Seeing our teen patrons “ooh!” and “ahh!” as they were also absorbing digital literacy lessons that will help them in every aspect of their life was a really great experience and it helped broaden what we think of when we think of library services to teens.

Librarians serving teens can help guide teens through the murky waters of technology and help them discover how it can be used in any setting.

REFERENCES

1. Marijke Visser, “Digital Literacy Definition,” ALA Connect, Sept. 14, 2012.
2. Ibid.

The post Teaching Teens About Digital Literacy Through Programming first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Tweens are often very interested in expressing their opinions.  They want to be surveyed about their likes and dislikes, or about what they consider to be the best or the worst.  At the beginning of the summer, I distributed a brief paper survey to the students at the local middle school and to all the sixth graders.  (I live and work in a small town where this is possible, though I understand it might be a gargantuan task in a big city.)  The survey asked potential patrons explicitly what kind of activities they would like to try during the summer. It also served the dual purpose of marketing the tween program here at our public library.   I received many completed surveys and read them all, taking notes about the results and I used the results to direct tween programming.  Then, during the summer, before each program began,  I mentioned that our Tween patrons had suggested the idea for the program. This reinforced the idea that library patrons are empowered to get the programming they actually want.

The programs themselves should focus on tween interests, especially about the self.  Tween patrons often enjoy taking quizzes or creating self portraits. Take advantage of this tendency by creating programs on topics like introspection and extroversion. Gather some books on this topic, come up with a shortened version of the Myers-Briggs personality test, and have the tweens take the test.  They will really engage in this because it centers on self discovery and self definition. Tweens can really focus because definition of the self is the primary psychological task of their age group.

At my library, at the end of a summer reading program, we launched “the best of the summer” program with a tween group. We made a huge poster for the program room and listed the best program, the best book, the best movie, the best song, best video game, and the best vacation of the summer, all chosen by the tween group.  At the bottom of the poster I listed every tween patron who had contributed an opinion, as well as my name. I do enter into the discussion during these kinds of programs, but I mostly listen.  In order to contribute opinions about pop culture, I consistently try to read, listen, and talk about the things they are interested in.

Don’t struggle to get them to focus on things that don’t interest them, rather, play up to their obsessions.  That, in a nutshell, is my zen philosophy of tween programming—never try to swim upriver; go with the flow.

The post Tween Programming: It’s All About Them first appeared on Public Libraries Online.