Cindy Crushes Programming: Teen Services Showcase

We have a variety of services at the White Oak Library District for teens. We had an idea about showing teens about all the services we have, where they are able to get hands-on experience with our teens services. We came up with a few ideas.

First we had this event at our Crest Hill Branch. It is one floor unlike our Lockport and Romeoville Branch, so it makes it a little easier to do programming all spread out within the branch. We chose to do this as an after hours program. We  invited parents to come with them if they wanted to see the services with their teens. We knew this would be a bit of a harder sell so we offered service hours and had a service project they could do. We had pizza and soda as a snack. We made sure to have a Circulation Clerk with us to help make sure teens could check out materials

How it worked

Introductions

The teen librarians and the Crest Hill Teen and Adult supervisor introduced themselves. We talked about our upcoming programs and also fun facts about ourselves. We then did booktalks on a few titles we had prepared to talk about. We had copies of the books we talked about on the tables so people could check them out after. We gave them program surveys they could fill out and help give us ideas for future programs.

Spilt Up into Stations

We then spilt up into different stations based on the services we provide.

• Computer Lab: One Section was the computer lab where we talked about signing up for our #librarycrate service. We had prepared boxes based on genres that teens could check out right away. https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2021/03/17/cindy-crushes-programming-librarycrate-a-library-subscription-service-by-teen-librarian-cindy-shutts/
• RA Station: I manned the RA Station. I have books that we recommends as well as all of the Adult Teen Supervisors. We had some great choices. I also answered questions about library cards. We got a new library card issued that night. Samantha Burkiewicz made super cute RA handouts:

Craft Station: Make your own Mini Book Charm. https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2021/05/19/cindy-crushes-programming-shadow-and-bone-mini-book-charms-take-and-make-by-teen-librarian-cindy-shutts/

Faith Healy  made a super cute one of You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson for our example.

Video Game Room: This was the most popular of the stations we had. Teens still like playing video games. We had our switch set up for use. It was also my niece’s favorite station as well. 

Service Station: We had cardboard the teens could cut out if they wanted to help us prep for a future craft of making mouse ears.  This was less popular than some of the other stations. I will say cutting cardboard is a harder task. 

Let the Games Begin!

After the rotation for the various services  we returned to the big room to play book trivia. We used Kahoot. Faith Healy worked really hard making the trivia and the teens really enjoyed it. We have a gift card for the winner and everyone got a prize book for trying.  This section did end early, so we had the room play our virtual escape room together. I read the choices and Faith clicked the Pathways. They chose Among Us and Shrek. 

http://www.whiteoaklibrary.org/escape-rooms

Teen Librarian Questions and Answers

This was short. We got mostly questions about service hours and how to get them. We know there is a lack of way to get service hours teens are required to in our area so this is our most frequently asked  question.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed this program. We got a lot of positive feedback. One change I would make would be making the rotating last longer. Also, try to make the rotations happen more frequently. I would not try to push it too much, just try to make sure patrons are more aware of the other services we have. I was super glad we had time to do the escape room together. Those are always my fail safe for extra time in programs. 

Filed under: Cindy Crushes Programming