Wednesday, October 22, 2008

TEEN READ WEEK 2008



I have to start by saying that I'm delighted by how the Teen Read Week programming went this year. The attendance surpassed last year's and it appeared that the retention for the inter-related Friday programs was high as well. The majority of attendees were teens though there were a number of supervising adults this year as well. As with last year, Andrea and I created book lists and displays to accompany the programming.

Friday (Comixstravaganza):
11-12 panel: We had 8 panelists from our thriving local comics community, who generously donated their time to the causes of teens and libraries. There were 26 attendees for the panel, roughly 22 of whom were kids/teens.

12:30-1:30 Manga class: We had 29 attendees for the class of who 24 were teens/kids. The majority of those who had attended the panel stayed for the class and we picked up some additions. They kids were very into the class and approached with the kind of focus you might see at an SAT prep class. We should revisit this as an activity for Summer Reading.

2:00-4:00 Anime movie with pizza, pocky, and pop. We had 30 attendees for this, approximately 24-5 were kids/teens. The anime movie was the newest Bleach release: Bleach--Memories of Nobody. We had a few cans of pop leftover, but the pizza and pocky were suitably annihilated.

We didn't have a formal assessment to hand out to find out where the attendees had heard about the events but an informal poll gave us the following results: 3 had seen the flier at Highland, 1 had seen events in E&C, and 4 came from the YWCA. (The YWCA had called earlier in the week about a class visit and I told them about the Thursday Wii and Friday/Saturday TRW activities. Apparently it took.)

Saturday (Twilight party):
The party had 45 attendees, 35 of whom were teens. We had a craft (making a Bella bracelet), a costume contest, a trivia contest (with smaller prizes of fangs and read bracelets), and a debate between Team Jacob and Team Edward. Much to my surprise about 15 teens turned up 20 minutes before the party was set to begin, raring to go, and tapping their toes until the festivities got underway. I closed the Edward vs. Jacob debate with a question about what they were going to read next and got some new ideas myself as well as directing them to a display of read-alikes and some booklists. The music and decorations received a thumbs up from several attendees and the trivia contest (which was somewhat impromptu) was embraced enthusiastically. There were some crossed wires about the costume contest so we didn't have as many contestants as we'd hoped for. (We did have several teens tell us that they would've dressed up if they'd known though, so it is a feasible activity.)

Of the teens we talked to, it appeared that word of mouth was the predominant factor in finding out about the Twilight Party. Several times I heard, "My mom/dad saw it in the newspaper and told me about it. Then I told my friends." Newspapers and library fliers were the triggers for the word of mouth.

Thanks go to Phyllis and Karen for helping out with the funding. It was much appreciated and couldn't have come at a better time.
Thanks also go to Susan H. for ordering a couple of new anime releases for us and getting them to us post-haste and in time for the Comixstravaganza. Cindy generously let us co-opt a couple of willing volunteers to work to help with TRW and work during the events. Mavis and Carl did a great job.

Here are more photos of the events which may help give you a feel for how they went as well.

I'm already excited for next year's Teen Read Week. I think Central is getting to a place where it can become a destination for teens. With the proximity of a couple of high schools, publicity, and regular activities (Teen Advisory Council, programs, a manga/anime club perhaps), we can make Central a welcoming and regular destination for teens.

I'm planning on writing a more detailed report with suggestions for follow when I get back from my family reunion, but I hope that this covers the basic ground. Please feel free to email me with questions.


--Jennifer B.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Researching the Candidates

This webinar was given by Kristen Clark, who works for Minitex and the University of Minnesota libraries. She discussed various websites that can help voters look behind the headlines and political ads currently running on television and radio.

One of the sites profiled was www.congress.org/election. This site looks at elections at various levels and provides key candidate positions. For current Congressional members, it also provides legislative voting history. This site includes a link where you can enter your address and zip code to see which candidates are running for Congressional seats in your district. The link will provide a profile of the candidates, where they stand on various issues, and if they accepted any PAC contributions.

The League of Women Voters website, also provides a custom voting guide which uses your address and zip code, but this site includes candidate information for local elections in addition to Presidential and Congressional candidate information. The local information includes judicial races, Soil and Water Conservation district races and any Minnesota Constitutional Amendments which may appear on your ballot.

Factcheck monitors the accuracy of the candidates’ television ads, news release and speeches. It also provides sources and relevant articles supporting a particular point of view as well as an archive of stories Factcheck has already done.

For a fun look at the Presidential candidates’ statements, see PolitiFact. This site, from the St Petersburg Times, also monitors the accuracy of the candidates’ claims, but with interesting graphics. Was Obama’s last statement “mostly true” or was it rated “liar, lair, pants on fire?” Find out with the Truth-O-Meter. Was McCain’s latest statement a half flip or a full flop? Find out with the Flip-O-Meter.

Want to know who is providing funding to particular candidate’s campaign? Try FEC or Opensecrets. The FEC (Federal Elections Commission) site focuses on campaign contributions from individuals and committees while the Open Secrets site includes information on campaign contributions from PACs and Lobbyists.

If you are more concerned about issues than finances, try Ontheissues. This site ranks the Presidential candidates on a variety if issues from the economy to education, foreign trade, immigration, and more. This site (along with Minnesota Public Radio) also has “select-a-candidate” quiz. Simply click “support” or “oppose” for each of the issues listed, and the site will tell you which candidate most closely matches your views or opinions. The On the Issues site focuses on the Presidential candidates while the MPR site includes the Presidential, Senate and House candidates for Minnesota.

Finally, if you would like suggestions for other voting related web sites to visit, or would like to view the Powerpoint presentation for this webinar, check here. The University of Minnesota created this site to help their students become more informed, better educated voters. It includes all the web sites previously mentioned as well as many others. There are also links to the webs sites of some of the Presidential candidates and their various political parties.

--Karen H.