reaching teens through branch partnering
DESCRIPTION
This presentation details the Gallatin Pike Corridor Memorial Foundation Grant to three Nashville Public Library banches. Presented at the Tennessee Library Association Annual Conference on March 25, 2011TRANSCRIPT
REACHING TEENS THROUGH BRANCH PARTNERINGTeaming Up To Attract Local Teens
Sara Morse
Suzanne Robinson
DeAnza Williams
HISTORY OF THE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION GRANT TO NPL In 2007, one of the library’s community partners
had a conversation with NPL’s Library Director and Foundation Executive Director. They expressed a wish to do something for the Madison area libraries and requested a proposal.
After assessing NPL’s needs, current trends & the community partner’s focus areas, a proposal was crafted. This proposal was enthusiastically received by the Memorial Foundation, and the Gallatin Road Corridor Afterschool Initiative was born.
From June 2005-June 2007, the three Gallatin Pike Branches saw: a 52% increase in teen circulation, a 47% increase in YA materials checked out from these
locations by all age groups
PURPOSE OF GRANT
The Gallatin Pike Memorial Foundation Grant was designed to give area teens the opportunity to engage in constructive afterschool activities that enhance academic and social skills at the East, Inglewood, and Madison Branches.
Madison
Inglewood
East
EAST
One of the two remaining Carnegie Libraries in Nashville, East opened in May 1919.
Across the street from East Literature Magnet School, which serves grades 5-12, East sees a lot of teens afterschool. It is located in a gentrifying neighborhood, serving populations of senior citizens, twenty- and thirty-somethings, and stay-at-home moms.
INGLEWOOD
Inglewood Branch Library was built in the early 1970s as a result of a community petition.
While the sole school in walking distance from the branch is currently under renovation and the branch sees little teen traffic, Inglewood continues to serve a thriving homeschool population of 3-12 year olds.
MADISON
The original Madison Library was built in 1977 and served the community for more than 20 years. A new building opened in August of 2000.
Madison serves a very diverse population and we are one of the few library branches that has a dedicated teen room.
GRANT COMPONENTS
The two year grant included funds for:
Collections
Programming
Tutoring
Teen room Renovation at Madison
HOW WE APPROACHED THE GRANT
Organized a team with the branches involved
Team includes:4 Branch Managers (2 are Area Managers)1 Young Adult Librarian
Held regular meetings to discuss collections or programming or both as needed
Area Managers were tasked with facilitating either the Programming or the Collections
COLLECTIONS We ordered:
Two rounds of test prep books
Professional development materials
Several small orders of fiction and nonfiction
Large manga, comic, and graphic novel order
Movies and music
Videogame pilot project PS2 Xbox 360 Wii
VIDEOGAME SURVEY – GAMING PLATFORMS
DSPlaystation 3
PS2Wii
Xbox 360
VIDEOGAME SURVEY – PREFERRED GENRES
Action; 13% Driving;
21%
Educa-tional; 6%Music; 12%Party; 11%
RPG; 7%
Simulation; 11%
Sports; 14%
Strategy; 6%
VIDEOGAME ORDER
Madison had 75 games on the final order list, 25 in each format
Inglewood and East ordered a combined 81 titles
PROGRAMMING
All locations combined, we offered more than 320 programs over the life of the grant with over 2,409 teens in attendance
Diverse program offerings included educational, gaming, technology, music, craft and college prep programs
Branches chose to use the programming funds in different ways: East had several big programs, Inglewood focused on summer reading programs, and Madison had many smaller programs. We all worked together on our major programs
MAJOR PROGRAMS
Gallacon: Animanga Festival Graphic Art Contest Art Workshop Cosplay Contest Gallacon Finale
Author Visit with L. Divine
Upcoming partner programs
GALLACON: THE ANIMANGA FESTIVAL
Fall Break 2009 – 3 programs in one week
Graphic Art Contest
Art Workshop with cartoonist James Barry at East
Cosplay Contest and Anime Trivia at Inglewood
Gallacon Finale with Origami, Candy Sushi Making, Anime Screening, Gaming, and Graphic Art Contest Awards Ceremony at Madison
THE GRAPHIC ART CONTEST We accepted submissions from artists 12-18 for:
Best Comic Book Page (a sequential story told in multiple panels)
Best Fan Art (a copies image of a previously created character)
Best Original Character (created by the artist – not a copy) Prizes were awarded in two age groups: 12 to 14 and
15 to 18 Entries were judged on originality, creativity, and style
EAST: ART WORKSHOP WITH JAMES BARRY
James L. Barry led the workshop. He illustrated part of the Warriors manga series, and he is Nashville native who agreed to lead the workshop for a small honorarium – just enough to cover the plane ticket
The workshop drew over 30 teens Door prizes were donated by Jerry’s
Art-a-rama
INGLEWOOD: COSPLAY CONTEST Prizes were donated by Performance Studios, a local
costume shop Current and former staff with YA experience
volunteered to judge Entries were judged on detail, effort, and
presentation
MADISON: GALLACON FINALE
Local origami wiz volunteered his expertise for Origami Workshop
•Local art school students judged Graphic Art Contest
•Library’s T.O.T.A.L. teens came to help out with registration and crowd control
MADISON: GALLACON FINALE
Lots of Japanese snacks from a local international market
Gaming in the teen room Naruto on TV Cart DDR on Kiosk, with pads
borrowed from another branch
MADISON: GALLACON FINALE
Candy sushi making in the story room
Anime Screening from Operation Anime– Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Rated TV PG
Door prizesdonated by Ingram
AUTHOR VISIT WITH L. DIVINE April 2010 at East Teens at East had previously used an L. Divine book for
a page to the stage program Librarian at Pearl-Cohn High School wanted her teens to
participate, but transportation was an issue Main Library’s technology specialists helped us Skype
Ms. Divine’s presentation to Hadley Park, another branch library within walking distance of Pearl-Cohn
30 teens at East, 22 at Hadley Park
UPCOMING PROGRAMS FOR 2011
Teen Iron Chef at Inglewood
Poetry Slam at East
Fun Fair at Madison
Expansion of videogame pilot project
Creating your own cell phone ring tone with Zig Wajler
PROGRAMMING AT EAST
Spoken Word: A Tribute to Black History Conducted by the local chapter of Youth Speaks
Beyond the Truth Conducted by the local chapter of Youth Speaks
Page to the Stage – a joint effort with a local theater company Teens took a section from Drama High by L.
Divine and performed it on stage
PROGRAMMING AT INGLEWOOD
Purchased a one year movie license for ongoing movie programs
Connecting Literacy Music and Technology program with Zig Wajler
Ongoing programming featuring T.O.T.A.L.
PROGRAMMING AT MADISON
Mondays – Gaming on the Kiosk
Tuesdays – Traditional Teen Programs
Wednesdays – Educational programs SAT/ACT practice Tests on 1st Wednesday Artist’s Space on 2nd Wednesday Teen Writer’s Workshop on 3rd Wednesday Anime and Manga Club on 4th Wednesday
PROGRAMS OFFERED AND ATTENDANCE BY FISCAL YEAR - MADISON
FY0708 FY0809 FY0910 FY1011Programs offered 20 38 148 109
Attendance 199 261 1223 753
FY0708 FY0809 FY0910 FY10110
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
20 38
148109
199261
1223
753
Programs offeredAttendance
EQUIPMENT FOR PROGRAMS
Special equipment purchased with grant funds include: A Flip video camera An iPod and docking station A Meridian kiosk for video gaming Spinners to house manga collection Electrical outlets Fatboy soft seating
HOMEWORK TUTORING
The grant funded two part-time homework tutors for East and Madison
Diverse group of tutors over the last three years - they have been undergraduate and graduate students and a college instructor turned master gardener
Tutoring is offered afterschool (between 3 and 7 pm) and on weekends as needed
HOMEWORK TUTORING AT EAST
Fiscal Year 0809
Fiscal Year 0910
Fiscal Year 1011
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
360
540
435
10 15 15
Estimated number of tutoring ses-sionsAverage number of sessions per week
HOMEWORK TUTORING AT MADISON
Fiscal Year 0809
Fiscal Year 0910
Fall 100
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
65
77
98
1.25 1.48 2.88
Number of tutoring sessions
Average number of sessions per week
HOMEWORK TUTORING SESSIONS BY AGE GROUP AT MADISON
1%
30%
48%
21%
CollegeHigh SchoolMiddle SchoolElementary
HOMEWORK TUTORING SESSIONS BY SUBJECT AT MADISON
50%
20%
15%
13% 2%
MathSocial StudiesLanguage ArtsScienceOther
PREVENT SUMMER BRAIN DRAIN
During the summer of 2009, the homework tutors at Madison created the Prevent Summer Brain Drain program series
The eleven week series yielded a total of 33 educational summer programs, attended by 285 students
Weekly themes included: Creative Writing Agriculture Math Cultural Arts Creative Arts Retro-Tech
TEEN ROOM RENOVATION AT MADISON
Planning period: November 2008 – June 2009
Teen Focus Group: April 21st, 2009
Renovation: August 6th through 25th, 2009
MADISON’S TEEN ROOM BEFORE THE RENOVATION
Dark
Poor line of sight
Always adults using the computers
FIRST RENOVATION PROPOSAL
RENOVATION FOCUS GROUP / PIZZA PARTY
We used Kimberly Bolan’s Teen Spaces: The Step-by-Step
Library Makeover, 2nd ed.
Teens viewed Flickr sets from benchmark library teen centers and gave feedback about what they liked and didn’t like
We typed up the teens’ responses and sent them to the architect and interior designer
PROPOSAL AFTER TEEN INPUT
THE NEW TEEN ROOM
NOT-SO-GRAND OPENING
The Teen Room opened on August 25th, 2009 with a small “not-so-Grand Opening” party.
We had the official Grand Opening Celebration two weeks later.
PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Partner within your region
Share ideas
Partner with other libraries Teen-Programs-in-a-Box
Partner with schools Limitless Libraries
Partner with community groups Night Out Against Crime
Partner with your teens! Focus groups and program ideas
PARTNERSHIP BASICS
Communicating– in person, by phone, by email
Being open to everyone’s ideas
Sharing – ideas, tools, research, materials
Dividing the workload and volunteering for various tasks
Give your partner(s) lots of credit!
QUESTIONS?
This presentation will be available on slideshare
www.slideshare.net/
Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have: Suzanne Robinson, Manager
Inglewood Branch [email protected]
Sara Morse, YA LibrarianMadison Area [email protected]