Summer Reading Planning Meeting, Needlework in the Morning, Front Desk

9:00 am - 2:00 pm
5 hours
Total hours to date: 35 hours

Today, I had the privilege of sitting in on a planning meeting for the Summer Reading Program. The meeting was led by Betty, the Assistant Director, along with staff from all three library branches. This was their second planning meeting, and they each were supposed to review their planning notebooks and come in with ideas to share. I learned that the NC state library produces these notebooks of ideas, along with the state-wide theme, and they provide 3 notebooks to the BCPL. Betty said she also buys a few more copies so that there are enough copies for key personnel at each branch. Planning for the summer reading program begins with the first meeting in January and they meet monthly to get ready for the big series of programs and activities involved in the Summer Reading Program.
The theme this year is: Dream Big. Read!

I also learned that libraries share ideas through a forum available on NCLive, called NCKids, and anyone can subscribe to that List Serve, so I did.

"NC public library youth services staff can collaborate and receive real-time communication from the State Library via NCkids list serve. Also,view past posts via the list's archive."
----from http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ld/youth/index.html

The staff shared ideas for weekly theme activities as well as ideas for weekly reading incentives for kids and ideas for larger kickoff events. They discussed whether or not to try and hire one or two acts for these activities and decided to have three events with one being an activity with a hired performer and the other two would be planned and staffed by library personnel. Staff members were given tasks to complete or research to do and the next meeting date was scheduled for Friday, March 23 at 9:00 am at the CB Hildebran branch.

I was also able to join in with the ladies who were participating in the bi-weekly activity, "Needlepoint in the Morning." I had promised them last time that I would bring some of the things my grandmother had made, including an afghan she had started for me but wasn't able to finish before she passed away. I have held onto the yarn, the pattern, and the work she had started for all these years (she passed away in 1994), in the hopes of either learning to knit so I could finish it myself or paying someone to finish it for me. The ladies looked at it, examined it, and gave their opinion on what could be salvaged and how it might be redone. Then, Frances, the senior-most expert of the group, offered to take it home and work on it a little to see if it could be finished. I am so humbled that she would be so generous with her time and talent for me when we've only met just recently. Carmen had brought some beautiful beaded necklaces that she had made and even gave away a couple of them to participants in the group. These ladies care about each other and this group has become an important part of their schedule. They use the time to create, to knit/crochet/etc. but also to share their creativity and to socialize.

When the group ended at noon, I helped clean up, then helped out at the front desk and helped a patron find some information he needed for a research project on herbal medicines using resources in the NC room.