Oklahoma Librarian

What is this event? I wanted to showcase the Great Backyard Bird Count as a fun citizen science task to do over the weekend. This event happens every year around the same time. Migrating birds are coming back in droves and getting a count of how many survived the winter can be helpful for scientists.  This is a longer description since my speaker asked me to write about his past birding experience.  Description: Have you heard of the Great Backyard Bird Count ? Join the world in connecting to birds – February 16–19, 2024. Spend time in your favorite places watching birds, then tell us about them! In as little as 15 minutes notice the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world.  This event will be an introduction to birdwatching. This is a great hobby for everyone because it's completely free to start! All you need is your eyes and ears to hear them sing. We will be inside for the fir...

 This is an update for my monthly  Pokemon Club that I started last October. What is Pokemon Club? It's a space for Pokemon fans to get together to trade cards and play games.  New description:  Take a break! Join us to meet new friends and play Pokemon together. Bring your cards and games and get ready to trade! We'll have a limited amount of Pokemon cards to hand out to start your collection.  We're having a raid battle! Bring your best 2 Pokemon cards to try to take down giant Pikachu or Drednaw. Please bring any materials to help support your experience and comfort. Registration is NOT required to attend. What I did to prepare Have have two people that have really helped to shape my event. One is a coworker from a library I used to work at that I reached out to when I found that that she was doing a similar event. She sent me a detailed email about how she runs her events. The main items I took away were a Pokemon Bingo and a printable activity from this we...

What is a take home kit? A take home kit is where we put together crafts for guests to take and do at home. A library program in a bag with instructions if you will. These kits can range widely from soap-making for teens to gluing colorful streamers to a cloud for toddlers. I aim to make kits for elementary-aged kids from 6 - 11 years old. Below, I have the poster, description, and instructions. I found that I rarely get feedback on kits but I'll mention it if there was any. Feel free to copy any of these! The kits I made this super easy kit to get information out about the Monarch Migration that comes through Oklahoma around the start of October. I made 30 kits at first that included instructions, 2 and a third pipe cleaners, and a news article from The Oklahoman about the butterflies. I ended up making 30 more kits because the first batch ran out so fast and I took 10 to the nearby senior home. Awesome kit for all ages. The event description was "Monarch butterflies are kn...

What is this event? I was approached by a girl scout who wanted to make a kindness rock garden to get her bronze metal. I was able to get approval for them to install it at the front of our library. We also wanted to do a rock painting event to tie everything together.  Description: Join Madelyn from Troop 5178 to paint kindness rocks for our new rock garden at the library! All kindness rocks made during this event will be added to the rock garden after they dry. We'll provide the supplies, you bring the kindness. What I did to prepare The rock garden was fairly easy to get approved by our branch manager. Madelyn and her mom came by the library to talk to me about details and where they would put it. It was great to see her mind working as she tried to find the best solution to problems. Once I got the okay with the location and sign they designed, we were able to pick a day to do the rock painting event that also announced the new rock garden. I was able to purchase rocks and acry...

I put together a passive program that one of my coworkers suggested. It's a classic guess how many are in the jar game. I purchased 2 pounds of candy hearts and put as many as I could in the jar. The person who has the closest guess wins all the candy in the jar (we kept the jar). I put this on a table that was close to our reference desk, as to keep an eye on it. Anyone who wanted to guess wrote down their name and library card number. We had 62 people take a guess and 1 person got it right on the nose. We had 400 candy hearts in the jar. It was easy, cheap, and the kids loved it. 

What is this event? Vision boards have become popular over the past few years and are surprisingly easy to do at the library. This event aimed to have guests have a living vision board after 2 hours. They might not be done with it but they can continue to work on it as things change in their lives. I was able to find a local person who loves to teach people about vision boards. However, you do not need a presenter to do this event. Description for January: New Year, new you? But how do you transform yourself? Create that new you this year with a vision board! Come prepared with goals, a working plan, and ready to strategize. We will be writing, visualizing, and wondering what happens next when we achieve those goals! All supplies are provided.  Description for other months: It's never too late to make a change in your life. But how can you transform yourself? Create a new you starting now with a vision board! Come prepared with goals and be ready to strategize. We will write, visua...

What is it a Puzzle Day Celebration? This event was made to celebrate National Puzzle Day by putting together puzzles.  Description: Celebrate National Puzzle Day with jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, logic puzzles, and more. This is a come and go event.  Feel free to bring a puzzle for our "Puzzle Swap" table. Puzzles must be in their original box, have all their pieces, and be in good condition. Happy trading!  Registration is appreciated but not required.

What is Noon Year's Eve? I got the idea from librerin . This isn't a new idea but I thought it was brilliant in a library space. We had a party to celebrate the new year at noon instead of midnight. Description:  Staying up until midnight is hard at any age. You don't need to have the fear of missing out when you join us for our Noon Years Eve event. We'll celebrate the New Year by making crafts, counting down, and releasing balloons at noon!

What is Winter Crafternoon? This is a fun event that my programming department works together to make happen. This is the 3rd and best one we've done. The idea is that we all put together the supplies and instructions for a few crafts that can be done during the event. We have 4 people that work with different ages so we planned 1 - 4 crafts for the group we work with. We set up in our lobby and couch guests through the crafts and other activities.  We went all out for decorations this time and it noticeably pulled more people in. The balloon arch is reusable and we plan to use it at other crafternoons as well as our summer reading kickoff. The tablecloths in particular nice because they made cleaning up a lot easier since we threw them away afterwards. We always schedule these when school is out such as spring break. We also had tables and chairs at the back of our area for guests to sit down and craft so they wouldn't take up space at the supply tables. We had so many people ...

Amari Peters is on a quest to find her brother Quinton. He had a mysterious job that he couldn't talk about and Amari thinks that's why he went missing. The police just assumed that he was getting into bad stuff because they live in the projects. Quinton did leave something behind though. A ticking briefcase with her name on it. Following the instructions left for her exactly introduces her to an entirely different world. One filled with supernaturals like mermaids, magicians; even her roommate is a weredragon. She also discovers that all trainees receive a supernatural talent. She's the last one to receive her talent which isn't just supernatural but super illegal. Can she use her talent to find her brother while learning about this new world? I enjoyed this book. Our main character is smart, lovable, and adds to the middle-grade fantasy scene by being a person of color. Amari's talent plays a huge role in this book and shows the adults around her that they need to...