[yscon] Advice for Making Big SRP Changes

Tue Dec 19 10:31:46 PST 2017

Hi everyone!
Thanks for this thread-always interesting to hear what others do (and don’t do!) and thanks Stephanie for the reminder about goals- we need to look at that in MA I think as well and I love all your programs.

In MA we provide CSLP membership, manuals to each library (online only since it was available), posters, & bookmarks. To receive these things we also require a submission of stats and comments. We also have a contract for 150 licenses of Wandoo (but it is underused). We have a partnership with the Boston Bruins and they provide funding for the paper materials (posters & bookmarks) and I put a cap on the orders depending on town population. Danielle-I would be interested in how your vouchers work as the ordering-through-me process is quite cumbersome and it’s easy for me or library staff to make mistakes on the form (1400 posters for one library!) For 2018 I am focusing more on training and to that end we have a series of webinars coming up in Jan/Feb including Project Outcome, Bedtime Math, inclusive programming and summer reading research. In March we’ll be hosting in-person workshops around the state.

Our state library agency (which is not MLS, but the MBLC) has some efforts aligned with summer reading research and impact. They have run campaigns like #readfour<http://summerlibraryprograms.com/read-four.htm> and they put LSTA funds towards advertising (radio, social media, print and on buses!). They also work alongside us with the Bruins on providing raffle prizes, visits with the mascot and printable materials (coloring pages, mazes, etc.).

Danielle, as far as dropping something… I say go for it! You may have some grumbles the first year or two (we used to provide reading logs but nixed that a few years ago-it was costly even though only a few libraries used them and there are loads of free ones in the manual! I still hear about it but it’s easy to justify; it lacked impact and served only a few.) But you will never make everyone happy. For every one person who loves the performers there is at least one who doesn’t. I think having something to “replace” it with is a great idea and I could see you going in a few directions … I love the micro-grant idea and wish we could do something like that at MLS but we don’t run grant programs. Or more with school/public collaboration. We’re also thinking about doing our own research in the near future.
I think as long as people see that $$ going towards something else summer related most will be appeased! Good Luck!

--
April Mazza
Consultant
april at masslibsystem.org<mailto:april at masslibsystem.org>
Massachusetts Library System
http://www.masslibsystem.org/
866-627-7228 (in Massachusetts only)
508-357-2121 x307

From: yscon <yscon-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> on behalf of Stephanie Bailey-White <Stephanie.Bailey-White at libraries.idaho.gov>
Date: Monday, December 18, 2017 at 3:47 PM
To: "Margarida, Danielle (DOA)" <Danielle.Margarida at olis.ri.gov>, YSCon <yscon at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: Re: [yscon] Advice for Making Big SRP Changes

Hi Danielle & all. I thought I’d chime in since Staci, our SRP lead, is taking a few vacation days this week. I’d go back to your goals – why you’re supporting efforts and how you measure success. For Idaho, we really want to reach youth who are struggling with reading and those who face barriers getting to the library in the summer. The activities ICfL supports are designed to keep children reading over the summer, increase their access to print materials, and increase awareness of the importance of maintaining a reading routine in the summer. We’re working on programs that keep school libraries open over the summer, Summer STEM micro-grants, school-public library collaborative efforts, and lots of support to encourage outreach efforts and partnerships with summer nutrition programs, etc. SR attendance in “regular” and outreach programs has never been higher, and while we believe we have a lot more work to do to ensure all youth have access to books and services over the summer, we know our efforts have made a difference statewide.

We had a small advisory group get together to help us focus our efforts on these goals many years ago and that helped “sell” our efforts to the library community. See http://libraries.idaho.gov/landing/summer-reading for more details on the programs we offer.

Best of luck,
Stephanie

Stephanie Bailey-White
Deputy State Librarian
Idaho Commission for Libraries
325 W State St. Boise, ID 83702
stephanie.bailey-white at libraries.idaho.gov<mailto:stephanie.bailey-white at libraries.idaho.gov>
208-639-4145 or 1-800-458-3271 in Idaho
http://libraries.idaho.gov<http://libraries.idaho.gov/>

From: yscon [mailto:yscon-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Margarida, Danielle (DOA)
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2017 11:33 AM
To: YSCon Listserv (yscon at listsmart.osl.state.or.us) <yscon at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: [yscon] Advice for Making Big SRP Changes

Hi everyone,
        We currently support our statewide SRP by purchasing manuals, providing vouchers for the purchase of posters and reading logs, and by paying for each library (71 buildings) to have one children’s performer and one teen performer. The whole process of selecting, booking, and paying the performers is a very convoluted process involving applications, a showcase, a booking meeting, and lots and lots of paperwork on my end. I’ve streamlined the process quite a bit over the past two years, but it is very time consuming and I’m doubtful of the impact it has on the summer reading program. Because we only pay $160 per program we do not get a variety of (nor high quality) performers willing to participate. Attendance numbers for these performances has been steadily declining, and every year I field complaints from directors regarding the performers that are selected. (Directors want performers that can draw/accommodate large crowds, but we can’t get these types of performers because of the low $160 rate). The Youth Services Advisory Council is responsible for reviewing applications and selecting performers, however I am the middle man dealing with performers, helping libraries/performers book their programs, and maintaining a calendar of all performances throughout the state.
        I would really like to stop providing the performers showcase and paying for performers. It takes a lot of time to coordinate and prevents me from working on other projects that I think would be more meaningful (such as offering more training on summer learning, building more online SRP resources, etc.) And while I don’t make the performer selections, it does appear that our agency is promoting a specific group of performers over another – something I’m not very comfortable with. This year I had to deal with an aggressive performer who was not selected, and we had to involve our legal department.
        All of this is to ask – do you have something you do to support SRP that works really well? I have supervisor support to discontinue the performers showcase, but I need to provide something in its place. I’m getting too wrapped up in my own head and would appreciate hearing what’s working for you, or if you have experience in making a big change (the showcase is a decades old institution and I’m a bit nervous about the blowback!) I am planning on sending out surveys and holding a forum to gather input from librarians, too.

Thank you!

Also, we may already be getting an online reading program  through our partnership with our state’s grade level reading campaign, so I’m looking for something other than providing a service like Wandoo Reader or Beanstack.

*******************
Danielle Margarida, Youth Services Coordinator
Office of Library & Information Services
Rhode Island Department of Administration
One Capitol Hill | Providence, RI  02908-5803

401.574.9309 (voice) | 401.574.9320 (fax) | www.olis.ri.gov<http://www.olis.ri.gov/>

[eclogo-2018]

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