[yscon] Advice for Making Big SRP Changes

Wed Dec 20 11:11:52 PST 2017

Hi everyone,

In Iowa, which has 544 public libraries (even though we are mostly rural
and have a population of just over 3 million), we provide CSLP membership
and the online manual to each library, including the Iowa Library for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped.    Ordinarily, we do six face-to-face
four-hour workshops in late October-early November.  However, this year we
had to alter our usual schedule because I broke my wrist in early October.
As a result, we are doing four one-hour webinars in January (one for each
manual) and in March, we will have six face-to-face roundtables around the
state, in which further information will be provided (using the Project
Outcome questionnaires to get patron feedback, among other things), and in
which attendees will have the opportunity to share with each other their
plans for their summer reading programs.  At the workshops/roundtables, I
give away incentives in drawings (tee-shirts, pins, banners, posters) and
review copies of books that accumulate through the year--it's a good way to
get people to arrive back from lunch on time--they have to be in the room
to win if their name is drawn.

Until last year, the State Library of Iowa co-sponsored a Performers'
Showcase, offered in three locations throughout the state, varying from
year to year.  Our involvement was registration for the events through the
CE catalog, offering CE hours to attendees of the live events, and I
attended, managing the registration process, filming each performer's
20-minute sample, posting the videos on YouTube, and sharing the links
statewide.  Most of our librarians found this to be helpful in selecting
programs.  The Showcase is organized, locations identified, and the
performers vetted by Rick Brammer, who is a book salesman by day and a
magician by night.  Last year, the State Library's support ended, and the
event is now managed by the Youth Services Subdivision of the Iowa Library
Association, which arranges for CE hours through the State Library.
Someone from that group films the performers and puts them up on YouTube,
then shares the links statewide on our online forum, LibraryTalk.

Many of our librarians in our small libraries have found the transition
from print manual to online to be confusing--and difficult in many cases.
Broadband in our rural areas is limited, and Iowa is dotted with nearly 200
small telecom companies.  And as others of you have pointed out, change can
be difficult.  Some of them have chosen to buy the print manual directly
from Demco.

Danielle, if it's feasible for your state library association to take over
the performers showcase, that might be an option.  It's worked in Iowa.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Merri

*Merri Monks* Youth Services Consultant
*State Library of Iowa* | Des Moines Office
515.281.7572 | Merri.Monks at iowa.gov
1112 E. Grand Avenue | Des Moines, IA 50319
www.StateLibraryofIowa.org <http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/>

On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 11:41 AM, Lancaster, Catherine (MDE) <
LancasterC5 at michigan.gov> wrote:

> We, too, only offered the online manual this year –I did warn many last
> year that they should explore it as we were moving that way.  Also, this
> video from CSLP that Luke just posted may be helpful:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y_o1DAvCEk.
>
>
>
> I will say I bought a dozen of the USB’s, just in case.  I’ve had 6
> libraries request those, but that’s it!
>
>
>
>
>
> *Cathy Lancaster*
>
>
>
> Youth Services Coordinator
>
> Library of Michigan
> 702 W. Kalamazoo St.
> Lansing, MI 48915
>
> LancasterC5 at michigan.gov *|* 517-335-8129 *|* www.mi.gov/libraryofmichigan
>
> Follow us: Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/libraryofmichigan/> *|*
> Twitter <https://twitter.com/libraryofmich> *|* Instagram
> <https://www.instagram.com/libraryofmichigan/>
>
>
>
> *From:* yscon [mailto:yscon-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] *On Behalf
> Of *Williams, Linda
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 20, 2017 12:22 PM
> *To:* 'Margarida, Danielle (DOA)' <Danielle.Margarida at olis.ri.gov>; YSCon
> Listserv (yscon at listsmart.osl.state.or.us) <yscon at listsmart.osl.state.or.
> us>
> *Subject:* Re: [yscon] Advice for Making Big SRP Changes
>
>
>
> Just to add my voice to the chorus, like many of you, what we do in
> Connecticut is to provide all libraries with CSLP membership, and –
> contingent upon their filling out our annual summer reading survey – a
> manual.
>
>
>
> We switched this year to offering ONLY the online manual – and that has
> met with some unhappiness. I know some libraries have gone and purchased
> the paper manual instead.
>
>
>
> We were late to the statewide summer reading game (we joined CSLP in 2005,
> the summer of Dragons, Dreams and Daring Deeds). It has taken a while to
> get our creative librarians on board with a theme they didn’t invent
> themselves. So we’ve never developed the Summer Reading stuff that a lot of
> you have, e.g. I don’t offer anything with actual library programming.
> However, we have a very active listserv where people throw out their ideas
> for programming, performers, etc.
>
>
>
> We DID get our State Department of Education on board so that they echo
> our theme (they have their own graphics department, so they don’t use
> CSLP graphics <http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2683&q=320322>)
> and I do annual theme related summer reading lists (K-2 example
> <http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/ctread/2017_ctread_gradek_2.pdf>).
> Many schools have adapted those lists as their summer lists – which is a
> double-edged sword, because the books I put on the list are highly sought
> after with so many kids in the state looking for them. Alas!
>
>
>
> I mentioned your query, Danielle, to our LSTA coordinator (who
> coincidently lives in Rhode Island J ) and she gave you kudos for
> rethinking your goals on this. So we agree you are on a good quest. People
> don’t love change, however, so I think gritting your teeth and doing it is
> necessary! In the end many people will just forget that you used to offer
> the programming stuff.
>
>
>
> Happy holidays to all!
>
>
>
> Linda
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: CT_State_Library_Logo-02.png]
>
>
>
> Linda Williams | Children's Services Consultant, Division of Library
> Development | Linda.Williams at ct.gov | *Office*: (860) 704-2207
>
> libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld/children | 786 S. Main St., Middletown,
> CT 06457 | Phone: (860) 704-2200 | Fax : (860) 704-2228
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* yscon [mailto:yscon-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
> <yscon-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>] *On Behalf Of *Margarida,
> Danielle (DOA)
> *Sent:* Monday, December 18, 2017 1:33 PM
> *To:* YSCon Listserv (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
>
>
>
> [image: veclogo-2018]
>
>
>
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