Youth Services Forum Executive Committee
Charlottesville, VA
April 2, 2004
Attending: Ginger Armstrong, Martha Baden, Josie Bergstrom, Tim Carrier, Maureen Harrill, Sue Llewellyn, Dena Martin, Pat Muller, Sherry Pearson, Julie Ramsay, Dora Rowe, Val Thomson, Deborah Wright
Julie began the meeting with announcements and welcomed Martha Baden and Deborah Wright. Federal Legislative Day handouts were available as well as a petition to sign regarding the USA Patriot Act.
The January minutes were approved.
Pat reported on Library of Virginia news. She just finished with the Emergent Literacy Workshop. A national training will be held in Minneapolis on October 2nd. Pat is going to this training and would like to present it statewide. In 2005, a family literacy conference will be held. Pat is working on obtaining a keynote speaker. Research based sessions and preschool readiness will be the focus. Pat will be holding youth services sessions on teen services, gathering and managing data, and teen programs for the VLA Paraprofessional Conference. The Growing Readers booklist is at the printer. Summer reading program materials should be mailed out in mid-April. This first year in the consortium has run smoothly and resulted in huge savings. Pat has participated in a conference call with school librarians to talk about cooperation. Pat is also hoping the Library will receive support to offer tutor.com.
Julie reported on VLA Council. VLA is celebrating its centennial and is asking for suggestions on how to celebrate this milestone. Send any ideas for the centennial to Julie Ramsay or Sam Clay. VLA is interested in tying in each forum or committee to the celebration. Currently there are four nominees to the Library of Virginia Board and VLA is lobbying for candidates. The VLA server will need to be replaced in the next twelve months. VLA is looking at certification and continuing education requirements. VLA Region III Representative discussed a sister arrangement with a library in South Africa that invited members to visit. Julie will send more information about the visit when she receives it.
Martha reported on the Jefferson Cup Committee. The committee has chosen a winner, Grape Thief by Kristine Franklin. The honor books were In Defense of Liberty by Russell Freedman, Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life by Candace Fleming, and A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. There were 266 eligible titles this year. The brochure is being assembled and will be sent to the printer by May 1st. Martha asked Julie to introduce the Jefferson Cup luncheon and Martha will introduce Kristine Franklin at the luncheon. Next year’s Jefferson Cup chair will be Donna Hughes. Martha has been working to get pictures of all of the Jefferson Cup winners on the VLA web site. She has also been working with vendors for more visibility of the award. She has sent press releases about the winners to the major newspapers. Martha is also working on placing publisher information in a database to help the incoming chair. Martha will e-mail Jefferson Cup procedures to Julie.
Shelley sent news that she would e-mail the new Virginia Young Readers list to Youth Services Forum members.
Maureen and Sherry reported on Region I events. The area celebrated Dr. Seuss’s 100th birthday. In Pulaski County, Newburn Elementary won the statewide Reading Is Fundamental contest that is a cooperative program between the school and library system. In Roanoke County, a nursing program with Carilion was held in which children learned about the profession, germs with a black light, and the Kelly doll that shows how internal organs are organized. The Salem Public Library hosted a local banker who read to children.
Dora reported on Region II events. In Amelia, a Triskaidekaphobia Party for teens was held with a showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Blue Ridge Regional Library promoted National Library Week with a storytime/book giveaway. Danville Public hosted a fire safety program for children. Applause Unlimited performed a puppet show for 121 toddlers and parents who were utterly spellbound in Halifax. The Lynchburg Public Library offered monthly craft programs. Meherrin Regional sponsored a family musical program. Melanie reported on a story garden in Amherst and a Curious George party in Bedford.
Josie reported on Region III events sent in by Neva. Portsmouth started Motheread classes. Library Family Reading Nights have been taken over by Portsmouth Reads. Portsmouth is piloting a Raising a Reader project at the Central Library. The Eastern Shore Public Library has started a “Be the First to Read a Book” program. Customers fill out a request, the library orders the book paid for by the customer. The customer takes the book home for a month to read it, and then the customer donates the book back to the library. Poquoson Public Library offers an adopt-a-book program. Patrons may choose to purchase and donate a book to the library from a display table of possible selections. Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, will visit the Hampton Public Library. The Virginia Beach Public Library’s bookmobile is now focusing on children who are not strong readers or library users and is taking storytime to several Head Start and Early Discoveries preschool classrooms, two elementary schools, a Navy housing complex and some apartment complexes. Chesapeake Public Library offers families the opportunity to win tickets to see “Clifford the Big Red Dog Live!”
Dena reported on Region IV events. Chesterfield hosted Read 2 Rover programs and a teen volunteer opportunities workshop. Colonial Heights offered guitar sing-alongs and a magician. In Henrico, Heidi Rugg and Barefoot Puppets presented the “Little Red Hen.” A workshop of kite-making was offered. Three teen advisory boards have formed in Henrico. The teens create publicity and set up programs. Current programs included a teen poetry program and Japanese cartoon drawing. Pamunkey had a teen movie night and a sharing of poetry. Richmond offered a program on making an indoor garden. For National Library Week, children are asked to write a letter to their favorite author. Letters and pictures of the authors will be displayed.
Sue and Julie reported on Region V events. At the Fauquier Library, youth services staff coordinated a teddy bear picnic at the Fauquier County Community Center presented to Head Start students, Shadow Lawn senior citizens and county adult day care participants. Children and seniors rotated through four stations for stories, songs, crafts, and snacks. In all, 200 children, teens and seniors participated in the event. Jerry Schneider presented “Learn Your Butterflies” for the Loudoun County Public Library. He spoke of different species of butterflies and their migration and later made a t-shirt with a butterfly pattern. The Chinn Park Regional Library held a kite-making workshop with the Wings Over Washington kite enthusiasts. For National Library Week, the Central Community Library in Prince William will have the entire staff dress up as well-known book characters. Patrons have a chance to see how many characters they can identify for a chance at a book drawing. The Bull Run Regional Library is planning a Magic Tree House Party: Mummies in the Morning for National Library Week. At the Woodrow Wilson Community Library, an all-male discussion group, Calling All Guys, for teens 11-16 with adult will be held one evening a month.
Tim and Val reported on events in Region VI. Culpeper County’s teen advisory group will meet with local college students who will talk to the group about college life. The Handley Regional Library will collaborate with other agencies such as the school system, the Parks and Recreation Department, a children’s museum, and literacy volunteers to create a major citywide reading effort for the summer. At the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, storyteller Katie Green will perform and also present a workshop for Children’s Services staff. The ninth annual Cheap Thrills Logo Contest to select a design for the teen summer reading program has concluded. The entries will be judged on April 5th. A new e-mail list for teen happenings at the library has been activated. The Rappahannock County Library observed George Washington’s birthday with a picture and word poster contest for children. Older kids and teens will be able to participate in “A Likely Story” this summer which is an opportunity to write and publish a 16-page book that will later be added to the library’s collection. The Augusta County Library hosted a Murder in the Library. The Churchville Branch is planning a high tea while the Main Library will have an American Girl Doll brunch and craft program. The Teen Council sponsored an evening of family fun involving chocolate trivia, crafts, and games. The Staunton Public Library offered “Goops, Gumps & Gadzooks,” a special program that caters to the curious minds of 9-12 year-olds, and a book/movie discussion group for teens. The Waynesboro Public Library participated in a special workshop on customer service for teens presented by Pat Muller.
Julie provided the group with a handout from the VLA Legislative Committee and a General Assembly update. Julie testified on the HB189 bill and expressed the importance of providing information to our legislators about how libraries really work with filtering and what librarians are doing to help patrons with the Internet. Julie mentioned the possibility of working with the VLA Intellectual Freedom Committee on these issues. Julie encouraged members to contact their local legislators, and the group discussed talking to teens and teen advisory boards to write letters to their legislators. Pat commended Julie for her fine job speaking at the hearing. If anyone finds articles or has information that may be helpful for speaking on this bill, please send them to Julie.
Julie asked each regional representative to create a contact list of youth specialists (not just supervisors of youth services) in their regions and send the information to her. These lists will be used to send out workshop information, etc. from the Youth Services Forum in an effort to build communication and increase awareness of the forum. Julie also suggested surveying others as well as Youth Services Forum members about the committee. Any suggested questions for a Youth Services Forum survey should be sent to Julie.
A pre-conference at VLA on library advocacy will occur on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. The main speaker will discuss grassroots advocacy. Pat is still working on the breakout sessions.
Concurrent session proposals are due on May 1st. The group discussed the following program proposals: Programming on a Shoestring presented by Dora; Programming with Tweens presented by Val and Diantha; and a filtering program presented by Julie that would discuss how to talk to legislators including sample talking points. The Jefferson Cup Luncheon and the Jefferson Cup Overfloweth program have also been submitted. Ginger agreed to present the Teen E-Poetry Café for another Patchwork of Teen Programs if any additional speakers could also be found.
The group discussed coordinating a monetary donation in remembrance of Pat McKay at the Richmond Public Library. More information will be forthcoming.
The next meeting will be held at a location to be announced on June 4th.
The meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Ginger Armstrong