Topic: Adult Passive Engagement

ASRT Meeting Minutes

Thursday, July 17 via Zoom

Topic: Adult Passive Engagement

Attendees:

Shannon, Hoover
Tamara, Irondale
Ellen, Avondale
Sarah, Center Point
Romellia, Titusville
Olivia, North Avondale
Lynn, West End
Daniel, BPL
Erika, Powderley
Tara, Vestavia Hills
Ashley Bertram
Royce, BPL

Our next meeting is Monday, September 15th at the Hoover Library for our Annual Adult Program Swap! 10 am at the Hoover Library or we will also try to include a Zoom element! Bring your ideas to share, your contacts to share, and your open mind! 

View the full video (in case I missed an important nugget of info!) 50.02m 

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/UeB0sL50muVVm7jD4-kfeK4u2WIQmLarq0Khv3ceJEHcK_AXnXmsTaeTQZaHplqa.rBFmILQl7L0ZoocW 

Ideas from around the web: 

  

  

  

 

  

  

Welcome to Sarah who has been hired at Center Point Library as the new Adult Services librarian! We hope to provide you with some helpful hints and tips for moving forward in your role. 

Today's meeting is to discuss a variety of passive ways to engage adults without breaking the bank or taking too much of our time. We can take a lot of ideas used from Youth librarians because they are always thinking up great ways to keep kids active and distracted. Hey, that should be the tagline for this: Active and Distracted!

The Avondale library already does many things on a regular basis such as take-and-makes and in-house activities. Our Teen Department at Hoover has also utilize "Stick Together" posters (first picture above) that I think adults could enjoy as well. These are black and white outlines with blank squares - then patrons fill in the colored stickers to form a picture. Check them out. We also have a very active Puzzle Exchange at Hoover and I know several libraries are doing that. Tamara noted that they had regularly a puzzle out on a table for patrons to assembly at their leisure but invariably a child walks over and destroys the whole thing. Frustrating! I suggested perhaps getting a taller, maybe bistro, table for puzzles so they are higher up and possibly inaccessible to kids but good for adults. An active ongoing puzzle is a great idea though.

I have tried once at Hoover to create a wall size crossword puzzle that stuck on the wall (during summer reading kickoff) and within 1 hour it had been defaced by teens. I guess that is the gamble we have to face!  

Sarah told us more about Center Points ongoing "Spice of the Month" takeaway. They buy bulk spices, then make the individual packets to give out with perhaps a history of the spice along with a recipe. This is an awesome idea! It could also be a way to highlight certain cookbooks in your collection. The idea might not work for a busier library but feasible for smaller audiences. Make up some, then when they are gone, that's it. We also tried to think of other things that could be done in this manner: chai, tea, perhaps coffee -- all with recipes & history. You could even utilize QR codes to direct people to more information. 

I read about a library that did "Warm Up Wednesdays" where they (specifically during the winter months) had coffee and tea for patrons to make - perhaps some chill activities could be paired with these warm up mornings. Might not work if your library already has a coffee service or cafe. We did a program last December that was astonishingly successful for Jolabokaflod, Yule Book Flood, which is an Icelandic tradition during Christmastime. What we did for the adults was create a cozy sofa area with Squishmallow pillows and blankets and a big TV showing a roaring fire. Off to the side we had a full hot beverage station for tea or coffee or hot cocoa with all the trimmings. People came through all day on a Saturday and we got fantastic reviews for it! (I also had a passive Christmas craft set up in a meeting room.)

Tara talked about their Tiny Books - they keep a number of the reject books and they also have a book cutter (more savage than your average paper cutter!) to cut pages. She creates take and makes for patrons that have instructions and book covers. Link to Take and Makes via Sharepoint. These are extremely cute and popular. Here's a Christmas take and make she created in Canva for a tiny book ornament.

Libraries got good at Take and Makes during the pandemic but the daily grind might have made some of us lag on being creative in this way.  Lynn shared with us a webinar called "The Candy Corn Question: Passive Programming That Pulls People In" where more of this is discussed. Thanks for sharing this, Lynn!

Don't forget that there are several helpful books in the county's collection that can be useful to kickstart ideas. Two from Hoover are The Passive Programming Playbook: 101 Ways to Get Library Customers Off the Sidelines by Paula Willey and Andria Amaral and Librarian's Guide to Passive Programming by Emily Wichman.

Ellen from Avondale shared lots of their ongoing ideas and their philosophy of getting folks engaged. She took us on a visual tour of some items they have out. They utilize a lot of free things and copying on regular paper - to make things easier and cheaper. She also said they take advantage of sales to buy things in bulk for future ideas or take and make kits. For instance, they bought these cute watercolor painting bookmark kits (like this on Amazon) when they were cheap - once they are gone they are gone! Avondale also shares pictures of their Grab-and-Go kits on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AvondaleBranchLibrary/

Here are some items Ellen shared - pictures of the adult activity kits:

And here are examples of the constellation luminaries and book page roses:

 

She showed us a gorgeous constellation luminary - she printed the constellation on the printer and patrons prick tiny holes and put a tiny light inside. Very cute and if you add a QR code you could teach them about the stars! She also had some great summer fans that patrons could assemble too. They also had book page roses kits - complete with a QR code to a video on how to make them. Very smart!

Avondale adult activity kits - this month theme is artists. (They've been putting them out on a different theme almost a year now.) They put together a packet that contains a variety of activities ranging from crosswords, word search, coloring sheets, also utilizing QR codes to link to things like the Craftsy app or how-to videos or additional resources at the library on the month's theme. I've fully credited Avondale and their staff for my version I have in process for an activity kit that will go on our Bookmobile and with our adult outreach team, hopefully celebrating Jane Austen's 250th birthday in December!! When I asked Ellen if they would start fresh once the year was over, she suggested they might keep the theme for the month but change up the information within the packet - for example in September of 2024 the theme was Agatha Christie but maybe they could do "Cozy Mysteries" this year. You never want this kind of thing to become a burden so keeping it fun and fresh can be something to look forward to.

Print out your own Origami paper designs and include folding instructions! Easy & cheap. Community/temporary art projects might also be something to look into for adults or possibly inter-generational. (Like Yayoi Kusama dot art!)  Or hang black paper up and give patrons sidewalk chalk to create a mural. Perhaps have a box with rocks for patrons to paint and create a rock snake outside the library. Ellen has also created tiny art kits, then asked for posts on social media and a show inside the library - what fun! They had about 30 submissions up in the atrium.

Tara mentioned, not passive programming but still very cool, Vestavia Hills had artist-in-residence this summer with a partnership with the Arts Council. They had weekly artist demonstrations talking about their process - these have been well attended.

Links found on passive programming:

https://cslkits.cvlsites.org/let-em-be-passive-programs-for-adults/

 

https://www.slj.com/story/DIY-to-the-rescue-10-librarian-tested-passive-programs

 

https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/Nothing-Passive-About-It-Self-Directed-Programming

 

https://youtu.be/o-eg4O87KWc?si=o4g_dOmT3jmIoHa1

 

https://ideas.demco.com/blog/6-easy-engaging-ideas-passive-programming/

 

What about passive programming via social media? I hadn't thought of that before but it could engage those not in our building!!!

 

Our next meeting is Monday, September 15th at the Hoover Library for our Annual Adult Program Swap! 10 am at the Hoover Library or we will also try to include a Zoom element! Bring your ideas to share, your contacts to share, and your open mind!

 

 

 

 

ASRT Mtg Minutes
Topic: Outreach

Attendees:

Alison, Pinson
Rachel, Botanical Gardens
Jacqueline, BPL
Adrian, BPL
Joanne, Gardendale
Kiera, Titusville
Tamara, Irondale
Terri, Vestavia Hills
Erika, Powderley
Katie, Springville Rd
Holley, O'Neal
Holly, Homewood
Melanie, Hoover
Jennifer, BPL
Molly, BPL
Weston, BPL
Shannon, Hoover

To view the entire 54 minute zoom meeting: https://shorturl.at/sYZ1b

Our next meeting: Wednesday, May 14th @ WYLAM Library, 10 am. TOPIC: Censorship

Shannon started us off by describing how Hoover has revamped its structure to create a "community services" dept that handles outreach. Steve is in charge of the Bookmobile and it is making the rounds to let the community see and enjoy the new service. We have a request form (https://www.hooverlibrary.org/community-outreach) people can use to request outreach services online - it is going to schools, parks, senior centers and other small areas. For many years, Pam did outreach to senior living facilities by bringing her "Books to You" program, she was able to visit Hoover facilities once every 2 months. These are programs developed by Pam that showcase materials from the collection highlighting a certain topic. In the past, she struggled to go to all 10 facilities in our area just once a year. Now we visit everyone at least once a month with the Books to You programs!  Pam is still doing her tours, with added visits and Traci is working with Memory Care and Assisted Living facilities. She is doing similar programs but with an added craft. It is wonderful to be able to increase these visits.Our Book Club at the Hoover Senior Center, the Page Turners, has been meeting since 2008. We average about 16 people each month and still have members that joined at the very first session. We also speak to community groups and represent the library at Hoover events. Contact Pam Bainter at pam.bainter@hooverlibrary.org if you have other questions.

Another thing is that Katie Jane at Hoover does a monthly offsite book club aimed at parents which introduces new kids books. It seems to be popular and going strong. They meet at Baba Java Coffee in Hoover.

From Weston @ BPL via email:
At Central, Outreach does:

-Bookmobile at Central Transit station downtown. We get to park in one of the bus slots. (Very popular!)

-Karaoke for Seniors. We have a portable Karaoke machine (Moukey Karaoke) that we bring with us on the bookmobile.

-Paints and Poems. We read one or two poems at a time to seniors then have them paint what they are feeling, thinking, remembering when listening to the poem. Doesn't always work out as some seniors are a bit too literally, but fun nevertheless. 

-International Jazz Day is April 30^th this year. We are looking to book local Jazz musicians to play the small mini park between Linn-Henley and the courthouse during the lunch hour. 

-We went to Kami-Con and tabled. Kami-Con is a anime/manga centered convention. We interacted with close to 700 folks over the course of the weekend. We have a button maker and made custom buttons just for this event. I was able to design them using this site. https://designer.buttonmakers.net/desktop/index.php

-We are still waiting to hear back from Iron City Comic-Con about tabling there as well.

 

Tamara at Irondale: was asked to do smart phone program for seniors. Divided between iPhone and Android, she prepared a specific program but found most questions were targeted on gmail - so she plans to revamp that. She got the idea for Conversation Cafe at PLA, geared towards memory care patients, it would be simple games and activities on a theme. She went to a great deal of effort to plan a "British" theme with a tea party and took that on the road to a senior facility not even in Irondale but it did not travel well. 

Katie from SR mentioned that their computer outreach was popular but not very well attended. Low numbers meant they could focus on individual instruction but easy to derail too. Identity theft issues were most often requested. Could the computer techs help with that type of outreach?

 

Libraries are often asked to speak at groups throughout the city on various topics. I've done several at the Hoover Country Club. Terry has a gardening group and Rotary Club coming up in April.

 

Terry at VH does a book group with Town Village Retirement that has been going on for many years. They meet once a month with an average attendance of 12 to 15. Some come and don't say a word but they are getting fed and enjoying themselves! They also develop a relationship with them and they show up at the library for other things.

 

Alison at Pinson doesn't really have a book club but their local coffee shop does have a book club and a staff member will attend each month. They bring the books to the meeting and lets them check them out at the coffee shop. Between 8-10 people attend regularly and now they come to the library! They create bookmarks and other ways to promote the coffee shop book club. Pinson doesn't have senior centers or senior living facilities but they are looking for other ways to get out into the community. Alison does a few festivals and events and when the library is there, she is sure to bring dog treats because that hooks the owners!

 

Any time we can put together a cheap/easy takeaway craft to hand out at events or festivals, parents LOVE them. It's a way to connect parents with new activities and you could always put it with a library calendar so they know to come by the library for more information.

 

Kiera at Titusville is working with Invisible Histories in June (Invisible Histories locates, collects, researches, and creates community-based, educational programming around LGBTQ history in the Deep South. Invisible Histories believes archiving is resistance to oppression and history leads to liberation. In our work, we center joy and community while never erasing the painful and complicated experiences of our folks. We WILL save our stories, one box at a time.) They will be doing a program on archiving personal items. They have several different talks and can come to your library to do them (for FREE). BPL has come to Hoover to do a Genealogy program too. Perhaps develop a traveling Genealogy program for your area.

 

Fontaine with Books-By-Mail can come to your library or your senior facilities to introduce people to what they do and who qualifies. This a very valuable program for the seniors in your area. BPL also has Bestsellers Club that anyone, no matter where you live in the county, can register for and get bestsellers sent to patrons at your library. 

Holley mentioned that she participates in the Bham Aids Outreach (BAO) book club and they regularly ask her to help them get more obscure books through ILL downtown - another service that is invaluable. She's done presentations to the group on using ILL and Books-by-Mail and other library services. Take it on the road! Tamara also reminds everyone that BPL Southern History will send a staff member to join you on outreach missions. BPL joined them at their senior center and a staff member of Irondale added to the discussion by explaining what local archives are held at Irondale.

 

Nontraditional outreach includes BPL having a booth at KamiKon this year! Their booth was next to VH. Services can be highlighted at a booth like this. They had flyers, stickers, keychains, bookmarks, little stuff that doesn't cost too much. AND CANDY! VH did a giveaway and trivia at their booth. Raffles are hugely popular. I put together a "Readers Giveaway" that includes ARCs, blank notebooks, bookmarks, stickers, cups, etc. This is so popular and adults love them. Slips of paper with their name and email/cell are put in a basket but why not use this to our advantage? I often ask, on the slip of paper, "Would you like your email added to our Adult Event newsletter?" That way you can cross promote services.

 

Avondale library creates "Adult Activity Kits" that are given out in the library. Each has a different topic (example: Agatha Christie) that has a recipe, crossword, word search, adult coloring sheet, custom designed bookmarks printed on cardstock all put together by printing on a 11 X 17 sheet of paper that folds into a folder to hold everything. One of the best features is that they utilize QR codes to link patrons to further information on the internet - a QR code to PBS Agatha Christie films, a bibliography of her works, documentary link, videos on Hoopla, official website. They went to a lot of trouble collecting all this information - they even included a teabag! My idea is to create these for senior outreach events too. It will inform and delight everyone! (The other example I had from Avondale was "Ghost Stories" and the folder included a list of "spooky podcasts" and links to all kinds of stuff online.

 

Joann at Gardendale said that they have had a booth at the local Magnolia Festival and they prepare all year long by collecting books to give out (around 400 books each year!) They definitely see an uptick in attendance after the festival. With this one great opportunity to reach out, they are able to plan all year and people look forward to the library being there. 

Something else new at Hoover is that our Parks & Rec dept came to us to collaborate with programming. Youth department is doing several "Storytimes in the Park" for kids (Our bookmobile will be there too) and we've planned a bigger event on April 5th (Spring Into Nature!) at a newer people/dog park that is located right on the river (Loch Haven Park). We're having Nature Journaling for kids and I invited a Samford biologist to come teach adults how to use the iNaturalist app, which catalogs places and nature (trees, bugs, flowers, you name it) along with where you found it. Another reason to collaborate is that they have quite a nice budget that we can tap into to make the event great.

 

VH also partners with their Arts Council to do programming (Can you say "COLOR YOUR WORLD" summer reading theme??) Perhaps smaller libraries might take advantage of this. Perhaps summer kickoff can take advantage of that partnership. Alison says she knows from experience that partnering with other city organizations makes the mayor and city council VERY happy! Another advantage is that other agencies or groups might have different ways of reaching the community or can pay for advertising that the library doesn't have.

 

Kiera also told us about the Birmingham Museum of Art CULTURE CASES that are available for checkout! (Taken from the website:

Take your students on a trip around the world with the Birmingham Museum of Art’s Culture Case program! Both physical and digital Culture Cases include objects from diverse regions, customs, and periods to create fun and exciting hands-on arts and culture learning experiences. They’re great for classrooms, libraries, after school programs, and more!

Global Art Culture Cases are actual suitcases that are available for free checkout and provide a tactile experience for students. Each case contains objects from different cultures around the world, all connected by a shared theme. These cases contain educator facilitation packets with quick guides to objects, questions for the class, and links to additional resources—all designed to enhance classroom engagement.

Virtual Culture Cases are digital cases that can be accessed online. Each virtual case is focused on a region of the world and provides additional digital resources like videos, coloring sheets, and lesson plans connected to the Alabama Course of Study Standards.)

Art objects from different countries, etc. and they would love to come help do outreach to seniors. That is awesome!!!

Wednesday, May 14th @ WYLAM Library 10 am. TOPIC: Censorship

 

ASRT Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 19, 2024

TOPIC: COLLECTION BROWSEABILITY, WAYFINDING, ORGANIZATION TIPS, DISPLAY TIPS FOR BOOSTING CIRCULATION AND CREATING A BETTER USER EXPERIENCE

Attendees:
Shannon, Hoover
Melanie, Hoover
Rachel, Botanical Gardens
Charlie, North Birmingham
Gelenda, Southside
Melissa, Homewood
Connie, Wylam
Tamara, Irondale

Discussing ways to make the user better able to find/discover materials and services. This could be through special displays, signage, genre stickers, shelf talkers, and an open floor plan allowing patrons to have easy access and a sense of flow throughout the library. If you, not in attendance, have ideas or want to share your vision, please post on the blog or on the ASRT FB page.

One unique view is from the Bham Botanical Gardens Library. Practically their entire collection is made up of the same call numbers! How do you make it browseable and items easy to find? Rachel uses genre stickers to further subdivide and classify different types of gardening and different types of horticultural books.

A lot of the research says libraries should be arranged more like bookstores to maximize the marketing potential. My opinion is that the Dewey system is a great way to organize but I do see the need to draw attention. We have subdivided our nonfiction books like crafting and holiday books, pets or poetry all put together and genrefied for better browsing.

North Birmingham has new arrivals at front with rotating seasonal books, as does Hoover among others. But it is ESSENTIAL that displays must be kept current, full, and attractive! There are also opportunities to highlight things in the collection that are not highly circulated in an attempt to bring them to light. Sometimes our Horror collection is spread over our Mystery or Science Fiction or regular fiction collections, but if you do a display, you can pull little known horror authors together. You can also do displays that capitalize on one books popularity (have you seen BookTok videos?) such as “While you are waiting for The Women by Kristin Hannah, Try these books…” People do get tired of reading all the same old thing (Pattersonitis?) so readalikes for a display can be made.

Melanie talked about our readers advisory bookshelf, we have a different topic or award on each shelf, such as Pulitzer or Nebula Award winners or Celebrity Book Clubs or Winter/Cozy reads, along with specific selections picked out by staff members. (This shelf is constantly being filled, as it also has all of our fiction genre bookmarks too.) Her next one will probably be cozy scifi/fantasy for those that want a more gentle entry into scifi. Another one that has been popular in our mystery room is “rural noir” – more gritty and real, if you will.

Exploring sub-genres has led us to attempt to relabel or rethink the spines on our books.  We are trying at Hoover to make the spine labels more uniform throughout the building. Some of the branches have very little control over how the spine label itself presents, but genre labels or utilizing colored stickers might be a way to sub-divide a very crowded shelf. I appreciate the libraries that have a longer cutter on the spine label for the author’s last name or a longer call number for nonfiction.

Melissa stated that their teen librarian at Homewood has, for instance, added an extra genre label to their manga collection to help in selection: horror or slice of life or fantasy, all to help the teens discern which manga is better suited to their taste. This can be done everywhere in the collection. However, a genre sticker might be appropriate now but then become passé to another generation, such as “New Adult” – not so popular anymore. Or the “African-American” labels – are they still okay or are we “silo-ing” instead of making more accessible?

We now have a “Materials Management Department” at Hoover and they are reexamining processes and streamlining a lot. Melanie at Hoover, who works in the new dept, said she has strong opinions on spine labels and is trying to champion a new way to display, especially within the Fiction section. Colored labels are great for shelvers but patrons don’t know what they mean. Adding something in the spine label will alert the patron. This could be, by Mel’s example, a way to give a series number for mystery series and maybe adding the character name, such as the example below:

F                              Area (Fiction/YA/Nonfiction/etc.)
MYSTERY             Genre
GRI                         Author cutter
Galloway                Series
V. 1                         Volume Number

This would be book one in the Theresa Galloway mysteries, which is Somebody Else’s Child.

Charles was equally annoyed that publishers don’t make series order more clear inside the book. Some list the latest book to be published first, some do it the other way around. Then, do we shelve them by series order or by book title? Tradition says by author, then book title. We should all avail ourselves of FANTASTICFICTION.org to keep series order consistent (and it prints out nicely for patrons.)

Gelenda pointed out that they usually have to direct changes to the BPL Catalog/Acquisitions Department downtown but signage and displays are done locally. They are able to feature books that way.

We used to use these plastic “shelf talkers” that hung over the shelves and you could insert a piece of paper or cardstock that had, for example, series order listing titles or something helpful like “did you know this author also writes Mysteries?” – something to help the patron. Now, we could also utilize QR codes to drive those in the collection to author videos or a series list. Here’s a link to the kind we used: https://www.displaysandholders.com/product/81-2x11-shelf-talker.html. This is sometimes in the way when shelving books, but patrons really appreciate the added help.  You could also use them for readalikes for major authors too. (Just for fun, I’m including a link that E. Swift sent out from TeachingBooks about the “printable shelf talkers” utilizing QR codes: https://school.teachingbooks.net/show.cgi?f=Bookmarked_November2024

Create your own QR codes through Canva or use a free website like https://www.qr-code-generator.com/

Melissa, who has been at Homewood a little over a year, said that they have gone back retroactively and added an extra label to include series title and number. Oh, and she’s looking for innovative ways to shelve/organize COMICS!! Any suggestions for her?

In our Nonfiction department, they already subdivide genres using the spine label. For instance, all the painting books have that on the spine label, then further listed as, “abstract”, then further, “flowers” for instance. This could really help those patrons that just will not ask for help. Within cookbooks, there is a line for “Juicing” or “Air Fryer”, etc. for making them more distinctive.

An assistant once told me that the people using the large print collection needed a bigger font on their spine labels because they were in large print for a reason. Easy fix, we changed all spine labels to a font consistent with the size of large print books! Suggestions can often come from your shelfing staff or those on the floor organizing daily – pay attention! If we see patrons having trouble using the very bottom shelf and we can, maybe don’t use the bottom or tippy top shelves? It’s not always possible but it is a small thing that can help a lot of patrons. Charlie pointed out the value of putting board books on the lowest shelves so that the toddlers can actually get to them!

I did get an email from Maura Davies, formerly of Trussville Library, saying that she visited South Huntsville PL and got a tour from the branch manager Patsy Ducote. The library opened about 3 years ago and they have genrefied shelving throughout their library. If anyone is interested in learning more, she (Patsy) might be a good person to contact.

Tamara at Irondale – they are in the midst of building a new library. They are so busy with the move and change but are trying to think ahead about how the library is organized and what seems to have too much or too little space for growth. She mentioned Library IQ, which is a platform for analyzing library data. For other members, tools like Decision Center should be used frequently to keep your collection up-to-date and weeded properly. For those that *don’t* use Decision Center tools, please look into a class or talk to Elizabeth Swift to get more information.

To view the meeting recording (and there is stuff I did not document but not all of its useful!):

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/US2Oa1uug8KDlVNNcF1wKRMqKt2ZAF0uLrcDqTuXkgUEC3Sd2gmSbH5e_IYXctmy.F7HWj8roTwR1pLFw?startTime=1732032070000

Our next meeting will be the Addiction Prevention Workshop on Thursday, January 16^th at the Hoover Library starting at 10 am. The event will be livestreamed but not recorded. Please ask your managers and then register here: https://hoover.libnet.info/event/12314424. The APC will be handing out Narcan supplies at the meeting but we will arrange to get Narcan distributed to those attending virtually too. This is a very important topic that can benefit all.

Our upcoming ASRT schedule for 2025 is below. Thank you all!!!