JCPLA Adult Services Roundtable: April 2020

Minutes JCPLA/ASRT Craft/Creative Zoom session, Thursday, April 23, 2020:

Attendance:

Shannon H, Hoover

Alicia E, Trussville

Deni O, Hoover

Joi M, Vestavia Hills

Samantha H, Hoover

Kenyata R, Pratt City

Judith W, Homewood

Holley W, EOM

Lea D, Hoover

Sam R, Springville Road

Leslie D, Avondale

Patricia D, East Lake

Morgan H, EOM

Hannah C, Hoover

Gus J, BPL

Terri L, Vestavia Hills

Karen E-J, BPL

Jiemin F, BPL

Riana M, Pinson

Maura D, Trussville

Katie Jane M, Hoover

Fontaine A, Five Pts W

Deidre S, Bessemer

Heather Mc, Smithfield

Lee W, North Birmingham

Tisha G. FPW/Homewood

(If I missed your name, please just let me know!)

Hoover’s Glue Gun Gang is a monthly craft program just for adults. Started in 2013 by Deni Owens, it has quickly grown from one session a month to three sessions of 12 people each. Sessions are timed with consideration of the schedules of full-time workers, as well as stay-at-home parents and retirees. The program is popular and registration is very competitive. Each month, Deni selects a craft project that will appeal to adults, be very inexpensive, finished within two hours (hopefully) and not be too messy. Soda and candy are served as refreshments. Glue Gun Gang events are currently free but this may need to be evaluated after we return from quarantine.

Last year, Deni began creating a website to showcase the crafts from GGG, intended to be a resource for librarians as well as anyone looking for a fun craft. The website is at https://gluegungang.com/ . The website is still in development so check back often for new projects and tutorials! Contact Deni at deni.owens@hooverlibrary.org if you have any questions or need help implementing one of the projects.

Inspiration can also be found on the Pinterest page for GGG: www.pinterest.com/hoovergluegungang

Samm’s wedding & book crafts, in preparation for Samantha’s wedding this year, she has been collecting all kinds of diverse book crafts that are easily replicated. She has her own Instagram page if others want to check that out https://www.instagram.com/sammiltonartsandcrafts,

also https://www.facebook.com/banksls . Book crafts are all over Pinterest and might take a bit of preparation (folding pages takes time) but is enjoyable by all!

Purl on the Plaza was started in 2010 by Shannon at Hoover and has grown from years and years of building and establishing relationships throughout the years. Our Facebook group has 189 members and through asking for email addresses, the newsletter goes out to 619 subscribers! When I give away door prizes, I ask for their name and email address with the clear message that if they do not want to receive the newsletter, they don’t have to give it. I have developed relationships with small, independent yarn shops and other knitting/crochet groups throughout the county. We have free lessons two times a year which generates new people becoming devoted to the crafts. Our once-a-year “World Wide Knit in Public Day” (usually in June) exhibits different crafts such as spinning, weaving, tatting, embroidery, cross stitch, and other handicrafts. Trussville’s knit & crochet group (the “Yarn Manglers”) has been thriving too! People who do these crafts want to keep doing it socially throughout the month. Our virtual Purl meeting had over 20 people from all over – we had two former members who now live out of state and one person “stuck” in her villa on the island of St. Barts. They all joined via Zoom to chat, catch up and craft.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PurlonthePlaza/ and the underdeveloped website: http://www.hooverlibrary.org/purl

Kelly Laney, Springville Road explains her crafting group – Coffee, Conversation, and Crafts started as an off-shoot of "Chick With Sticks" that Ms. Grace started. She ran it one night a month and had about 6 regular participants. It was limited to knit and crochet.

I wanted something to be more appealing to a general audience, and was also aware that a lot of my seniors don't feel comfortable going out at night. I believe we changed it the year I moved down to to Adult, which was 2011. We began meeting once a week, changed the name, and included all kinds of crafts. This came about because of research that indicated that older people needed real face time with other people--social media was not cutting it for their mental health. People NEED people, and between retirement, death of spouse, downsizing, etc, our seniors were beginning to feel more and more boxed in. If someone was unchurched, and especially if they just sat at home and listened to the crime reports, they had very limited social outlets, or were afraid to leave the house.

We have changed a little and grown a lot. The main focus is on social time; the crafts are more of an ice breaker. I do not require anyone to work on a craft, but for those who like to, the library provides materials, instructions, and tools. A lot of people bring the projects that they are working on at home, just to have something to do while they visit. We have about 25-30 people who show up most Mondays between 11:00-1:00. On the last Monday of the month we have a pot-luck meal, and for the last two years they have celebrated a huge Thanksgiving meal on the Monday before Thanksgiving (because so many people don't have an opportunity to have a family meal). In a real way, CCC has formed a community, and a family.

They have even put together a newsletter. I'll attach a copy so you can see the kinds of things they include. This is not really sponsored by the library, but I contribute an editorial and usually a blurb about some library service. We also make copies for the group--but the girls who put it together make hundreds of copies and distribute them through doctors' offices, restaurants, churches and anywhere else they go. They are truly an army of people who promote the library and several members of the group volunteer at the library, too. They teach, work the desk, assemble projects, assist in shelving and paging lists, and do anything else we need done.

We also piggy-backed our Body Changers and Bend & Stretch programs off of this group. If I had the energy, time, and resources, I could program every single day of the week for this demographic and we'd have a ton of participants.

The grant opportunity was through the Awesome Foundation. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but it was an honor to be invited to present and did get us a little more exposure.

Other resources: Several resources can be overwhelming like Pinterest. The rabbit hole is very deep but can yield wonderful ideas. Holley from EOM has a group devoted to wine crafts – speaking of that: I have an entire huge storage box of wine corks if anyone needs any! Just send me a message! If you think of a craft that would be good for your group but you cannot afford materials, send out a JCLC-wide message – someone may have just what you need, especially if your group is small and you need just a few of something. We are a cooperative for a reason! Also, Trussville has had success charging a nominal fee ($5-$20) to cover material costs and patrons still participate. This may be something to try.

Virtual Programming: Hoover has done a few virtual handicraft programs but not a lot. There wasn’t an indication of any other libraries doing virtual craft sessions but there are plenty of examples on the Facebook group “Quarantined Librarian”. Again, always use materials that can be found around the house. I have included some below using coffee filters and yarn. Terri, from VH, mentioned Darla Williamson of Tangled Stones Studio who does live zentangle/art tutorials using Facebook live every Wednesday at lunchtime. She's a certified instructor and does some programming for VH (https://tangledstones.com/). Holley mentioned that Birmingham Museum of Art has a YouTube channel with art lessons that might be worth checking out. Mountain Brook hired Virginia Brasher (our regular craft instructor for the children’s, teen, and adult department) to do video craft tutorials for our website. The live on the adult Virtual Programming page.

On another note, I’ve seen several libraries around the country doing “Maker Mondays” where they throw out a craft (some give instructions, some don’t) and ask people to post pictures of what they come up with using a hashtag the library comes up with.

Facebook Groups to join:

Purl on the Plaza (selfish reasons, join up!)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PurlonthePlaza/ and

Quarantined Librarian https://www.facebook.com/groups/711556366048270/

Crafty Librarians https://www.facebook.com/groups/1873215119559417/

Adults & Crafts https://www.facebook.com/adultsandcrafts/

Dollar Tree Crafts & Décor (will be overwhelming, suggest checking this group when looking for ideas) https://www.facebook.com/groups/174933047206448/

Dollar Tree and Dollar General Crafts! (will be overwhelming, suggest checking this group when looking for ideas) https://www.facebook.com/groups/596326410903316/

Oriental Trading – lots of videos (will be overwhelming, suggest checking this group when looking for ideas) https://www.facebook.com/orientaltrading/

Programming Librarian Interest Group (also have a great, searchable website) https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProgrammingLibrarianInterestGroup/?ref=bookmarks

Birmingham ArtCycle – free stuff for artists/crafters, exchanges of stuff are done at the Free Store downtown (however, they have changed locations and aren’t working right now. They are preparing to open in a new location soon. Hopefully things will move forward because this is an incredible resource!) https://www.facebook.com/groups/622393984443231/

Websites to check out:

Adult Arts and Crafts at the Library (and 5 Cool Projects to Get You Started)

https://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/adults-arts-and-crafts.html

Adult Craft Programs @ Your Library

https://www.pinterest.com/pinlibraryofmz/adult-craft-programs-your-library/

Program Model: Adult Crafternoons, August 3, 2016

https://programminglibrarian.org/programs/adult-crafternoons

Crafting at the Library, August 9, 2016

http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/08/crafting-at-the-library/

The Hipster Librarian's Guide to Teen Craft Projects

http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/editions/webextras/coleman09713/coleman09713

Adult Crafts, Oriental Trading Co.