This month, we are following up on our Toolkit for Spanish Speaking Populations with an interview with Amelia Martinez. She is both part of the Spanish-speaking community and serves the Spanish-speaking community and brings a wealth of insight to working with underserved populations. What is your current position? How long have you worked in your library/community? I am a Public Service Assistant (Cultural Focus) at the Whatcom County Library System. I started working for the library system 10 years ago. Prior to the library, I worked at a Migrant Head Start as a teacher aid. Before that, I worked for 5 years as a Community Health Worker for Sea Mar Community Clinic. I learned how challenging it is to access services for a lot of Hispanic families. It’s hard when you come from a different country and you are dealing with a language barrier. You are learning everything including the…
Tag: library programs
Engaging Families and Technology with Byte-Sized Programming
Ready to introduce new technology, but uncertain about patron interest? Why not try what we call “byte-sized programming”? It introduces a variety of tech in a station-based environment. The more stations, the more entry points you have to engage your families with tech. You can introduce a variety of topics that appeal to all generations. Plus, these programs are easily customized to your space, patron interests, and budget, and are held on a come-and-go basis.
The Novel Effect App
Do you have a favorite book app?
Thoughts on Graduation
This is the time of year when you can’t avoid the evidence-it’s graduation time. You either know someone who is graduating or someone you know is going to a graduation. A friend’s child barely made it across the finish line and there’s relief. Others are in the throes of meeting final requirements, getting signatures, and making arrangements for the big day and beyond.
Choose Privacy Week and Intellectual Freedom
How does privacy intersect with intellectual freedom? And how can you get kids to care?
Fan Bands Provide Concerts for All Ages
When I first heard about The Shake Ups, I had no idea that “pony power pop” existed. I knew about fan bands from the Wizard Rock movement that came from Harry Potter, but didn’t know much about other fan bands. When given the opportunity to book The Shake Ups, a My Little Pony band, my staff and I jumped at it knowing they would be a hit with our patrons. We’ve now hosted two concerts with The Shake Ups and I can’t say enough great things about them! Even if you’re not that knowledgeable about My Little Pony (which sadly, I have to say, I am not), you can still find lots to love about their shows. The music is infectious and upbeat and the atmosphere of the concert is so warm and friendly it’s hard not to leave without a smile on your face. It’s so much fun…
Why Pokemon Go and The Library is a perfect partnership
Sunday evening my family took a walk to our neighborhood park. It’s not unusual to see families out and about riding bikes or walking dogs, but this past weekend the parks have been full of people staring at their phones. Pokemon Go has taken over my community. I’ve never seen our park so busy! There were around 300 people out walking around the park and playing this game. If you’ve been on social media at all in the past few days, you have most likely seen many mentions of Pokemon Go from the good – it’s getting people out and walking, to the bad – people are spending a lot of time staring at screens and not paying attention to their surroundings. So what is Pokemon Go?
Back to Basics
My branch manager has challenged us over the next few months to get back to basics. Things like picking up messes, straightening books, push in chairs, roving the department. So often when we get caught up in programs and other things, we forget these basic tasks. I’ve been thinking a lot about how this can work in Youth Services as far as programming. I always struggle with providing programming for everyone and having options during the day as well as evening and weekends. Yet no matter what we try, we don’t get an audience for evening and weekend programs unless it’s something really big (Star Wars Reads Day, Meet Pete the Cat). I’ve tried Saturday morning storytimes out in the department for the past year and while it’s nice to offer, the crowds are small and the people that come aren’t at the Library for storytime, but stop by because…