Programming.  The term programming encompasses both library-run programs such as storytimes and performers hired to give a show or educational presentation.  As I’ve discussed ad nauseum in past posts, I’ve been focusing a lot of my energy this past year on changing the structure and format of the library’s storytimes to reflect the current philosophies on age division and program content for library storytimes.  Perhaps research in the future will suggest additional changes to storytimes, and it will be important for me to keep on top of that current research and not rest on my laurels.  But also it probably would be a bad idea to change the storytime structure too frequently: patrons like and appreciate a certain amount of predictability in their library programs. 

As for performers, the challenge lies not just in how much your budget can afford (see Part IV of this series), but also in finding those performers who are worth hiring.  There are several great resources available, including the Massachusetts performer’s directory; a new blog that has been established for MA children’s and youth services librarians to leave comments on specific performers (though the blog doesn’t seem to be getting much use or attention, which is a shame); the MASSYAC list serve, which I have found to be extremely useful; and regional roundtable discussions.  I’ve decided that when I receive a performer’s promotional flyer in the mail that looks intriguing, the best course of action is to look through my MASSYAC files for comments on the performer, and to look through my notes from roundtable discussions, and to look at the performer’s directory to see what libraries are listed as places of recent appearances, and then to go to the performer’s website and hope that there is a sample performance video.  If I have any questions after doing all that, it’s worth publishing an open question on MASSYAC and see what responses people have.

Obviously, depending on the size of your budget, you can only hire so many performers a year, and thus much of a children’s room’s programming needs to be library-run.  Some great low-cost, rewarding options include book groups with snacks, movie nights, craft programs, and game hours.

And thus ends this series on what makes a good children’s librarian.  There are many other aspects of being a successful children’s librarian that I could include, but it seems wise to stop here, having covered the major essentials of the job. 

I really wanted to put programming next on my list of what makes a good children’s librarian, but I’ve decided to give precedence to budget and organization.  A hard choice, and perhaps programming should really be number four on the list, but let’s see if I can justify this decision.

Budgets are hard.  Very hard.  Librarians love books, obviously, and when reading book reviews in the assorted review journals at our disposal we see many, many books that look fabulous and exciting and just perfect for our library.  But the selection process must be driven first by how much money we have available for materials, and then we need to make sure that we’re fairly dividing our money spent amongst the areas we need to address.  And this is where that amazing thing called Microsoft Excel comes into play.  Kathy, the treasurer of the Friends of the library, taught me how to use Excel, and in that lesson she said to me, “Excel is the best program ever written – it’s awesome.”  She’s right, of course.  With Excel, it’s so easy to create a spreadsheet divided by month and category (the categories being dependent on how your library sorts the collection – at our library, the divisions are JJ, JE, J, AR, YA, CD’s, DVD’s, Replacement copies, and books on CD), and to use that spreadsheet to make sure no one category is too heavy, or another one shortchanged.

And then, of course, Excel works beautifully for an ongoing record of monies spent on program supplies and performers.  Once set up, it’s so easy to add the $7.47 spent for refreshments for a book group, or the $22.01 spent for workshop supplies, or to lay out the performers coming in the year ahead and predict how much money will be left for other programming expenses. 

Which leads nicely into organization.  I’ve been accused of being, well, wicked organized, and I agree that I’m guilty.  My personal philosophy on organization is this:  it’s only responsible to leave a clear paper trail in any job as complex as that of children’s librarian.  As an example, one week I wasn’t in on Friday, and on Thursday I had forgotten to do the prep work for the teen volunteer-run Saturday Storytime.  Ooops, my bad.  Luckily, though, Lisa was able to go into my computer files and find the “Storytime Today” door sign in those files.  But even more than a simple example like that, it’s also important for our own sanity of mind to have everything clearly in writing.  At the end of a summer reading program, I may think to myself, “Of course I’ll remember which prizes were most popular, and how many I ordered of each kind!”, but the reality is that no one’s memory is that good, and I’d be kicking myself come December if I didn’t keep clear records of all those statistics to aid in my ordering for the coming summer program.  So, organize, organize, organize, and keep a shelf full of notebooks with all that organized information in paper form, just in case the computer crashes. 

And next we have:  Programming…

Reference services.  Vital to the job, yet I do put reference services third on the list when talking about a children’s librarian.  As discussed in previous posts, if you’re not approachable, and if you haven’t established with your patrons that you have an excellent knowledge of children’s literature, you won’t have earned the trust of your patrons, and they won’t come to ask you those reference questions.

In a perfect world, the schools and the public library would communicate freely and regularly about school assignments, but the truth is that teachers have many balls in the air and work many hours a week (the best teachers I’ve known have worked 60+ hours a week), and it well may slip their minds to inform the public library about upcoming assignments.  A good children’s librarian will make sure the lines of communication to the school are open and available, yet won’t make a pest of him or herself in an attempt to learn of assignments.  So, once again, it’s important to keep ears and eyes open, watching for assignments that have just been issued, and to also keep a log each year of assignments and the dates of their occurrence, and the volume of materials required to fulfill the needs for that assignment.  And when requesting books from other libraries to flesh out the collection for a given assignment, watch for books of value that you don’t have in your own collection.  If the assignment will reoccur in future years, purchase those additional books for your collection.

An interesting part of reference services in a children’s room is holding back and observing.  Many parents want to teach their children the necessary skills to locate materials in the library catalog, and many of those parents do an excellent job teaching their children.  It can be tempting to jump in and help a parent/child team with their searching skills, but it’s so important to value the bonding aspect of this family interaction.  Though I have no scientific proof of this, I suspect that a child who learns to navigate the library from a parent will become a life-long library user, much like the child who has been read to on a daily basis by a parent and who observes a parent reading for pleasure is more likely to be a life-long reader than a child who doesn’t have those parental role models.  When I witness a parent and child searching the catalog together, I pay close attention, but only jump in to help if I see the pair going far astray or becoming frustrated. 

In contrast, there are times when a child comes in to the children’s room by him or herself and desperately needs assistance finding materials for a school assignment.  In those cases, time permitting, I love to take the time to go beyond just locating materials, and teach the child a few tricks for searching on their own.  This is obvious to the job description of a reference librarian, but to teach children well you must first have that affinity for and relationship with the kids that I discussed in the first post of the series.  It all ties together, see? 

Coming up:  Budget and organization.