Display: January 2020 Teen-Made Bulletin Boards

We focused on winter themes for the bulletin boards this month. Some of the boards from past months have been left up and/or enhanced to give them new life in the new year. I wasn't able to snap pictures of them before since I was on medical leave, so I'm glad they stayed up long enough for me to document them!

"I have a dream" board for MLK's birthday

"Discover a New Land" with various mythical doors.
Tardis, Twilight Zone, Monster's Inc, Platform 9-3/4, and a Hobbit home door

A Happy New Year fireworks board

Very cool sci fi moon

YAAS! 2020 advertisement

It wouldn't be our boards without a little punny wordplay

A snowy welcome as patrons enter the Children's Area

Winter friends

These three added snow to our existing mushroom gnome homes from November

The Phone Chokey

During Summer Reading Program, my fellow youth services librarians and I had a lot of problems getting the teen volunteers to keep their phones put away while on shift. And so, I made something hilarious out of a cardboard box that will hopefully keep the phone rule at the front of their minds as we transition into the school year.

I give you, THE PHONE CHOKEY!!

Front

Side

Back

Inside

Don't act like you don't know what The Chokey is. Everyone who lived through the 90's has done two things: had a crush on Miss Honey, and wondered how long they could survive in The Chokey before cracking. (If you've been living under a rock for 30 years, the movie is the incomparable 1996 classic Matilda.)

I'm honestly so proud of myself for this little project. The cell phone gets cradled safely in the inner box, away from the sharp points of the push pins so that I get exactly zero calls from parents about their child's $600 iPhone getting damaged at the library. 

Doing this also adds some levity to the RULES while still making sure they're enforced. I've found this is important when working with teens if you want them to enjoy coming to work but also operate within the guidelines of the workplace. 

We haven't had to use The Phone Chokey yet... Stay tuned for the inaugural confiscation!

Teen Scavenger Hunt

The end of summer means another thank you party for the teen volunteers! They do so much good work for us that the staff always throws them an after-hours party complete with food, activities, and party favors. Allow me to present, a group picture of everyone who attended the party, which was about a third of our SRP volunteer class of 2019.

This year, I was in charge of running the party along with one of the building managers. I found an app called GooseChase that makes it incredibly easy to make scavenger hunts for groups and/or students, and they even have an educator option that lets you access much of the app's features for free! GooseChase let me create my hunt easily using the desktop computer, then let me password protect it so only our teens would have access. After everyone downloaded the app and signed in to our activity, they formed two- or three-person teams and ran off. One thing I would do differently if I do another teen scavenger hunt using digital devices is to add more challenges. Tonight's had twelve, and they were all back within 15 minutes!

Dinner was pizza and fruit, and the movie was the incomparable 1996 classic Matilda, but let's get to the real important part: the scavenger hunt. In my humble opinion, the best part of having teen programs after hours is the opportunity to run around and be loud in the stacks while there are no patrons there to complain. It's silly, fun, and lets the teens unwind in a casual environment after working hard for two months.

AWE Computers: Take a picture of you and/or a friend playing at the AWE computers in the Children's Room.

Books: See how many books you can balance in top of your head. Have a teammate take a picture before they fall!

Children's Room Colors: Find the wall in the Children's Room that you think has the best color, and take a picture in front of it.

First Time: Find an area in the library that you have never used (or haven't used a lot), and take a picture there.

Friends: Take a picture with someone who is NOT on your scavenger hunting team.

Furniture: Find your favorite piece of furniture in the library, and have someone take ap cture of you using it.

Mirror: Find a mirror somewhere in the library and take a mirror selfie. The more creative, the better!

Picture Book: Find a picture book you read as a kid, and take a picture with it.

Purple: Find a purple object and take a selfie with it.

Sorter: Take a group picture of your scavenger hunting team by the front check-in area and/or sorter.

Study Rooms: Take a picture inside one of the study rooms.

Tables: Take a picture under a table!