Stolen Car?

The other week a woman came into the library frantically saying her car was stolen. We called the sheriff's office and sure enough her car was not in the parking lot. Curiously though, there was a car that looked exactly like hers, make and model, parked right next to where she was parked.

It turns out that another woman mistakenly drove home in the wrong car. The cars were so similar and parked next to each other that there was a mistake. Apparently many identical models of Saturn cars can open with the same key. (Scary thought.)

So as this woman was at our library all upset thinking her car was stolen another woman came back to the library all flustered because she had driven home in the wrong car. The cars were switched and there was no charges or anything pressed.

My question is: how could you have driven so far in the wrong car and not have noticed? Sure, the cars may have looked alike but seats are pushed at different levels, items are hanging from the rear view mirror, things are in backseats, the radio would be at different stations etc. I'm glad the woman eventually noticed that she was driving in the wrong car or she might find herself driving her new car and suddenly be pulled over.

No More Favors

There is a teen that's a regular in my library that's chosen to do his community service hours at the library. His crime? Breaking into a church. It was done on a lark with his friends. I overheard our cop on duty tell him "Now, if any of your friends say 'I have a great idea', it's usually not a great idea." Good advice.

This week has been a struggle with him to get him to do his community service hours. Monday went fine, except I had to drag the girls away from him while he worked. One girl whined to me, "Why can't I talk to him why he works?" I explained that it's not really community service hours if you get to talk to your friends.

The rest of the days have been more difficult. Tues-Thurs he's claimed he doesn't have his sheet so he can't do the work. I told him that he can still do the work and I'll just sign off for the work when he brings his sheet in. This solution doesn't work too well for him because it interrupts his internet time and although I repeatedly told him I had work for him to do, I PLANNED work for him to do, he said he couldnt' do it.

This teen doesn't seem to understand that I'M doing him a favor by LETTING him work at the library. He thinks he's doing ME a favor by working at the library. It's not easy to come up with 20 hours of work for a 13 year old to do unsupervised. That is work in itself. I'm drawing the line tomorrow, he works for me tomorrow or he doesn't work at the library at all. No more favors.

Reading Hamlet by Playing Halo

Frankly I'm tired of hearing the same old talk in library circles about the so-called links between literacy and gaming. In fact, "skeptics point out that psychological research consistently shows that skills often don’t transfer from one setting to another." This quote is from an interesting article from the New York Times on video games and reading.

Playing three hours of Halo a day is not going to help you read Shakespeare. What WILL help you read Shakespeare is actually picking up a book and reading.

This is a wicked thought but part of me thinks that librarians jump onto this "literacy in gaming" bandwagon to make themselves feel better about offering video games in libraries. Deep down there might be some hesitation against it but if some expert is talking about "critical thinking skills" they acquiesce and bring the games into the library.

I have no problem with gaming if your purpose is to bring patrons into the library. Games are great for that. However, don't gloss gaming up with the high and mighty title of "literacy", call it what it is: digital bribery.

Dia de los Muertos for the Teens

In our library every afternoon these large groups of Hispanic teens come in and hang out. They sit and talk, never read a book, attend a program, rarely get on the computer; the library is just a hang out place for them. I have tried to invite them to programs but they look at me in a mixture of annoyance and confusion when I ask them to come.

Recently I communicated with other librarians in the state on possible ideas to get the Hispanic teens involved. They offered some good ideas but the main response I got back was "don't bug them."

However, finally I got the Hispanic teens interested in something! This week we celebrated Dia de los Muertos or "Day of the Dead" at our library. It is a holiday celebrated in Mexico around the same time as Halloween. One of our staff created this wonderful display (pictured above) and the teens contributed to it. The flowers on the display are made simply with crepe paper and pipe cleaners. I offered the supplies to make the flowers to the Hispanic teens not expecting a response but they went into it enthusiastically. They created whole bouquets of crepe paper flowers.

It has made me think that maybe the key to get the Hispanic teens involved is to offer more activities ethnically centered. Perhaps my programs are too "white" for them. Why I don't know what my exact next step will be, seeing the Hispanic teens interested in something has given me hope.

The Psychology of Teen Fights

A few weeks ago some teens planned to fight in front of the library. To plan a fight in junior high you must do three things:

1. Pick someone bad and cool to fight with to up your status
2. Make sure everyone in school knows where and when you're going to fight
3. Make sure everyone coming to the fight has video capabilities on their cellphones in order to post the fight up on YouTube

Usually the places picked are very public such as malls, public parks or in front of libraries. These are places where you won't even get one punch in before the fight is broken up by an adult. I have thought about why the teens pick such public places like the library to stage their fights and then I realized that they WANT to get caught. They are really having these fights for show. They want to prove they're big and bad without getting hurt. The teens that really want to do damage pick different locales for their fights and they don't want anyone to bring their cellphone cameras.

Books with Byte

Last week for Teen Read Week a few libraries in our system participated in this "Books with Byte" program. We videotaped teens talking about their favorite books and put it up on YouTube. You can see them at the link here. The ones in front of the bookcase are another library's.

It was a struggle getting most of my teens in front of the videocamera to talk about books. I bribed them all with candy and incentives such as waivers. Still, "talking about books?" one asked me and made a face. Perhaps if we talked about movies, boys, or internet there would be more interest. One was more interested in talking about skateboarding and I had to prompt him to list a few books. A few girls got the giggles and could barely keep it under control in front of the camera. One insisted that the reason that she liked Twilight was because "Edward was hot," which I guess is a valid point.

The other library down in a "better" neighborhood had some nice sedate teens who talked fluently and longer. I couldn't help but notice the contrast. But I guess the point is not that my teens talked longer or well it's that they talked at all.

Clever Babies

Babies are clever little buggers.

I do a baby storytime for newborns to toddlers once a week and those little tots keep me on my toes. This week there was a pair of twins, a boy and girl who I believe had devised a devious plan with each other before the start of storytime. These twins were a dynamic duo, moving around stealthily out of my vision while I did the songs and stories of the storytime.

I believe their twin conversation before the start of storytime went like this:
"Okay, now I'll go for that thing that makes the music that she's always messing with while you go around the back for those wonderful shiny things that Mommy always plays with."

So one twin distracted me by pounding on the CD player nearly stopping the songs and whilst I was paying attention to him the girl went around the back of the small table which the CD player was perched for my keys which were under the table. Their mission was completely successful. The little girl grabbed my keys and went back to her seat to (literally) drool over her trophy.

This has taught me two lessons: One is to put my keys in a higher place, and also that babies are clever little buggers.

Megaphone Jealously

Today there was a rumour of a fight buzzing around the junior high so half the school decided to congregate on the lawn in front of the library. (Because what better place to have a fight than in front of the public library which is across the street from the Sheriff's office?) So dozens of kids were gathering in groups waiting and waiting for the fight to begin and it was a regular lawn party.

Unfortunately as boring grown ups have to do, the sheriffs came in and broke up the party. They walked in with these megaphones and ordered the kids to either leave or come in the library. The kids immediately listened to the sheriffs and there was no rumble today.

Upon hearing of these megaphones I became jealous. I really need a megaphone at work. I tell kids to leave the library in my normal tone and they reluctantly comply but if I had a large amplified tone behind me I'm sure they would jump to attention. Also, at the end of the day I could get on my megaphone and say "There is five minutes to closing, please gather your items and head to the front desk." I would be sure to get out of work on time everyday if I had that power behind my voice.

Of course some people would say that megaphones shouldn't be allowed in the library; it's supposed to be a quiet place. For those naysayers I would have them try to get a half dozen hyped up 14 year olds to leave without raising their voice.