Wow! Week 3! I didn't think that we could get more crazy, but I'm always surprised.
Blue, of course, was the first color gone, hence no picture of it!
Storytimes
Attendance finally looks like it's equaling out, finally. There were still quite a lot of kids at storytime, but I have altered the crafts a little so they're not so overwhelming. This week's theme was Summer, and it's my favorite one of the summer so far.
Programs
Thursday - Teen Game Night
Three of our four branches are offering teen video/board game programs this summer. My first was on Thursday night. I set up the Nintendo Wii with Super Smash Brothers Brawl and put out various board games and card games. I also had a table for Nintendo DS users.
Sadly, Teen Game Night was just not meant to be. Whether it was too early in the summer, too late in the evening (7:00 to 8:00 pm), or the fickleness of teens, no one came to hang out. We had almost no patrons in the library that night, either (a first this summer!), so I guess I won't feel too bad about it. There's always our TGN in July.
Friday - Weekly Performer
This week we hosted a visit with a zoologist who brings live animals. The theme for our show (he brings different types of animals depending on the theme) involved creepy critters. He brought an alligator, a king snake, a tarantula, a scorpion, a Burmese python, and a giant Madagascar cockroach (guess which animal made me leave the room!). His shows always have a huge turnout, and we had 175 people cross our meeting room threshold, which includes those who left and let others take their place.
Unfortunately, with a crowd this size, there are always some issues. Last year we couldn't fit all of the people who wanted to come in, so this year I gave out numbers 1 through 160, which is how many people I can safely have in the room. I started giving out numbers a half an hour before the show and encouraged the adults who had older children to not go into the program room so that I could fit more children. Most adults were more than okay with this; they understood that it was a children's program. But there was a handful of adults who were just looking for an argument, and couldn't be convinced that their entry guaranteed that one less child could enter the room. When we filled to capacity, there were even more issues (fire codes, people!), but thankfully I had an assertive staff member guarding the door for me.
Sea How Many Books...
We are at 6050 books/hours!
We have the same difficulty with patrons at popular programs. So much so that we have to hand out tickets for some programs. Patrons have to register for the program in person and are given their tickets when they register. The beginning date for registration for these programs is actually listed in the publicity. And we still have to take their names in case there are "issues". There really is no easy way to handle these things, I think.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea about tickets. I hate to turn away kids and allbbut because of space constraints etc., we have to. What was the name of the zoologist? We had a program like that too and it was very popular!
ReplyDeleteHe goes by the name of Critterman. He's excellent with the kids, and such an entertaining show. He's based in North Texas.
ReplyDeleteIt's so awful to have to turn children away for a program, but we do what we have to. It's all an experiment to see what works, since our administration prefers that we do not have preregistration.