Summer Reading Challenge Launch

This afternoon the kids at Kogarah Library participated in an amazing Science show and workshop to launch this years SRC. The theme for this summer was 'investigate', and we certainly did some great investigation today. 10 work stations and hands on activities as well as a show with lots of audience participation, everyone was happy. Around 80 children came and hopefully are now rearing to go in this years challenge. Incentive based reading, sees small prizes awarded for every 10 books read. We are still finding however that people are booking their children in for events that are just not appropriate for their age. Luckily the facilitator was adaptable and catered for the wider age span present.
Another troubling incident was the mother of an autistic boy left the library while he was on the mat, and the boy became disruptive and distressed. We searched for 20 minutes for the mother, as carers were all told to remain in the library for the session. In the end we had to find her mobile number from old book club database and call her. We saw her cruising back down the street slowly back to the library. She said, I told him I'd come back.  Unbelievable, that poor boy. Despite that, the afternoon was a great success according to the kids and their families. Hopefully we have inspired a few, and many will participate in the program.

Toy gun in story time

During a Toytime session, I noticed a child had brought his own toy, and a gun none the less, into the room and was holding the gun to a smaller child's head, and repeatedly shooting her. This was accompanied by sound effects and went on for over a minute. The mother of the small child was on the other side of the room drinking her coffee with friends, but the mother of the child with the toy gun was right there, yet did nothing to stop this action.

I approached the mother and asked politely if she could please ask her son to put his gun away, and said that we are not allowed to bring toys from home into the Toytime session. She replied that she didn't want to upset her child by making him give up the gun, as he had had a bad morning.
All the while, her son was continuing to shoot the little girl in the head with his fake gun. I wanted to talk about the morality of the situation and the fact that there were refugee families in the room, but I had to stick to solid ground, such as not bringing toys from home and not allowing any behaviour that could harm others or was culturally insensitive.

 I then said to her that it was not appropriate for her son to use that object in this context performing that action. Still no success. What could have been a simple thing became very difficult as this lady refused to cooperate. 

The mother said, Oh I don't like guns either. 
And yet she allowed her child to pretend to kill someone in our session.
The mother said, I am supervising.
And yet she didn't pull the child's gun away from the little girls head.

There seems to be the feeling that anything goes at preschool sessions in public libraries. But the programs have boundaries and rules just like a school, preschool or any other facility for young children. This incident prompted me to revisit my Story Corner Guidelines and update them. You can't predict every single scenario, but you can build a strong set of guidelines that support you as facilitator to prevent people from thinking their child is the exception to the rules.

I will be bringing those guidelines in hand to my session at that branch next week, giving them out to every family and putting up posters in the room. The wording took a lot of deliberation, to sound positive and fun, yet firm.

Day of book buying

I spent an enjoyable day buying resources for Kogarah Library's School resources Collection. I love bookshops and spending someone else's money on beautiful books. Today I was focusing on Science, Art, Geography and History for Junior High School, as well as a few gaps in the primary workbooks in English, Maths and Science. The School Resources Collection is a relatively new collection taking over from the traditional reference books, and bringing together all useful curriculum texts, workbooks and study guides, all for 7 day loan period. I had a great time purchasing at Dymocks today. A good part of my job.

INF 505 Library Services for Children and Youth

I am a Children's Librarian working at Kogarah Library in Sydney, NSW. I love my job and am passionate about early literacy and bringing a love of stories to young children. This is my first journey into the world of blogging. Over the next few months I will be documenting my proffessional development activities and reflecting on my experience of studying after several years out of academia. This is an exciting opportunity to bring together my proffessional life, personal aspirations and love of libraries and books, in one place, as I study the subject of Library Services for Children and Youth.