Day 1

I flew into JFK last night with no problems. I was surrounded by women who had taken off their shoes during the flight – but at least their feet didn’t stink - bleh! I met up with Heather at baggage claim, rented our car (a weird looking full size car because they were out of economy size) and found our way out to our hotel in Centereach, Long Island with a minor bump or two! The hotel's nice and sells Munchos - one of my favorite snacks.

Today’s session was at the Selden Library. It’s a modern looking and nice library in a rural neighborhood. 15 of us are taking the Library Place training. Marci Byrne and Kathleen Deerr introduced and presented the program. They outlined what makes a library a Family Place Library. My understanding is that a Family Place Library offers programs and services focused on the family unit and a Parent/Child workshop. They stressed making partnerships with community groups and discussed how to use a library needs assessment to provide family centered services and programs. The most valuable part of the workshop was brainstorming with Heather on possible coalitions.

One interesting partnership which intrigued me was the Shots for Tots program. The Selden Library and the Dept. of Health collaborate on offering shots for children which brings in a segment of the population that usually never entered the library. One of the visiting librarians asked if the kids associate the library as a place where pain was inflicted. Marci said they never had any kids throwing fits when they returned to the library, and since the shots were given in a more soothing environment, they were less scared of getting the shots. (This reminded me of an example used in the Infopeople workshop that I went to last week, Experienceology, where the children's dental office decorated in a jungle theme with video games and kid friendly decorations and animals, to make them feel less afraid of going to the dentist.)

There are some really cool library folk from Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York and Virginia. Kim and Dottie, are acting co-directors from a library in PA with a really long name that starts with an N and I can’t remember the name right now – it’s late! During dinner another librarian from PA mentioned that John Grogan, author of Marley and Me, is visiting her library for free. Dottie’s eyes bugged out of her head because they booked him for $18,000!

Tomorrow’s session focuses on infant brain development. I expect this topic to help me round out our Bouncing Babies storytimes and possibly make some changes.