Donald E. Long students enter national songwriting competition

Article written by BCLA Program Specialist Jody Redifer, with support from Communications Specialist Paty Rincon

When David Shine, an English teacher with the Multnomah Education Service District (MESD), and Multnomah County Library (MCL) Program Specialist Jody Redifer teamed up, their goal was to bring the youth at Donald E. Long (DEL) Juvenile Detention Center together for a national songwriting competition. The library’s outreach work at DEL is made possible by a longstanding partnership between the library and Multnomah County’s Department of Community Justice.

The songwriting competition, held by BreakFree Education, supports the organization’s mission to “radically improve education in the juvenile justice system.” 

For Jody, who has been facilitating a music production class in the library at DEL since late 2020, it was exciting to have English teacher David Shine approach him to collaborate on this competition.

During his time teaching the music production class, Jody has recorded over 200 songs by more than 50 youth. With the combination of David and Jody working together, students at DEL were thrilled to have this project underway. David took lead on the writing, and Jody managed the production and engineering. 

Through the songwriting competition youth not only explored music, but also the specific themes pertaining to each song. It is this lesson plan component that allows the youth to grow introspectively, while gaining new musical skills. 

BreakFree Education’s mission for this program is that “through this initiative, students explore policy issues that impact their lives. Students harness the power of music to create, produce, and share songs that address issues related to juvenile justice reform.” The songwriting competition is the result of this work, and through it the organization “amplifies the voices of youth justice.”

Students at DEL put their all into the songwriting and performances. This is something which may sound practical, but is not always easy in a detention environment. They expressed their perspective on social conditions and the struggles they and other youth face.

As a result of the hard and thoughtful work the youth put in and the collaboration between MESD and MCL, two of the units at DEL finished in the top 10 nationwide, with unit A2 taking 3rd place on October 28, 2021!

Students at DEL, David and Jody are excited for the prospect of more partnerships like this. In the immediate future, the next collaboration looks to be the publication of works of fiction and non fiction by the students at DEL with the help of MCL. With David working on the writing aspect, and Jody on the publication side, this is bound to be a successful venture! Again bridging the creative ideas of youth, into hands-on and constructive skills.

2020 Fall Programs and Services (Part 3)

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Mark Richardson at Cedar Mill Community Library

The Library has some escape rooms (virtual) and take and make crafts for teen programs.  We are working on some Library of Things kits with presentation materials in them per a request from a teacher.  Ring lights, tripod stands, iPad holders, lavalier mics, etc. 

Ian Duncanson at Beaverton Public Library

The Library is not doing as many programs this fall due to teens feeling ‘Zoomed out,’ but I did just do a couple of college programs with local private college prep counselors. One was applying for college during COVID, and it was very interesting to hear about the changes that people can expect when applying to and attending school this year and next. The other one was on writing dynamic college admissions essays and what admissions departments typically look for. 

We are also doing the annual Teen Art Show in November. This year is our 18th art show, and the show will be virtual. Teens can submit their art online and we will have an online gallery to display November 4-18. People will still be able to vote on their favorite middle and high school works for a People’s Choice Award. Full info is on our website. 

In addition, we have a creative writing contest going in October. Scary Twitterature challenges teens to write a spooky piece of flash fiction in ~280 characters or less. The full details are on our website.

Finally, I am focusing more on my Teen Library Council this fall. We had our first meeting and a presentation from YouthLine on their services for teen mental health during the pandemic as well as during normal times. They are also recording podcast episodes remotely and helping me to come up with good monthly photo contests, among other feedback and small projects.

2020 Summer Reading Reflections (Part 1)

Most libraries tried new things for the teen summer reading program this year. What worked, what didn’t work, and what do you think you’ll try again next summer regardless of the pandemic? Here are reflections from three libraries:

Celine Vandervlugt at Cook Memorial Library

Despite our best marketing efforts, we had very low participation in our online summer reading program. I think all of the teens were “over” the virtual activities after the spring school chaos. However, the bingo activity I put together turned our very well. I used a template from Canva, posted the bingo card on our web page, and linked it to our Beanstack program. I will try it next year when we can hand out bingo cards, as well as make it available online. We did versions of this for the children’s program and the adult program.

Julie Tibbetts at Lebanon Public Library

Our library had a very condensed summer reading program with one reading log consisting of 7 hours of reading. We had a good teen turn out and the numbers were very consistent with our regular stats. We did a teen take and make and it was a great success.

The craft was a cardboard loom and we provided everything needed to make a small wall hanging. We even made additional kits to meet the demand. We posted a “virtual” Craft Classroom to accompany the kit and posted it on our social media feeds. We have to admit, we had a better participation rate than if we were to do a program at the library. Going forward, we will probably offer a mix of virtual and in-house programming.

Star Todd at Jefferson County Library

For our summer reading program, we had online storytimes and craft kits. For the craft kits, we had a children’s option and a 12+ teen option. For instance, one week we had a princess and the frog theme. The children’s kit had a background with characters and stickers for them to create their own storyboard. It also included a piece of green paper and instructions to fold an origami frog. For the teen kit, there were five pieces of patterned origami paper with instructions on folding a paper crane. Some weeks the kits were the same, like when we had paper journals and pencils, some weeks were different. Our online offerings for teens were thin, just weekly 1-minute book reviews. 

The library partnered with the local school districts and made the craft kits available at free lunch sites. This seemed to go well and increased the number of youth reached in Warm Springs, which were low with our traditional in-person programming. We will likely keep the craft kits option next year even if we have in-person programming available next summer. 

Collaborating to Expand Reading Opportunities

Guest writers: Aurora Oberg and Kris Wiley, Roseburg Public Library

Roseburg Public Library is partnering with the Douglas Education Service District’s Horizons foster children program to provide reading materials to some of the community’s most vulnerable patrons.

Photo: Roseburg Public Library Youth Services Librarian Aurora Oberg and Douglas Education Service District Special Education Administrator Bryan Hinson at Horizons media center.

 

In February, the library provided its first rotating collection of Young Adult and upper-level Juvenile popular materials to Horizons students. About 150 books and graphic novels of varying reading abilities were pulled from the library collection and masked in the online catalog, and they now sit on the bookshelves at Horizons’ media center for students to access. The library trained two Horizons staff members to issue cards, check out and check in materials, and facilitate placing holds on items that remain at Roseburg Public Library.

The Horizons program was developed by the Douglas Education Service District (ESD) in partnership with Roseburg Public Schools and the Douglas County Juvenile Department mid-school year to provide education to minors ages 12-18 who are in three foster homes in Roseburg. The Horizons school serves a small population with a maximum of 36 students in a facility focused on serving and encouraging them in their unique circumstance. These older children have been moved around frequently, creating gaps in their education. Horizons has three classes and a media center to serve the students, and teachers and aides have received extra training in helping them learn to self-regulate emotions and ultimately have a more productive experience.

In addition to sharing current materials, the Douglas ESD will provide funding for Roseburg Public Library’s Youth Service Librarian to utilize her expertise and help purchase new materials for the youth collection that will be shared between the organizations. The library will encourage input from Horizons students to help guide purchases for genres, themes and authors they would like available to read. Having a collection of books available to the students at such a small learning facility is important to give them a positive way to escape their daily stresses, and creating a library at their school eliminates the transportation barrier. Additionally, students can place holds on all materials in the Roseburg Public Library collection, and the ESD provides courier service, ensuring students get the material they want.

This project is one more way Roseburg Public Library and the Douglas ESD work together to support literacy and lifelong learning in the community. The organizations co-located in a refurbished library building last year, creating a collaborative environment. The Oregon Technology Access Program, which is located within the Douglas ESD, provides a 3D printer for the library’s new Maker Space, and the library’s Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps participant is using the printer to create assistive devices. The Douglas ESD manages the library’s public networks, and the library and Douglas ESD co-sponsor programs such as a mental health education series.

In only its third week, the response from Horizons staff and students has been positive. Students have been checking out books and requesting more materials be delivered to the school. We look forward to developing a long-lasting, positive relationship with the Horizons program.

Aurora Oberg is the Youth Services Librarian and Kris Wiley is the Director at Roseburg Public Library. They may be reached at library@cityofroseburg.org.

 

 

 

 

Back to School: Making New Connections

by April Witteveen, Deschutes Public Library (originally appeared in the YALSA blog)

Courtesy of the National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24229822

With the end of summer reading and learning programs on the horizon, thoughts turn to the quickly approaching school year (perhaps with a well-earned vacation in between…).  For front-line public librarians, it’s a new year full of opportunities to make connections with area school library staff.  Perhaps you’ve tried this type of outreach in the past with minimal success; maybe there’s been a staffing change at a school where you’ve had a continuous presence but now you’re not sure how things will go. If you’re lucky enough to have an excellent relationships that will pick up right where you left off, then share your advice in the comments at https://oyanpeeps.wordpress.com.

This is not a time to be retreating, this is a time to sell your incredible and unique services and support for both students and teachers. Stepping outside your comfort zone and making a tough cold call, email, or in-person visit can yield amazing results.  Here are some ideas on how you could get started:

• Create a one-sheet that clearly and succinctly lays out what your services are (instruction/database presentations, book talks, lunchtime outreach, etc.).  Include this in a promotional packet with library swag and business cards, and deliver to school libraries before school starts.
• Browse online staff directories of area schools to identify teachers who might be most likely to take you up on services: traditionally this would be language arts and social studies teachers, but with the STEM/STEAM movement it’s time to expand our message to science and technology teachers.
• Try a lunch time outreach pilot project in conjunction with school library staff. This could be a lunch book club meeting or providing a presence in the cafeteria with library information and swag to bring attention to you and your public library. This also helps you create relationships with students and school staff.
• Check in with career and college preparation offices in your high schools to let them know about your resources and services for this population.  You could find out about hosting a booth at college and career fairs.

 

These ideas all sound great at the outset– but then what?  Patience and perseverance!  Follow up is going to be incredibly important– we don’t want to pester but we want to be sure that our message is heard.  Being aware of any school’s given reality is also important; perhaps they are going through an intense testing year or drastically changing their curriculum.  Both of these situations have impacted my own school outreach in the past, but hooray, it’s a brand new year!  It’s also great to reassure school library workers that we aren’t looking to take over their jobs or their libraries, we want to add value and create relationships that will help students succeed and give teachers additional support.