Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Storytime Extravaganza
I loved the music, even though I have used some of it there was plenty of new. I also liked using a simple piece of yarn as a worm. Something that simple is really a creative idea. I always enjoy the sharing of books that others use during their story times. Fresh ideas are always nice and I will incorporate some of them into my programs. As for my a-ha moment, I keep going back to that piece of yarn that turned into a worm. Kind of sad isn't it? But I just can't believe that something that easy was so cute, and I didn't think of it on my own. My favorite part of the program was the sharing of music. I am always looking for new material and most of this was really neat. Especially the ways they jazzed it up like with the boots song. The only suggestion I would have is to not include material that is out of print. It is disappointing to see a book that you would love to have a copy of and then can't get it. You can tell Amanda and Tess work well together they really do a good job.
Monday, October 15, 2012
LWC Day #1: Visit to MCI-H
This is the 2nd part of my learning reflection for the first class day of Leadership Washington County. After we completed our poverty simulations in the morning we hopped on a bus and headed over to Sharpsburg to the MCI-H, a medium security prison. It didn't dawn on me then but I'm just now wondering if society labels the incarcerated members of our society as impoverished or privileged. Certainly, depending on where you are on the incarcerated societal ladder, some folks have more privileges than others.
After lunch, we spent about an hour touring the facilities and learning about some of the programs offered at MCI-H - the cells (are tiny), the visiting area (is one of the last ones in the state to not have an impassable physical barrier between the residents and the visitors), the recreation areas, the work areas (i.e. metal works, meat packaging, etc), and one of the highlights of my day: the dog assistance training program where the residents work with lab/lab-mix puppies and train them to become service animals.
The next hour or so was spent engaging in a panel discussion with four outstanding residents, all of whom were there on life sentences for murder (someone else might need to correct me on this; we didn't have pens and paper to take notes so my memory is shoddy). They told us why they were there but the most interesting pieces focused on the good they were doing within the prison to improve the relationships between residents and staff. One of the residents, Gino, is in charge of a communication committee (it had a better name than that) and he's working with other residents and staff to create classes to teach new and veteran residents new skills on how to break bad habits so they're prepared to interact in more acceptable ways when they leave MCI-H; and for the ones who are at MCI-H for the long haul, these new skills benefit them and their interactions in house.
They also talked about what they think are some of the most important factors in preventing youth from following in their footsteps. They specified quality time and attention from respected adults. They also couldn't stress enough how important it is for adults in authority (parents, teachers, coaches, etc) to just listen without judging. The panelists said that if they weren't so afraid of the repercussions they would've experienced by talking to their parents and/or teachers about normal youth concerns, then they would have opened up more freely and perhaps wouldn't have engaged in less than legal behaviors. One of the programs that they'd like to start or maybe it's already in the works is a mentoring program with MCI-H residents and troubled youth (and their families, too?) in Washington county. I'd love to see this happen.
The last segment of the day was another panel of four human services experts from Washington County. These folks helped to tie the day together - poverty, privilege, charity - and basically they fielded our questions about gaps in the system (i.e. why aren't the human services departments in one centralized area so folks who need these resources don't have to trek all across town - on foot or bus - to get the help they need?) and shared their unique insights on the situation in Washington county. Again - not being able to take notes greatly hampered my retention rate here so, if any of my LWC friends are reading this, please feel free to chime in with your takeaways, too!
All in all it was an extremely eye-opening day. I knew that I didn't know much about Washington County but I didn't realize I didn't know *that* much about Washington County. There are some amazingly generous and charitable people and organizations out there doing some amazing things for folks but at the same time there's a lot of room for improvement which seems to rely, for better or for worse, on funding and priority consensus. You're probably wondering, what does this have to do with your work at the library? Well, I think there's a lot the library can do but it's going to require me to think about this some more which also means you'll have to stay tuned for pt. 3 of this learning reflection.
After lunch, we spent about an hour touring the facilities and learning about some of the programs offered at MCI-H - the cells (are tiny), the visiting area (is one of the last ones in the state to not have an impassable physical barrier between the residents and the visitors), the recreation areas, the work areas (i.e. metal works, meat packaging, etc), and one of the highlights of my day: the dog assistance training program where the residents work with lab/lab-mix puppies and train them to become service animals.
The next hour or so was spent engaging in a panel discussion with four outstanding residents, all of whom were there on life sentences for murder (someone else might need to correct me on this; we didn't have pens and paper to take notes so my memory is shoddy). They told us why they were there but the most interesting pieces focused on the good they were doing within the prison to improve the relationships between residents and staff. One of the residents, Gino, is in charge of a communication committee (it had a better name than that) and he's working with other residents and staff to create classes to teach new and veteran residents new skills on how to break bad habits so they're prepared to interact in more acceptable ways when they leave MCI-H; and for the ones who are at MCI-H for the long haul, these new skills benefit them and their interactions in house.
They also talked about what they think are some of the most important factors in preventing youth from following in their footsteps. They specified quality time and attention from respected adults. They also couldn't stress enough how important it is for adults in authority (parents, teachers, coaches, etc) to just listen without judging. The panelists said that if they weren't so afraid of the repercussions they would've experienced by talking to their parents and/or teachers about normal youth concerns, then they would have opened up more freely and perhaps wouldn't have engaged in less than legal behaviors. One of the programs that they'd like to start or maybe it's already in the works is a mentoring program with MCI-H residents and troubled youth (and their families, too?) in Washington county. I'd love to see this happen.
The last segment of the day was another panel of four human services experts from Washington County. These folks helped to tie the day together - poverty, privilege, charity - and basically they fielded our questions about gaps in the system (i.e. why aren't the human services departments in one centralized area so folks who need these resources don't have to trek all across town - on foot or bus - to get the help they need?) and shared their unique insights on the situation in Washington county. Again - not being able to take notes greatly hampered my retention rate here so, if any of my LWC friends are reading this, please feel free to chime in with your takeaways, too!
All in all it was an extremely eye-opening day. I knew that I didn't know much about Washington County but I didn't realize I didn't know *that* much about Washington County. There are some amazingly generous and charitable people and organizations out there doing some amazing things for folks but at the same time there's a lot of room for improvement which seems to rely, for better or for worse, on funding and priority consensus. You're probably wondering, what does this have to do with your work at the library? Well, I think there's a lot the library can do but it's going to require me to think about this some more which also means you'll have to stay tuned for pt. 3 of this learning reflection.
LWC Day #1: Poverty Simulation
The first class day of my Leadership Washington County program was Oct. 12th and since the Western MD Regional Library is sponsoring me to participate in this program I thought it was only right to post a learning reflection here.
The theme of the day was Human Resources and the thesis statement we were given to keep in the back of our minds throughout the day was something to the extent of, "How do poverty and privilege co-exist in Washington county?" To drive the point home, we were asked to read the article, "The Limits of Charity."
Part 1: Poverty Simulation
So, the first half of our day began with a poverty simulation. We were broken up into 5 groups of 6 people and each group was given a different scenario. The scenario my group had was written entirely in Spanish. Basically, our situation was this:
We are a family of four - 2 parents, 2 kids (ages 3 and 4) who mostly only speak Spanish though they know a little English. The parents are in the country illegally but the children were born in the U.S. and thus are legal. The family is currently living with some friends but they need to get food stamps, medical assistance, education information for their kids, etc. We have an appointment at La Comunidad Latina which is based out of the Community Action Council building on Summit Ave, to speak with Gladys Rojas.
So, we set out on foot to La Comunidad Latina where we waited in line just to sign in with the receptionist. Keeping the idea of poverty and privilege it was interesting to hear some of our LWC companions wanting to skip ahead to the front of the line just because of the LWC program. We reminded them that this is a poverty simulation and the wait is what folks do to be seen at the CAC every day. When we got into Ms. Rojas' office she immediately started speaking Spanish, greeting us, etc. There were two of us in the group who had enough Spanish experience to piece together what was happening so, that made it a little bit easier but pretty much she was trying to demonstrate for us what it's like for someone who doesn't speak the primary language. Ms. Rojas continued to guide us, in Spanish, through the intake form that we had to complete. Afterwards, she reverted to English...thankfully! We spent about 30 minutes talking with Ms. Rojas and we learned that since the parents are illegal, there's really no resources available to help them. However, since their children were born in the U.S. they are entitled to food stamps. temporary cash assistance, education at the public schools, and medical insurance. However, she cannot provide us with any of those resources there, we have to go to the Department of Social Services (DSS) for that. What she can do for us is to help us set up and maintain our own business - should we be so inclined to register one in the future.
So, we set out again, this time to DSS. When we arrived at DSS we were yet again greeted with another line. This time the LWC name (and the need for DSS to stay on their schedule) did expedite our wait (hello, privilege) and we were shown into the room where we needed to be. Did I mention that if your request is processed before 2PM it might be possible for your to receive same-day assistance? So, time is of the essence.
We shared our situation with the two DSS representatives who were waiting for us and they told us about the process we'd go through rather than actually making us go through it. They do group consultations at DSS three times a day and each group session can accommodate about 20 people. During these sessions, everyone watches an intro video which explains, in English, what services are available through DSS. After that, they're guided through the necessary paperwork (approx. 8-10 pages worth). To accommodate non-English speaking clients, they have a telephone translating system where the DSS rep is on one phone, the client is on the other and in the middle (somewhere off site) is a translator. So, each party takes turns speaking into the phone while the middle man translates for them. They can currently translate approximately 26 languages.
Basically, the only requirement for someone to receive assistance at DSS is a social security number. This means the parents in our scenario are still not able to receive any assistance for themselves but they can receive approximately $363 a month in food stamps with which to feed their two U.S. born children. They can also receive a maximum of approximately $453 a month in temporary cash assistance - again to be used to take care of the children (clothes, shoes, toiletries, shelter, etc). The children also will be taken care of medically with medical insurance. If I understand it right, they'll immediately be covered by Medicaid and then once the paperwork goes through the system, they'll be assigned to an MCO (?) through which all their medical needs will be processed. DSS does random spot checks each month and does check in with all clients 2x a year; at least one of those meetings is either in person or on the phone. Approximately 30% of Washington County residents is on one form of assistance or another (either food stamps. temporary cash assistance, medical assistance, or a combination of the three).
Just vising these two departments took about 3 hours and they were abbreviated visits. Imagine if we really had this need and had to invest even more time in our day to get the help we needed. Plus, we might end the day with no cash in our pockets anyway - it usually takes 5-7 days for folks to receive their temporary cash assistance card in the mail (it comes from TX). If we had needed food to hold us over we would have been sent back to the Community Action Council or a soup kitchen, etc.
Another thing that I learned that I thought was important to share is that both La Comunidad Latina and the DSS are safe spaces; if you're illegal - for any reason (immigration, felonies, etc) they will not report you. They're in the business of getting help for their clients, not making their lives harder by calling the police. What a wonderful feeling and I bet most folks do not realize that these safe spaces exist...
A couple more thoughts on poverty and privilege: are the impoverished considered privileged to have these services available to them in Washington County considering these services aren't necessarily available everywhere? One of my favorite questions for almost any topic, can privilege exist without poverty or vice versa?
Stay tuned for part 2 of day #1 - a visit to the MCI-H prison in Sharpsburg.
The theme of the day was Human Resources and the thesis statement we were given to keep in the back of our minds throughout the day was something to the extent of, "How do poverty and privilege co-exist in Washington county?" To drive the point home, we were asked to read the article, "The Limits of Charity."
Part 1: Poverty Simulation
So, the first half of our day began with a poverty simulation. We were broken up into 5 groups of 6 people and each group was given a different scenario. The scenario my group had was written entirely in Spanish. Basically, our situation was this:
We are a family of four - 2 parents, 2 kids (ages 3 and 4) who mostly only speak Spanish though they know a little English. The parents are in the country illegally but the children were born in the U.S. and thus are legal. The family is currently living with some friends but they need to get food stamps, medical assistance, education information for their kids, etc. We have an appointment at La Comunidad Latina which is based out of the Community Action Council building on Summit Ave, to speak with Gladys Rojas.
So, we set out on foot to La Comunidad Latina where we waited in line just to sign in with the receptionist. Keeping the idea of poverty and privilege it was interesting to hear some of our LWC companions wanting to skip ahead to the front of the line just because of the LWC program. We reminded them that this is a poverty simulation and the wait is what folks do to be seen at the CAC every day. When we got into Ms. Rojas' office she immediately started speaking Spanish, greeting us, etc. There were two of us in the group who had enough Spanish experience to piece together what was happening so, that made it a little bit easier but pretty much she was trying to demonstrate for us what it's like for someone who doesn't speak the primary language. Ms. Rojas continued to guide us, in Spanish, through the intake form that we had to complete. Afterwards, she reverted to English...thankfully! We spent about 30 minutes talking with Ms. Rojas and we learned that since the parents are illegal, there's really no resources available to help them. However, since their children were born in the U.S. they are entitled to food stamps. temporary cash assistance, education at the public schools, and medical insurance. However, she cannot provide us with any of those resources there, we have to go to the Department of Social Services (DSS) for that. What she can do for us is to help us set up and maintain our own business - should we be so inclined to register one in the future.
So, we set out again, this time to DSS. When we arrived at DSS we were yet again greeted with another line. This time the LWC name (and the need for DSS to stay on their schedule) did expedite our wait (hello, privilege) and we were shown into the room where we needed to be. Did I mention that if your request is processed before 2PM it might be possible for your to receive same-day assistance? So, time is of the essence.
We shared our situation with the two DSS representatives who were waiting for us and they told us about the process we'd go through rather than actually making us go through it. They do group consultations at DSS three times a day and each group session can accommodate about 20 people. During these sessions, everyone watches an intro video which explains, in English, what services are available through DSS. After that, they're guided through the necessary paperwork (approx. 8-10 pages worth). To accommodate non-English speaking clients, they have a telephone translating system where the DSS rep is on one phone, the client is on the other and in the middle (somewhere off site) is a translator. So, each party takes turns speaking into the phone while the middle man translates for them. They can currently translate approximately 26 languages.
Basically, the only requirement for someone to receive assistance at DSS is a social security number. This means the parents in our scenario are still not able to receive any assistance for themselves but they can receive approximately $363 a month in food stamps with which to feed their two U.S. born children. They can also receive a maximum of approximately $453 a month in temporary cash assistance - again to be used to take care of the children (clothes, shoes, toiletries, shelter, etc). The children also will be taken care of medically with medical insurance. If I understand it right, they'll immediately be covered by Medicaid and then once the paperwork goes through the system, they'll be assigned to an MCO (?) through which all their medical needs will be processed. DSS does random spot checks each month and does check in with all clients 2x a year; at least one of those meetings is either in person or on the phone. Approximately 30% of Washington County residents is on one form of assistance or another (either food stamps. temporary cash assistance, medical assistance, or a combination of the three).
Just vising these two departments took about 3 hours and they were abbreviated visits. Imagine if we really had this need and had to invest even more time in our day to get the help we needed. Plus, we might end the day with no cash in our pockets anyway - it usually takes 5-7 days for folks to receive their temporary cash assistance card in the mail (it comes from TX). If we had needed food to hold us over we would have been sent back to the Community Action Council or a soup kitchen, etc.
Another thing that I learned that I thought was important to share is that both La Comunidad Latina and the DSS are safe spaces; if you're illegal - for any reason (immigration, felonies, etc) they will not report you. They're in the business of getting help for their clients, not making their lives harder by calling the police. What a wonderful feeling and I bet most folks do not realize that these safe spaces exist...
A couple more thoughts on poverty and privilege: are the impoverished considered privileged to have these services available to them in Washington County considering these services aren't necessarily available everywhere? One of my favorite questions for almost any topic, can privilege exist without poverty or vice versa?
Stay tuned for part 2 of day #1 - a visit to the MCI-H prison in Sharpsburg.
Brain-storming Exercises from R Squared (R2P3)
So, this is the final installment in the R Squared Blog Posting Series and it's going to introduce three different variations on brainstorming that we actually practiced during the conference. Do you know of other variations? Please share them in the comments!
Role Storming
Premise: You brainstorm as if you're someone else, usually someone famous - either fiction or non-fiction. In the exercise we did at the conference the question we were brainstorming answers for was, "what would you do to increase library use?"
I brainstormed as if I were Willie Wonka. Also present at my table were Oprah, Mary Poppins, Genghis Khan, Pippi Longstockings, and at least 4 others I cannot remember. Here are some solutions we came up with:
The Opposite
Premise: When we usually brainstorm, we usually brainstorm logical solutions but the point of this exercise is to brainstorm the opposite of logical solutions. For example, if we wanted to brainstorm ideas for getting people to return their items on time or early we might impose late fees. Well, we used this exercise with the same question as in the role storming exercise. So, here are some opposite ideas for how to get more people to use the library:
The Long List
Premise: With typical brainstorming sessions, lists end up being in the 30s, 40s, maybe 50s but the point of this exercise is to go beyond that and to really tap into the creativity of the brainstormer. The notion is that once you get the usual ideas out on the paper and you force yourself to keep going, then that's where the game-changing ideas live. So, for the long list, the goal is to brainstorm 200 solutions/ideas etc for whatever it is you're trying to resolve.
Role Storming
Premise: You brainstorm as if you're someone else, usually someone famous - either fiction or non-fiction. In the exercise we did at the conference the question we were brainstorming answers for was, "what would you do to increase library use?"
I brainstormed as if I were Willie Wonka. Also present at my table were Oprah, Mary Poppins, Genghis Khan, Pippi Longstockings, and at least 4 others I cannot remember. Here are some solutions we came up with:
- Make everything in the library edible; preferably chocolatey and sweet.
- Paint with bright, vibrant colors
- Induce horror and fear into the patrons
- Hold a kite festival
- Launch a golden ticket campaign
- Employe multi-purpose Oompa Loopas (Ghengis says to make them into cheap slave laobr)
- Create a library sports team and then sell out and make money on them
- Create a chocolate river that flows from one town to another making transportation to the library easier and tastier
- Use the Angel Network to advertise the library and the staff and all the good they do
- Bully people into using the library, harass them
- Brainwash people into using the library through forced CCTV viewing
- Offer a "Flying High with Mary Poppins" workshop to teach people how to travel by umbrella.
- Host a retail store - where we sell community-made goods that the community made in the library's makerspace
- Have a library reality TV show
- Conquor other libraries and bookstores so there is no competition
The Opposite
Premise: When we usually brainstorm, we usually brainstorm logical solutions but the point of this exercise is to brainstorm the opposite of logical solutions. For example, if we wanted to brainstorm ideas for getting people to return their items on time or early we might impose late fees. Well, we used this exercise with the same question as in the role storming exercise. So, here are some opposite ideas for how to get more people to use the library:
- Pay the patrons when they're late
- Do not charge late fees at all
- Tell them they they can't come to the library (ala Eric Cartman)
- Take the library to them
- Make raw advertising content like the $1 Shave Club guy
- Have no due dates
- Have "adult" material for check out
- Have no organizational system
- Provide questions, not answers at the service desks
- Provide pop-up libraries instead of fixed brick and mortar libraries
The Long List
Premise: With typical brainstorming sessions, lists end up being in the 30s, 40s, maybe 50s but the point of this exercise is to go beyond that and to really tap into the creativity of the brainstormer. The notion is that once you get the usual ideas out on the paper and you force yourself to keep going, then that's where the game-changing ideas live. So, for the long list, the goal is to brainstorm 200 solutions/ideas etc for whatever it is you're trying to resolve.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Creativity and Culture (R2P2)
So, this post is all about R Squared Part 2 (R2P2) - or the bookend post, as I like to think of it. This is all about the inspiration gleaned Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon.
Josh Linkner
Monday morning kicked off with a keynote presentation by author and entrepreneur, Josh Linkner. Below are some of the golden nuggets of information that made me go, "wow..."
Pike Syndrome: I summarize this as letting invisible barriers keep us from success. Josh was much more eloquent in his explanation describing the scientific expeirment that lead to the coining of the syndrome.
"Scientists conducted an experiment where they put a pike in a tank
with many other smaller fish that they pike would ordinarily devour.
Instead of the normal feeding frenzy, the scientists separated the pike
from the smaller fish by inserting a layer of glass which prevented
the pike from reaching its dinner.
The hungry pike continuously smashed itself against the glass trying
to get a good meal. As much as it tried, however, it was unsuccessful
in breaking through the barrier. After many attempts, the pike become
discouraged. It stopped trying to break through the barrier and
eventually sank to the bottom of the tank and just laid there. At this
point, the scientists removed the barrier allowing the pike to feast.
What happened next was surprising to everyone. The pike continued to
ignore the smaller fish, even when they were swimming right next to the
pike. The predator remained at the bottom of the tank, and ended up
dying of starvation even with plenty of tasty fish easily within his
reach." [from Josh's blog]
Creativity is 85% learned behavior: yes, you read that right. 85% of our creativity can be developed through practice. It's just like exercising any other muscle. If you don't work it then it's gonna turn to flab. Fortunately, there are plenty of creativity 'gyms' out there to help you get pumped up. Start by downloading Josh's Guide to Creativity - for free!
How to unleash curiosity
- Get curious. Ask why, what if, why not at least 5x. Pretend you're a 2 year old, like in this segment of Louie CK's routine - the 5 Whys bit starts at 2:38.
- Also, take a look at littlemismatched.com. This business competes on originality, not price.
- Encourage courage. Failures are our portals to discovery.
- Challenge assumptions. Josh told the story of a little girl who was helping her mom make meatloaf and before putting it into the over, the mom cut the ends off. The little girl asked, "why do we cut the ends off the meatloaf?" Mom says, "well, I don't know. I guess I've always done it because that's how my mom did it. Let's call grandma to find out." So, they call Grandma and ask her the same question. Grandma gives the same response. So, they call Great Grandma and ask her the same question. Great Grandma laughs and says, "Well, I have no idea why you're cutting the ends off of your meatloaf but I had to do it because it wouldn't fit into my pan." LOL Get it?
- Think small. Like a start-up.
- Shatter conventional wisdom.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Marbles, and Mazes, and Mines, Oh My!
I was very fortunate to be able to attend the Risk and Rewards Conference in Telluride, Colorado, September 9th - 11th. As part of the registration I had to choose an Experience (aka Track). So, I chose the Culture Track. This will be a 2-part blog post.
Here's a little bit more about the Culture Track:
"Staff culture is at the heart of any organization, and core values influence an organization's culture, including internal processes and community perception. The Culture Experience will help attendees understand the key concepts of what builds a vibrant, creative, risk-positive organizational culture and how employees at all levels can influence and support it.
We believe work should be fun. This experience-based learning adventure will take attendees out of their comfort zones and into Telluride's gorgeous Mountain Village to discover ways they can foster courage, collaboration and communication in their libraries."
So, what did this look like in practice? Well, first we were randomly assigned to groups of about 10-12, each identified by different colored bandanas. We had to come up with a name for our team and assign a team captain. I'm not quite sure how it happened but we ended up being the Aqua Butts and our captain was a summer camp counselor in a former life so she always had fun cadences for us to yell as we moved from each of the 8 challenge stations we faced that afternoon.
Everywhere we go!
Everywhere we go!
People wanna know!
People wanna know!
Who we are!
Who we are!
So we tell them!
So we tell them!
We are the Butts!
We are the Butts!
The Mighty Mighty Aqua Butts!
The Mighty Mighty Aqua Butts!
What were the 8 challenge stations?
Sherpa Challenge
We were asked to pretend we were mountain climbers on an expedition up Mount Everest and we needed to assemble a climbing team made up of our other teammates. Each of us was randomly given a card which was tucked into our bandanas so we could not see but so our teammates could. Our value as a mountain climber was determined by the card on hour forehead. Aces high all the way down to the lowly 2 (suit made no difference). We were asked to treat each other based on our cards so that we could guess which card we had. This exercise helped us identify ways our libraries explicitly and inexplicitly place value on employees and which qualities/positions appear to have more or less value.
Body Spelling
As you might guess, this was an exercise in non-verbal communication and teamwork. Working together without talking we had to spell words out with our bodies. We successfully spelled three words: Risk, Aqua, Butt.
Obstacle Course
I like to call this one the Bouncy Castle Maze challenge. Working as a team we had to go through a huge (at least 50 meters long) inflatable obstacle course. In the center of the course was a large piece of paper with a hangman-type code written on it. There were 10 words written in symbols (triangles, arrows, astrological signs, etc). We had to come up with a strategy for memorizing them and then bring them back to the start of the course, write them down, and then decode them to find out what the hidden message was. The hidden message was, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
Disc Golf
We had to play disc golf as a team. There were three 'holes," 2 were fairly close and one was further away. Each team member had to get one disc into one of the closest holes. Two team members had to get one disc into the furthest hole. Each hole made was awarded with a puzzle card. If no one got a disc in the furthest hole the team could instead opt to do 2 alternative challenges like playing a round of charades or creating a 30 second synchronized swimming routine sans water (both of which we did). Then, using the puzzle cards, we had to assemble a 3D version of the puzzle using wooden geometric blocks. Did I mention all of this was timed? Yeah, we had 5 minutes to do the disc golf portion and then we were trying to complete the puzzle in the shortest amount of time. We completed it in 2 min 20 sec, doubling the shortest time on record - we celebrated our failure with gusto as that was one of our core values (celebrate every failure).
Rock Climbing
Yes, we each had a chance to climb an indoor rock wall. Two of the team members had to put on harnesses and make it all the way to the top. The rest of us has to climb sideways from one side to the other. Two of us made it to the top. None of us made it all the way from side to side. Rock climbing is really difficult!!
Fear Factor
So, this challenge was one of two indoor activities. We walked into the room and on a long table were 4 terrariums. The first one had about 3 inches of yucky smelling earthworms and mulch. The second one had 5 field mice sitting atop a bed of cedar shavings. The third one had a huge tarantula sitting atop a similar bed of cedar shavings. The fourth one was tall and all black so we didn't know what was inside it. Then there was a large cardboard box on the floor that barely contained the 15lb boa constrictor that was inside it. Our challenge was to pick a card, the image on which would tell us which terrarium we and our partner would be pawing our way through to find our Aqua Butt blue-colored poker chip. I drew the snake card (see the very top right image of this blog post). However, since gently nudging the cute Boa (her name was Zoe) wasn't too much of a challenge for me I asked to hold the tarantula since that was a huge challenge. I have a very strong aversion to spiders and they seem to be everywhere outside my house this time of year. Anyway, here's proof that I could hold a more-than-palm-sized arachnid and not be scarred for life:
Minesweeper
For this challenge we paired up to take turns guiding each other through a duct-tape mine field. There was more than one person working their way through the mine at one time and our partners had to stand at the far end of the mine field so, with our blindfolds on, we really had to listen for our partner's voice. Most of the time, if we were the ones giving directions, we'd preface everything with our partner's name and that seemed to help. If our partner touched a mine we had to start all over.
Marble Race
Our last challenge of the day was the marble race. There was a route marked by little red flags out in the grass and around some trees. Through this route we had to pass a marble from one person to the other using about 18" of PVC pipe cut in half length-wise. The only rules were: you can't move your feet if you're holding the marble in your PVC pipe, your body can't touch the marble in any way, if you drop the marble you have to start over, and you have to complete the race in less than 3 minutes. So, each of us had our own length of pipe and we lined up shoulder to shoulder passing this marble to each other. We dropped the marble 3 times but on the 4th time we successfully completed the race in less than 2 minutes!
In part 2 of my R Squared blog post I'll share what we did Monday Morning and Tuesday afternoon when all attendees were together in one room! Stay tuned...
Friday, August 17, 2012
HANDHELD LIBRARIAN CONFERENCE
The Handheld Librarian conference covered a fairly broad range of issues and information regarding E-readers in the library. The first presenter was Mary Minow. She discussed the legal issues related to E-readers in the library. Her information (NOT advice) told us we may lend empty E-reader devices to the public but be aware of the lawsuits being filed by patrons with disabilities. Blind patrons want equal access to E-readers. Therefore, libraries are discriminating against the blind when lending these deivices to the public. Patrons with disabilities are asking to have "substantially equivalent ease of use" for all patrons. Unfortunately, all E-readers are not equiped to be used by patrons with disablities.
The second presenter, Ken Petri, discussed the technology of E-readers and how they could be improved to provide "ease of use" for patrons with disabilities. His presentation included ideas for motor disability and partial to full blindness disability. At this point in time, Ken believes the IPAD (also IPOD Touch/IPHONE) is the most lendable E-reader because it offers the best experience and advancement in technology for patrons with disabilities. While no device completely satisfies the criteria for all patrons with disabilities, the future holds promise.
John Larson talked about lending E-readers to the public and how best to proceed. He talked about cloud libraries like Overdrive and 3M. His library loans 3M devices and uses the 3M cloud library. The interesting part of using this particular brand of E-reader is that a "discovery station" is available for patrons to select the e-books they want. The patron can walk over and browse the online collection without having to log on to a PC. Unfortunately, Overdrive does not work with 3M devices but you CAN use other devices with the 3M cloud library if you use an app.
The final presenter, Dawn Nelson, showed us how to use the Barnes & Noble Digital Locker. This system works very well in a school library. Dawn's situation involves lending E-readers to students in grades K-12. The students use Nooks that are equiped with a microphone and "Read to Me" feature. With the Digital Locker, the school librarians get help from a Barnes & Noble store to purchase (with a purchase order #), download and track each device. So far, Dawn says this method for loaning E-readers in school has worked very well.
Overall, I found all the presentations very informative. Much of the information was new to me and showed me what is involved if we ever decide to loan E-readers at our library. I hope advancements continue to be made in the E-reader field so that ALL patrons can enjoy this newest technology being integrated into library systems.
The second presenter, Ken Petri, discussed the technology of E-readers and how they could be improved to provide "ease of use" for patrons with disabilities. His presentation included ideas for motor disability and partial to full blindness disability. At this point in time, Ken believes the IPAD (also IPOD Touch/IPHONE) is the most lendable E-reader because it offers the best experience and advancement in technology for patrons with disabilities. While no device completely satisfies the criteria for all patrons with disabilities, the future holds promise.
John Larson talked about lending E-readers to the public and how best to proceed. He talked about cloud libraries like Overdrive and 3M. His library loans 3M devices and uses the 3M cloud library. The interesting part of using this particular brand of E-reader is that a "discovery station" is available for patrons to select the e-books they want. The patron can walk over and browse the online collection without having to log on to a PC. Unfortunately, Overdrive does not work with 3M devices but you CAN use other devices with the 3M cloud library if you use an app.
The final presenter, Dawn Nelson, showed us how to use the Barnes & Noble Digital Locker. This system works very well in a school library. Dawn's situation involves lending E-readers to students in grades K-12. The students use Nooks that are equiped with a microphone and "Read to Me" feature. With the Digital Locker, the school librarians get help from a Barnes & Noble store to purchase (with a purchase order #), download and track each device. So far, Dawn says this method for loaning E-readers in school has worked very well.
Overall, I found all the presentations very informative. Much of the information was new to me and showed me what is involved if we ever decide to loan E-readers at our library. I hope advancements continue to be made in the E-reader field so that ALL patrons can enjoy this newest technology being integrated into library systems.
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