{"id":60316,"date":"2014-02-06T10:35:18","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T15:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=60316"},"modified":"2014-02-06T11:39:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T16:39:45","slug":"guerrilla-storytime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=60316","title":{"rendered":"Guerrilla Storytime"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ Rhode Island<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Guerrilla Storytime<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"kate_kosturski_photo2\"<\/a>I went to the Networking Uncommons at the 2014 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia with only one purpose: to Charge All the Things. (Which is why many of us use the Uncommons, really.) \u00a0It just happened that the time I showed up to provide my iDevices with some very needed power was the same time as Guerrilla Storytime – and I left with a fonder appreciation for the hard work and community that youth librarians provide, to themselves and the children in their libraries. (As well as a charged iPhone and iPad.)<\/p>\n

For those not in the know, Guerrilla Storytime (\u201cGS\u201d) is part of the Storytime Underground collective, a group led by Cory Dickason Eckert (Houston, TX Public Library), Kendra Jones (Vancouver, WA Community Library), and Amy Koester (St. Charles, MO City-County Library District). \u00a0These three passionate youth librarians sensed a need in the large youth services community for both advocacy and information sharing, and created an online community for both. \u00a0Guerrilla Storytime, created by Ms. Eckert and launched at the Annual Conference in Chicago, is only one part of the Storytime Underground movement; their site<\/a> features research that librarians can use in their advocacy for Youth Services, a \u201cStorytime Guerrilla of the Month<\/a>,\u201d and regular postings on networking, marketing, and overall cool things<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Guerilla Storytime is spontaneous, in-person training and idea sharing. \u00a0The group provides detailed instructions<\/a> on how to set up your own Storytime at your library or conference, but here\u2019s the short (the \u201ctl;dr*\u201d portion) of how it works: \u00a0The moderator provides the challenges for participants to draw, and then on the spot, they have to provide an answer to that challenge. \u00a0\u00a0Nearly 50 librarians participated in the Sunday afternoon meetup at Midwinter, and it was an energizing, fun, and education hour for all (observers included – my iDevices weren\u2019t the only thing that got charged that afternoon!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here are some ideas that came out of GS this conference:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    What\u2019s your favorite \u201cshaker song?\u201d \u00a0(This is the point where I realized that I needed to capture this in some part on video, so I recorded several different challenges. \u00a0Here\u2019s one of the shaker songs<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    What would a yoga storytime look like? (Here\u2019s a sample<\/a>, with some audience participation!)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    How can you best use puppets in storytime? (Angie Manfredi, Head of Youth Services at Mesa, NM Library shares one of her ideas, along with another participant<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    You have some restless kids in your storytime? \u00a0\u00a0How can you shake the sillies and the wiggles out? (Here\u2019s an idea from the La Crosse, WI library courtesy of Marge Loch-Wouters<\/a> – complete with audience participation).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Why do I think this is awesome? \u00a0\u00a0Three reasons:<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      It\u2019s an excellent way to train and teach. A concept like this is one that I find would not fit well in a lecture format. \u00a0It\u2019s best experienced live, where there is a component of doing, and a conversation about what works and what doesn\u2019t. \u00a0(There\u2019s also a strong virtual component to GS, with their blog and social media presence – thus training extends outside of in person meetings, but still retains its informal character..) \u00a0You can\u2019t get this from a Powerpoint slide deck and a limited question period after a presentation; it\u2019s just not an effective way to learn.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    2. \n

      I love Youth Services librarians. \u00a0It\u2019s in part because my sister is one. \u00a0It\u2019s also in part because I know that while they don\u2019t do the \u201csexy\u201d technology work, they are playing a key role in childhood development. \u00a0I see this in the pictures that my sister shares on her Facebook page – drawings. comments, and gifts from her library kids calling her the best \u201clibrairian\u201d ever. \u00a0And from what I can see, there\u2019s nary an iPad in sight in her work – she\u2019s reading stories, making crafts, and promoting the library as a place to have fun and grow. \u00a0To these children, the librarian is as much a part of the family as Mom or Dad. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s sad that youth librarianship does not get the recognition it deserves, or is viewed as \u201csoft\u201d or \u201cwomen\u2019s\u201d work. \u00a0It deserves a great deal more attention that it currently receives, and as such, I am making it a goal this year to be a good advocate for youth services.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    3. \n

      It\u2019s just plain fun. \u00a0The previous week was my job\u2019s staff retreat, in which we spent three days in a conference room at a hotel listening to lectures. \u00a0Interesting, yes (especially hearing about what other departments in my company were doing), but I wonder how much more fun it would be if one of the presentations was done in yoga or interpretive dance. (Just in case people at my office happen to read this and are already planning the summer staff retreat. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      You can read more about Guerrilla Storytime at ALA Midwinter on their blog<\/a>, as well as a wrap-up from American Libraries<\/a>, courtesy of the aforementioned Angie Manfredi. \u00a0\u00a0There is no doubt in my mind that you will see GS at ALA Annual in Vegas (and me there), so keep an eye on their blog for details!<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      * \u201ctoo long, didn\u2019t read\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      by Kate Kosturski, Head Editor, INALJ Rhode Island Guerrilla Storytime I went to the Networking Uncommons at the 2014 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia with only one purpose: to Charge All the Things. (Which is why many of us use the Uncommons, really.) \u00a0It just happened that the time I showed up to…<\/p>\n

      Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,5912,5913,4139,5885],"class_list":["post-60316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-guerilla-storytime","tag-inalj-thode-island","tag-kate-kosturski","tag-midwinter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/kate_kosturski_photo2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-fGQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}