What happens when you get 240 librarians together in a conference center out in the woods, together with some extraverted presenters, cooks who like to experiment, and a guy with a bunch of animals? Find out below....

More Secrets of the Library Guild

Go to your local public library this summer, and chances are you will see—especially in the children’s area—colorful signs that say “Libraries Rock.” “Libraries Rock” is the official 2018 theme for the Collaborative Summer Library Program, or CSLP. This summer libraries in all 50 states (and assorted other American territories) will share CSLP’s theme, promotional materials and other branding, and summer program manual. Public libraries don’t have to use CSLP, but when it comes to planning and promoting a summer reading program CSLP certainly helps.

One interesting thing about CSLP is that it is not a product of any federal agency or billionaire’s foundation. CSLP is produced by librarians for librarians. All of the planning is done by committees of librarians from around the country. Librarians at large are invited to suggest and vote on themes. At any given time the CSLP committees are planning programs and themes two or three years in advance. Individual libraries are free to use as much or as little of CSLP’s materials as they want, and to modify their programs based on their local resources and opportunities.

The themes are chosen with an eye to flexibility. As the imagery on the “Libraries Rock” signs makes clear, the main theme is music. There are all kinds of possibilities there. And of course the idea of “rock” lends itself to other things as well. There are even suggestions about incorporating geology into the theme (Libraries “Rock”—get it?).

And again, local libraries can incorporate their own ideas within the theme. Last year’s theme was “Build a Better World.” We had a visit from a retired engineer who gave a fantastic demonstration of the basic principles of structural engineering. He built a truss out of toothpicks that was strong enough to support a heavy bucket of sand before breaking, and an arch made of carefully-fitted wooden pieces that could support his weight without anything but compressive load to hold them together. The kids had a blast watching all that. In 2015, for “Every Hero Has a Story” we had a trained service dog that served as an example of a real-life hero. In 2014, for “Fizz, Boom, Read” we had chemistry and other science experiments.

Public libraries in Arkansas are fortunate in that the Arkansas State Library provides a lot of support for CSLP. Any library in the state can submit an order for basic CSLP publicity materials—posters, bookmarks, summer reading log sheets, etc.—at the appropriate time, and the State Library will pick up the bill (You do have to purchase any additional materials on your own). Best of all, the State Library holds an annual Children’s Services Workshop each March where librarians from around Arkansas can meet to prepare for Summer Reading.

For over 20 years now the annual meeting has taken place at a 4-H conference center west of Little Rock, near a wide spot in the road called Ferndale. The location in the boondocks takes a little longer to reach than the State Library in downtown Little Rock would, but it has plenty of room for the event. It’s also a beautiful drive.

Registration starts at eight o’clock, with breakfast at 8:30 and opening assembly at nine. I and the three staff members who represented our library left the library parking lot at five, well before daylight. We drove in two vehicles—I took my own because it was my birthday and I planned to go directly from Little Rock to my parents’ house for the weekend. The other vehicle was an immense pickup truck—the kind that requires steps to get up into it—whose crew cab had much more room than my little car did anyway.

We left earlier than we truly had to so that we would have schedule room in case we ran into traffic or somebody got lost. I’ve arrived at Ferndale before wondering where everybody else was right up until nine. But this time we had fine travel conditions, everybody knew where they were going, and there were minimal traffic delays going through Little Rock. We were some of the first ones there.

As each of us signed in we got an information packet containing, among other things, a guide to the “Concurrent Sessions” that would be running later in the day. We studied these and worked out assignments. We had enough people on hand that we could have at least one attend each distinct session (Some were offered more than once). As much as possible we tried to match subject content with personal interest. Our youngest and newest team member didn’t show any interest in any of the available sessions, so I assigned her one.

But first things first. For breakfast the conference center staff set out trays of fruit, tiny muffins, and single-serving yoghurts in the broad hallway that runs the length of the building. There was already a row of drink machines serving coffee, “enhanced water,” and juices. I was delighted to find POG (passion, orange, guava) juice. Over breakfast we discussed our respective trips and the upcoming day’s activities.

I found myself wondering where the State Librarian was. Ordinarily she is front-and-center by the registration tables. My question was answered when she came up behind me and said hello. Arkansas’ professional librarian community is small enough that she seems to know most of us on a first-name basis.

The conference proper began at nine with the opening assembly. The approximately 240 attendees filled the auditorium about halfway. After a few opening words from the State Library’s staff our speaker, a library programming consultant from Michigan—for some reason they all seem to come from somewhere around the Great Lakes area—got to work talking to us about how singing and movement in a story time works with young children. She acted out songs and activities, including a rap (sort of) version of the Three Bears story, a version of “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” that included visual aids (!), and a call-and-response version of the Tortoise and the Hare fable. She also had time to give a few pointers on the making of sock puppets.

Well, not really. Actually she ran over, which meant that the first batch of Concurrent Sessions started some minutes after their 10:00 a.m. start time. These were held in the conference rooms located up and down the hall. We rushed to them, grabbing cinnamon rolls (fresh out of the oven!) from the big trays that had appeared in the hallway during our opening assembly I attended a session on the R.I.S.E. (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence) Arkansas project. This early literacy promotion effort is aimed mainly at schools and school libraries, but public libraries are invited to join in. The session was informative.

At the end I had just a few moments to speak with one of the presenters in search of advice regarding some programming activities that both of our libraries had been trying to do. They are a large library that has enjoyed great success in their outreach efforts. Our own smaller-scale efforts have been much less successful. I tried to pump her for ideas that might help us to do better. She was quite gracious in sharing hers. One of the best things about being a librarian is that colleagues are always quick to help one another out.

Back in the auditorium we had our second general session. This time the speaker demonstrated ideas for older children using Pete the Cat, La Noche de las Estrellas (Based on an Argentine folktale about a guy who pokes holes in the dark sky), and The Singing Snake (In which the snake wins a singing contest by cheating, as one might expect). She was nothing if not animated. Naturally she had us singing along and doing some of the motions. Pretty much everybody participated, though as might be expected some of us showed more enthusiasm than others. I couldn’t help having visions of children on the autism spectrum wanting to curl up and try to disappear during some of these loud and extraverted programs. It’s one reason why, unlike most of the attendees, I am not an actual children’s librarian.

At lunch we formed two long lines at the cafeteria down the hall. I took great care not to spill my glass of water on my meal as I went through the line. Last year I ruined what looked like (And, according to one of the staff, was) a nice dish of fish. This year I kept from drenching my meal. We had chicken that had been unaccountably covered with spaghetti sauce. Those of us who didn’t care to try that little culinary experiment raked the sauce off as best we could.

Though we were far from being near the head of the line, our group got through eating well before the lunch period was over. Since it was a beautiful day out, I stepped outside and took a walk out back. Behind the conference center there is a pond that covers a couple of acres. A children’s nature day camp group was out on it in canoes. I walked around the levee and watched them. Several other librarians were also taking a stroll.

There was no bridge across the spillway at the downstream end of the pond, but there were enough rocks and tussocks of grass for me to pick my way across. Just beyond the lake was a low ridge that rose two hundred feet or so into four peaks. The lower slopes were open, like a mountain meadow. Higher up the ridge was wooded. From below it appeared that there were spots on the ridge that were clear enough to yield some great views. But, alas, I saw my time running out and had to turn back to get to the conference center in time for the 1:00 p.m. Concurrent Sessions.

This session I attended was “Hot Topics in Library Land.” They do this one every year, and I never miss it. We have great discussions on…all kinds of stuff. At this session the talk mostly dealt with uses of technology in libraries—circulating video game cartridges (Central Arkansas Library System is plagued with a staggering 52% loss rate on circulating games! They had also discovered that having a fountain on an upper floor, though beautiful, was not a good idea), coding workshops, etc.

Usually when I’m at Ferndale I feel energized by all the ideas we’re exposed to. At this session, though, I found my spirits sinking lower and lower. Here these representatives of some of the state’s largest library systems were talking about all their cools gadgets and programs, and where I work we can’t even get our local service provider to give us adequate internet bandwidth for our patrons’ needs. Another small-town librarian in the room made the same point. The notorious “digital divide” is alive and well, and it was obvious on which side of it we stood.

Afterward I tried to cheer myself up by taking a look at what the animal guy had to offer. This is a vendor who brings exotic animals to children’s programs around the region. He has come to the workshops in recent years hoping to drum up summer program business. Our library can’t afford his services any more than we can a bunch of fancy electronic program ideas, but at least we can see him display his wares. I had earlier seen an attendee get photographed “wearing” his giant snake. He also offers what he calls “fruit bat selfies.” Last year he had a baby kangaroo hopping down the hall.

Now I got to see him place a luxuriant angora rabbit in the arms of a librarian of my acquaintance. She said that she could feel her blood pressure going down as she held the bunny. Her library had not long ago suffered some sharp budget cuts after a number of good years. Things are better for them now…but I could understand why some rabbit therapy felt welcome. Perhaps I should have tried taking a turn with the angora bunny.

After that we had another main session, followed by a final round of Concurrent Sessions. The sessions in this last round were all repeats of earlier programs that we had managed to cover between us. So our team could collect our certificates of attendance and bow out early with a good conscience. We had between us attended sessions on such matters as “music moves,” fake news, how to make “toys from trash” (A great skill to have when you’re on a low budget), and the use of YouTube in library programs.

We did not have anything really weird at the conference this year. I still remember the 2008 workshop, which set something of a record in that respect. The theme that year was “Catch the Reading Bug.” Suggested activities that year included raising giant African roaches in the library (A librarian who actually did it said that they were “like little armored vehicles”—practically indestructible) and baking “cricket cookies” with real cricket parts embedded. I actually sampled the cricket cookies that year. They weren’t half bad! This year’s activities seemed thoroughly pedestrian by comparison.

Only by comparison, though. The workshop was worth going to as always. I’ve been to 13 of them now, and have every intention of going next year. I knew that next week, back at work, we would discuss what we’d learned. I had some contact leads to follow up on. Fun though these trips are, they are work. And the real work starts when we get back home and start trying to use what we’ve learned.

If you're curious about the place where all this happened:

http://www.arkansas4hcenter.org/

Supposedly the Arkansas State Library has photos of the event posted, but I had trouble accessing them. Oh well, it's just photos of librarians. And he animal guy.