Flannel Friday Valentine (and related!) Extravaganza

Welcome FF'ers! I don't have anything to share myself today, but I'm happy to host. The number of half-finished posts in my drafts file is very frustrating, but other things have had to take priority. I'm restarting programming next week, and between training my new library clerk and planning a staff in-service to start the process of creating customer service standards for the library I haven't had time for much else. The in-service was today, and it went really well! We'll see if things start evening out for me soon.

So without further ado may I present
Flannel Friday for Friday the Thirteenth of January

Alison with Jan Brett's "The Hat"
Anne with "The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings" (I grew up with this old version of the book and I LOVED it even though the part where his Mummy doesn't know him broke.my.heart. every time)
Kari presents a set of matching valentines with multiple uses
K joins us with a magnetic version of "My Heart is like a Zoo"
Meghan's Valentine post isn't quiiiite ready, so here are some winter theme options with snowmen
Cate is submits My Froggy Valentine
Andrea mushy-gushies up a familiar verse with "Two Little Lovebirds" 
Katie presents "H-E-A-R-T" to the tune of BINGO
Tracey shares a whole bunch of great on-theme ideas on her blog 
Sarah with some versatile shoes (and everybody's favorite, Pete the Cat!)
Linda shares a cut and tell version of "Squirrel Gives Her Heart" with suggestions for flannelizing
And Katie presents the sweet family themed poem "Five Little Kisses"
Don't forget to check out Erin's sweet little Candy Hearts rhyme

And finally, Melissa gives us a bunch of simple, easy to adapt ways to use Five Hearts. Melissa is also next week's roundup hostess and her blog is where you can get a Flannel Friday button.

The archived/upcoming hosts are on Anne's blog, here.
For us visual learners, browse all the past Flannel Friday contributions via Pinterest (602 members and counting!)
Join the discussions over at the FF Facebook page. And finally, follow FF on Twitter by searching #flannelfriday (whether or not you have a Twitter account).

See you next week.

Cheers!

Innovative Outreach Ideas

Image Credit

Ok everybody, we just experienced a Twitterstorm of ideas!

Katie, our friend over at Secrets & Sharing Soda AND Storytime Secrets tweeted about her need for two great innovative outreach ideas that she can implement before September. Now, concerns about the feasibility of this expectation aside, plenty of tweeps jumped in with great ideas and Mel--ever thinking Mel--noted that someone should grab these ideas from the ether and jot them down for everyone's benefit.

So here we are with round one. Keep an eye on Katie's blog for more ideas and some follow-up on what she ends up doing!

Mary, of Miss Mary Liberry fame (who happens to BE an outreach librarian) suggested:
--Teen outreach at a comic book store--maybe during Free Comic Book Day (May 5th 2012), Teen Read Week (Oct. 14-20, 2012) or Graphic Novel Week (Not sure when/what this one is).
--Outreach to senior citizens: Senior St., where librarian reads to seniors at nursing home
--Afterschool programs outreach: Boys and Girls club, etc. where librarian provides activities, crafts etc.
--Outreach to children in trailer parks, homeless shelters, community centers

Seth (Voices Inside my Headphones) suggests some online outreach--maybe a bookclub or something along those lines.

Laura (Bib-Laura-Graphy) suggests looking into local shelters for family/domestic violence, or a local Children's Hospital (or even children's department of general hospital).

Mel (Mel's Desk) had the idea to look at the library's goals and try to develop a 'sister program' with something adult services is doing. She also suggested looking into churches that offer temporary housing,
and WIC offices as possible outreach locations.

Lisa (Library Lady) suggests in-home daycare providers and public parks as possible outreach destinations.

And finally, a few ideas from yours truly:
--First Job Program (aimed at highschoolers) on getting (and keeping!) a very first job (to make this outreach instead of in-house, you could partner with local tech school or Optimists club or maybe even Chamber of Commerce for your community!
--Farmer's Market booth to promote library services/educate people about fresh/local food
--Hospital's birth education classes/groups or MOPS--targeting parent education rather than kids.
--Coordinate some kind of program for senior citizens/nursing home residents. "Ray of Sunshine" visits from families with young children to elderly folks, or kids reading to seniors.

So many great ideas! 

Cabin Fever Display

This would have been ever so much more timely a month ago, but it was very successful so I'll still share it.
I planned a party for the release of Cabin Fever, book six in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.


As a lead up, I put together a display of 40+ read alikes with an ad for the party.




It was a pretty nice display, and since it is right in front of the main doors to the library it got a lot of attention. It was really nice for staff too, since they could direct patrons to the display if (IF! HA!) all of our copies of Cabin Fever were checked out.

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