Library Escape Rooms are really big right now, so I tried to design this program so that any library can try to duplicate it. Because making something like this is kinda daunting–where do yo…

Getting tweens into the library to do library activities and explore books takes some creative thinking. Activities that are interactive, fun, challenging, and hands-on are the best way to get started. We need curiosity and mystery in library activities that will keep them on the edge of their seats for more.

The Library Adventure uses affiliate links, see our policies for more information.Kids ages 8 to 12 are often too busy with scheduled activities of their own to make it to library programs in the afternoons or evenings. For librarians who wish to increase attendance at programs for this age group, this can be very frustrating, […]

About seven months ago, I noticed a new trend among public libraries of offering “adulting” programs. When I first saw a posting via social media about this program, my brain screamed, “Where were …

22 free printable library activities for kids, including answer keys.

Explore Bobbi Newman's 2158 photos on Flickr!

I'm getting excited about this year's theme. Part of it has to do with life size games that I want to attempt as programs. I hosted a liv...

The most successful displays I've done at my library have been passive readers advisory. For the last five years or so, I’ve done a monthly display of minature books based on the top YA titles checked out in my library system, with the top 10 books getting four readalikes. The Tiny Library is a collection of tiny books based on our most popular titles. Each tiny book contains reading suggestions based on our readalike list. There is a QR code that leads to a Google Form where teens can choose the books they want to pick up from the library.

Amazing Race: Library Edition is a program that I’ve ran twice before. It always brings out a huge crowd – and for those of us who have a small budget – it’s a great program…

Book Tasting Menu

A recycled book art workshop is a easy, affordable project to do in your makerspace. Old books can easily be found from weeding libraries or at thrift stores.

Shortcuts and ideas for events that will add to the fun and make things simpler.

Made some bookmarks at work today!

Updated 10/6/2015 This week, we invite all library Instagram accounts to participate in our October Challenge: 31 Days of Instagram! I have a confession: I have a very sad library Instagram account. I know I should be posting daily (some stats say twice a day), but making the time to take photos, find relevant/popular hashtags, and posting them when teens get out of school -- it was overwhelming. So, this challenge is for those who are in the same boat and those who want to learn how to use Instagram in the most painless way possible. I researched what worked for other libraries, shared additional programs that'll make your life easier, and provide popular hashtags that you can easily use over and over again. Sound good? Join us on Oct. 1st and use the hashtag #5minlibchallenge so we can find each other. Feel free to complete these challenges in any order and skip what doesn't work for you. I hope you'll have fun and build up an audience along the way! NOTE: Any hashtag in red needs to be specific. For example, a library in Boston, MA would change #citystate to #BostonMA. 1. Library Photo #citystate #libraryname First, find your city's/town's most popular hashtag. Go to Instagram search and try your #citystate, #city #state, and any other variations you can think of. Make note of your most popular hashtag to use on ALL YOUR photos (They'll tell you in parenthesis how often the hashtag is used). Instagram is all about the hashtags -- you really need to use them to be effective. (However, you can post most of these hashtags in a comment and they'll still be searchable, if you want the description area to be pretty sparse.) Then create a hashtag for your library to include on all your photos and encourage your patrons to also use it. Now, take a photo of your library (any part of it or room, or the whole building) and post it. Hashtags to use: #citystate #libraryname #librariesofinstagram #5minlibchallenge 2. Staff #Shelfie Sign-up for an Instagram scheduler and post a staff shelfie. The scheduler we use is Latergramme but there are others you can use. Unfortunately, Instagram's API does not allow outside programs to post for you so all these programs can do is hold your posts in draft mode and send you a reminder to post them on the days and times you set. Not ideal, but it means that you could draft the next 29 days at once and then all you have to do is hit post! For your shelfie photo, introduce yourself (or another staff member) and include a picture of their favorite books on a display. Or you can just take a picture of all your favorite books. Hashtags to use: #bookish #bookstagram #booknerdigans #epicreads #igreads #bibliophile #reading #booktag #booklove #instagram #books #instareads #reading #booklover #book #becauseofreading #librarybooks #bookworm #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 3. #letmelibrarianthatforyou #repost @originaluser #iconosquare Download a program for statistics and reposting (it is like sharing on Facebook and retweeting on Twitter) possibilities. We use Iconosquare for this. When you go through your Iconosquare feed, you can click the link on the bottom right to have them email you the repost image. Then you can upload the photo like you normally do. I *love* that Iconosquare includes the original poster's info on the image. Not all programs will do that, but I like it. Give credit where credit is due. Search the hashtag #letmelibrarianthatforyou and find the right question that'll amuse your audience to repost. Hashtags to use: #repost @originalposterhandle (so they'll be notified that you shared their image) #librarylife #publiclibraries #5minlibchallenge 4. #Bookface Bookfaces are so popular! It is very easy to snap a shot of a body completing a book cover image, but there are so many online, you can also use this hashtage to search for fun ones to repost. :) Use hashtags #bookface #bookandface #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 5. #LibraryDisplay What displays do you have around your library? Share one of them here. If you don't have one, pull five books on one topic and snap a picture of that. Hashtags to use: #librarydisplays #bookshelfie #atthelibrary #genre #author #booktitles #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 6. #Local #Patron With permission, post a picture of a local patron utilizing the library. Make sure that you have something physical to hand to your patron afterwards which has your social media handle so they can easily find their photo and like it/follow you. My teens are excited to be photographed, but they never remember to follow up afterwards. Hashtags to use: #librarylife #atthelibrary #publiclibraries #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 7. #QandAWednesday Pick a question you get all of the time and provide the answer, Canva is a great tool to make this image look cool on your page. We talk about this program a few times before... Hashtags to use #QandAWednesday #publiclibraries #librarylove #happytohelp #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 8. #FollowUs #SocialMedia Cross advertise all of your social media networks and email list. Email is the only network which you can guarantee that your audience will receive 100% of the time, so use all social networks to get email signups. Include in your image the words, "Sign-up now! Link in bio," and then change your link in the bio to direct audience to the online social media sign-up page. Two clicks and they're where you want them to be. Hashtags to use: #FollowUs #SocialMedia #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 9. #Newbooks #NewBookSmell Highlight a new book or many new books in a creative image. If you search any hashtag below, you'll come across many inspirations to keep this hashtag fresh. Hashtags to use: #bookrecs #weekendplans #newbooks #books #reading #author #genre #bookhaul #bookmail #bookphotography #bookworm #booklover #booktube #bookstagram #bibliophile #instabook #bookhaul #behindthescenes #sneakpeek #bookstagram #newbooks #tbr #bookmail #newbooksmell #librarylove #librarylife #publiclibraries #librarybooks #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 10. #Local #Schools and #Businesses of Instagram Visit your local schools’ and popular businesses’ webpages and like their Instagram accounts. (I tried hunting for them via Instagram search -- waste of time! Go to their websites instead.) Comment on their pictures. Let their followers see your name. Find an image to repost and link back to their account. Update: Ohhh, I found another trick! You can search by location. The easiest way to get there is to click on that link and then type in your library's location. Do it again with your library's name to find who posted a picture RIGHT AT YOUR LIBRARY. Too cool! Hashtags to use: #repost @originalposterhandle (so they'll be notified that you shared their image) #citystate #5minlibchallenge 11. #Librarian Highlight a staff member. Hashtags to use: #librarian #PublicLibraries #LibraryLove #librarylife #BehindtheScenes #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 12. #MagMonday Highlight a magazine. Hashtags to use: #magazine #magmonday #atthelibrary #library #libraries #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 13. Advertise #Event A fun event coming up? Advertise it here, uploading your flyer (make sure it fits and isn't blurry! Quality pictures are important on Instagram). In the description, tell people to get more details via link in bio. Then update your bio link to send them to the correct webpage. Hashtags to use (depending on event): #familyfun #teenprograms #teenlibraryprograms #PublicLibraries #LibraryLove #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 14. #Morefollowers Visit three local “competitors” (local book shops, schools, etc.) and check out their followers. Like on their photos and follow, if you want! See if they follow you back; unfollow in a month if they don't. 15. #ThrowBackThursday Go through old pictures and share something about your library or city! Download Gramblr so you can easily upload the picture from your computer. Hashtags to use: #TBT #ThrowBackThursday #publiclibraries #librarylife #atthelibrary #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 16. #BookClub Highlight your book group's read! Hashtags to use: #BecauseofReading #ForTheLoveofReading #JustRead #FortheLoveofBooks #TotalBookNerd #CurrentlyReading #BookClub #atthelibrary #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 17. #IFTTT #LocalAlerts #Repost Make an IFTTT account and get updates of when people post in your area. It'll be your ear to the ground, a chance to see what your residents are posting. Like appropriate posts, follow businesses and community members, maybe even follow residents (if you want to go there). We talked about IFTTT in another post, and the "recipe" we are referencing is #13 Neighborhood Watch. Hashtags to use: #repost @originalposterhandle (so they'll be notified that you shared their image) #citystate 18. #Books for Every #Day Be creative and pair books with the weekday hashtags! If you can't do any of the challenges on a different day, try using one of these instead. Hashtags to use: #socksunday #tinytuesday #MusicMonday #MondayBlues #TravelTuesday #TuesdayTreat #TipTuesday #WellnessWednesday #WisdomWednesday #TBT or #ThrowbackThursday #Thursdayfunday #FollowFriday or #FF, #FridayFunday #FridayReads #Caturday, #SocialSaturday #SS or #SelfieSunday 19. #whereIread Take a book and pose somewhere you like to read. Bonus points if it is a good library spot, but not necessary. Hashtags to use: #WhereIRead #librarylove #librarybooks #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 20. #Awesome #Reposts #Lit Today, search on Instagram for awesome book bloggers, book review websites, and even large library systems (like NYPL) who have people hired specifically for social media. They are a great source of what's hot and new and they have the time/resources to make super awesome photos. Save time and just share and credit them! For a list of 21 Instagram accounts we recommend, check out our October 9th's post! Hashtags to use: #repost @originalposterhandle (so they'll be notified that you shared their image) #Bookstagram 21. #covercrush Take a photo of a book with an awesome cover! Hashtags to use: #CoverCrush #LibraryBooks #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 22. #DiverseBooks We do need diverse books, and the more we buy and highlight to our patrons, the better. I can go on and on about this, but you can just visit http://weneeddiversebooks.org/ to learn why. Hashtags to use: #weneeddiversebooks #diversebooks #readdiversebooks #inclusion #read #reader #weneeddiversebooks #library #readwidely #oneworld #love #bookrecommendation #mustread #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 23. #Bookstairs #BookRainbow #BookSpine Poetry #top5femalecharacters Highlight more books in your collection, in fun ways. Hashtags to use: #Collection #Bookstairs #BookRainbow #bookaholic #librarybooks #LibrariesofInstagram #Bookstagram #Bookspines #SpinePoetry #Top5FemaleCharacters #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 24. #Caturday #Books Share a picture of a cat with a book on a Saturday. Hashtags to use: #caturday #meow #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 25. #TagUs Remind followers they can “Keep sharing your photos with us by tagging us @xxx or use #xxx.” in a photo. Get your hashtag out there! Keep checking to see if anyone is posting about your library. If it is positive, repost and @tag them! Hashtags to use: #repost @originalposterhandle (so they'll be notified that you shared their image) 26. #Emojis Use Emojis at the end of one of your statuses. Use it when you comment. People can search via emojis, use this to your advantage! 27. #LibraryCrafts Did your patrons make an awesome craft or perhaps you're going to have a craft program and you made a sample? Instagram is a perfect share here! Hashtags to use #LibaryCrafts #LibraryLove #LibraryLife #atthelibrary #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 28. Search #CityState, #Repost Search with your city's hashtag and like posts that are appropriate for a library to like. Repost anything that is connected to your library or community. Hashtags to use: #repost @originalposterhandle (so they'll be notified that you shared their image) #citystate #Bookstagram #5minlibchallenge 29. #Shoutout #Please Nothing gets followers than when your followers give a shout-out. Ask your patrons to get the word out! If you want, you can use the private message feature and ask local organizations and fellow patrons to do this. It doesn't hurt to ask. You could also post an image asking people to get the word out. You'll be surprise how a call to action makes a big difference. 30. #Stats for #More Reach Now that you have a month of posts, check out Iconosquare's statistics. When are your best days and times for responses? What types of posts resonated well with your audience? Modify for next month and start all over again! Hashtags to use: #LibraryLife #publiclibraries #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge 31. #Halloween #HappyEverything Take a picture of a book/display that is connected to a holiday or something in the news. Hashtags to use: #Halloween #HappyEverything #Holiday #Trending #News #atthelibrary #citystate #libraryname #5minlibchallenge Note: We don't have an Instagram Account for 5minlib. I will participate, but it'll be via my library's teen Instagram account... Bonus: If you're looking for another Instagram challenge, Carmel Clay Public Library is currently running an awesome photo challenge for all libraries! We did borrow a few ideas from them, with permission. Thanks, CCPL!

Over the last several years, I've done at lot of change up our library space at Stewart. Here's some of my tips to help you rethink your library.

So you have an awesome new program coming up, and you're super excited. That's fantastic! Now, how are you going to get the attendance your program so richly deserves? That all depends on how you advertise. Naturally, you want to tailor your advertisements to the program's target demographic, but don't forget that parents often make plans for their children, older patrons sometimes have visiting kids and/or grandkids, and word of mouth is incredibly valuable. It can't hurt to try some different things, right? In this three-part series, we will be discussing some average (and not so average) ways to advertise. First up... Posters, Flyers, and Where to Hang Them Sure, we've all made posters, and they go up on the door, or maybe on the bathroom door if we're feeling ambitious. Where else can we put them? Well, that depends on your audience. Have you tried... Local schools - If you email the superintendent, you can often get permission to hang signs in the school library, if nowhere else, but making sure that the teachers know about your programs can help promote library services to students, school faculty, and parents. Don't forget that teachers are potential patrons, too. Maybe the English teacher is just dying for a book club to join; maybe she will see the sign in the Teachers' Lounge and be your new best member! Senior centers - Again, the programs you advertise there don't have to be just for seniors! Yes, there is "competing" programming going on at many senior centers, but when you work for the town, collaboration is always a good thing. Unless you are doing a movie program at the exact same time as their movie program, you probably don't have to worry. I have often advertised Children's Room programs in the Senior Center, too, This is particularly helpful for Summer Reading ("the kids are visiting and I don't know what to do!") and the our library's circulating collection of toys and games ("the kids are visiting and I don't know what to do!"). Recreation centers, yoga studios, gyms - When playing sports and games, there is often almost as much time waiting (for your turn, for the game to start, for your ride home) as there is playing. Why not give these poor waiting people something to read and look forward to? Local businesses - Coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, and other places where people linger will often have bulletin boards dedicated to local events. If you ask nicely, you can often hang up a poster, which lets their customers (and staff!) know about your upcoming awesomeness. This is particularly useful if the business has a connection to your event. For example, hanging a flyer at a comic store or game shop is perfect for promoting teen Wii Game tournaments or board game parties. Other areas of the library - You'd be surprised how few libraries will advertise the adult Summer Reading Program in the Children's Room, even though there are usually just as many parents as children! This holds true the other way around, as well. Patrons have families and friends, and they will let them know if they see something they might enjoy. If you have something complicated enough that a quick glance at a flyer might not be enough, try hanging them inside the bathroom stalls - you have a captive audience! Inside of books - When I did a Zombie Party, I put flyers inside copies of The Walking Dead graphic novels. Pete the Cat party flyers are inside all Pete the Cat books. Hide Classic Movie Mondays flyers inside biographies of classic Hollywood starlets, Fantasy Book Club flyers inside fantasy books, and "Did You Know We Have A Database About This?" flyers inside reference books. I have also seen some great e-book bookmarks inside books on the shelf where the e-book version was available through our catalog. "Check it out now, or download it from home!" Things to Remember: If you're not used to posting flyers outside your library, there are a some things you might not have needed to think about before. A few things to consider: Make sure that all flyers are clearly labeled with the library's name, address, and contact information. It wouldn't do for a potential patron to be interested in a program, and not know where to go. Less (information) is sometimes more (attention). You want eye-grabbing art and words, because you are competing with not just the other flyers on the bulletin board, but the entire world around that bulletin board: smart phones, pumpkin spice lattes, best friends meeting up for lunch, someone's dog who is just so darned cute. Large blocks of text will be skimmed over if not ignored: it's better to get someone's attention and point them in the right direction for more information than to not grab them at all. Also, please ask permission before you start hanging things up. Let's not be silly about this. If you have a favorite place to hang your flyers, we would love to hear about it! Please let us know in the comments here, on our Facebook page, or on our Twitter. You can also follow us there to make sure that you never miss a post. Don't miss reading Part 2: Media and Social Media and Part 3: Unique Advertising Ideas!

Hello, friends! It's Christmas break for me and I'm taking a few minutes to plan ahead for the new year! Last year our first graders hosted a Tournament of Books and it was a huge success so we're getting ready to host one again this year! The first thing I did was put up this huge bracket in the main hallway of our school. It generated a ton of buzz around the school, especially before we shared any details about what we were actually planning! The Brown Bag Teacher has bracket printables free on Teachers Pay Teachers. They are perfect for getting your bracket ready. To build the bracket, I started from the middle and worked out on each side, using black duct tape for the lines. It wasn't a quick project, but it turned out perfectly! Once all the kiddos were making guesses about my giant hallways display, we collected nominations. Each first grader nominated a favorite book, which gave us about 70 nominees. It was surprisingly easily to narrow them down to 16 choices for our bracket since we had lots and lots of the same choices, plus a few that were easy to toss (a few guided reading titles made it into the mix haha). Once we filled in our top 16 books, the students filled out their own brackets. I printed blank brackets from Print Your Own Brackets and wrote in our selections. Then, we carefully went through the choices and the students filled in a winner for each match up. This also helped them to understand how the bracket itself worked and promoted lots of debate about their favorites! Now that we had our top 16 choices, everyone needed to make sure they read the books! We read many of the nominees aloud to our classes, but we also used QR codes with iPads in our listening centers to make the books accessable to all our students. Then, each week, we conducted a vote. We created a Google Form with the choices and then posted a QR code that linked to the form. Students used iPads to scan the QR code then enter their choices. It was quick for them to complete and easy for us since we didn't need to prepare or count 70 paper ballots each week! Even though only our first graders were voting, the whole school was eager to see who the winner would be and looked forward to seeing the winners each week! Our tournament came down to a Crayon vs Crayon final! The Day the Crayons Came Back was the winner, "because it has glow in the dark!" and two of my kiddos actually managed perfect brackets! This year we're planning further ahead, so the whole school is getting involved! Have you ever hosted a Tournament of Books? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Welcome to the library blog where you can find things about books, authors, technology, and more .

Ages: Tweens, teens OR 20/30s Duration: 1.5 hours Style: Drop-in Budget: $40 Goal: To provide a silly, surprising, and highly creative atmosphere with no pressure to make something “good.” Summary:…

A library and education blog and place to be heard through creating, technology, connecting, reading, collaborating and noise.

If you use Facebook, #22 will make you laugh.

Blind Date with a Book - February 2014 This was a passive program conjured up by the teen librarian at another branch in our system, which...

Last weekend at Gibson my awesome coworker friend Nicole and I did a library mini golf after hours program for teens and tweens and it was a HIT. We got the idea from this pin but couldn’t fi…

Ideas for self-directed activities and passive programs for kids at the library. Obstacle courses, scavenger hunts, displays, and more.

In the books I loved to read as a kid, libraries are crazy old buildings full of secrets. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn sends Anthony Monday all over the library, following obscure clues to u…

This is Stacy Lienemann reporting for my first in a series of posts on teen programs. My library received $1,000 from a YALSA/Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grant and in this series I will disc…

10. Gigantic Bowling – 53 votes 9. Candy Sushi – 54 votes 8. Movie Marathon -56 votes 7. Scavenger Hunt – 59 votes 6. Totally Tech Lock-In – 60 votes 5. Mini-Golf in the Lib…

In the books I loved to read as a kid, libraries are crazy old buildings full of secrets. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn sends Anthony Monday all over the library, following obscure clues to u…

**This post is an introduction to the ways TikTok can be used by libraries/librarians. In the coming weeks I will make subsequent posts about “How TikTok is Taking the Book World By Storm,…

Story Crafternoon is a program our library offers to elementary aged kids, who have gotten too old for our preschool story time. This progr...

Help make the YA section an even brighter place!

Recently, I've been looking back through photos of my media center at Stewart Middle Magnet from the past five years. I'm working on a conference presentation for the Florida Association for Media in Education about transforming library spaces. As I look back over these photos, I'm struck by how the space slowly evolved over this

This was a wonderful passive program to do. Not only is it just fun, but it’s a great way to try and explain the voting process and its importance. I had several parents come up to me and s…

Explore librariantiff's photos on Flickr. librariantiff has uploaded 2836 photos to Flickr.

Calling all crossword puzzle fans. Try your skill at our Collaborrative Crossword puzzle posted on the bulletin board in the Teen Area. This interactive puzzle was the brainchild of one our crea…

I first did a Silent Library program back in the fall for Teen Read Week, & learned two things: 1.) Teens completely fail at being quiet, let alone silent. 2.) They love doing all sorts of sill…

Discover the magic of library fundraisers! Find out why they're crucial for our cherished libraries and how they bring communities together. Get inspired with creative ideas for fundraising!