Metro-Atlanta Library Association/Atlanta Emerging Librarians

Joint AEL and MALA Meeting - Public Library Programming & Outreach--
Adult, Teen/Youth & Children

Saturday, July 11, 2009, 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Several MALA members attended a joint meeting with the Emerging Librarians group at the Buckhead Branch of AFPL. The program featured three speakers sharing their expertise in generational programming for public libraries.

Eileen Slough spoke about children’s programming at the Buckhead Library. Eileen has been the Children’s Librarian at Buckhead for a year. She has a lot of tips on how to create a delightful series for newborns to age 12. Her hints began with answering the question - Who do You Serve? From there she shared types of programs and resources that might be helpful to librarians who schedule or do programs: Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center http://www.yawac.org and Folkmanis Puppets http://www.folkmanis.com/.



The second speaker was from Gwinnett Public Library system. She spoke on teen programming. The Gwinnett system is organized to schedule and create programs from the Central Library. She shared the pros and cons of this system. The Teen Rep at each branch contacts the Central Office to schedule programs. There is an internal site for scheduling. There are Teen Programs in a Box to help branch Teen Reps pull off a teen program without reinventing the wheel.



Lastly, Mr. Chappell from Dekalb Public library shared the efforts of Adult Services. They have an e-branch services web site which works like a branch library with resources, ways for patrons to create a library card, and access resources.

All in all a very informative meeting!

The next Emerging Librarians meeting will be October 3 at the Buckhead Branch at 3pm.

Special thanks to Kate Stirk for providing this summary.