Over twenty Twi-hard fans colonized @ La Puente Library to create tees honoring the premiere of the newest teen vampire flick, Twilight. (Also attached: Halloween/Magic Wayne pix)

SRP Continues @ La Puente Library (Isn't it Fall, Yet?)

In the first couple weeks of August, our young patrons enjoyed gaming, Science Experiment Day (hosted by teen volunteers), and a discussion with La Puente author, J. R. Gonzalez. This evening, teens met for gaming, to participate in the Uglies book club --- courtesy of Teen Services --- and for story time volunteerism (What can't we do with pipe cleaners? See video blog @ myspace.com/lapuentelibrary).

One of our favorite teen volunteers, Wendy Villalobos, is spotlighted in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune today! She tells of volunteering to assist with story time crafts and the grant that she helped to write/win for the La Puente Library.

SRP in Progress

Presenters at the La Puente Library thus far this summer have included comedian/voice actor/La Puente native, Jeff Garcia (of Happy Feet); Pasadena-based tween author, Lisa Yee; chef & La Puente native, Chef Yo; local artist, Roxana Ocana; storyteller, Michael McCarty (an Ezra Jack Keats Foundation grant); The Wildlife Company; The Cartoon Drawshop; magician, Allen Oshiro; and Ina Buckner-Barnette/Chazz Ross (drums/storytelling).

We have also:
Enjoyed a donation of new board games from Barnes & Noble,
Loved the grant-funded family video gaming in our meeting room, featuring a Wii, Xbox 360, SmartCycle, and Leapster,
Adored the Project Morph kit & Flip camera from Teen Services, and
Created how-to shorts, including How To Volunteer @ the La Puente Library! View these in our blog @ myspace.com/lapuentelibrary.
Evaluations
Of Twilight book club (Teen Services book club in a box):
"Really Cool." - Denise S., 7th gr.
Of Project Morph:
"Cool." Renee T., 6th gr.
"It is pretty good. A little bit more choices for T-shirts would be good." - Sandra, 8th gr.
"I think it was pretty cool. I've never made a shirt before. But, it was too rushed." - Janet, 6th gr.(Program ran nearly 3 hours - md)
Suggestions for Future Programs
"Making necklaces. For boys, arts and crafts. The girls like paper stuff." - Abigail H., 6th gr.
"Make diaries." - Indelisa B., 6th gr.
"I think we should create caps and personalize them." - Juan G., 9th gr. (I just purchased personalize-able caps @ OTC! - md)


PS: I presented two poster sessions at ALA (YA Library Services Excellence Awards & Teen Tech Week grants). A link to the article: http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2008/07/11/yalsa-tech-for-ya-committee-poster-session/. BTW, an information literacy "recipe" that I wrote was selected for publication in a book to be launched at ALA 2009, Chicago.

Helping Out With Project Runway @ Temple City

We had a really fun Project Runway @ Temple City. The chaos inspired me to photograph a properly layed out room to share with libraries planning their own Project Runway. Josh's event attracted...it seemed like 40 teens?!

Indian Cultural Heritage Day

The good news:
Young adults lined up for mehndi/henna tattoos! Even new teen patrons,
who noticed our promotional door sign.
The bad news:
Whereas we usually have 2 henna artists for 2 hours, we were only
allotted 1 artist for 1 hour. (Darn economy!)
The other bad news:
The planned Indian pakora, bhaji, tempura, and samosa sampling was
foiled by siesta. (I actually observed my contact slumbering as I banged
@ the glass door.)
More good news:
The Mexican market was wide open!
Indian Cultural Heritage Day meets Cinco de Mayo celebration! The event
didn't coalesce as planned, but teens enjoyed learning about Indian
culture while munching traditional Mexican treats, and nominating each
other for YA Board leadership positions.
Comments:
"It was great & fun. Interesting also!" - Katrina, 9th grade
Suggestions for future programs:
"Calligraphy!" - Wendy V., 10th grade
The best news:
Last Friday, we learned that a $1,000.00 grant that the teens and I
submitted was funded! The grant will be matched by the Friends of the La
Puente Library, and will provide for physically active/intellectually
stimulating video game equipment that both teens and children can use.
Attached pics include a Cinco de Mayo craft & Indian Cultural Heritage
Day (meets Cinco De Mayo).

YA Board Wins SPA Council $1,000 Grant!

SPA Council offers mini-grants of up to $1,000 for community projects. Three young adult board members, Melissa, Danielle, and Wendy, worked with me to complete the grant application requesting $1,000. We won! This summer, the YA Board will purchase electronic gaming equipment that encourages physical activity, musical ability, and cognitive development.

Teen Displays

Lookee at my cute display to promote the YT collection. I set it across from the PCs to lure young patrons to the actual books!

I was rearranging the other day, and...
my CLM, Jeanette, and I decided that since folks don't use the reference almanacs and dictionaries much anymore, we should weed and interfile/circulate. Then, I was able to snag almanac stand for my YT display.
When we have book clubs during the summer (i.e., Twilight) I'll use the stand to promote that!

Also, I've attached a pic of a TTW-themed book trough display created by an artistic teen library page & moi:

For Teen Tech Week, our YAs participated in collection development, ordering over $350 in YA books from amazon.com for the library! The teens purchased titles of their choice. Nearly all of these books checked out within 5 days of being processed!

Metamorphosis: Artistic Transformations

This week, La Puente's nominee for Teen Volunteer of the Year, John K., made Project Runway (Or is it Project Metamorphosis?) work! He revived his favorite YA event, by acting as tailor for teens sewing iPod Cozies — and filmed his contribution for a high school graduation capstone.
A local artist helped with other art activities, including helping teens transform ordinary rocks into glittering lady bugs and dapper penguins.

Comments:
"This was unexpected! I thought I was going to work." - Maria C., 12th gr. (a volunteer)
"I really liked the beads project thing." - Alejandro D., 7th gr.
"Cool, nice, fun, nice stuff." - Josie R., 6th gr.
"Really fun!!! Loved trying new things." - Bianca B., 12th gr.
"I had so much fun doing this. It was entertaining." - Karen M., 12th gr.

Suggestions:
"I would like to read to the little kids." - Karen M., 12th gr.
"Break dance or skateboarding day." - Freddy G., 7th gr.

Native-American Arts for Young Adults

Today, young adults enjoyed a Native-American cultural experience
led by an Apache-Blackfoot, Rose Figueroa. Figueroa, who served as
Exhibition Specialist and Developer for the Southwest Museum of Native
American Art, instructed teens (and parents, who were itching for their
turn) in the native art of basket-weaving.
The pics feature the 16 teens that the event attracted (25
people participated, including the parents).
(Also included is a shot of simple Easter basket crafting after story
time.)

Teen Tech Week, Tuesday through Thursday

This week, we used the Young Adult Library Services
Association Teen Tech Week Grant monies to learn about collection
development in a hands-on manner, by spending $350 together on books for
the young adult collection from amazon.com. The remainder of the grant
funding was dedicated to gift cards --- every day that teens attended a
TTW program, they received one entry in the drawing for gift cards from
EB Games, Starbucks, Bath & Body Works, Jamba Juice, and Barnes & Noble.

On our opening day, Tuesday, teens participated in a digital photography
class, then uploaded pics to an online photography resource. Wednesday,
the young adults created a photo book online to be printed by
shutterfly.com for the library. YAs also shot pics of story time
families and helped the young participants create frames for their new
family photos with Flip-Flap Jack (see attached). Today, an information
literacy session was followed by an intense scavenger hunt, pizza,
online book-shopping, and gift bags containing frisbees and earbuds from
Teen Services. Tomorrow, teens will play video and board games, ably
assisted by gaming aficionado Josh I.

Comments:

Hands-On Digital Photography Class
"Loved it." - Sara G., 11th gr.
"I like it here, because you get to find out about cameras." - Guadalupe
R., 6th gr.

Story Time Photo Frames
"It's pretty awesome. I got to meet new people." - Joanne M., 8th gr.

Info Lit Class & Scavenger Hunt
"It's cool. Nice games. Learned lots of stuff." - Jose R., 6th gr.
"I loved it; it was fun and exciting!" - Kayla K., 10th gr.
"T'is was fun. Yayness!" - Elia V., 11th gr.

Suggestions for future programs:
All 5 requests were for fashion and painting programs!
* A big thank you to our sponsors, Dungeons & Dragons, Young Adult
Library Services Association, and The Friends of the Library!!!