Open House Tactics

Image From: Discovery Education's Clip Art Gallery
Solving teachers' early morning technology problems is interfering with my blogging time! It's totally expected at time of the year, so I'm grateful to have a quiet morning (so far).

Open House is tomorrow, and although we don't get a HUGE crowd in the library, I'd say we have at least 100 parents trickle through during the evening. It helps that our library secretary, Deb, is a total social butterfly - she knows everyone and is excellent at chatting with everyone.

What do I do for Open House? Other than spiffing up the library (ekkk - I actually straighten the books on the shelves!), I show a looping PowerPoint and have two pamphlets available for parents to take.

The PowerPoint and one of the pamphlets provide tips to "Keep your Teenager Reading!" Here's the quick breakdown:
  • Set an example.
  • Make sure there's something to read at home.
  • Share your reading.
  • Read a book written for teens.
  • Give teens an opportunity to choose their own books.
  • Recognize yoru teen's mature interests.
  • Build on your teen's hobbies and interests.
  • Let boys read like boys.
  • Lighten up.
  • Keep trying!
I actually did quite a bit of research when I developed these materials - both the PowerPoint and pamphlet include a bibliography. If you'd like to check them out, or use them for your own libraries, you can download the PowerPoint here and the Publisher pamphlet here.

The second pamphlet is "Top Secret Passwords" and it has all the access information students need to access our subscription databases from home. There's also some positive "our library rocks" propaganda mixed in. :) You can download the Publisher passwords pamphlet here (with passwords removed, of course).

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