This presentation details the Gallatin Pike Corridor Memorial Foundation Grant to three Nashville Public Library banches. Presented at the Tennessee Library Association Annual Conference on March 25, 2011

1. Reaching Teens Through Branch Partnering Teaming Up To Attract Local Teens Sara Morse Suzanne Robinson DeAnza Williams

2. History of the Memorial Foundation Grant to NPL In 2007, one of the library’s community partners had a conversation with NPL’s Library Director and Foundation Executive Director. They expressed a wish to do something for the Madison area libraries and requested a proposal. After assessing NPL’s needs, current trends & the community partner’s focus areas, a proposal was crafted. This proposal was enthusiastically received by the Memorial Foundation, and the Gallatin Road Corridor Afterschool Initiative was born. From June 2005-June 2007, the three Gallatin Pike Branches saw: a 52% increase in teen circulation, a 47% increase in YA materials checked out from these locations by all age groups

3. Purpose of Grant The Gallatin Pike Memorial Foundation Grant was designed to give area teens the opportunity to engage in constructive afterschool activities that enhance academic and social skills at the East, Inglewood, and Madison Branches. Madison Inglewood East

4. East One of the two remaining Carnegie Libraries in Nashville, East opened in May 1919. Across the street from East Literature Magnet School, which serves grades 5-12, East sees a lot of teens afterschool. It is located in a gentrifying neighborhood, serving populations of senior citizens, twenty- and thirty-somethings, and stay-at-home moms.

5. Inglewood Inglewood Branch Library was built in the early 1970s as a result of a community petition. While the sole school in walking distance from the branch is currently under renovation and the branch sees little teen traffic, Inglewood continues to serve a thriving homeschool population of 3-12 year olds.

6. Madison The original Madison Library was built in 1977 and served the community for more than 20 years. A new building opened in August of 2000. Madison serves a very diverse population and we are one of the few library branches that has a dedicated teen room.

7. Grant Components The two year grant included funds for: Collections Programming Tutoring Teen room Renovation at Madison

8. How we approached the grant Organized a team with the branches involved Team includes: 4 Branch Managers (2 are Area Managers) 1 Young Adult Librarian Held regular meetings to discuss collections or programming or both as needed Area Managers were tasked with facilitating either the Programming or the Collections

9. Collections We ordered: Two rounds of test prep books Professional development materials Several small orders of fiction and nonfiction Large manga, comic, and graphic novel order Movies and music Videogame pilot project PS2 Xbox 360 Wii

10. Videogame Survey – Gaming Platforms

11. Videogame Survey – Preferred Genres

12. Videogame Order Madison had 75 games on the final order list, 25 in each format Inglewood and East ordered a combined 81 titles

13. Programming All locations combined, we offered more than 320 programs over the life of the grant with over 2,409 teens in attendance Diverse program offerings included educational, gaming, technology, music, craft and college prep programs Branches chose to use the programming funds in different ways: East had several big programs, Inglewood focused on summer reading programs, and Madison had many smaller programs. We all worked together on our major programs

14. Major Programs Gallacon: Animanga Festival Graphic Art Contest Art Workshop Cosplay Contest Gallacon Finale Author Visit with L. Divine Upcoming partner programs

15. Gallacon: The Animanga Festival Fall Break 2009 – 3 programs in one week Graphic Art Contest Art Workshop with cartoonist James Barry at East Cosplay Contest and Anime Trivia at Inglewood Gallacon Finale with Origami, Candy Sushi Making, Anime Screening, Gaming, and Graphic Art Contest Awards Ceremony at Madison

16. The Graphic Art Contest We accepted submissions from artists 12-18 for: Best Comic Book Page (a sequential story told in multiple panels) Best Fan Art (a copies image of a previously created character) Best Original Character (created by the artist – not a copy) Prizes were awarded in two age groups: 12 to 14 and 15 to 18 Entries were judged on originality, creativity, and style

17. East: Art Workshop with James Barry James L. Barry led the workshop. He illustrated part of the Warriors manga series, and he is Nashville native who agreed to lead the workshop for a small honorarium – just enough to cover the plane ticket The workshop drew over 30 teens Door prizes were donated by Jerry’s Art-a-rama

18. Inglewood: Cosplay Contest Prizes were donated by Performance Studios, a local costume shop Current and former staff with YA experience volunteered to judge Entries were judged on detail, effort, and presentation

21. Madison: Gallacon Finale Candy sushi making in the story room Anime Screening from Operation Anime– Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Rated TV PG Door prizes donated by Ingram

22. Author Visit with L. Divine April 2010 at East Teens at East had previously used an L. Divine book for a page to the stage program Librarian at Pearl-Cohn High School wanted her teens to participate, but transportation was an issue Main Library’s technology specialists helped us Skype Ms. Divine’s presentation to Hadley Park, another branch library within walking distance of Pearl-Cohn 30 teens at East, 22 at Hadley Park

23. Upcoming Programs for 2011 Teen Iron Chef at Inglewood Poetry Slam at East Fun Fair at Madison Expansion of videogame pilot project Creating your own cell phone ring tone with Zig Wajler

24. Programming at East Spoken Word: A Tribute to Black History Conducted by the local chapter of Youth Speaks Beyond the Truth Conducted by the local chapter of Youth Speaks Page to the Stage – a joint effort with a local theater company Teens took a section from Drama High by L. Divine and performed it on stage

25. Programming at Inglewood Purchased a one year movie license for ongoing movie programs Connecting Literacy Music and Technology program with Zig Wajler Ongoing programming featuring T.O.T.A.L.

27. Tuesdays – Traditional Teen Programs

28. Wednesdays – Educational programs

29. SAT/ACT practice Tests on 1st Wednesday

30. Artist’s Space on 2nd Wednesday

31. Teen Writer’s Workshop on 3rd Wednesday

33. Equipment for Programs Special equipment purchased with grant funds include: A Flip video camera An iPod and docking station A Meridian kiosk for video gaming Spinners to house manga collection Electrical outlets Fatboy soft seating

34. Homework Tutoring The grant funded two part-time homework tutors for East and Madison Diverse group of tutors over the last three years - they have been undergraduate and graduate students and a college instructor turned master gardener Tutoring is offered afterschool (between 3 and 7 pm) and on weekends as needed

35. Homework Tutoring at East

36. Homework Tutoring at Madison

37. Homework Tutoring Sessions by Age Group at Madison

38. Homework Tutoring Sessions by Subject at Madison

39. Prevent Summer Brain Drain During the summer of 2009, the homework tutors at Madison created the Prevent Summer Brain Drain program series The eleven week series yielded a total of 33 educational summer programs, attended by 285 students Weekly themes included: Creative Writing Agriculture Math Cultural Arts Creative Arts Retro-Tech

40. Teen Room Renovation at Madison Planning period: November 2008 – June 2009 Teen Focus Group: April 21st, 2009 Renovation: August 6th through 25th, 2009

41. Madison’s Teen Room Before the Renovation Dark Poor line of sight Always adults using the computers

42. First Renovation Proposal

43. Renovation Focus Group / Pizza Party We used Kimberly Bolan’s Teen Spaces: The Step-by-Step Library Makeover, 2nd ed. Teens viewed Flickr sets from benchmark library teen centers and gave feedback about what they liked and didn’t like We typed up the teens’ responses and sent them to the architect and interior designer

44. Proposal After Teen Input

45. The New Teen Room

46. not-so-Grand Opening The Teen Room opened on August 25th, 2009 with a small “not-so-Grand Opening” party. We had the official Grand Opening Celebration two weeks later.

47. Partnership Opportunities Partner within your region Share ideas Partner with other libraries Teen-Programs-in-a-Box Partner with schools Limitless Libraries Partner with community groups Night Out Against Crime Partner with your teens! Focus groups and program ideas

48. Partnership Basics Communicating– in person, by phone, by email Being open to everyone’s ideas Sharing – ideas, tools, research, materials Dividing the workload and volunteering for various tasks Give your partner(s) lots of credit!

49. Questions? This presentation will be available on slideshare www.slideshare.net/ Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have: Suzanne Robinson, Manager Inglewood Branch Library suzanne.robinson@nashville.gov Sara Morse, YA Librarian Madison Area Library sara.morse@nashville.gov