The finished bracelet!

A bracelet at each step! These made create examples and creating them was the perfect opportunity for me to practice!

Another Wish

This wouldn't have worked to well for this particular program because I'm not at that branch on a regular basis but when I do this at my home branch I'll be sure to wear the bracelet for a few days before the program in hopes that it will give more opportunities to spread the word about the comming program. I might be able to get other staffers to do that in my place at other branches.

Wishing

There are several things I'll do differently the next time I do this program but I know that I'll for sure do it again with teens at another branch.

I normally set programs up to be an hour to an hour and a half but this doesn't take even close to that long so I think I'll market it more like a drop by and make this sort of thing. That will also make it easier for me to continue working with a just a couple teens at a time.

During this program I had a collection of books on green crafts available and on display but they weren't very well recieved and not a one checked out. I want to find a way to make the fact that is a green craft more well known and try to use that to inspire them to try more green crafts. I'd like to find a shocking or funny statistic about pop tabs that would grab their attention and make them more aware that they arn't just making a bracelet that looks cool, they're doing something good for the environment. I might have better luck with this if I do it closer to Earth Day.

I'd also like to get more guys involved. Maybe I'll make a belt as an example next time. I also have to be sure I have more masculine materials available. I had a lot of ribbon and bright colors that if I had had a boy show up he might have found the selection of materials disappointing. Marketing will also be key in improving the number of guys involved. The flyer I used showed an especially girly version which I doubt even caught their eye. I think if I can just get one guy to come in and try it other will follow his lead.

A Little More Waving & Webbing

Once I'd decided to do the pop tab bracelet program I had to hunt down enough pop tabs so that I could do a lot of practicing and have enough for several teens to each make their own bracelet. Of course I started collecting tabs at home but we don't drink nearly enough soda for that to enough. I sent out some emails to coworkers, family members, and friends and I put a container on the breakroom table asking for contributions. People were mostly throwing them away so they were glad to save them for a higher purpose and before long a had a whole bag full!

More Waving

The next communication issue I've got going on with this program is actually teaching the teens how to create their bracelet. I always make sure I've got plenty of directions floating around so that they can take a copy home or consult the directions if they don't want to ask for my help. With this particular project's materials being so small it's difficult to show more than a couple of teens at a time so I try to get a couple going and then get a couple more going. I also made sure that before the program even started I had bracelets already out for each step. To keep the conversation between myself and the teens going I try to give them a couple steps at a time to do and then have them let me know when they're ready for the next part. This way they feel like I'm treating them like an adult and not holding thier hand the whole time but we don't stop communicating because they want me to see they were able to accomplish that without having their hand held and they want to know how to move on from there. This gives me a lot more opportunities to work with them one on on and make a connection each teen. Making that connection is something I find to be important when trying to get them to keep coming back to the library/programs.

Waving

Now that I've got the project it's self figured out I've got a couple of communication issues to tackle. First I've got to do some major arm waving to get teens to come to my program. Prior to the actually program I sent out promotional flyers and posters to the branch where I was planning to show the teens how to create these bracelets. I'm also always tring to communicate with the staffers at that branch so that they'll verbally spread the word to teens about upcoming programs. This particular branch has a great number of teens hanging around after school but they never seeme to make it into the programs. No matter how much I try to encourage employees to share upcoming programs with them or how many poster I put around the library or how many emails I shoot the local school media specialist it seems like no one knows we're offering anything. To help combat that problem I got the teens who showed up to the pogram at the start time going on the project and then took a lap around the library letting teens who were hanging out know what was going on and that they were welcome to join in. That worked out pretty well, three of the girls I talked to on my walk through came in just a little while later.