Trying to remember this little snippet of wisdom as it looks like it may be a while yet before my job returns to any semblance of “normal.” It’s been so easy to get caught up in comparing my digital programming to what other people are doing (including sometimes, my own coworkers). Never have I felt more vulnerable and on display. Unfortunately, my brain has a default setting that seems to be a negative inner voice that tells me I’m not worthy because I’m either not enough or too much. It’s really hard to ignore that voice when likes, shares, and views are directly tied to the perceived “success” of your programming. I feel like I’ve taken a step backward from outcomes, which seems counterproductive and quickly leads to comparison and burnout. What are you doing to focus on outcomes with digital programming right now? How are you measuring the success of those programs? I’m interested in things that take into account more than just numbers because the numbers game is all over the place right now.
Much Hamsters 
I’ve been setting my virtual storytime goals around the E-AIMS model and developmentally appropriate screen time practices for young children. Seeing myself on camera has been a lot to adjust to! Once I was able to move past the awkwardness, it really helped me critically evaluate myself and make some good changes that will improve my storytimes even when we’re back to in-person programming.
Jesssica
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Thank you for sharing! That’s so helpful! There is a lot there that I think translates well to digital programming for school age children as well. My audience is 5-12 year olds, which is such a huge age range developmentally, that sometimes I find myself completely unsure of how to address my digital audience, especially when I don’t know who’s watching. I’m trying to be mindful of incorporating those best practices that I know are proven from my educational experience. I think a huge hurdle for me is getting through the awkwardness of seeing and hearing myself on screen (I’m still counting every “um” and filler word I say) and production value (worrying about lighting, sound, etc.). Those things are slowly improving as we invest in more equipment for the long haul and I learn my own ticks and quirks. I have and always will be my own harshest critic, I suppose. =)
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We are definitely our own critics! I blink too much on screen. It’s super distracting! 🤣 And yes, so much of video quality depends on investment and support from the library, not just individual performance. What virtual programs are you doing for ages 5-12? I’m hoping we’ll get to expand beyond just storytimes some day!
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We just wrapped up a “fantasy” series based on Choose Your Own Adventure, where a coworker and I played two sisters sucked into a strange fantasy land after opening a book. It was very low-budget (think MST3K vibes), but each week we’d release an episode online and families would cast votes on where we’d go in the next one. We’ve developed a little bit of a cult following with our young patrons, which has been pretty cool to see. =) My next series is called Fairy Tale STEAM, where I issue an engineering challenge based on a different fairy tale each week. We have a Zoom session coming up with a local astronomy professor to talk about the mythology and folklore behind some of the constellations in the night sky. Astronomy programs have always been really well received by our patrons. I’ve also been releasing a short monthly book talk video along with a suggested reading list in place of my usual monthly book talk program geared toward middle graders. And I did a unicorn storytime geared toward older kids along with our preschool unicorn storytime for our Unicorn-ival week. =) I’m in a library where the emphasis has definitely been put on the preschool programs for a long time. I started doing school age programming full-time in 2016 and just got a second person to help last year. Before I started full time, my supervisor was juggling her role along with the school age programming, so there’s been a lot of growth in the last several years now that we’ve been able to dedicate more time to it. Even with my education background though, it’s still a learning curve every day about how to reach that age demographic, especially now during the pandemic.
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You are BUSY! I love all of your ideas, especially the Choose Your Own Adventure video series with patrons voting. What a fun way to share ownership and get community input! 😍 Communicating with kids and families is definitely a challenge right now – they (and we all) have so much to deal with.
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You are BUSY! I love all of your ideas, especially the Choose Your Own Adventure video series with patrons voting. What a fun way to share ownership and get community input! 😍 Communicating with kids and families is definitely a challenge right now – they (and we all) have so much to deal with.
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