NCompass Live - March 18, 2020 http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ncompasslive/ Library camps provide us with opportunities to make meaningful connections with teens during the months when they are most difficult to reach. In previous years, teen program attendance was extremely low, reaching less than fifty teens. It was time to make a change. Cedar Rapids Public Library offered free teen camps for ages 12 to 18 at both of our library locations and offsite with residential facilities, providing access by removing barriers financially and physically. Focused on creativity, teamwork, and fun, our project based learning camps covered subjects from writing to making escape rooms. Each camp is unique in its theme, but the implementation is similar for each. Teamwork and social skills layered with fun activities and productivity allow for dual purpose learning. While exploring and designing, teens were also learning communication skills, cooperation, and problem solving techniques. Library camps allowed teens freedom to create and share. Teens left camp feeling accomplished and excited about their work. Librarians left knowing teens achieved more than a digital trophy. This session will focus on our findings from the past three years, how the camps were created and how we’ve adapted. We will discuss ways to scale the camps to best fit in your libraries. During the session, we will look at team building exercises the campers went through and the collaborative processes put in place to encourage teamwork. You will have a chance to view completed projects from the teens, including their board games and escape rooms. We will discuss the benefits of immersive learning, with teens leading as innovators. It’s time for teen programs to be more responsive and uncover teens’ potential as creators, inventors, and collaborators. Challenge traditional summer programming for teens! Presenter: Molly Garrett, Librarian, Cedar Rapids (IA) Public Library.

1. Teen Summer Camps:
Challenging Traditional Programming for Teens
Molly Garrett
Programming Librarian
Cedar Rapids Public Library

2. A Little History
• Previously, teen summer programming was an one-hour
program every week
• Very little attendance and engagement
• Teens weren’t interested or around
• Started with two week-long camps
• One at each library location, morning and afternoon
• Evolved to having four week-long camps
• Two at each library location, all in the afternoon
• Traveled to residential facilities offering condensed camps
• Reached four facilities

3. Camp Format
Regular Camps
• Open to 12 - 18 year olds
• Fifteen person limit
• Run from 12:30 - 4:30 pm Monday through Friday
• Presented at both library locations
Offsite Camps
• Presented at residential facilities
• Run for two hours for two sessions

4. • A focused theme
• Activities that fit that theme
• A detailed outline
• Embedded lessons
• Creativity
• Cooperative skills
• Self-discovery
• Group and independent work
• Snacks and breaks

6. Camps Offered To Date
• Digital Direction
• Introductions to different technology including 3D printing and movie making
• Game Generation
• Create a board game with a team from concept to playtesting
• Escape Room Project
• Design and construct an escape room from scratch with a team
• Storytellers
• Explore a variety of writing styles and participate in peer review
• DIY Dare
• DIY projects including clay, pixel art, and Little Free Libraries
• How to Survive
• Eco-friendly projects that might help you and your team survive

7. What Works
• Rotating camps
• Group size
• Registration
• Mixing group/individual work
• Exploratory projects
• Problem solving and teamwork
• Low staff involvement
• Library as camp location
• Camp release forms
• Swag
• Lanyards
• Water bottles
• Bags

8. What Doesn’t Work
• Mornings
• Presenters/Partners
• Coming into an established atmosphere
• Difficulty connecting with teens
• Knowledgeable but distant
• Planning everything to the minute
• We never get to everything, but it’s better to be over
prepared than not have enough to fill four hours.
• Small spaces
• Being too elaborate

9. Challenges
• Length
• Two locations
• Age differences
• Different maturity levels and experiences
• Different learning abilities
• Peer engagement and group work
• Keeping it fresh
• Parents
• Staffing

10. So Why Camps?
• Freedom to be creative and innovative
• Learn life/soft skills to help in the future
• Staff involvement in a profound way
• Teens as library advocates
• Showcase library equipment and services
• Reach new and/or underserved members of the
community
• Bigger impact for area teens

11. Bigger Impact for Community
• Filled a need for our community
• No cost to participants for camp
• Convenient times for working parents
• Offered at each library location for better access
• Opportunities with emerging technologies
• Able to accommodate many skill levels and abilities
• Reach teens with barriers to library access

12. Interview with Juni and Paul, Campers
I chatted with Juni and Paul to learn their thoughts on the camps. They were
full of heartwarming comments and helpful ideas.
• Loved Storytellers
• Wanted longer camps
• Had a great time with peers of all ages
• Created DIY Dare based on their feedback
• Felt a sense of pride and accomplishment
• Appreciated a chance to experience, grow, and “finding something in me”

13. Importance
• Teach problem solving and critical thinking through project-based learning
• Develop self-esteem and confidence in a safe setting
• Remove economic barriers
• Create opportunities for teens to engage with community
• Provide a way for teens to become leaders and innovators
• Allow librarians to act as mentors and cheerleaders of creative expression
• View the library as a welcoming, safe place

14. Adapt a Camp Experience for Your Library
• Adjust the schedule
• 1 day, 2-3 hours
• 3 days, 1-2 hours
• Focus on one or two complex projects
• Plan and execute with another organization
• Share the creation and responsibilities with a community partner
• See Dayton Metro Library’s Career Adventures Camp
• Keep a theme to make everything feel cohesive
• Rebrand to make another program seem fresh and new

15. Questions?

16. Contact Me
Molly Garrett has worked in libraries all of her professional life. She
works at the Cedar Rapids Public Library and has been their teen
librarian for six years. From live action Minecraft to the annual
Renaissance Faire, Molly shies away from the typical and loves a
challenge.
Email: garrettm@crlibrary.org
Phone: 319.739.0416