This has been debated on Pubyac for some time. Here are some interesting responses:
1.Barb Langridge <bookandahug@gmail.com>
So...this young fellow and his friends are really enjoying reaching out to
libraries across the USA? Reaching out to us? And ALA and ALSC haven't
invited them to make this a national campaign? To lead others to the books?
Maybe I am missing something here but this sounds like what we dream
about. Kids who are thinking about the library..not only their library but
other libraries. Kids who WANT to do the summer reading program.
It sounds like it's out of the box because maybe we aren't used to having
people from other states wanting to do our summer reading program...but
what is the cost..not just literally...or better yet...what is the fear?
Don't we have a theme that most of us use across the country? This year
it's On Your Mark Get Set Read.... if you go to the library at the beach in
Maryland or you drive the other way and go out to the mountains...all the
libraries are proudly waving the same banner...
How amazing it would be to have kids energized around connecting their
summer reading with kids in other states..... they would be making reading
important and fun and exciting and part of their summer. Sounds like a
plan!
Isn't that what we want them to be doing?
It sounds as though we feel we are being used in a part of a scam...could
it be that we don't recognize kids who are excited about our summer reading
program? What if kids from all over the country could connect to our
summer reading programs? Collect summer reading program badges? They could
say, I finished the program in Oregon and California and New Jersey?
We might need a good piece of software to send them back a badge when it's
completed...we might need a librarian to sign off that they did the
reading.... but imagine the publicity...imagine how powerful this could be
toward creating a national culture of reading...imagine how exciting it
would be to have readers in different states competing against each other
to finish reading a whole string of books............
I wonder?
Barb
2. The problem is that Mr. Yang and his "friends" are assigning point values as to how they participate in each program and they get "more points" per his description if they get physical prizes mailed to them from libraries across the country. To which I replied to him that our local funders that provide the prizes for our Summer Program would NOT be happy to learn that the funds they provided in good faith to go to our kids here in town are going out to some kid in California.
Now, if it were just badges and a national summer reading online program, I would love that.
Elaine Betting, M.L.I.S.
Youth Services and Outreach Librarian Supervisor
Lorain Public Library System
351 W. 6th St.
Lorain, Ohio 44052
440-244-1192 x 243
ebetting@lpls.info
3. But if that is really the case then,
1. Why has he not said this until now? This isn't the first year that he has done this, and from what others have said, he has gotten extremely rude about it. If this were true, why, at any point in the past two years, did he not say, this is what I and my friends are doing?
2. If it's not just him, why haven't we seen other names pop up? He is all over PUBYAC, the YALSA listservs, Teen Services Underground on Facebook, ALA Think Tank on Facebook... if there were actually other kids doing this, it wouldn't just be his name every time. There hasn't been a single shred of evidence that there are more kids than just him doing it.
3. He stated that California libraries are off-limits, yet he has contacted libraries in California. So which is it?
4. He has contacted libraries during their winter programs, whether they actually had a winter reading program or not, to try to get free stuff. If this is only a summer thing, why is he doing that? If it's not just a summer thing, why didn't he say so in his spiel?
5. For that matter, why does his story keep changing? He's told some people that he used to live in their area (lie), and he's told others that his library doesn't have a summer reading program (another lie). At this point, he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Here's one last thing to address your question of why not let kids in other states join. My library isn't big. We don't have a large budget. We have to make do with what we have. This means our community is ALWAYS going to come FIRST. Our budget comes from our taxpayers, so they are our priority. It is a waste of money and staff time (which also equals money) to start sending prizes (which in many cases wouldn't even be applicable to someone out of state) to someone out of state. He has a library. That library has a summer reading program. The summer reading program is already nationwide. In practically any community, you can go to the library during the summer and join. How does that not promote a national culture of reading? Trying to join hundreds, maybe thousands, of programs in other states isn't a love of reading. It's greed. No one is stopping him from reading. No one is stopping him from joining his own library's summer reading club. He wants stuff. Getting stuff isn't, and shouldn't be, the point.
Heather Botelho
Youth Services Librarian
Flower Mound Public Library
972.874.6157
4.Candace Ryan <thisiscandaceryan@gmail.com>
It's been fascinating to observe the spectrum of reaction to one young
man's (first?) attempts to connect with a world outside of his home and
school life. He has tired, "ire-d," but, also, inspired a number of
librarians across the country. He's definitely tapped in to something! I
believe that how we respond to Aaron says a lot more about us than it does
about him.
I've followed this thread (and the one on Facebook) with extra interest,
because of my "locality" to Aaron geographically, and perhaps, also,
socially. I know what it feels like to reach out to librarians (and
others) in unconventional, "out-of-the-box" ways, only to have my efforts
fall disappointingly short of my vision.
Of course, I acknowledge that Aaron has not used the most skillful means
possible in conveying his SRC vision. It is never appropriate or
acceptable to lie, deceive, or threaten lawsuits for failing to fulfill
SRC prizes, but perhaps this young man deserves the benefit of doubt.
Could he have a developmental delay, for which proper social etiquette, let
alone far more challenging "Netiquette," is beyond his ability to
completely grasp? Could he benefit from gentle correction that there are
more skillful (and, thus, more successful) means available to him when
reaching out to others-- that he needs to build trust and confidence in
those he reaches out to (especially repeatedly)?
A simple Google search will reveal that Aaron appears to be engaged with
libraries throughout the San Gabriel Valley, where Alhambra is located,
just outside of the greater Los Angeles area. One link shows that he
participated in an in-person Teen Advisory Board meeting at the Monrovia
Library. Another link shows an excerpt from a book report he wrote on THE
MAZE RUNNER at the Pasadena Public Library (where thread participant
Annmarie works). Yet another link shows that he liked a "Game Design"
class on the Altadena Library's Teen Services Facebook page.
Again, I do not know Aaron personally, but it appears that he is a real
teen from the little research I did, which makes me all the more concerned
that both his home and email addresses would have been shared on this
listserv without his or his parents' permission. For whatever Aaron's
social transgressions, he does not deserve that kind of exposure to unknown
vulnerabilities in this day and age.
I applaud those, especially Barb Langridge (as the first), to point to the
positives and possibiliities of Aaron's message. Here is a young man
trying to connect with the world in maybe the only way he knows how, in
maybe the best way he knows how. His bridge to the world may be through a
library. For better or worse, that makes librarians his gatekeepers. Will
you let him pass? Will you give him "a pass?" To borrow a phrase from
Aaron, I "double-dog dare you" to!
Candace
5.Looks like Aaron is trending! I don't know how many of you are on the Storytime Underground on Facebook. They are discussing Aaron right now.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=687055329584&set=gm.1136049293112932&type=3&theater
If the link doesn't work, let me know, and I'll try to paste in the conversation.
Lin Look
YOUTH SERVICES LIBRARIAN • CONTRA COSTA COUNTY LIBRARY <http://ccclib.org/>
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
ORINDA LIBRARY | 26 Orinda Way | Orinda, CA 94563
llook@ccclib.org<mailto:llook@ccclib.org> |925-254-2184 | Follow us on facebook | pinterest| twitter
<https://twitter.com/contracostalib>
6. Hi Barb, Candace, everyone:
Here are some thoughts on Barb's wonderful ideas:
1 and 2. Email a certificate, book mark or something to the participant.
Email name address phone to the participant's library. Would it be possible
to have a YouTube Channel where all the library's could upload a video, at
the end of the summer reading program, that congratulates all of that
library's out of state participants?
3. We use Google Docs for a review form that our middle/high school
students have to fill out for each book they read. The readers can give a
book 1 to 5 stars. Then they have to write at least one sentence about why
or why not they would recommend this book to their friends. It can be
reached by anyone with internet access.
4. Goal: to get 6th through 12th graders in our town interested in
competing in other states, using the same books that they read for our
summer reading club. Call it the National Summer Reading Club. The more
states and the more books they read, they could win a National Prize.
Perhaps a trip to ALA? And, the books that they're reading could generate a
National Summer Reading List of the top 10 books for grades 6-12
5. I love the badge idea! South Windsor has a town seal. Is that something
every town has? Perhaps the badge could incorporate a town or state seal.
6. We have over 100 6th-12th grade volunteers every summer. This would be
something they can easily do.
Anyone else? Oh, and we should ask our teens what they think would be
interesting to them!
Sandy
Sandy Westbrook, Children's Librarian
South Windsor Public Library
South Windsor, CT 06074
860-644-5404
sandyw@libraryconnection.info
This thread was over 21 messages long, so I picked the 6 I thought were most interesting. On a personal note, I think we should do more to encourage kids to participate in multiple reading programs. I love the response about creating a National Summer Reading program. I understand most libraries don't have the budget to send prizes to these individuals and we often feel overextended already, but it takes very little time to send them an e-mail certificate/bookmark. 1.Barb Langridge <bookandahug@gmail.com>
So...this young fellow and his friends are really enjoying reaching out to
libraries across the USA? Reaching out to us? And ALA and ALSC haven't
invited them to make this a national campaign? To lead others to the books?
Maybe I am missing something here but this sounds like what we dream
about. Kids who are thinking about the library..not only their library but
other libraries. Kids who WANT to do the summer reading program.
It sounds like it's out of the box because maybe we aren't used to having
people from other states wanting to do our summer reading program...but
what is the cost..not just literally...or better yet...what is the fear?
Don't we have a theme that most of us use across the country? This year
it's On Your Mark Get Set Read.... if you go to the library at the beach in
Maryland or you drive the other way and go out to the mountains...all the
libraries are proudly waving the same banner...
How amazing it would be to have kids energized around connecting their
summer reading with kids in other states..... they would be making reading
important and fun and exciting and part of their summer. Sounds like a
plan!
Isn't that what we want them to be doing?
It sounds as though we feel we are being used in a part of a scam...could
it be that we don't recognize kids who are excited about our summer reading
program? What if kids from all over the country could connect to our
summer reading programs? Collect summer reading program badges? They could
say, I finished the program in Oregon and California and New Jersey?
We might need a good piece of software to send them back a badge when it's
completed...we might need a librarian to sign off that they did the
reading.... but imagine the publicity...imagine how powerful this could be
toward creating a national culture of reading...imagine how exciting it
would be to have readers in different states competing against each other
to finish reading a whole string of books............
I wonder?
Barb
2. The problem is that Mr. Yang and his "friends" are assigning point values as to how they participate in each program and they get "more points" per his description if they get physical prizes mailed to them from libraries across the country. To which I replied to him that our local funders that provide the prizes for our Summer Program would NOT be happy to learn that the funds they provided in good faith to go to our kids here in town are going out to some kid in California.
Now, if it were just badges and a national summer reading online program, I would love that.
Elaine Betting, M.L.I.S.
Youth Services and Outreach Librarian Supervisor
Lorain Public Library System
351 W. 6th St.
Lorain, Ohio 44052
440-244-1192 x 243
ebetting@lpls.info
3. But if that is really the case then,
1. Why has he not said this until now? This isn't the first year that he has done this, and from what others have said, he has gotten extremely rude about it. If this were true, why, at any point in the past two years, did he not say, this is what I and my friends are doing?
2. If it's not just him, why haven't we seen other names pop up? He is all over PUBYAC, the YALSA listservs, Teen Services Underground on Facebook, ALA Think Tank on Facebook... if there were actually other kids doing this, it wouldn't just be his name every time. There hasn't been a single shred of evidence that there are more kids than just him doing it.
3. He stated that California libraries are off-limits, yet he has contacted libraries in California. So which is it?
4. He has contacted libraries during their winter programs, whether they actually had a winter reading program or not, to try to get free stuff. If this is only a summer thing, why is he doing that? If it's not just a summer thing, why didn't he say so in his spiel?
5. For that matter, why does his story keep changing? He's told some people that he used to live in their area (lie), and he's told others that his library doesn't have a summer reading program (another lie). At this point, he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Here's one last thing to address your question of why not let kids in other states join. My library isn't big. We don't have a large budget. We have to make do with what we have. This means our community is ALWAYS going to come FIRST. Our budget comes from our taxpayers, so they are our priority. It is a waste of money and staff time (which also equals money) to start sending prizes (which in many cases wouldn't even be applicable to someone out of state) to someone out of state. He has a library. That library has a summer reading program. The summer reading program is already nationwide. In practically any community, you can go to the library during the summer and join. How does that not promote a national culture of reading? Trying to join hundreds, maybe thousands, of programs in other states isn't a love of reading. It's greed. No one is stopping him from reading. No one is stopping him from joining his own library's summer reading club. He wants stuff. Getting stuff isn't, and shouldn't be, the point.
Heather Botelho
Youth Services Librarian
Flower Mound Public Library
972.874.6157
4.Candace Ryan <thisiscandaceryan@gmail.com>
It's been fascinating to observe the spectrum of reaction to one young
man's (first?) attempts to connect with a world outside of his home and
school life. He has tired, "ire-d," but, also, inspired a number of
librarians across the country. He's definitely tapped in to something! I
believe that how we respond to Aaron says a lot more about us than it does
about him.
I've followed this thread (and the one on Facebook) with extra interest,
because of my "locality" to Aaron geographically, and perhaps, also,
socially. I know what it feels like to reach out to librarians (and
others) in unconventional, "out-of-the-box" ways, only to have my efforts
fall disappointingly short of my vision.
Of course, I acknowledge that Aaron has not used the most skillful means
possible in conveying his SRC vision. It is never appropriate or
acceptable to lie, deceive, or threaten lawsuits for failing to fulfill
SRC prizes, but perhaps this young man deserves the benefit of doubt.Could he have a developmental delay, for which proper social etiquette, let
alone far more challenging "Netiquette," is beyond his ability to
completely grasp? Could he benefit from gentle correction that there are
more skillful (and, thus, more successful) means available to him when
reaching out to others-- that he needs to build trust and confidence in
those he reaches out to (especially repeatedly)?
A simple Google search will reveal that Aaron appears to be engaged with
libraries throughout the San Gabriel Valley, where Alhambra is located,
just outside of the greater Los Angeles area. One link shows that he
participated in an in-person Teen Advisory Board meeting at the Monrovia
Library. Another link shows an excerpt from a book report he wrote on THE
MAZE RUNNER at the Pasadena Public Library (where thread participant
Annmarie works). Yet another link shows that he liked a "Game Design"
class on the Altadena Library's Teen Services Facebook page.
Again, I do not know Aaron personally, but it appears that he is a real
teen from the little research I did, which makes me all the more concerned
that both his home and email addresses would have been shared on this
listserv without his or his parents' permission. For whatever Aaron's
social transgressions, he does not deserve that kind of exposure to unknown
vulnerabilities in this day and age.
I applaud those, especially Barb Langridge (as the first), to point to the
positives and possibiliities of Aaron's message. Here is a young man
trying to connect with the world in maybe the only way he knows how, in
maybe the best way he knows how. His bridge to the world may be through a
library. For better or worse, that makes librarians his gatekeepers. Will
you let him pass? Will you give him "a pass?" To borrow a phrase from
Aaron, I "double-dog dare you" to!
Candace
5.Looks like Aaron is trending! I don't know how many of you are on the Storytime Underground on Facebook. They are discussing Aaron right now.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=687055329584&set=gm.1136049293112932&type=3&theater
If the link doesn't work, let me know, and I'll try to paste in the conversation.
Lin Look
YOUTH SERVICES LIBRARIAN • CONTRA COSTA COUNTY LIBRARY <http://ccclib.org/>
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
ORINDA LIBRARY | 26 Orinda Way | Orinda, CA 94563
llook@ccclib.org<mailto:llook@ccclib.org> |925-254-2184 | Follow us on facebook | pinterest| twitter
<https://twitter.com/contracostalib>
6. Hi Barb, Candace, everyone:
Here are some thoughts on Barb's wonderful ideas:
1 and 2. Email a certificate, book mark or something to the participant.
Email name address phone to the participant's library. Would it be possible
to have a YouTube Channel where all the library's could upload a video, at
the end of the summer reading program, that congratulates all of that
library's out of state participants?
3. We use Google Docs for a review form that our middle/high school
students have to fill out for each book they read. The readers can give a
book 1 to 5 stars. Then they have to write at least one sentence about why
or why not they would recommend this book to their friends. It can be
reached by anyone with internet access.
4. Goal: to get 6th through 12th graders in our town interested in
competing in other states, using the same books that they read for our
summer reading club. Call it the National Summer Reading Club. The more
states and the more books they read, they could win a National Prize.
Perhaps a trip to ALA? And, the books that they're reading could generate a
National Summer Reading List of the top 10 books for grades 6-12
5. I love the badge idea! South Windsor has a town seal. Is that something
every town has? Perhaps the badge could incorporate a town or state seal.
6. We have over 100 6th-12th grade volunteers every summer. This would be
something they can easily do.
Anyone else? Oh, and we should ask our teens what they think would be
interesting to them!
Sandy
Sandy Westbrook, Children's Librarian
South Windsor Public Library
South Windsor, CT 06074
860-644-5404
sandyw@libraryconnection.info
