Madeline McGuire

LIS 707
Description of Idea

(State 1: Empathize- Research User’s Needs)The focus on this idea is the Park Ridge Public
Library’s Youth Department. In order to make a plan for programing first the amount and
audience of existing programing needs to be known. In 2017 Park Ridge had an estimated 37,494
people living there according to City Data. 48.3% are male and 51.7% are female. The median
resident age is 44.7 years old. Main South High school serves 2, 401 students in grades 9-12,
some of the students also come from Niles. Franklin Elementary School serves 510 students in
grades K-5, Carpenter serves 456 students in grades K-5, and George Washington serves 625
students in grades K-5. Emerson Middle School serves 814 students in 6-8 and Lincoln Middle
School serves 708 students. (All school info comes from https://www.publicschoolreview.com/).
Looking specifically at October 2019 the library held these programs for these tags: 34 story
times that focus on reaching ages birth through preschool, 3 all ages programs, 2 programs for
kids in grades 4-6, 2 programs for kids in grades kindergarten through 3rd grade. Read to the
Dogs is for kids in grades 2-6 and was offered once in October. Lego Club witch is for ages 4
and up was also offered once in October. The chart below shows youth programing for the
month of October, both Read to the Dogs and Lego Club where counted as programing for
grades K-3 as those are the ages that typically attend those programs. All ages programs well for
all ages are most likely to be attended by families with c
hildren from birth to grade 3. It should be noted that when kids reach grade 6 they become part
of the teen division and as a result the teen side of youth services does most of the programming
for 6th grades.

Children's Prorgraming

23 Birth to Preschool
4
Grades K to 3
34 Grades 4 to 6
All Ages

(Stage 2: Define- State User Needs and Problems) From this chart we can see that the programming
needs of birth to preschool are more than met, and that kids in grades kindergarten through 3rd grade
are also likely met. As started before all age’s programs are likely to be attended by those in grades
K through 3, well kids in grades 4 and 5 are not. In order to meet the needs of kids in grades 4 and 5
there needs to be more programing options for them.
(Stage 3: Ideate-Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas ) A popular program for middle school
aged teens is the Teen Craft club, and when the teens have more time in the summer book
discussions are very popular. To increase programing options for the 4th/5th grade audience we could
offer a specific craft for 4th and 5th grade once a month along with offering a book discussion
program for grades 4 and 5.
 Madeline McGuire
LIS 707

Project Plan

Goals for the Project:

In the next year, increase children's programming from 2 programs a month to 4 programs
a month for grades 4 and 5 by implementing a crafting program and a book discussion -
increasing art and traditional literacy among these ages.
In the next year increase opportunity for children in grades 4 and 5 to be exposed to
traditional literacy outside of school and family life from 1 one literacy program a month to
2 literacy programs a month the offering of a book discussion once a month.
In the next year increase opportunity for 4th and 5th grades to explore art and creativity by
increasing art based library program for 4th and 5th grade from 0 programs a month to 1
program a month.

Budget:
Purpose Amount Per Craft Amount Yearly
Craft Supplies $40 per craft $480
Time to Plan the Craft 3 hours per craft 36 Hours
Time to Plan Book Discussion 4 hours per book discussion 48 Hours
Prep Time before Program 1 hour per program 12 Hours
Program Time 1 hour per program 12 Hours
Team Members: One librarian to run each program (could be the same one for each
program) they will need to plan and execute the program, the maintenance team who will
set up the rooms for the specific program, patron services team who will check in and out
the books for book discussion, a member of the business office who will have to approve
the purchase of materials. In total at least 5 team members are needed a month to fulfill
these programs.

Key Stakeholders:
Families with children in grades 4 and 5, this includes siblings, care-takers, and anyone in
the family involved with the child’s daily life
Librarians in the building who are also doing programing because when the meeting room
is in use for these programs other cannot use it
Teachers of students in grades 4 and 5
Children in grades 4 and 5
Outcomes:
By the end of the year children’s programing will have 4 consistent programs a month for
grades 4 and 5 with the implementing of a craft based program and a book discussion.
By the end of the year there will be a consistent opportunity for children in grades 4 and 5
to increase their exposure to literacy outside of school and family through the offering of a
book discussion for grades 4 and 5 once a month.
By the end of the year there will be a consistent opportunity for children in grades 4 and 5
to explore art outside of school and home by offering a craft program a month to children
in that age range.
 Madeline McGuire
LIS 707

Assessment Plan
The goal of what I’m proposing is: In the next year, increase children's programming
from 2 programs a month to 4 programs a month for grades 4 and 5 by implementing a
crafting program and a book discussion - increasing art and traditional literacy among
these ages. To start assessing the success of the programs implemented I would start by
reviewing the number of attendees in each program over a four month period. This gives
me an idea of how patrons are coming to the program over a period of time. Although the
numbers are important I also believe it’s important to gather data on programing from the
community. The numbers are able to tell me simply how many people are coming, but the
community might be able to tell me why. There could be low numbers because the
programs are on Tuesdays and most 4th and 5th graders have previous commitments. In
order to collect data on the programs I plan to implement I would do a focus group to
collect data on their views of the programs so far.
After implementing more programs for grades 4 and 5 for four months I would run
three different focus groups. One focus group would be for the youth in grades 4 and 5,
another would be for the adults in charge of the youth in grades 4 and 5, and I would have a
focus group for teachers in the area who teach grades 4 and 5. These would be people who
had attended the programs, for the adults of the youth in grades 4, and 5 who attended the
programs, and those who did not. The reason that I would do this after a 4 months of
programing is to see how implementing these specific programs has worked, ultimately my
goal is more programing for grades 4 and 5 so if the programs that I have implemented are
not working I need to know. The questions asked would be; What days of the week are
hard for you/your 4th/5th grader/student to get to the library because of previous
commitments? What have you thought about the program offerings for 4th/5th grade these
past four months? Is there a program that you wish we were doing for youth in grades 4
and 5? I would ask teachers and parents if there is particular learning outcome or area of
struggle that they see in these ages that library could run a program around? If the data had
shown that no one was coming to the book discussion program we could ask: What kind of
literacy based programing would you like to see for grades 4 and 5? Or how can we adjust
the book discussion program to be more engaging?
The overall goal of the focus groups would be to gain information on if the current
offerings are working for the community. Specifically about their thoughts on the current
offerings and what else they think the library could be doing to assist their 4th and 5th
graders. The data collected about how many people are attending the programs also aids in
this information. Based on the data we receive we can adjust the programs accordingly. If
the data reveals that a certain day of the week does not work for the majority of the
community then we can avoid programing on that day. If the data reveals that no one is
coming to our book discussions and it’s because people would prefer them to be family
based for those ages we can adjust to that request. Once the data is in we can use the data
to adjust the programing to programs we believe will fit what the data is saying. Then we
can reassess the programs data after 4 months at least in attendance and possibly meet
again with the same focus groups to gather new data on their feelings on the new
programs.
 Madeline McGuire
LIS 707

Link to presentation:
https://dominican.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=e98f639c-5d1c-
4045-a57f-abad00f8649d

Link to PowerPoint used in presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uoQtHWncF7Bb4iWR3okY2wCxyFnvFIAVemA
KY-bTP4g/edit?usp=sharing