Captain Underpants Program!

People really seemed interested in the presentation about the Captain Underpants party we had in Springfield this past summer reading program. I wanted to post the general ideas list I had. I also have sheets for the Trivia questions, the “The Colossal Commode Award!” certificates, and the Professor Poopypants Name Change O’Matic chart. If anyone wants copies of these files, please e-mail me at shodge-wetherbe@springfieldlibrary.org and I’ll gladly send them along!

Captain Underpants Party!

The Underwear Fling!

By marking off distance on the floor with taped lines, see how far kids can fling underwear like a slingshot. The furthest underwear wins a prize! (I got the undies at the dollar store, $1 for a pack of 4.) The prize was a special certificate for the winner.

Decorate Underpants!

You can cut underpants out of paper for the kids to decorate, or buy packets of cheep white underpants and let them decorate those!

Billboard Word Game

George and Harold always use moveable billboard letters in signs to change them into funny things. Set up magnetic letters to say something ordinary (Like “Fairy Tale Story Hour, Free Apples) and see how many silly/funny things kids can make out of it. “Hairy Apes Fart” (They don’t have to use all the letters)

Professor Poopypants Name Change O’Matic

Kids get sticky nametags, and have to look up their names on the change-o-matic chart. (Chart where letters in names change the name to silly things, for example S=Tushy, H=Smelly, W=Socks. So Sarah Hodge-Wetherbe would turn into Tushy SmellySocks.) For the rest of the event, they are called by their new silly names!

Captain Underpants Trivia Contest!

Kids in teams (of 2,3, or 4 depending what your party size is) answering multiple-choice questions. For this game, the team that one got the Golden Plunger Award. These were two store bought rubber toilet plungers with the wooden handles panted gold. (Plungers were from Walmart for about $2 a piece)

TP Tower Building

Teams of kids use toilet paper rolls to try and make the tallest tower without it falling. If it falls, they have to start all over again. They have 2 minutes to build. (I awarded extra inches per 30 seconds not used. So if they finished in 1 30 seconds, they got an extra inch added to the measurement.). The tallest standing at the end of their time won! (The TP was from the Dollar Store as well, $1 for a pack of 4 rolls) The prizes were special certificates for each team member that one.

TP also makes great streamers to decorate the room!

Printable Games

We also gave away free coloring sheets and printed games from Dav Pilkey’s site at
http://www.pilkey.com/junk.php.

See Also: WMRLS READS! Blog

Letterboxing!

A fun and interesting program to do with your kids or teens is to involve them in a letterboxing program! This combines the thrill of a treasure hunt with a love of the great outdoors, and can be especially great for rural libraries. (But by no means restricted to them!)

But what is Letterboxing? To quote the North American Letterboxing Page:

“Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and
exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.

Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. In addition to the clue and any maps or tools needed to solve it, the hunter should carry at least a pencil, his personal rubber stamp, an inkpad, and his personal logbook. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks.”

It’s a very inexpensive hobby, and kids love feeling like pirates when they go looking for treasure, or are the ones to hide it. One way libraries can use this is by creating a letterboxing cache with the kids. Just a rubber stamp (despite some letterboxers preference for hand-made stamps you can use a store bought, or make the stamp with the kids as part of the program) a small blank unlined notebook or scroll of paper, and a waterproof container make a cache. The librarian would pick a hiding spot on the library grounds, or somewhere nearby to plant the cache, and then the kids backtrack from the letterbox spot to the “starter” spot (maybe the library front door or parking lot) and make up each clue as they go.

Then the librarian would post the letterboxes clues and general location (Say. Greenfield Ma if you’re doing it for that library) on a letterboxing website (or several of them) and letterboxers will come and look for the box. In a certain pre-decided time period (6 months, A year, whatever you think is long enough) the librarian will retrieve the letterbox, and put the log on display for the kids in the library to flip through and see all the people’s marks that found it.

This can be very very exciting for kids, and a really good way to make them think creatively about how to write instructions.

Some great letterboxing sites:

North American Letterboxing: http://www.letterboxing.org/

Atlas Quest: http://www.atlasquest.com/


I also have a new letterboxing blog about my own adventures if you’d like to check that out, it will give you some of the names and general locations of western mass Caches, as well as links on where to find the clues (No spoilers I promise)

Not all who Wander are Lost: http://sarahletterbox.blogspot.com/

See Also: WMRLS READS! Blog

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Ballot Question 1 and Libraries

Effect of Elimination of the State Income Tax on WMRLS and Libraries

People have been asking about the impact on WMRLS and its member libraries if Ballot Question 1 on Election Day, November 4, were to pass and be implemented by the legislature. This question calls for the repeal of the State income tax, phased in over a two year period.

In response, this action would be disastrous for libraries, the most detrimental action ever threatened. It is almost definite that it would eliminate the six Regional Library Systems, the State Aid to Public Libraries program, access to statewide databases, State and federal grants, and library services for the blind and disabled. There would be no staff at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to administer grants for the Public Library Construction program. The automated networks, like C/W MARS, would be severely weakened without any offsets for their telecommunications costs, no grants to upgrade their systems, and member libraries unable to pay annual membership fees. In short, Question 1 would put an end to all the important advances in library services and interlibrary cooperation that have evolved over the past century.

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners on September 5 voted the following statement:

Be it resolved that as the primary stewards of library service for all residents of the Commonwealth, the Board of Library Commissioners opposes Question 1 on the basis that its enactment would have a severe impact on all types of libraries in Massachusetts and would result especially in an overwhelming and wholly destructive loss of public library services that are fundamental to the educational, social and economic well-being of all residents of the Commonwealth.

The Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) has joined forces with the “Coalition for Our Communities,” a wide-ranging network of organizations that has joined together to fight Question 1. The Coalition’s Website is at http://votenoquestion1.com/ In an email to the statewide library lists, MLA “urges its membership not only to Vote No on Question 1, but also to take steps to educate others about the impact that this initiative would have on library service in their communities and statewide. MLA will be advocating against this referendum, and also urges its members to take a personal interest in this cause and do the same.”

MLA let us know that the Western Massachusetts Field Leader for the Coalition for our Communities is Pam Schwartz, 413-219-5658, pschwartz@coalitionforourcommunities.org

Let there be no doubt that Question 1 would be extremely bad for libraries and the people of the Commonwealth.

~ John Ramsay, Regional Administrator, WMRLS

UMass Amherst Libraries now host and maintain Digital Commonwealth Servers

The Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts (DigiComm) and the UMass Amherst Libraries are pleased to announce that the libraries now host and maintains the Digital Commonwealth servers.

As the Massachusetts Land Grant institution, UMass Amherst supports the mission of DigiComm. The library will house, maintain and back up the portal's servers.

"Digital Commonwealth is pleased to announce this new relationship. We know that UMass Amherst Libraries are an appropriate home for our servers and we appreciate the robust nature of the support that the library will provide," said President Carolyn Noah.

About The Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts (DigiComm)

The Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a portal to the rich cultural heritage held in museums, historical societies, colleges, libraries and other cultural repositories in Massachusetts. From it site you can search or browse the digital collections of member institutions throughout the state for manuscripts, images, historical documents, and sound recordings. The portal provides you with enhanced access and retrieval of information to the digital assets of eight archives with holdings from over 35 cultural institutions (see:
http://www.digitalcommonwealth.org ).

About the UMass Amherst Libraries

The UMass Amherst Libraries (www.library.umass.edu) include the 28-story W.E.B. Du Bois Library (including the Learning Commons), the Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library, the Image Collection Library, and the Music Reserve Lab. The system is the largest public academic research library in Massachusetts. Present holdings include over 3 million volumes. Together, the books, periodicals, government documents, maps, sound recordings, and microforms make up a collection of over 5.9 million items, with 2.5 million in microform format, and thousands of electronic resources. The Library provides access to nearly 45,000 online journals, over 300,000 e-books, 260 online indexes, and 350 open access indexes. The UMass Amherst Libraries are open to all. Borrowing privileges are extended to all adult residents of Massachusetts, UMass alumni, and to secondary students under 18.

Contact:

• Carolyn Noah, President, Digital Commonwealth
• MJ Canavan, Coordinator of Library Systems & Web Management, W.E.B. Du Bois Library