Anythink Library

I'm not the best photographer ;)
I tired to get photos of the key points.

This is there shelving system
Placards / signs that operate like a bookend with the "second subject line" printed

This example is of "Gardening" as main subject
The smaller signs on the shelf show "landscaping" "Flowers"

Enriching Exhibit Prototyping

Enriching Exhibit Prototyping
Jenni Martin / Sara DeAngelis
San Jose – Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose
Friday, 4pm – 5:30pm

The final program of the day Renee and I tag teamed. Seemed like it would be right up our alley – exhibit prototyping. The presenters were the San Jose children’s museum who are apparently well respected for the research they put into developing their exhibits. The session was a case study so it was very specific to San Jose’s project – which there were some good tips buried in there. It would have been nicer to have a panel where each compared there process. The other thing that I wasn’t huge fan of was the “stand up survey.” A series of questions were asked to gage the audience. Stand up if … “you have a hand in exhibit design, if you’re an educator, if you handle rentals, if you’ve worked in the field more than 2 years, 10 years.” I’m not sure what the unofficial “data” was being used for, perhaps future rentals of the exhibit?

The entire session was dedicated to prototyping of the mammoth exhibit that several of us saw on the No. CA. trip – Renee, Margaret, Barb, Adam, and I. This whole exhibit is based off of the local discovery of a young Colombian mammoth's bones. They named her Lupe. The museum has partnered with several people in order to research what activities will provide the guest experience and conversations they want to happen.

The exhibit definitely has more of a “science exhibit” feeling for me. Visitor’s can come in and see part of the mammoth’s skull in a case. The idea is for visitor’s to se in what position the skull is found. There is a small skull they can rotate to figure out the head position. Another part of the exhibit has visitors interacting with a femur bone found. Children can sit in a chair to measure the length of their femur. Another part has children choosing a foam bone femur to place on the wall and measure, while a shadow shape of the animal to which it is supposed to belong will appear. Yet another part of the exhibit has a dig (cocoa bean shells and corn husks I think) where attached fake fossils are bolted down and visitors can “unearth the bone”. There is also a small “diorama table” where there are small toy animals for the children to play with. The final piece is a light tracing table with a mammoth fossil that children can trace with colored pencils.

A good portion of the session was spent to describing these segments of the exhibits and the variations they tried to make this experience happen. We also got to meet several members from the panel who each had an important part in developing the exhibit. UC Santa Cruz & Berkley had students conducting observation, research, and evaluation on the testing. The water district that actually unearthed the fossils was a partner.

The interesting part was the research evaluation that the students conducted, which felt glossed over. The students evaluated only on one weekend day, which was typically when this prototype exhibit was open. Of course releases were filled out, children wore labels on their back identifying whether there was photography permission or not. The students recorded observations, conversations, and photographed families. There were a few slides (which should be in the powerpoint we’ll have access to in about week) that showed the grid of simple observations the students were making. The sample questions / observations: yes/no touched mammoth bone, played at the dig pit for more than 2 minutes, picked up the clipboard, mentioned dinosaurs, and then there was an area where anecdotes were recorded. We were only shown these few slides with the data results showing how the changes in their prototype had been successful based off of the data gathered by the students.

Some of the change in the prototype seemd like common sense – and a study wasn’t necessary – just knowledge of kids. Do you think the kids would like to play with the dig with or without a screen covering the top of it? Hmmmm. Without the cover. Of course, the data showed this. I believe they got a National Science Foundation Grant (I’ll have to double check my notes – now packed in my suitcase). I wonder if they had to be more scientific / more data because of the grant? I’m not sure because one of the partners mentioned at the beginning of the workshop how respected CDMSJ exhibits were because of all the research in the process. I think they mentioned that they have already been working on this project for several years and it will probably be another 2 or 3 before the exhibit makes it out? Looooong time!

Pretty good session. Most valuable thing was the evaluation info. Also the need for release forms and open they were with the public about the evaluation. Good tip was to have the evaluation station next to the front door (their rate jumped to 90% when they moved their location).

City Sights, Northern Lights, and Big Fun at the Minnesota Children’s Museum

City Sights, Northern Lights, and Big Fun at the Minnesota Children’s Museum
Friday
6:30pm – 9pm

This was definitely the highlight of the trip! It was sooooo nice to get out of the hotel and head to an AWESOME place! Luckily the hotel got a bus for all of us because it was raining and cold (which I like, but not everyone does – and the majority of us had packed for weather in the 70s and had no umbrellas or raincoats. Although Renee swears she packed one [hopefully it’s at home].). You could see the museum as we pulled up in the bus and it was so bright and welcoming with lots of windows and colors. We couldn’t wait to get off the bus.



The ground level of the museum is the gift shop, admission desk, and staff offices. We were met by Elmo, Grover, and a third Sesame St. character I didn’t know and the sound of Taiko drums! I was feeling kind of bummed hat the big night was happening and I wouldn’t be there. We’ve had Taiko’s at least three times in the building and every time I’ve missed them! It was nice to hear them. The museum only had three and I’m pretty sure Senryu had 8. Renee and I took our photo with Grover (he was my favorite as a kid – “Near, far!”). The center of the museum has a large staircase leading to 3 upper levels and has large beautiful painted fish mobiles (I like them so much I want to put them in my new house – hopefully my house).



We headed up to the 2nd level, which has three galleries (it also had the Taikos). Dinner was a series of hors devours stations. Naturally first stop was the food. Beef sambosa, chicken stay, and veggies in rice paper. We met up with, I believe the person responsible for Education, I’ll have to check my notes (she had brown curly hair and was wearing a mandarin collar jacket), in the food line who asked where we from and she said, “Cucamonga, Oh yes I’ve heard of you!” She thinks someone heard one of speak at PLA about the PAL project. She introduced us to the person in charge of exhibits. They knew all about us and the PALs (it seemed like we had a bit of street cred with them – like they were impressed).

She filled us in on their plans in working in “developing” their local libraries. They said one of their branches houses a 500 sq. ft. exhibit (we didn’t get to hear what it was). Mind you, this whole conversation was being shouted over Taiko drums and a bunch of children’s museum people playing with everything. They wanted to know who we had been working with and what the themes were.

We excused ourselves to hit up the galleries and get more grub. Also on the 2nd floor is the small city. Renee said it reminded her of Main st. I agree. Pretend city seemed really slick and felt new, Stepford (but in a good way - that is how all of Irvine is - perfectly manicured lawns). This museum felt more like a Universal back lot. There were brick buildings, columns, carpeted streets, vignettes set up in the windows, dogs & cats in the windows, and a lot more “culture” reflected. There were signs in different languages, an international market, the clothes shop had different clothes from different cultures, and one of my favorite spots was the community gallery. The community Gallery had a display of Chinese Lanterns to celebrate the festival of lights. Each case had a piece of the creation process. The city also had a corner with a guitar hero set up, a shadow play room (with shadow puppets), light play, and a TV studio (I had my 15 seconds of fame dancing around). They had a mini quesadilla bar set up with chips & guac (mmmmm guac!).



We headed to the second gallery space which had a building area, a theater, and a water play area. The water play area was really cute with water animals that looked like a child had drawn them with crayons. They had clear tubes that let children experiment with water pressure and even boat races. What was neat was all of the windows in the museum (Montessori – outdoor connection?). There was also a very cool paper exhibit on this floor. A DJ was starting to set up and as Renee and I danced in what we thought was a hidden corner we spotted Justine from Gyroscope, who spotted us dancing. Of course we denied it.



She was very friendly and interested in how everything was going. She wanted us to meet Susan (I think) from ImaginOn who she said had helped with a lot of the research Gyroscope presented to us. As we headed away from the dance floor another Gyroscope staffer from London appeared who was very nice. Justine pointed us in the direction of the last gallery, which was the “Traveling exhibit Space.” She told us that Minnesota was part of a five museum coop. She said the whole group pooled their money which made a big pot. Every year one of the five museums got the pot and got to create an exhibit (all the other pieces of the coop would help). The trade off (I think this is super cool) the exhibit gets to rotate with one of the five museums each year. So over five years, each museum gets a new exhibit and Justine says everyone gets waaayyyyy more money to work with to create the exhibit (as well as sharing the workload).

So we headed over and checked out the gallery. It was really neat. Not as “exciting” as I had hoped, but everything was interactive (maybe on an older level) and well done. All of the elements of the exhibit were about life in China. The segments were: inside a Chinese kitchen with a stove and cooking demo going on TV, a school with abacus and book, a great wall of china set up (they’re taking all of my API elements – shadow puppets, Taiko, now great wall of China!) with rubber wall pieces that looked like actual great wall pieces, a calligraphy area, a water buffalo there was even a pagoda structure with poetry, a wheel with Chinese zodiac animals. Renee and I took a picture with the Buffalo and sang “buffalo gals” to it, while we had our photo shoot. I think they were aiming to have “real materials” that you would actually see, feel in China.



Next we went upstairs to the third level, which only had what appears to be the craft room (I know our resident craft expert Isabel would love this!). I spotted a fire code sign permitting up to 75 in the room J. The famous Spark cart was in the corner, and was showing signs of ware. I tried to take some pictures where you could see paint had spilled on the wood and the letters were peeling off the top of the cart. It made me feel better about our PALs and the marker, crayon on them ;). On a side note – it looks like their spark cart would fit about the same number of kids about 6 – 3 on each side and space on the ends for adults? It is much smaller than our PAL. They had a really neat activity with salad spinners. I’ve seen it before, but it’s been a while – and it’s really fun. You take a white postcard and use an eye dropper with paint (those eyedroppers are stored in plastic red cups of paint) and release a few drops of paint onto the card. Put on the salad spinner lid and spin. This causes the paint to spread giving a tie dye appearance. I forgot to pick up mine :(.



We started to head upstairs and realized that every few feet the walls have an inspirational quote about children and play. Renee got some great photos of some of our favorite quotes. As soon as we made it to the third floor we were greeted by another app station (yay! – Sorry Barb, I can’t help the yays). This one had wall eye fritters on a stick, mushroom and squash empanadas, and mini hot dish. I had no idea what “hot dish” was – Renee gave me the lowdown – I’ll let her pass it on to any of you who don’t know either.

We headed into the first of two galleries – which was amazing. It was the Dinosaur exhibit (I can see Wess roaring and jumping with the kids now)! Of course they ad a dig, but they their dig was separated into ages! For the toddlers they had a super low dig filled with cocoa bean shells and for the older kids it was a rubberized mulch. They had a light table tracing fossil area, and a HUGE animatronic dinosaur (look out Jurassic Park. I could see this exhibit being a huge hit! Of course – we ran into Justine again!

We chatted about the PALs and how our experimenting with them has been going. We mentioned a few of the tweaks we’ve been tracking. She wanted to make sure someone was following up on them. Renee told her Scott was coming out to deliver the local history table and would be taking a look. She seemed relieved. We chatted about this being our first conference and I mentioned that I was just keeping quiet and absorbing as much info as I could. She said, don’t be quiet. You guys know way more than you think and people want to hear. You guys know so much you don’t even know what you know yet! That was a great pat on the back! To have a museum professional say that we knew what was going on felt huge! Wonderful luck, Susan from ImaginOn appeared! Justine introduced us and she was very pleasant and said it was a pleasure working for us. At that point, we learned in the next gallery they were taking hilarious costumed ice fishing photos – so of course we had to go!



The next gallery was called Earth world (I thought of Lorena and Kristin the second I saw the sign). This became my new favorite space (sooooo cute). We took our hilarious photo – we’ve got to scan it in so you all can laugh at us. Flannel is definitely not my style – I look burly. But it isssss funny – and I love silly hats!



The first thing you see in Earth world is trees with stuffed animals and what looks like a climbing structure or maze in the background. That was calling my name! The exhibit is all about ant tunnels. There are netted ramps winding up to a platform that is domed by a grass structure – giving you the feeling you’re under ground. At the base of the ramps are a series of wonderful tunnels and hidey holes. My favorite – gross motor (running, jumping, climbing!). There were ant sculptures, eggs, and other bugs everywhere. After climbing around on my knees (and realizing I’m getting old and wishing for padding) something else caught our eye.



We saw these super cool racing clouds above the trees. We took another series of ramps up to the top of the ranger cabin. This felt like Disneyland, there were about 4 or 5 wheels that kids could turn to race the clouds to other side of the exhibit and create a thunderstorm. We all tried to race our clouds, but they were pretty stiff (or we were really weak – we’re going with stiff and that they needed WD-40). Once the clouds got to the other side a HUGE stuffed dark cloud rose up on strings (a little like a theater curtain from behind another piece of the exhibit), real thunder sounds started, and flashing strobe lights created the storm. It was cool! Then we heard there were s’mores outside! I didn’t know there was an outside!



On the same floor a little further down was the outdoor roof garden (I wish we had one!). There were double doors (Renee says it for the climates with snow and wind). In between the doors was a small sink set up (no doubt for little gardeners to wash their hands). They had a whole dessert spread. Outside had heat lamps, a fire pit, and a really beautiful sand pit. We found out at breakfast the next morning it was real sand. She said the sun “neutralizes” the germs. They don’t cover it (apparently no cats on top of a large building in the city). It was still raining so we headed back inside and downstairs for our swag bags. We each got a free dinosaur book (promoting their dingo exhibit) and some cod cases.

It was a loooonnnnngggg day, but a good day.We headed back onto the bus and realized that while our event had just ended API was beginning. I sent good thoughts everyone’s way back home. I sent my infiltrator from home, Bryan & Savannah, to have fun for me. Actually our neighbor Aly was doing the Tahitian dancing for us and they really wanted to see her. I told them they had to see the Taiko for me. I’ll load up the museum photos on the I drive as well so you guys can cruise through and check out the “awesomeness”. Renee thinks this might be her favorite museum to date. I really, really liked it – definitely in the A rating range. I don’t know if I can have a favorite. I love pieces of each of the museums we’ve been too – or even exhibits we’ve seen (my heart belongs to the lucky climber). If you ever get a chance to see the museum – it’s definitely worthwhile (but scope out restaurants ahead of time or pack a lunch – and be sure to take the skyway!).

DIY Exihibit Design

Final Workshop
Friday, 10:30am-1200pm

DIY Exhibit Design
Iowa Children’s Museum

Cindy Dietz, Rockwell Collins
Deb Dunkase, Executive Director
John Dunkase, U of I Science Education center
Pam Hoogerwer, U of I Children’s Hospital
Fran Jensen, Marketing
John Weis, NASA Education Specialist

This was another session where the description makes the class seem like it is about a broader subject, however it is really just focused on the particular museum and there project. I guess the idea is take in the process and tips based off of their experience. I just wish they put that in the description.

It was a pretty good session. I really like Deb Dunkase – she is really well spoken, upbeat, seems really passionate, and like she knows how to get stuff done. They have a 28,000 sq. ft. facility with a community o 250,000 and an annual attendance of 125,000. Their annual budget is 1,071,000 and the museum operate sin the black with no debt. They also are located within the Coral Ridge Mall who does not charge them rent! They signed a 25 year lease for $10. She says that a value of 750,000 annually. They do all of their own exhibits in house. They only host occasional traveling exhibits, typically, VSA Arts, from the Freeman (?).She said they like change there exhibits on average about 2 to 5 times a year. It can be small like changing out the food in their international market or building a large scale exhibit.

Their two projects they discussed were refurbishing their children’s hospital exhibit about 10,000 sq. ft., which has been open for about 8 years. They spent a segment talking about the importance of partnering and how they had this relationship with hospital offering them storytimes and they would have students come out for program for years. The Hospital applied for a FEMA grant, based on knowledge about unintentional injury (who intentionally injures themselves?). Anywho, Pat from the hospital was inspired after visiting Indiana’s children museum and seeing the unintentional injury kits in their gift shop and thought it would be a great opportunity when the exec. Dr. came to her.

The other project was a 1.3 million dollar two level exhibit on aviation. It was spawned by a local pilots group who wanted to donate a flight simulator. They got grants from NASA, who had worked with the museum on previous programs. They got funding from Rockwell, who had previously worked with the museum offering an engineering day, as well as an IMLS grant.

I believe they did work with an exhibit designer (I wasn’t clear if that was a firm or inhouse) who didn’t really do everything they needed. I think whomever this was helped to develop space concept and then the museum took over. It sounded like they relied heavily on the university, local teachers, NASA, and Rockwell to develop educational content and whatever their needs were. I think the museum chose to work with “local contractors” and created the pieces. The biggest wow factor was that they said fabricators typically charge 250-300 per sq. ft. and it costs only 20 to 50 sq ft. to do it yourself. I think that is not entirely accurate. At the workshop on Thursday when they were discussing building your own small traveling exhibits they said it was more because of staff overhead. So I’m not sure what these folks numbers included.

I thought there were interesting tidbits in between their project description. She recommended when working on projects in house she would put the person was the most passionate or most knowledgeable as the team lead. Also useful, she said that getting the local Universities involved in the evaluation portion of the process was invaluable. She said that the whole aviation exhibit took them about 5 years to design and build. The gentleman from the University said that all educators are required to do 3 things: teaching, research, and service. He said that children’s museums can make a plea to help them based on fulfilling their service requirement.

I think it sounds like we’re on the right track. We’ve got Amanda Wilcox from San Bernardino involved in our evaluations. Tim Gunn from Azusa Pacific seems like a good back up. Michelle is great with grants! We’ve been partnering with lots of interesting folks. I think we’re on a good path. I think we could definitely do some small scale exhibits with the help of facilities, much like how Denver crafted their vet exhibit. I’m not sure we could do a two level exhibit and have it look the way we wanted it to since we really have such a polished look. Good to hear the inside story.

Peter Benson Keynote 3

Keynote speaker
Peter Benson
Search Institute, "40 Developmental Assets"
Friday, 9 am – 10:30 am

Notes from presenter:
Science should be used as a tool not an end. Mobilization of America is what we need and it should focus on the developmental journey of kids. Work is mobilization of towns and citizens. All kids are our kids (love this saying! And it is very true). Essential scientific idea and important philosophy – must be spread through America. Look for strength and build on strength. Too much focus on why kids fail. Focus on why succeed. 50,000 studies on depression, 40,000 on anxiety, but only 50 on joy. Build whole, healthy successful human beings. To mobilize the nation – you can’t give public constant message of danger, etc. The public assumes professionals should raise children. That is wrong! It is the community that should raise the children. Teach the community connectedness and engagement. Professionals don’t do this work, it is the people. Transform places where young people spend their time – schools, churches – these places have lost developmental touch.

We build disconnect – children do not know adults for longer than year. We segregate by age. Loss of sustained connectedness. It is in sustained relationship that we nuture best of life, pass on wisdom. Sustainability of connection across time. Remember and know young people across time. Someone knows they are alive and doing well. Being able to say, “You’ve grown so much, you look like your mother.” Rally for team of human development.

Spark – sparking curiosity, imagination. Building blocks. Engine. These are great developmental words we need to own and celebrate. Handouts 40 developmental assets from Search Institute. They cover support, empowerment, boundaries, expectations, constructive use of time, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, positive identities. This handout refers to ages 5 through 9 – main focus for children’s museums. On his website we can see the 0 to 4. Every human being needs to find their place in the framework.

These assets started 40 years ago. 3 million young adults have done this developmental asset. By the time you’re a high school senior, you might have 17 assets. Assets 2 through 9 are biggest risk for minorities. They don’t have lasting adult relationships, not welcoming school, lack of help from parents, and the perception that city doesn’t care about kids. Children being seen as a problem rather than as a resource.

Biggest thing we can do – spend an hour with staff and ask each other. Which of these 40 assets does out children’s museum touch? How do we do asset # __? Name what you touch. A huge affirmation for a team of people on the impact of the lives we touch. People love to hear ideas of strategies and tactics. We need to won, claim, and celebrate our asset building power.

Science – the more assets the better. The American problem is – we’re losing our way. We need a language of the common good. The Search Institute’s biggest achievement is creating this framework with no controversy around it. Everyone, all communities can look and say, yes this is what kids need. 600 cities are using this draw people together. Calling the schools, neighborhoods, parents, faith – what is your role? The only criticism we get is – what’s missing? Wellness and nutrition. That is key too. In the next few years we’ll be able alter the taxonomy to add wellness and physical well being.

Kids need 3 or 4 – family, school, community, and a safe place to go – all of which need to be asset building. Talks about Morgan Freeman and how he has good response to town. We’re losing this, losing this spark. What happened to thriving? We see thriving plants, fields – reaching up and out into the world. Who are the kids who are alive, in love with life? Development from the inside out.

You don’t learn to thrive from messages – you learn from the inside out - Plutarch, “kids are not vessels to be filled, but fires to be lit.” Where are you, what are you as a kid bringing got the human party? We must identify our spark, spirit – from latin spirtus “my breath.” What is your breath? That thing about you that is good and beautiful? Find and hang onto our spark. When we lose it, life is empty. When one is known and seen for one’s spark – everything becomes possible.

Harris, Gallop polls, thousands of adults and parents. 100 % of kids get the idea of spark in a heartbeat. What is it about you that gives you joy and energy, life seems full and gives you energy?2/3 of middle school can name it. 20 % of high school can name 2 or 3. 220 types of sparks kids name. Kids get excited – no one has asked me to name it. Leading, learning in a particular area (archeology, marine biology, languages), stewardship of the earth: constantly attentive about what can be done, protection of animal life, athletics, the big winner – the largest in America art, music, dance, creative movement – the art of creation. How did we lose this? Spark is not the same as career. Spark is anchor for identity? The gift I bring to the world, why I’m here. Something is good and beautiful and useful about that I bring to the world. Can I let my spark have life today? Be my best me today?

Help me growing up to discover my spark. Our job as adults is to find it, feed it, and trust it. (applause everywhere). One in family, one in school, one other community resource – 3 people – spark champions – that is what they need. Share your spark. Create a sustainable relationship. Alert your teams to the idea of spark. When you see a kid come alive with something – touching water, electricity – let staff know give children the words to identify it! That’s your spark! Learn it – see it – feed it. Stories about Steven Speilberg as a child. Teenagers, say you don’t see me. We lose sight of this. Story about grandson, “I am an artist.” Get young people on the road to naming and framing I am. We must be the anchor of the strength based movement. Tell kid’s teacher and parents what kids spark is. His school reform is to identify all kids sparks. Middle school say on one third can identify spark. Hand out assets, hold seminars for parents. Help parents learn spark dialogue for their kids.

Kabbalah story “In the beginning the world was made of light. All of this light has been scattered into everything and everyone. We must all gather the light from ourselves and the world. It is our job to gather it and heal the world.” That’s perfect for the spark. May all of your museums grow and blossom.

Really inspirational. I think this is definitely something as library we do now and we are able to do. Already we make a huge difference in the lives of the community by providing access to information. I think we can take it to the next level by applying more of the 40 developmental assets. I think Archibald probably has a bit more experience connecting with the community because they’ve been there for more years. However, I think a lot of the staff that has been here for a long time does a super job of connecting with the community. We’ve got examples of us doing this right now - storytellers forming relationships with the children in their storytimes, the teen crew bonding with teens in programs, and even when we’re remembering adults who come to use studyrooms. Another kudos moment for us. I really liked his ideas (continue growth in our case) of handing out these assets (maybe making them available online through our website, maybe even tying them in to our programs we are offering). It sounds like our personal connection with the public is what we’re doing well and how we can continue to grow.

Final morning

Sat at a Southwest table at breakfast primarily with folks from Houston. We talked quite a bit about next year’s ACM which they will host. They said it will most likely be held at the Hyatt and assured us Starbucks will remain open all day, there would be a shop in the hotel and an all-day restaurant. We also talked about there museum which would be great to see. We were able to tell them it was featured in a recent LA Times Travel article. We hope someone from our library will be able to attend next year.

At the end of the final plenary session, Houston CM presented an O Wow video inviting us all to InterActivity 2011. It was a fun view of the museum and really makes me want to visit. However they stole Jason's toilet paper and leaf blower stunt! Houston produces other O Wow videos for their blog so I'm going to have to search that out.

Renee

Personal Resource for Professional Development

On Friday morning I went to Personal Resource for Professional Development, a program that was not in the original program and produced a small audience. Speakers were from Please Touch in Philadelphia and the Minnesota Children’s Museum. They spoke about outreach programs they created with area partners.

The Community Partners Program created at Please Touch sounded something like the Parent/Child Workshop done through the Family Place Libraries (we renamed it the Play and Learn Workshop). The workshop included a circle time and a learning through play orientation session. They had substantial grant funding and could offer participating families museum memberships after finishing the 6-week workshops. Their goals sounded familiar after all the study of play we have done; increased parent involvement in children’s lives, introduce families to a museum experience; provide safe space to play and interact, and finally to encourage play at home.

A 2005 study showed that 50% of children in Minnesota were not ready for Kindergarten. The Minnesota Children’s Museum created a program to offer professional development opportunities to adults in the early childhood world. They focused on those who had the least access to high quality resources and training with a goal to provide education and resources to child care providers. They targeted licensed in home care providers, family, friend & neighbor (FFN) caregivers and directors of independent child care centers

They offer Super Saturday Workshops in fall, winter and spring. Part of the workshop is spent connecting content to developmentally appropriate practices and learning strategies, extensive handouts and materials for participants. They have a training plan that connects classroom practices to Minnesota Core Competencies for early childhood providers.

A Museum Learning Adventure is offered for all workshop participants. Participants had to bring at least one other family that they served. They were given a two-hour museum visit but could stay longer. Their guest family received a free book per child and 5 for each child care provider.

It was interesting to see that other agencies are working on projects to increase play and learning in young children.

Minnesota Children's Museum

Tonight we visted the Minnesota Children's Museum. Even though it's only 4 blocks away they had busses for us because it is rainy and cold with a threat of SNOW in the early morning hours.
This museum is at the top of my list. The building has a great look from the street and is even better inside. We were greeted by Taiko drummers which made us think of everyone at the API event tonight. The entry to the museum is a tall atrium with the stairs on one side and a wall of windows on the other. Beautiful flying fish hang from the top floor of the atrium. Food was being served on the 2nd and 4th floors so we made our way upstairs for some yummy appetizers. We sat in a cityscape to eat and enjoy the atmosphere. We both noticed the second floors of the buildings had open windows and room vignettes. (Sorry I can’t post photos but I need a USB with this laptop.) We explored the buildings and saw the grocery store, post office, restaurant, a picked fenced house and a gallery with great Chinese style lanterns.

We moved on to the Changing World Gallery which currently hosts an exhibit on China. One of the installations included blocks to build the Great Wall of China—very cool playing with those. Before leaving the second floor we explored the World Works Gallery which had some really great bubble and water installations. One water exhibit allowed the visitor to adjust the water pressure by opening or closing valves. If enough water filled a clear tube the ball inside would be pushed through the tubes and shot out at the end to start the cycle over again.

After Angelica completed a salad spinner painting in the Curiosity Center we headed to the fourth floor to see the dinosaur installation which included 2 digs. One was for very young children and another for older children was filled with recycled rubber. There were also two huge dinos here which kids would really love. We met up with Justine and Janet from Gyroscope in the dino room and had a fun chat. The best part of the 4th floor was Earthworld. At the entrance we all had the opportunity to don flannel hats and coats for a souvenir photo of us participating in a real Minnesota experience; ice fishing. On Tuesday you’ll be able to see Angelica’s copy. Earthworld features the forests and prairies that make up Minnesota terrain. Prairie Ants was a wonderful crawl through exhibit that would appeal to young and older children. Habitot was also on this floor and Angelica and I found it disappointing. Perhaps it’s time to refurbish but this area did not look as inviting as the rest of the spaces.

Before leaving we ventured onto the Rooftop ArtPark in the rain. There was a tent, heaters and a fire pit but it was in the 40s tonight and just too cold to stay out there long. I’d love to see raised garden beds up there that children could plant and harvest. All in all a great children’s museum and a fun evening.

Renee

Exhibitors Part 2

Renee and I were lean, mean, exhibitor visiting machines!
We hiked the skyways (I think that should be a separate post) over to Chipotle - they only had sandwiches for lunch and then came back and hit up the rest of the exhibitors.

We hit every booth (except for the "talkers" booth who I already met in a workshop yesterday).

I'll try to do the quick sports highlights version.
Again, will upload photos on the I drive.



Kraemer exhibits did Pretend City and some really nice work. The woman we spoke with was a private contractor who worked with Steve & ___ and figured out the educational components. SHe really thought it would be a lot of fun to work with us.

Kidzibits (based MN) - they have a jumbo light bright (I thought it couldn't be done - well maybe for reasonable cost?)! Also - they have a rental water exhibit - interesting!


Betty Brinn children's museum - giant tinker toys, also a rental brio train exhibit


Boss Display 0 super slick booth with turning gears. really, really likes their work. have an awesome rube goldberg type ball exhibit at the san diego fleet exhibit (only 30,000!).Wonderful ball exhibit wall in Iowa. Super water interactive in Richmond VA. Really stellar work.



General Science engineering - seems like a tinkerer. Neat bead movement exhibit. Ok.


Imagination Playground - Super cool gigantic foam stackable furniture/building block/erector set type pieces. They do not sturdy in the least. Pool noodle type material and foam. Kids would destroy in a heart beat - but showstoppingly cool. Sad thing was that all the pieces were blue. why no color?




Cosi / Zula - apparently their is a popular show on pbs and nbc called zula. hadn't heard of it. they have some small portable exhibits. Interesting to see how they constructed. velcro signage. only interesting piece was a ball projector. didn't look incredibly sturdy.



Indianapolis Children's Museum - just had flyers for Bob the builder, Lego castle exhibit, and (can't remember). Bob the builder looks really nice. Done by Murphy catton I think?

Murphy catton - yes they did, also did Strong Museum of Play's Reading Adventureland (based on 8 genres of reading). Very polished (not overly creative).


Pacific Studio - they said they bid on our PAL project and were not the lowest bidder.Did not seem very please about that. Loved the guitar project on his backdrop.


Nassal - they did Seussville at Universal in Orlando - which was really cool. Other projects ok. One museum was called "Wannado" as in I want to (wannado) that. They had a rock climbing wall with real gear.

Arglye - Kidtroplis, Tx. Also Fairfield Children's Museum in CT - about 10,000 sq. ft.



Naturemaker - steel trees (cool) but not recommended for climbing


Studio Displays - great job on a North Carolina museum with the little orange chairs on their backdrop.


I think Renee has the info on the magnetic ball run folks, the storyland exhibit, and some other folks. Experience services and there cooking exhibit. There was one that had a neat exhibit in NC - I'll to figure out who that was. I never did see the climbing structure people!



Very exciting to see what other museums are up to, what exhibits seem to be popular based on what's being advertised here.

Renee has more info on "the exhibit guys" which had magnetic ball runs and which way walls.

Hope I passed on some good info.!

Nature, Nutrue, & Play

Nature, Nuture Play

This is probably not my finest blog post. I've been working on it over a series of workshops. I think it's got the key points. I'm working quickly to get it posted because we're heading out in a few minutes and will have a late night. Sorry about any spelling mishaps.

Molly O’Shaughnessy
EX. Dir. MN Montessori Training Center
Maria Montessorri, 1870 – 1952, was Italy’s first female doctor. She began working with troubled children ages 3 to 6 and realized that these kids needed education not medication. She realized these children needed sensory experiences and began watching the children and their interactions indoors / outdoors. Children’s main tasks during these ages is to construct and adapt.

Some think that work is more important than play. But as Renee has taught us, David Elkind, play is work, and work is play. The key phrase was “don’t give more to the mind than you give to the hand.” Play is purposeful and constructive just as work is and both are about concentrated energy

Since the theme of the program was about the importance of play and specifically play in nature. We learned about the Montessori approach to nature play. Play is a key element in saving the environment because humans will not fight for what they don’t love. Therefore nature play can establish a deep love of nature.

The Montessori approach believes that children should have the opportunity to play (by their choice) indoors and outdoors – always with the option get outdoors from the room. Some of the way nature has been incorporated into Montessori play over the years – intergenerational gardens, the elderly helping young children to plant, tend, and harvest gardens. Children need th ability to move freely, need environments and toys that are simple and filled with natural things, tracing leaves.

Children cannot learn in an abstract way and need joyful discovery and hands on with nature. She closed with “Give the best to the smallest.”

Husband of Elizabeth Goodenough (cool last name)
“Where do the children play?” - film
The second presenter discussed the sadness and history on how outside play has diminished and is dying off. Families moving out of cities from the many races moving in and heading to suburbia, while more and more families followed, the wild disappeared. Now parents live in fear of stranger danger and children have limited if no access to nature.

He discussed how play is rooted in our species (Penny Wilson).Children learn best by child driven play. Child driven play where they make up the rules, find out what they are good at, take risks, and learn peer negotiation. The joke was made that “no child should be left inside.” He said this applies to all ages. Teen’s are suffering from misery of unimportance. They love environment and want to help younger kids. We should give them this opportunity.

Martha Erickson, PhD
Center for early Education and Development MN
Third presenter

Believes we should take play as opportunity to watch, wonder, ask, open ended questions, and join in play without taking over. She shared some stories about her grandchildren to illustrate this point. Cute quote from grandchild about the importance of play, “When you have imagination, the train is real”. Shocking – the statistic that most children get an average of 53 hours of screen time a week.

She ended with a quote from Marcel Proust, “The only voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

Scott Eberle, PhD
Strong National Museum of Play

Final Presenter – Strong National Museum of Play
Shared a bit about their philosophy, their activities. They have an exhibit based on 8 genres of literature as well as a comic book exhibit morally based.

Overall, interesting. I was expecting nature of childhood – not nature outside. Heh, heh, heh. Nature outside is good too. I thought Lorena, Kristin, and Healthy RC folks would find the info. Interesting. We need to teach children and families to love nature. I’m excited for Earth Day already! One of the presenters (can’t tell you who right now) was saying that professionals, ecologists and such, who are working to save the environment said that the two experiences they had that pushed them in this direction – 1) time in the outdoor 2) an adult who taught them respect for the Earth. So the adults and families are just as key as the children.

Keynote Dan Pollata

I was blogging during the first part of the keynote, but it started to get really interesting so I tuned in ...

Keynote Speaker Dan Pallotta

This was a really interesting keynote speaker. I think he was very relevant for folks who already have their museums – and a good heads up for anyone looking to create one.

Dan has written a book talking about the trouble nonprofits (including museums) are facing. He talked about the root of it is that society has taught us that overhead is bad. That in nonprofits and charities – overhead – or staff, buildings, marketing campaigns are all viewed as bad because they are labeled overhead. They are not seen as part of the cause. He made a hilarious joke that the secretary answering the phones who is working just as hard as the social worker in Africa should wear a t-shirt that says “overhead”.

He believes that this negative societal view stems from early puritanical beliefs and is now reinforced by the government and “charity watchdogs.” They are teaching society and potential donors to ask the “wrong question.” The only question being “what percentage of my donation goes ‘the cause’”. Everything is the cause – marketing to get the message out about the help needed, overhead allowing the cause to be helped, planning to expand organizations to help more – is all the cause.

It was just a really fascinating look at how “the public” perceives what non profits should be doing and how their mind works for giving. I think the speaker proves the necessity of a good marketing / fundraising / pr team. It seems vital that the right message gets out to the right people in the right way - as well as societal change of course. I’m gearing up for the hands on science session. I’m hoping to pick up some tips or inspiration for library programming or maybe Pal tweaks? I was able to pick up a Starbucks before it closed at 1 (how ridiculous is that).

Day 2: Exhibitors ACM Breakfast

Day Two:

Renee's laptop has to charge so I'm starting the blog this morning for us.This morning the ACM breakfast was all about the exhibitors! Woohoo! It is raining we have not gone outside since noon yesterday because it looks cold and it’s wet. But it looks beautiful through the window.

We got to eat standing up at cocktail tables and a woman from Utah joined us. We think her name might have been Sandy, but we haven’t had enough tea to process that information or remember. She said her museum moved to a new location and altered their name to try to encourage a wider audience to their museum. They felt “children’s” limited who came through their door. I think they changed their name to Discovery Gateway?

She informed us that she used to work at a medical library and thought a bout a library degree. She tired to give us some library jokes about ILL being capitalized in ILLiad. Unfortunately Renee and I were the wrong crowd early this morning for library jokes. We tried to explain that we were a public library not a medical library. I don’t think she got it.

She was curious what a library was doing at the conference and Renee filled her in on our PAL story. She really wanted to tell us what we should be doing. She felt we should be partnering more in the community. We informed her that we were – working with local universities to get the word out about play. She felt we should have local partners who would travel with the exhibit. She felt that everything was all about partnering now.

She told us about a neat rock art exhibit with paintings and actual rock art to touch. They were working with local universities to talk about the importance of preserving this natural art. Then she went back to suggestion about how we should improve our PALs. Renee and I had to refill our tea and start hitting up the booths so we excused ourselves.

Exhibitors

This was very exciting! I rate the exhibitors second to my awesome session yesterday. The exhibit booths at this conference are what the exhibit booths SHOULD look like at CLA (ALA is a better, but could improve). I think as “buyers” “shoppers” consumers, I think we expect a certain level of marketing. We have such limited time now – we want a good reason to come to your booth. Show us why we should come over – pictures, things to touch. Each exhibitor had banners, photos, sings, portfolios, items, samples. I felt like I could gage based on their exhibit booth what they did and what their style was.

I’ve been taking photos of each exhibitor booth (they were my notes). So I’ll post those to the I drive when we get back (I’m having issues loading photos). So far we made it through about 1/3 of the exhibits with another 2 hour go over lunch. We got to visit Bill Breeves booth – from VA we sat with him yesterday morning. He was very nice and had a really unique booth with fishing line stringing photos of his portfolio work. He seems to specialize in small museums with small budgets. His previous work seems nice – not a “slick” as I think we’re accustomed.



We visited a booth with our gears – I think Universal systems. Our gears were still fun to play with. They’re designing storage systems now.- using the same laminated work style that our fabricators used. I mentioned that we’re having a bit of trouble with that material on one of our PAL prototypes and asked what the benefit was for using it. He said it’s really popular right now because it’s attractive and lighter. The alternative he offers is the plastic coating (same as the gears) – hmmmm – easy cleaning :).



We also stopped by a "mining" type booth. It was a water trough where kids could “mine” – wash and rinse dirt to discover rocks. It looked really cool. This would be really neat at the local history event – CA history – not sure if rock mining etc. is part of Rancho history – but it could be part of someone’s story.



I think Renee’s going to cover the great visit at the Lexington booth with Patti and the pig.




We’ll post again later – we’re tuning in for Dan our keynote …

Training & Preparing Your Staff for Young Visitors

This was a pretty good session, though not revolutionary and definitely not the nuts & bolts of the exhibit design. It was a panel session:

Anne - Denver "Family Learning Manager"
Jan - Omaha
Nicky - Minnesota "Education manager"
Cynthia - Dupage "Director of Exhibits & Programs"

The first comment I have is that everyone seems to have a different title. There really seems to be a lot of flexibility in the roles people have at museums. The people in this field are also a great bunch. Everyone is friendly, lots of energy, and they all like kids! It's great! Library conferences are great too - with a different vibe. I'll have to think more to be able to pinpoint (tired).

It was definitely an intense day (but FUN!) - back to back sessions with lots of information to process.

Jan - Omaha was up first - She trains both staff and volunteers. She covered the major topics that her trainings would cover:

Working with children- autism, ages & stages, creativity, visually impaired, gender
Internal - customer service, safety, emergency procedures
Presenters - local universities, hospitals & staff could present

Challenges- making it a requirement / finding time


Cynthia - Dupage
I really like their museum exhibits. They have the wonderful water table with bubbles to peer through. They also (Barb) have a light bright like exhibit called glow art.There founders Dorothy & Louise were long ago graduates of the Ericson Institute - they're professional childhood development folks!

Other fascinating fact - they have NO SIGNAGE in their museum (other than on their math exhibit to drum up business) - they say they're reviewing this now.

They spend about 45 minutes "setting" their museum. You can't call it cleaning up - it's setting and resetting - apparently insider lingo.

They also have 3 - "tot spot" areas for birth to 3 months in each of the different exhibit areas. I like that.

She also mentioned that she had taken part in "Kanja" (spelling?) training at the Denver museum, which was about "scaffolding adults" supporting adult training.

They faced the same trouble requirement / time available. They chose to break up the exhibit floor training into worksheets and time with mentors focusing on each exhibit and the levels of training with each one.

They also are trying to work with youtube and online games to encourage staff training.

Her bottom line was it takes months learn.

Nicky - Minnesota

They have 216 volunteers that they work with (1000 a year).They have 5 daily programs staff. They also have education staff who deal exclusively with groups & tours, as well as separate floor educators who focus on play and experience.

She spent a lot of time covering their mission statement, values, and goals - the value and importance of play. This is what the staff/ volunteers need to know.

Each presenter has said that there is a mandatory 2 hour basic ages / stages etc. staff training that must take place. With ongoing training to follow.

I liked their MAP acronym that they used during play with children: Make observations to child, Ask open ended questions, and Pose challenges.

Anne - Denver

Great as usual. She offered the whole room copies of any of her forms if we email.
She started with the importance of why employees need training (she should have gone first). Employees who are trained stay longer. They know what they are doing and understand the purpose. Most importantly - they feel important. All of this translates into a better visitor experience.

Basic 2 hour developmental milestone training.
Every month a Building Blocks breakfast - mandatory for all who need and others invited. Cover all kinds of topics (including theories from Montesorri etc.)

Interesting fact - there schedule is broken into half hour blocks. That means there staff must not only reset the entire second floor in half an hour, but must also engage with the visitors while doing this. Called a "drive by interaction". They have 9 fte education staff.

The session opened up to questions and answers. Every session has had a lot of questions & answers. I was held over 30 minutes in the exhibit building one.

Out of the questions and answers came some interesting tidbits

- The Mimey (spelling?) Museum requires all staff to wear silly hats all the time (my kind of place!)

- Names for floor staff: playologists, guest ambassador, play facilitator, discovery leader, gallery interpreters.

One museum is in a very bad way as all all the floor folks were specifically told they were janitors / security guards. Needless to say the new sheriff in town is changing this. The room suggested field trips to other "fun" and functioning children's museums (the hat suggestion came in)as well as the advice from another museum who surveyed all their floor folks to find out who wanted to do what.

I'll end on a positive note (we could do this in the library too) - one museum does a "morning huddle" where they share a positive story / interaction about the play on the floor the day before. Everyone is excited to bring a good story for the next museum.

And on that note - I've got to get to bed - almost 11!

P.S. It's raining outside and snow is supposed to be here tomorrow!

Alternative Models for Exhibit Design

The final session I attended today looked at more exhibit designs from the point of view of museum staff. Presenters included Marni Gittlemann from the Skirball Cultural Center in LA, Carol Scott, Children's Museum of the Upstate and Charity Count, Indianapolis . Indianapolis, claims to be the largest children's museum in the world and does most of their own design and fabrication. Their situation seemed to be very different that many in the audience.

Marni Gittleman's presentation was the most interesting as she described the Noah's Ark installation at the Skirball. She said they were on unfamiliar territory, this was unusual exhibit for them with a family audience. Belief in the mission was important. I would really like to visit this in the future: https://www.skirball.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=199

Tomorrow the exhibits will be open in the Marketplace so we start there with breakfast. I am really interested to see the vendors and products they have here.

Renee

Creating Small Traveling Exhibits

10:45 – 12 Small Traveling Exhibits

It was just after this session that my computer trouble set in!
So I’m finally getting to type up my thoughts.

Wow! This was the mother of all sessions. AMAZING! This was the encyclopedia, almanac, how to manual of creating a traveling exhibit. Where was this when we decided to create a PAL!

The panel was a well-seasoned group from several museums. An actual traveling exhibits person from Minnesota Children’s, a woman who oversees a series of museums throughout Arkansas, and a technical exhibit woman (who builds, maintains and ships) as well as a marketeering person from the children’s science museum in Ithaca NY. I’m trying to get the powerpoint (they said ACM would have them submit online – NY said I could email for their portion).

This session could easily have been 3 or 4 separate ones. We covered
Staffing / positions / duties
- every staff position needed to create, run, build, maintain, and ship an exhibit
Important how to facts in shipping exhibits
- Types of shipping (crates vs. blankets) (materials to crate) (types of trucks)
- Important documents (policies, responsibilities, contracts, condition reports, prop inventory)
Costs
- parts to replace, staff time, payment plans
Support
- staff coming out to set up, gallery diagrams, educational curriculum & plans, spare parts, paint kits,
Marketing
- photo shoots, word of mouth

Best tips::

Minnesota: record everything, photograph all pieces of every inch of each exhibit, measure everything, remember that use of characters licensing costs a lot and is frequent and requires constant communication and approval on all marketing materials.

Arkansas: measure everything, build modular, personal touch of follow up phone calls to ensure everything is working, go low tech, and keep it light, don’t make so specialized only one vendor can repair, think about requirements (lots of power, internet, dry ice?), flexible floor plans

New York: book only seasons a year about 3 ½ at a time, lots of prototyping, overhead is biggest cost in design, don’t ship in crates (unless fold flat), custom blankets better, blanket all contact points, ship with dollies, give very detailed instructions and manuals, loading ramps can be bough for $800 permanently while trucks with lift gates run a $1000 every time, spent about $20,000 on spare parts purchasing a head of time and about $20,000 in storage od unused exhibits,

Also -The Kohl’s exhibit survey should be out. All members were surveyed about their interests, etc. for traveling exhibits.

This one session just made the whole conference for me. I can’t wait until ACM posts the power point. I think these presenters are great future contacts. Minnesota really seems to know what they’re doing. The New York folks aren’t necessarily designing exhibits for our needs, but they seem to know how to pack, ship anything. They seem like the tinkering make it work kind of folks.

Oooh – and biggest insider tip – no one is paying full price for museum rentals. Good to know.

Interactivity Take II

For some reason I can't respond to Rene''s post so I'm starting a new one. I took the advice and blogged this morning - please njoy!

We just came from the early morning Marketplace Breakfast (it was early – my body was still on CA time). It was a fabulous breakfast (ok food – the folks were amazing). It was fascinating!

I secretly hid a notepad and pen under my napkin to write down everyone’s name and take notes (early morning and bad short term memory don’t mix – this saved my life).

At our table was Bill from VA, Eric from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Judy from St. Louis, Sonya from Champagne, IL, Kevin Tucson, AZ, Pam Raleigh, NC, and Jan from Omaha, NE. Our group was quite friendly at the table and all seemed interested that a library was at the library. I think we’re getting the nod of approval from the other museums when they here about our project and move towards the second floor.

What has really struck me is that everyone in this field that I have met has been so open and genuinely wants to help and give information. I think most of us are like this in the library field as well.

The morning discussion covered where everyone was from and in short what we were all doing here. Omaha is interested in focusing entirely on building their own exhibits. Brooklyn is looking at restructuring their exhibit staff. We passed on some brief info about our PAL research and our plans for the second floor.

Thanks to Jan I got all the goods on the Omaha museum! They’re about 45,000 sq. ft. 2 traveling galleries (3,000 & 11,000). Open 6 days a week. They typically get about 1500 on a busy day and 300 on a slow winter day. They’re running on winter hours about 10 to 4. Offering a members only hour from 9 to 10. In the summer they extend hours until 5 and extend Thurs. until 9. They have about 16 fte and 15 pt. They keep at least 4 people on the floor with exhibits. They do birthday parties, summer camp, and … the sleepover. They’re looking offering a lock in instead from 6 to 11. They said staffing is really difficult and they like to get multiple groups in for one evening.

Jan also gave me a flyer with the info on their new traveling exhibit they were unveiling based solely on PIZZA! It’s super cute. Obviously math and fractions are a part of the exhibit. There is also a cultural element where children can learn about what other cultures eat on their pizza. My favorite – a pizza couch!

The best info. Gained from the breakfast – a new cleaning product! Apparently Omaha has won an award for the use of a hospital grade non-toxic cleaning product. It’s called aquaver (spelling? – I got Jan’s card – she’ll pass on more info.).

It’s a concentrate solution that can be mixed into spray bottles and even wipes can be purchased! Jan told us they work with local hospitals to have a day for children with suppressed immune systems to come in right after toys are cleaned on Sunday night.

Just fascinating! I’ve been blogging in our keynote session which started with Aztec dancing, the very funny mayor, and awards for other museums including San Jose for their zero waste policies, La Habra, Madison, an others. I’m going to tune in to hear Dr. Johnetta Cole. I thought she was really moving.

Her main message was very inspiring – which is we need diversity in children’s museums for children’s sake and all of our sakes. Children’s museums are about teaching and educating children about our world – and should model diversity. She believe it starts with diversity in staff (gender, race, ethnicity, orientation, physical abilities). Diversity is the key to a better, more just, more peaceful world. Children’s museums can inspire and teach these values. Dr. Cole suggests internships, fellowships, and programs to reach out to underrepresented communities to help grow diversity in the program.

She said that the basis of diversity is human empathy – we do not need to be of a race, ethnicity or gender to empathize or respect. Her analogy was “if black teachers have been teaching Shakespeare for all of these years – it’s ok for white teachers to teach Baldwin and Zora Neale Hurston.” Dr. Cole emphasized that play is different in many cultures and we should respect equally Western parent swho will play on the floor with their children vs. other cultures who sit and watch their child. The important link is that both cultures engage with their child fostering learning and play.

She also told us about a wonderful exhibit reinforcing this diversity in staff found in the Brooklyn Children’s Museum called, “Our Stories.” It made me think about our digital storytelling Grant. The premise of the exhibit was that each staff member had to respond to a series of questions: I was born / I remember / I realize / I wish / I am / My hope is.” These questions allowed staff to share their stories and connect with the community and see how their story, the pieces connect. I thought that was just great. Maybe something we could do at our Local History Night?

Dr. Cole also said that children’s museums have a responsibility to invite “challenging conversations” in an age appropriate matter. She said many children’s museums stay away from “controversial exhibits” and perhaps that is why the receive a bigger audience, which is also why they have a responsibility to address these issues.

She ended with some wonderful sayings from a variety of cultures:

Lakota/Sioux: “with all things and all beings we must be caring.”
The Koran: “we are made into nations and tribes that we may know and love each other.”

Church song: “I’m going to add the color brown. Red, yellow, black, brown, and white – we are all precious in his sight.”

Chinese proverb: “one flower never makes a Spring.”

Audrey Loud: “it is not our differences – it is our silence about our differences that harms us.”

I thought it was a great keynote speech about an important layer of play. Play is fun (that’s the best part) – but it is so important. There are many layers of education creating not only better brains, but a better society.

I think we do diversity at the library really well. We not only have a diverse staff, but we use that diversity in our programming and of course - cultural arts nights! I think we work very hard at doing outreach in our community and trying to bring back the feelings and information to reflect in our collection. So I thought it was a kudos moment for us.