September: Cart Naming Contests
This is a great passive program to encourage teens to both think creatively and engage more with library practices. This program would involve a box with slips of paper that teens would fill out, and the winner would receive a $25 gift card to a local restaurant of their choice. I first came up with this idea when training teen volunteers to put certain books away on the correct carts throughout the children’s room. Putting this competition in the beginning of the school year encourages new high schoolers to come to the library, and teaches them about how to use the library. It’s also a good way for staff to see which celebrities and characters are popular with teens.
Details
Audience: Teens and Tweens
Popular Topics:
Community Engagement
Theme/Subjects:
Libraries
Total Budget: $25
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Because this is a passive program, this would take less time to set up, but would stay up for about a month before you could see the results. The criteria I used was that the word CART had to be in the name somewhere, but the name could be from a celebrity, tv show, movie, or book. The estimated number of participants depends on the amount of teens in the teen room that want to participate, and every once in a while I remind them to fill out a slip because they might not see it.
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I will keep a ballot-style box in the teen room with a sign promoting this program.
Budget Details:
$25- gift card to winner
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Put out box and print out slips asking for teens’ names, grade, phone number, and email in case they win, and then a spot on the slip for their entry.
