Program-a-Rama at ALA Annual 2016 in Orlando

Last weekend at ALA Annual 2016 in Orlando two Program-a-Rama sessions were held. Formerly known as Program-a-Looza (but changed because we do so love a good rhyme), Program-a-Rama was created as a way for children's librarians in public and school libraries to share and take home tangible programming ideas, tips, and resources. 

After introductions, each person shared a favorite cheap, easy, and successful program. There were so many wonderfully easy, yet ingenious ideas. Big ideas, like holding a student mock award or throwing a Hogwarts open house, and smaller, yet fantastic ideas, like making light up animals with LEDs and pipe cleaners or having a paper airplane flight school. 

Next, we did some group brainstorming on programming topics using pens and sticky notes. Totally participant directed, topics included preschool maker projects, International Games Day, and obstacle course ideas. 

Finally, we spent a few minutes discussing programming challenges and possible solutions, such as what to do when you have more kids than computers at a Minecraft event. 

Sessions were lead by Danielle Jones (Multnomah County Library) and myself (Denver Public Library) and we look forward to hosting another session at ALA Midwinter 2017 in Atlanta. We hope you can join us! 

Wondering what we talked about? Here are the notes from both sessions:

• Saturday Program-a-Rama notes 
• Sunday Program-a-Rama notes 

Want more programming ideas? Take a look at previous Program-a-Rama session notes, as well as a the notes from a recent passive programming brainstorming session held at the Colorado Association for Libraries 2015 Conference.

• Program-a-Rama notes from ALA Midwinter 2015 in Boston
• Program-a-Looza notes from ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco