About This Project
This project started as the Community Project requirement of the NC Environmental Education Certification program. However, I plan to continue to build this site with more examples of nature programming in public libraries and eventually in schools.
The target audiences include 1) NC librarians looking for fresh ideas for nature programming 2) in-service and new librarians in NC who are just entering the field, and 3) libraries with little or no offerings that bring nature experiences to children. |
Brief Description
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The videos on this site will create awareness of what some NC libraries and youth services’ librarians are doing to bring nature programming to their communities. Links and other resources will provide useful information to librarians who want to do more to connect their young patrons with nature. The blog will provide a means of keeping the site fresh by sharing ideas submitted by librarians on a regular basis.
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Project Goals
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The technical project goal was to produce a series of videos showcasing what innovative community libraries and children's and youth services’ librarians are doing to provide their communities with nature-based activities and programs for children and families. It was intended that videos include an on-camera interview with a featured librarian, visual examples of representative nature-based activities, and other elements to support the video. The videos would reside on a web site and using social media, the video links could be disseminated by the participating libraries and related organizations through their web sites and social media. A compilation story featuring video excerpts from all participating libraries would also be produced for showcasing on the NC EE web site, if desired. The compilation video would be edited to approximately 5 – 7 minutes to maintain viewer attention. Thus, the planned output was the series of videos and supports including this web site. The technical goals have been met. The compilation video resides on the home page of this site and you'll find additional videos in the other pages, plus links and useful resources.
The outcome goals include a) raising knowledge and awareness among youth service librarians, both in-service and new librarians, of the potential contributions that community libraries can make in bringing nature experiences to children and families, and b) that this site with its content provided through practicing librarians who are actually putting nature programming into action will help increase confidence in other librarians that they also have the potential to provide relevant nature-based experiences for their young patrons. It is too early to tell if the outcome goals have been achieved but hopefully by measuring traffic to this site, administering a future survey to youth services librarians, and other metrics will help determine the extent to which these goals are met. |