Bibliobop: Family Dance Parties at Niles Public Library

I am not one of those grrrls who goes out dancing with her grownup friends.  It’s not like I’m a party-pooper or anything, (I’ll make the best of it if I have to) it’s just not my preferred method of “letting my hair down”.  Add kids to the mix, and I’m a total party animal.

The idea for library dance parties  sprouted back in library school, but I shelved it when I first started working at Niles Public Library to focus on other things.

Summer Reading is a huge event in our department, and make a special effort to load up our calendar with fun programs. But registered storytimes, such as toddler, preschool, and big kids’ storytimes only run during the school year. We offer a couple of year-round drop-in storytimes, which are particularly well-attended during the summer.  Four members of the YS staff share these storytimes on a monthly rotation. When I realized I would be cutting back from from 2-3 storytimes per week to 2-3 per month, I got sad; and maybe even a little panicky. In order to scratch the itch,  my decided to revisit the dance party idea.

We scheduled them for the second Friday morning of each month.  Attendance has varied wildly from month to month.  One week we only had 10 people attend, but the last one of the summer we had 71 people attend.  On average we have about 35 people. The response from patrons has been very positive, and I see a lot of families coming back week after week, so we decided to continue this program throughout the year.

This is a very easy program to run (however, I do recommend getting a goodnight’s sleep the night before)

Update: I finally posted my Bibliobop Mix. Enjoy

What you need:

• YSD ipod touch (see Bibliobop Playlist)
• song list for patrons to take home
• Scarves
• musical instruments
• One Picture book about dancing, parties, music or singing
• Kleenex
• Bubbles (*optional*: kids love them, sometimes they’re a little too much)

Here’s how it works

9:30-10:00 SET UP

• Gather supplies in LMR
• Sound Check: plug in YSD ipod touch or insert mix  cd, check volume (play, then walk around to room to make sure it sound ok in different parts of the room.)
• Lay out Instruments on the stage

10:00-10:05 OPEN DOORS and let people get settled

10:05-10:10 INTRO:

• Greetings (I am DJ Ms Cate, the hostess with the mostest! I hope you brought your wild and crazy mover, shaker, wiggles and giggles with you today because we are going to party up (I stretch up) party down (I bend down) and party all around (I spin)!
• The Rules:There are 3 rules in bibliobop:
  • “Dance anyway you want! Silly crazy, fast or slow, but no kicking, biting or shoving. Bigger kids, please be careful around the smaller kids. Parent, please stay in the room the whole time”
  • “As you can see we have lots of musical instruments (I hold them up as i describe them) We’ve got jinglers, janglers, click-clackers, and rattlers. And If you need something softer and quieter, take a breather with these colorful scarves. Please take turns and share…No hoarding or snatching.”
  • Have Fun Fun Fun!

10:10-10:15: Readaloud

10:15-10:55 Hit Play and watch ’em go!

I stay in the room the whole time. So far the parents have been super. I haven’t had a single parent try to drop off a child and leave, but you never know. However since “bop” is literally (part of) the name of the game, I try to keep an help parents out by being an extra set of eyes, especially when parents of multiple children and or toddlers who are just starting to walk.

10:55-11:00 Good-bye

The mix CD is long, so we don’t run out of music. At 10:55 I wait for whatever song is playing to end, and then I skip to the last song #25: “Goodbye Song” by Yo Gabba Gabba.

11:00-11:20 Clean up

• Gather supplies. Dump instruments, flyers, mid cd in blue bin.
• Turn off PA system
• Clean up LMR
• Lock up
• Power nap.

GOOD READ-ALOUDS FOR BIBLIOBOP
TITLE	LAST NAME	FIRST NAME	CALL #
Over at the Castle	Ashburn	Boni	J/P
Title	Author	First	Call #
Tuba Lessons	Bartlett	T.C.	J/P
I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More	Beaumont	Karen	J/P
Over in the Arctic	Berkes	Marianne	J/P
What a Wonderful World	Bryan	Ashley	J/P
Jazzmatazz	Calmenson	Stephanie	J/P
Penelope Jane	Cash		J/P
Ruby Sings the Blues	Daly	Niki	J/P
Rapataptap	Dillon		J/P
Cha-Cha Chimps	Durango	Julia	J P
Summertime	Gershwin		J/P
Soup Opera	Gill	Jim	J/P
Teddy Bears Picnic	Hague	Michael	J/P
Got to Dance	Helldorfer	M.C.	J/P
Soon Baboon Soon	Horowitz	Dave	J/P
Horace & Morris Join the Chorus	Howe	James	J/P
Baby Brains Superstar	James	Simon	J/P
Pigs Rock	Jones	Melanie	J/P
Whistle for Willie	Keats		J/P
This Little Chick	Lawrence	John	j/P
Geraldine the Music Mouse	Lionni		J/P
Remarkable Farkle McBride	Lithgow		J/P
Froggy Plays in the Band	London		J/P
Boom Baby Boom Boom	Mahy	Margaret	J/P
ChickaChicka Boom Boom	Martin	Bill	J/P
Barn Dance	Martin		J/P
Maestro Plays	Martin		J/P
Baby BeeBee Bird	Massie	Diane	ST
Our Marching Band	Moss		J/P
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands	Nelson	Kadir	J/P
Ten Monkey Jamboree	Ochiltree		J/P
Roll Over	Peek		J/1-2-3
Max Found Two Sticks	Pinkney	Brian	J/P
Five Little Ducks	Raffi		J/P
Raffi books	Raffi		J/P
Lizard’s Song	Shannon	George	J/P
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp	Shields	Carol	J/P
Play, Mozart, Play	Sis	Peter	J/P
Five Nice Mice	Tashiro	Chisato	J/P
Itsy Bitsy Spider	Trapani	Iza	BIG
Over in the Meadow	Voce	Louise	BIG
Tanka Tanka Skunk	Webb	Steve	J/P
Ugly Pie	Wheeler	Lisa	J/P
Jazz Baby	Wheeler	Lisa	J/P
Punk Farm	Krosoczka	Jarret	J/P