Summer Reading Workshop

Friday, April 6th we are hosting a Summer Reading Workshop @SALS 9:30 to Noon

The morning session will consist of a summer reading peer workshop. We will share ideas regarding: summer programs; paper v electronic registration; recording minutes or books; advertising; what has worked well in the past; what didn't go exactly as planned; rewards, gifts & incentives; the summer reading manual; keeping statistics; collaborations; and anything else that comes up.

We will have a visit from CAPTAIN Youth and our very own Caitlin Johnson, they will discuss some tips to think about if you are running a summer lunch program and demonstrate how to find out if your library is in a Free or reduced lunch area.

We will talk about a System-Wide STEAM challenge The Annual Hudson Crossing Cardboard Boat Race.

And we will make some fun things that Rock!

Whammy bars are not required.

Unfortunately, the afternoon session--performers showcase--has been canceled.

Escape Room Workshop

• 10am - Noon, Tuesday, May 1st
• @ SALS

SALS is excited to host Jono Naito--author and live-action game designer from the Museum of Intrigue. Jono will provide a two-hour workshop, including a 30-minute escape room, from 10 am to 12 pm on Tuesday, May 1st.

The workshop will cover the basics of setting up an escape room, including best practices, and tips and tricks. Jono will provide take-home templates and directions for and resources to assist member libraries in creating their own escape room.

The Museum of Intrigue in Syracuse NY

What is an Escape Room?

An escape room is a physical adventure game in which players solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints, and strategy to complete the objectives at hand. Escape rooms are inspired by "escape-the-room"–style video games. Games are set in a variety of fictional locations, such as prison cells, dungeons, and space stations, and usually, the various puzzles and riddles themselves follow the theme of the room--ours will be librarian themed.

BeanStack

For those new to Beanstack and thinking about training yourself and your staff remember that Beanstack offers a special program called Beanstack Staff Training. You can find the template for the staff training in the administrative feature.

1. From the Administrative page click on Setup--Manage--Programs--Program Templates
2. Look for Beanstack Staff Training Program and select use this template.
3. Now scroll down and select that this is a Staff Only Program.
4. Finally scroll up and publish the page.

If you have any questions or need assistance setting this up please contact me.

G.O.A.T

There is still time to register for the Greatest of All Time Teen Services Meetup

It's Sew Lit

Sewing Simple Circuit! This is from J Koe Dance's Blog

Materials:

• 3×3 inch square piece of felt
• 12 inches of embroidery thread
• a sewing needle small enough to go through the holes of the components but with an eye large enough to pass embroidery thread through
• scissors
• 12 inches of conductive steel thread, cut into two pieces
• 1 sewable coin battery pack
• 1 CR 2032 coin battery
• 1 LED sequin

StackOverflow: Developer Survey Results 2018

For those unfamiliar with Stack Overflow it is a Q&A website for programmers. Ever encountered an error with your wordpress site's javascript or python? Stack Overflow will likely have the code for the solution. You might be surprised to know how much code is copied from Stack Overflow and inserted into something you use everyday. Stack Overflow is one of the most important sites on the internet with a global community.

"Each year, we ask the developer community about everything from their favorite technologies to their job preferences. This year marks the eighth year we’ve published our Annual Developer Survey results—with the largest number of respondents yet. Over 100,000 developers took the 30-minute survey this past January."

Here are some of the interesting takeaways from the survey:

Technology:

• Javascript is the most commonly used programming language among professional developers
• For the third year in a row, Rust is the most loved programming language among our respondents, followed close behind by Kotlin, a language we asked about for the first time on our survey this year. This means that proportionally, more developers want to continue working with these than other languages.
• Globally, developers who use F#, Ocaml, Clojure, and Groovy earn the highest salaries, with median salaries above $70,000 USD. There are regional variations in which languages are associated with the highest pay. Erlang and Scala developers in the US are among the highest paid, while Clojure, Erlang, and Haskell developers earn the most in India.

Artificial Intelligence

• Some types of developers are involved in the increasing role of machine learning and artificial intelligence in the world today, so we asked developers what they think is dangerous and exciting about these technologies. There is not much consensus among developers about what is most dangerous; each answer was chosen roughly equally. The top choice for what is exciting about increasing AI is that jobs can be automated.
• Developers are mostly optimistic about the possibilities that artificial intelligence offers our world, with almost three-fourths of respondents saying that they are overall more excited than worried about the AI future.
• The concerns that developers bring to issues around artificial intelligence depend on the kind of coding work they do. For example, data scientists are 1.5 times more likely to consider issues around algorithmic fairness dangerous than any upcoming singularity when computers become more intelligent than people, the most of any kind of developer. We included a free response option on this question; there was not much serious worry about Skynet, but many developers discussed systemic bias being built into algorithmic decision making and the danger of AI being used without the ability to inspect and reason about decision pathways.

Ethics

Almost 80% of respondents affirm that considering what their code can be used for is the right thing for developers to do. Those who said they were unsure about this were 40% more likely to also say that they do not need to report any ethical problems.

Don't forget to register for the YALSA Upcoming Webinar

YALSA April 2018 Webinar: Interactions with Teens

YALSA's Teen Services Competencies for Library Staff describe Interactions with Teens in this way:

"Recognizes the importance of relationships and communication in the development and implementation of quality teen library services, and implements techniques and strategies to support teens individually and in group experiences to develop self-concept, identity, coping mechanisms, and positive interactions with peers and adults."