The Eclectic Library

There is a certain kind of energy that comes with having kids in the building.  It typically is a noisy kind of energy, filled with outside-the-box thinking, a bit of dare-devil behavior, and a lot of rowdy laughter. (That doesn’t fit well with the concept of early library, but then, it has been awhile since EPLD staff has worn their hair in a bun or practiced sh-h-h-ing techniques.)  We enjoy kids at any age, but we are really enjoying a group that has converged on EPLD during the past year, our middle school tween-agers.

We didn’t know what to call them in the beginning, tween (as in twelve, not teen)…middle school-ers…kids…but thankfully, we found we didn’t need to worry. Within the first two weeks they named themselves the YAHOOs-Young Adults Helping Organize Opportunities. It has been an appropriate name and acronym for the group, composed most weeks of 90% boys. They arrive as soon as the bus from the middle school hits this end of town, grab something to eat, and then the fun begins. They play Wii or board games, “create” things using duct tape, watch movies, go on scavenger hunts, or other staff-organized activities. So far the all-time favorite activity has been creating and taping commercials and short plays using our Flip-video cameras. I hope to post one of their videos in the near future, but for today I’ll just include a few of the duct tape photos. 

We have a second group that meets every other Monday afternoon. This group is lead by volunteer Debi Smith and they work on scrapbooking and cardmaking. Debi is great about tying these afterschool projects in with skills that will come in handy at school, so these kids spend time working on lettering and journaling as well as scrapbooking favorite pictures and activities. Again, the room vibrates with laughter and activity during these Monday afternoons.

We look at these groups as our future. We see tremendous value in the artistic talents they display, the love they have for being together, and their capacity to “create” as traits within their personalities that we want to encourage. We enjoy hearing their laughter, and appreciate the way they work together on projects. If you know any YAHOOs you’d like to send our way, just give us a call and we will be happy to share the details with you!