Comments on: “Are You Crazy?” aka “A Library’s Journey into the Teen All Night Lock-In”

By: Library Lock In/After Hours Events « Justin The Librarian

Library Lock In/After Hours Events « Justin The Librarian — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:52:02 +0000

[...] may also want to check out this post about the lock in program written by myself and Melissa [...]

By: Library Routes Project: How I became a librarian « Justin The Librarian

Library Routes Project: How I became a librarian « Justin The Librarian — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:52:36 +0000

[...] I graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania with my MLIS in May 2008. In March 2008, I accepted a job at the Cape May County Library as their Teen Librarian. Haley and I packed up for New Jersey and moved there just 2 days after we both graduated. Less than 2 weeks later, we found out we were pregnant with our first child. Finn was born January 17, 2009 and continues to rock your body disco dancing style to this day. The Cape May County Library was also another great place to experiment. I was lucky enough to have Deb Poillon as a director. She inspired me to be myself and try things out for the teens. I got to help start up the excellent Game Night Central program at the library as well as develop the Teen Library Lock In program. [...]

By: JanieH

JanieH — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:44:41 +0000

When I was at library school one of my projects was to develop a plan for a library lock-in for teens — unfortunately, I never got to put my assignment in to practice. It looks like your event was a huge success.

I got the same “are you crazy?” response manyl years ago when I was teaching 8th grade and took my class of 34 kids winter camping for 3 nights (this is back when I lived in Canada). They were the best 3 days for my class that year and it really bonded them. Several years after that class had moved on I attended their high school graduation (they were my first class ever and dear to my heart). Each and every one of them mentioned that camping trip to me when I saw them again as they were young adults heading off to college. They did not mention the math tests or assignments — just the crazy three days we spent freezing our heinies off in the Canadian wilderness.

I am sure that the kids who were at the lock-in will carry this memory with them for a lifetime and will grow up to tell their kids about the time they were locked in the library for the night. Way to go on being brave (and crazy) — and I hope you do it again.