What Would We Do Differently Next Time?

Here’s what we would do again and how we might do it differently next time:

• "Would incorporate food as part of the series next time."
   
• "Include a free meal to bring in more families. Figuring a way to help with transportation needs."
   
• "We would like to see more bilingual children at regularly scheduled storytimes, which may/can include bilingual elements for everyone."
   
• "We need to rethink site, day, time, publicity…We need to reach more parents who might attend with their children, and consequently might become more comfortable with the library."
   
• "Attendance was very poor. This may be linked to the fact that 75% of the town’s children are in latchkey or childcare programs. In order for us to increase attendance we would need considerable cooperation with childcare institutions."
   
• "Possibly the program should be longer than six months. It was very difficult to schedule the program for maximum attendance because of school activities and other library programs."
   
• "I would try to work closer with churches in the future."
   
• "Ideas for the future: Having a craft; having 2 readers — one reading the page in English followed by the other reading the same in Spanish."
   
• "We would establish set times for planning and preparation in addition to storytimes prior to hiring the storyteller(s) so that it would be a condition of employment. Perhaps we should consider having the storyteller(s) sign a contract or agreement."
   
• "Shorter stories since this was a family experience with toddlers attending."
   
• "Less crafts and more acting out of stories."
   
• "I’d like to attend a workshop for librarians on how to offer and create a successful bilingual storytime. This was all new to me and I’d like to learn how to really generate more interest in the community."