Dec 2 After School Child Care Dept of Human Services
12/2/1996
After School Child Care, Dept. of Human Services
Minutes of Meeting, Monday December 2,1996
In attendance: Kitty Kramer, Debbie Steiner, Gretchen Iversen, Crystal Nicolosi, Trisha De St. Croix, Colin McDermott, Michele Behan, Teresa Chase, and Karen Carmean of Library 21
To provide access to all the people of Cambridge and to insure that we manage our resources well, Library 21 is gathering information from as many groups as possible about what the people want.
What would you like in the library?
A. Community Activity Center
- Escort kids in after school programs to community school programs so children in after school programs can go to other things like library programs
- Children's museum activity boxes
- Dance class like at O'Neill branch
- Baby sitting courses at after school programs and at branch libraries
- First aid courses at after school programs and at branch libraries
- Courses at one school or branch and transportation to get kids there
B.Community Information Center
C. Formal Education Support Center
- Encyclopedias for homework for older kids
- One place to pick up all resources for topics at afterschool program
- Delivery of materials to afterschool programs
D. Independent Learning Center
E. Popular Materials Lending Library
- Access to school library in our own building
- A-V equipment to borrow
- Camcorders to borrow
- Microphones to borrow
- Tape recorders to borrow
- Science boxes to borrow.
- Lesley boxes free to use of Lesley students
- Science museum activity boxes- cost $40 to borrow for two weeks
- Pond life boxes
- Puppets with activity boxes
- Videos to rent
- Puppets to rent
- Computers needed
- Web access - only on two computers at Main
- Cooperation games to borrow
- Multicultural books on activities
- Multicultural books on crafts
- Multicultural books on story books
- Multicultural books on different countries
- Books of Haiti- only a couple available not in Haitian
- Books on Ireland
- Training videos to borrow
- Parenting skills videos to borrow
- Specific behavior issues traning tapes to borrow
- Training videotapes for staff on room arrangements
- Training videotapes for staff on behavior issues
- Training videotapes for staff on supervision skills
- Music to borrow
- Music from different countries to borrow
- Books on tape
- Christmas section and special events section is limited
- Free or lower cost duplicating services
- Tools to borrow
- Garden tools for kids to use and borrow to make gardens
- Food processor to borrow
- Breaking policy to replace things
- Adventure parks for children to build and make things
- Community initiatives to build things
- Build-iit yourself park open 12-6
- Have building specialists available to help figure out what can be safely built
- Access to other Cambridge libraries
- Access to other city libraries
- Software lending library
- Apples software
F. Preschoolers Door to Learning
G. Reference Library
- Reference help to get together books for a topic
- Good computer system to cross reference topic: ex: Ireland and childrenís books
- Need more computers to find things
- Easy way to search for articles on the computer
- Education database to look up articles on educational topics
- I went through 600 books to find just two childrenís stories on Ireland!
H. Research Center
I. Other- important functions missing from list
- Reciprocal use of Lesley materials for Cambridge materisl
- Double size of OíNeill branch- canít take all the children in one afterschool program because the branch is not big enough for 26 kids
- OíNeill has an excellent selection of books
- Computer system at OíNeill is awful even the staff doesnít like it
- Central Sq has only 2 computers and always a line to access them
- Need more computers
- Dewey decimal system better
- Card Catalog better than computer
- Metro-North library system has a better computer catalog: Salem State and Gloucester
- Service to bring books to branches and after school programs and schools
- Bus to pick up afterschool children and take them to libraries and library programs
- Training program for staff to know what resources are available at the library and what they could access now
- More Computers and software to use in afterschool programs
- Mobile library
- Book mobile
- Bus funded or advertising a business- Jordan Furniture has a book mobile in Somerville
- Listening stations in library for music and books on tape
J. An Important Civic Building