Bartlett librarian presents program at ILA Conference
Bartlett Library Youth & Teen Services Manager Ruth Anne Mielke presented "Battle of the Books: Working Together to Grow Readers" with fellow speakers Kelly Stulgate, Rashmi Mehrotra, Jennifer Bueche, Pam Vaughan and Judy Smith at the Illinois Library Association Conference Oct. 22-24 in Peoria.
"Battle of the Books" is a competition-based program where teams of children are required to work together in order to answer questions based off a list of books librarians put together. Each team competes in a number of rounds, and book prizes are awarded to the winning school libraries.
The Bartlett, Poplar Creek and Gail Borden libraries have been partnering for "Battle of the Books" for 41 years, and they also partner with the U-46 School District, private schools and home schools. Mielke has been a part of this program for the past 20 years.
"I think I'm a better librarian for being a part of this program because I'm reading books that I might not normally read, I'm networking with two other public libraries and I'm finding that I can grow my staff with this program," Mielke said.
"Everyone in the department is exposed, on some level, to books that they might not usually read."
Just this past summer, Mielke experienced an instance where a connection was formed because of "Battle of the Books." She met a college student who came with his younger sister for "Battle of the Books." She said that he explained how excited he was for his sister to finally be in "Battle," and that he'd been telling her about it for so many years.
"I asked him what year he was in school, and we figured out when he was in elementary school. I found the list for that year and I started to question him, and he knew [the answers] just like that," Mielke said while snapping her fingers together.
"So there's a connection there that he wanted to come back and have his sister participate and, at the same time, he wanted us to know that it was one of the most memorable experiences of grade school for him."
Mielke makes it clear that "Battle of the Books" encourages elementary students to read quality literature of various genres, provides an opportunity for them to work on teamwork and social skills, and gives a platform for healthy competition.
The Bartlett Public Library District, 800 S. Bartlett Road, provides programs and services to meet the needs of the community. For information and a complete listing of scheduled programs, call (630) 837-2855 or visit www.bartlettlibrary.org.
• Submit 'Your News' at www.dailyherald.com/share.