Anime Programs

I just did my first official Ani-mazing Anime Showing!

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Yay! It was quite exhilarating I’ll say. However I have to wonder, with technology widespread and anime being available (pirated or streaming), is it worth showing anime at the public library anymore?

First thing is to pre-screen the series to be shown. The series have been pre-screened by me so to make sure the series can also be good for middle schoolers who want to watch, so context can be mentioned if there are questions.

How it works: The program is set at two Fridays a month after school (3 pm). Audience members can choose from a list of anime titles that can be shown at the next showing. In essence, it would be beneficial for an audience member to come to the first showing because they have a chance to vote for a series they want to show at the next showing, and so on. The trick also I had was to mix titles up, that way the audience doesn’t know which series I’ll be showing, it’ll be based on a vote by the audience members.

The thing is, I had to learn from previous YA librarians who held anime showings at their libraries. One librarian had teens suggest a series to show and when the time came, he didn’t show up. When she saw him later and asked why he didn’t show up because she showed the series he suggested, he replied that he had already seen it.

From that example, I had decided to the the aforementioned voting and mix and match series. However… Out of the participants (all of 3 people) have already seen what Crunchyroll had to offer, even the Premium episodes. Premium episodes can only be viewed by a paid member of Crunchyroll and will be free to watch after a certain time frame. There’s only so much that the library is licensed to show. From that, where does anime programs fit if it is so easily accessible? Another point to consider is that, because the series have been pre-screened, that means the series has to have finished already. Unless it is a remake of an old series, under that rule I cannot show brand new anime series that comes out each season.

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*Updated

Afternoon Open Mic Program

Afternoon Open Mic was a program that was easy to coordinate and advertise, it was just a matter of getting performers!

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The purpose of the Afternoon Open Mic Program is to encourage teens who wish to express themselves through song, dance, music, poetry, or acting. Pieces were pre-screened by the librarian to ensure that there was no R-rated material. The reason is that the event, while meant for teens to participate and watch, was open to any patron of all ages to watch.

Teens interested could sign up at the Reference Desk with a preferred time slot they would like. The performer(s) have 10 minutes for their piece with a 5 minute break between acts to set up the next group. If they wanted to go over 10 minutes, it would be on a case-by-case basis to make sure that there were enough time slots for other teens to participate.

Advertising was on a flyer through Canva and was distributed to the nearby schools as well as posted on the library website and within in-house. While advertising was in an abundance, the number of participants were lower than expected but it meant they could perform as much as they wanted within the program time.

We did not have any equipment (speakers, microphone) but we made due without.

We had 2 participants who sang and played guitar! The audience were receptive and friendly, even asking for a recording of the program to be distributed. I’d say a small victory!

This is a throwback post to a program I held in the past hence the lack of pictures.

 

“The Life-Changing Manga on Tidying Up: A Magical Story” Review

I’ve been interested in Marie Kondo’s book on tidying up ever since 4 patrons requested the book in 2 days a while back. I was curious but never got around to it… That is until Marie Kondo teamed up with illustrator Yuko Uramoto to create a manga version of her insanely popular #1 Amazon Bestseller in Homecleaning. I immediately requested it from the library to borrow.

Konmari, as Marie Kondo calls herself, is a tidy specialist who comes to the aid of Chiaki, a young 29-year-old salary woman who works in the beverage industry. Chiaki has an unkempt apartment; it is revealed she keeps hobby items that past boyfriends have associated with. That, plus her demanding job (as seen from her arriving home at night, mentioning she only has the weekend the tidy up, and stays out working late) causes her to keep to a cluttered routine. Konmari helps, not by going on her hands and knees scrubbing, but by asking Chiaki a series of questions such as “What kind of lifestyle do you want?” or “What kind of life do you want to live here?”

The questions help determine what items should be kept and what items should be discarded. From there Chiaki finds herself with a different routine in life: She wakes up earlier to cook her own breakfast rather than going to a convenience store and her work desk is clean and neat.

Quite frankly, it is amazing how Konmari put in perspective that cleaning isn’t just cleaning but analyzing your living space and lifestyle to determine what you want out of a tidy area. As someone whose purse is filled with paper receipts, this leisure read became instructive and got me planning on the kind of lifestyle I want.

 

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story can be found on Amazon or libraries near you. A wonderful addition to any manga collection, especially on the topic of cleaning and tidying up.