Steve Brueckner - NWRL

1. Steven Brueckner
Librarian (spending approx. 15% of time on YA programming: 6th grade and up)
King Public Library (Stokes County)
sbrueckner@nwrl.org
336-983-3868
General programming guide
Inform staff of upcoming program
Promote the program by 1) displaying posters in the teen area of the library; 2)emailing teens,
teachers, church youth ministers, and 4H group; 3) placing a large sign at library entrance; 4) speaking
to teens at the library
Always have food and drinks. I routinely ask for and receive free pizza and wings from restaurants in
King. I buy soda on sale. Keep track of donations and send written thank you notes. Display the
restaurant’s name at the program.
Promote recycling by providing bins for aluminum and plastic.
Keep it informal. Let teens “spread out” and get comfortable.
Display a couple new YA books at the program.
If they volunteer, let teens clean-up.
If you had an outside speaker, send a thank you note.
Program: Auto Driving Simulator
Contact: Davidson County Community College
Randy Ledford; 336-249-8186, ext. 4753; rledford@davidsonccc.edu
This is a fun program for both teens and parents. For no fee, Davidson County CC will bring faculty experts
and this large and expensive piece of equipment to your library parking lot. The simulator is housed inside of
a climate controlled trailer. They will discuss why it was purchased and how it is used at the CC. Then, six at a
time, teens/parents will be allowed into the trailer for a driving experience. They will simulate driving under
the influence, driving in inclement weather, driving at night, etc.
Since only 6 can be inside the trailer at a time, have games/crafts available for those that are waiting.
Program: Personal Word Cloud Poster
In this fun program each teen will create a personalized poster displaying words (usually adjectives) that
describes his/her personality, characteristics, and likes/dislikes. It requires access to the internet and a
printer. A color printer is best but B&W works fine. A projector would be helpful, but not mandatory. A nice
touch is to laminate the posters after printing.
A word cloud is a visual representation of data, typically used to show the relative importance of single words.
The more a word is used, the larger it appears. Political pundits analyze politicians’ speeches using this type of
program.
This software does not allow for easy direct printing. Essentially the word cloud will be copied and pasted into
MS Word. Try this on your own because the teens won’t read the procedure (see next sheet) and will have
questions. Using a projector, briefly demonstrate the procedure and give teens a copy. Then let the teens
loose! Have a thesaurus or two available.
The procedure warns against making a colored background due to excessive ink usage.

2. HOW TO CREATE A WORD CLOUD POSTER
1. Go to www.wordle.net
2. Click on Create your own.
3. In the top rectangle, type your words/phrases. Put a space between each word.
Be careful and check your spelling very closely. Once you leave this page you won’t be
able to return directly to edit the words/phrases.
To make a word appear larger in your poster, type it more than once. The more you
type the word, the larger is becomes. Example: funny funny funny
To string words together, type a dash ( - ) between each word. Example:
I-am-funny
To save your words/phrases (in case you find errors in the poster), right click and select
all, then right click and select copy. Then open MS Word and paste.
4. When you are ready to create the poster, click Go. If you find errors, go back to Create
your own and paste in your original words/phrases from MS Word.
5. You can edit your poster by clicking on Language, Font, Layout, and Color above the
poster and Randomize below the poster.
6. Please use a white background for the poster. Colored backgrounds will use too much
printer ink.
7. Click on View, Zoom and change the size so that your entire poster can be seen on the
screen at once (without scrolling).
8. Once your poster is complete, press the print screen key (PrntScr). Minimize the screen
and open MS Word. In the toolbar, click on Paste.
9. Click on your poster. In the toolbar, click on Format and then Crop. Crop the poster to
remove the unwanted parts.
10. Click on Page Layout, then Margins. Select Narrow.
11. Click on the poster and drag corners to enlarge. Click on Print, Print Preview to view
the poster. Change page orientation (portrait or landscape) and poster size as required.
Keep checking Print Preview.
12. Print your poster. Please print only one copy.