Minecraft, Part the Third

I'm still here, and mostly recovered from Summer Reading, which I'll have more to say about later.  Right now, though, let's talk crafting.

My server has been hosted in my boyfriend's basement for the past 6 months.  FINALLY everything is in place and I've just moved to a new server hosted from my library--which means instead of a string of nonsense, my teens now just have to use www.cmpl.org to log in (I'm clearly not an anonymous blogger).

I decided to take this opportunity for a fresh start, and just make a brand new server.  The steps are all the same as they were before, but now I'm really researching and adding anti-griefing software.  Those sixth grade boys, you guys.  They are destructive MONSTERS!  Right now my list of plugins is:

CreeperHeal
Essentials
WorldEdit
WorldGuard
libelulalogger

That last one is something new and untested, but the description sounds good and I can't wait to try it.  It says it can tell me exactly WHO messed with a block, which will help with the banning of the griefers! 

I'm most excited about World Guard, though.  As I get to know it I will post more about how it works and how I use it in the world.  I should be able to use it to make different zones, so that players who want PVP can have an arena for that, and people who want to build in peace can do that.  I'll let you know how it works out!

I've been getting LOTS and lots of  basic questions from people looking to start new servers, and my best advice is to just GO FOR IT and try things!  Also, for me it's important to regain a decent amount of control over the server.  Some people have trouble accessing theirs to try out different plugins and things, and I do so much tinkering that that would certainly not work for me!

Here's that first "How to Get Started" post, if that's where your server is right now!
http://teenbrarian.blogspot.com/2013/04/minecraaaaaft.html

Duct Tape

When I presented at MLA last year, my co-presenter and I called it "Beyond Duct Tape: Programming for Today's Teens".   Really though, I have no beef with duct tape.  It remains a staple in my programming wheelhouse--a sentence that I'm not sure makes sense and which also makes me want to slap myself in the face.  ANYWAY!

I've found that teens need a lot more instruction than you would expect them to.  I always hope that they will just play and create and end up with awesome stuff, but their imaginations just don't seem to go that way.  I usually provide them with samples and instructions for roses and wallets, and this time around I had put in the newsletter that they could bring a t-shirt if they wanted to make a t-shirt bag.

While we did have a couple of reluctant ladies who I don't think ended up making anything other than a bit of a mess, most of the teens came well prepared this time around.  I'd only allocated an hour--next time I'll make it two.  They weren't ready to leave!  I let them stay over for about half an hour, but I had tickets to that night's Tiger's game so I had to kick them out eventually.

Lots of the instructions that I have used before haven't been detailed enough for teens who haven't done these kinds of projects before, so I drew my own.  Please admire my awesome skillz!

PRO TIP #1

Pro Tip!  If your scissors are all gunky (let's say, hypothetically, that you and 25 or so teens have been using them to cut duct tape), close them on a clorox wipe and let them sit for a while.  Scrub at them with the wipe a bit, and they'll be as good as new!

ALMOST THERE!

It's July 31st! That means Summer Reading is ov----hmm? What's that?  Oh?  But...all my friends are done with Summer Reading at THEIR libraries?  Oh.  Oooooh.  24 more days?  Well, I guess I can maybe..... ::thud::

HI THERE!  24 days to go here at my li-berry before we're through with Summer Reading!  That's good, because I'm nowhere near my goal.  I'm still about 150 shy of last year, but there are usually a lot of teens who come in for their prizes and sign up at the same time, so I'm not too worried.  I also noticed that one branch didn't get the memo about 6th graders being teens this year (in past years we've offered them the choice.  This year they were all supposed to be teens, unless they had some strong objection), which accounts for about 50 lost teens.  Still, I'm at 480 right now, and for a library my size I think that's quite reasonable.  If I can get to 600 I'll be happy.

Quick and Dirty Book Review #2

I bought a book for the library after reading some good reviews, and had high hopes for it.  Link here: http://www.amazon.com/Winger-Smith-Andrew/dp/1442444924

You guys, I need more people to read this book and discuss it with me.  I'm not particularly sensitive to sexism in pop culture--in fact I've gotten into arguments where I'm siding WITH the appropriateness to sometimes have a movie or book where there isn't a strong female character.  It's okay to have a buddy movie!  Or a movie set in a men's prison!  But this book definitely rattled me.  I recognize what Andrew Smith is TRYING to do here.  The main character definitely grows throughout the book--he starts off simply thinking every girl is super hot (even mustachioed ones, gee thanks) but completely ignores little things like personality.  By the end he realizes that he really DOES like one girl for who she is, even if he totally keeps making out with another girl.  So, he's a standard 14 year old boy.  I get it.  I just don't think it was well executed, and it took away from the whole book for me.  It had promise--the comics are well drawn and I love a good boarding school novel, but it was just a little too much.  Am I getting old and lame?

Really, I am usually pretty lax about getting riled up about books like this.  I LOVE Swim the Fly, which is about a group of boys spending their summer trying to see a real live naked girl.  THis one though...there's just something about this one. 

It's "dont' have time to stop for a free slurpee" day!

Things are still going well over here! Programs left and right.  On Tuesday I was at both branches for tie-dye programs.  I did the same thing last year--I buy the dye but each teen brings something to dye.  That ensures that they'll end up with something that fits, and also cuts the costs for me down significantly.  I let them do two things, if they want.  Most do shirts, but I had a couple of girls do shorts and 4-5 did pillow cases.  I bought plastic tablecloths from GFS to protect the carpet, some Tulip brand dye kits, and I stole rubber bands from all of the assorted places we hide rubber bands around the library.  The dye I use doesn't require that weird ash soak thing, you just get the item damp.  I made kits ahead of time for each teen--a gallon sized ziplock bag with about 10 rubber bands, a pair of latex gloves, instructions on how to create a few different looks (photocopies of the instructions that come with the kit) and instructions for what to do after they get it home.  Because of space issues and also "room full of teenagers holding permanent dye" issues, I only let 15 register for each building.  Both filled up, and 13 showed up in each building---a great turnout! We only dyed the carpet a tiny bit---and it was in the building we're leaving within a year so I wasn't too horrified. 

3.5 weeks in and we're at 352 teens registered for summer reading.  7 weeks to go!

I need to find a .gif of someone being extremely busy, but I'M TOO BUSY!

Summer Reading registration started one week ago and we already have about 135  teens signed up!  That's pretty good, since teens tend to sign up when they come for their first prize--and prizes started today so those 135 are the super responsible ones.  (edit:  I had to stop here on this post yesterday--today we're up to 160!)

I'm excited about the prizes this year--especially the Above-and-Beyond.  The teens are too, I know this because there's a poster up behind me with the prizes and I can hear the squealing. Here's what I went with:

 Last year my final number of registered teens was about 620, and I've increased by about 50% every year for the past few years.  That means I'm aiming for 1000 this year, which is insane and  probably out of reach but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!  I'm hoping to spend more time at the branches this summer pushing it--at the main library (where I spend most of my time) I track down teens and tell them enthusiastically about how they can win CANDY AND MONEY YOU GUYS! and it totally works.  The branch librarians do their best but many are not as comfortable engaging teens as I am.  Understandable, I'm totally nuts.

The Fifth Wave - Rick Yancey

I confess:  I'm a huge fan of disaster/apocalyptic/dystopian teen novels.  You'd think I'd be tired of them by now, since nearly every other book published follows something along those lines, but so long as the author throws in some element that is new or different I'm generally totally in.  This means I've read quite a few really terrible books, but sometimes one really shines.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Rick Yancey.  When I was on the Thumbs Up!  award committee, I lobbied hard for The Monstrumologist.  The committee felt it was a little too terrifying for the younger end of the age group that the award is for, so they went another direction, but I still think it was the best thing written that year.  I have made all of my book clubs read it, and I recommend it all the time, usually with the statement "DON'T TRY TO READ IT IF YOU'RE HOME ALONE!"

Obviously I have been anxiously waiting for The 5th Wave to come out.  It's possible I swiped it from the in-process cart...shhhhh don't tell.  It did not let me down.  I'd hate to spoil it for anyone, so I'll just say that the general premise is that aliens have come to earth and started wiping out the human race in a series of waves.  We have a tough but realistic female protagonist who is not perfect.  I love love love survival books, and the living in the woods and foraging for stuff elements of this one are great.  An offhand comment early on about how she is worried about her supply of tampons (I totally think about that when reading other books where the ladies are just tromping around happily) made me realize that the author really thought through what a woman alone and on the move might worry about.  There's a tough of romance but it's good and necessary, not just thrown over the top of a shaky plot like it is in so many cases. 

Read it!

Oh lordy it's June

Our local high schools are having finals right now.  Because we were so packed during midterm exams, I decided to throw a study hall.  We started yesterday, and I estimate we had a total of 25-30 teens make use of it, the most at one time was about 15.  Not too shabby, though I'm hoping for more today and tomorrow!

It's easy enough to do--I just booked our auditorium for Thursday-Tuesday, and had all the round tables set up.  I borrowed the laptops that our ANF department uses for computer classes and set them up, and had the IT department set up a printer so that I can offer free printing!  I filled a table with supplies that I thought they might need--paperclips, staplers, tape, markers, pencils and pens, scrap paper, rulers.  I bought Doritos, Cheetos, and pop in bulk (and some other snacks) and put them out on a counter (all free for studying teens!).  Tomorrow I'm coming in and doing nothing but Study Hall all day, so I'm getting them pizza.  I made sure to notify the schools, and one of them has been in contact with me.  They've been pushing it hard during announcements and that sort of thing.  The kids who came yesterday loved it--I heard a group of boys talking as they left yesterday about how much more they got done than they would have at home. 

Even if the crowd was a little small yesterday, it was made up mostly of teens I've never seen before, which is definitely a success.  I left flyers about summer reading around, and filled the display case across from the auditorium doors with summer reading prizes. 

Such a simple thing to do, yet it has helped our bond with the local schools and general community goodwill.  I had adults popping their heads in to see what was going on and commenting on what a good idea it was.  Yay!

So far so good on the Minecraft server!  We've got about 15 teens involved, and they're happily building away. So far the tasks have been:

1) Find the City
2) Build a house
3) build a business  (just for show, we're not messing around with an economy at this point)

Here's the city:

I have been impressed with the adorable houses some of the teens have built!  They're mostly boys, but we've got at least two ladies in there.  The building up in the air is the insane asylum, and in the distance you can see a couple of towers of the fort.  I'm disappointed to see a little destruction--someone must have spawned some creepers, which isn't very sporting.

Now I need to come up with more tasks and challenges to keep them occupied.  I think perhaps I'll have them build famous landmarks next?

I purchased three Minecraft gift cards at our local Game Stop, and this summer I'll be giving them away.  The first contest will be your standard "guess how many whatevers are in this jar", and I think I'm going to try to track down green gummy bears in bulk and call them creepers.  Cute, eh?  Not sure what I'll do for the other contests, but I'm sure something will come to me!

We've been in creative mode all of May, I think in June I may switch to survival.  Perhaps survival mode AND a building challenge, to make it extra difficult? Hmm.