Librarians don't just purchase books, we purchase stuff. Sequins, floor cleaner, puppet stages, chocolate-covered bugs, sun lamps, you name it. These purchases tend to happen on very tight budgets, so we are very interested in knowing what works and what doesn't.
We have a regular program for middle and high school students called "Teen Cafe". Something different happens each night, from murder mysteries to karaoke, but one rule always holds true: if you feed them, they will come! This summer, thanks to a gift card donation, we were able to invest in a few items we hope will get a lot of use. Tonight we tried out the first of these, the hot dog roller:
One of our staff members has one, and had brought it in to the lounge a few times, so we already had some idea of what to expect. Like, that it would roll (the name was a big hint there, too.) Unfortunately, ours didn't - the pin that goes in the hole that makes it spin kept working its way out after a few rotations, so we had to improvise to keep it pushed in:
Probably not the method recommended by the product safety division.*
It did, however, cook the hot dogs nicely and evenly, once we got it spinning, and the exposed areas did not get too hot. We know the one our staff member has works fine, so it may be a hit or miss. We will return this one and see if we have better luck with the replacement. Having hot dogs in addition to the usual chips and cookies was a nice change, especially since many teens (and our YS Librarian) treat this as their evening meal. All in all we give it a
4 out of 5.
Tune in tomorrow to hear how our first Teen Cafe of the summer - "Survivor (name of our city)" went.
* and no, we did not leave it like this, we have no great urge to set the building on fire this week.
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