Abby the Librarian: Anime Club = Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Anime Club = Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

At least the kids in my county seem to think so, which is awesome. Picture 31 teens in a library auditorium, dancing around like this:

and you know how my night was. (They had no music, by the way. They just started randomly doing it!)

It's got me thinking: Anime Dance Party. But I'm not sure what the logistics would be for something like that... It may just be too much for the library, but I'm wondering if maybe the YMCA or the Parks Department would partner with us... Just general ideas floating around in my head at the moment.

One young man came dressed up as L from Death Note and he had a black notebook with him that everyone went crazy for. I'm thinking that next month I might put out supplies for the kids to make their own Death Note notebooks (as long as they don't write MY name in it...). Also next month, as suggested by one of our regulars, we're celebrating Halloween by inviting optional cosplay. (Really, I'm always in favor of costumes, and some of the kids have been wearing them already.)

The kids are NOT into actually watching anime at Anime Club. They prefer to use the time to socialize, talk to their friends, and hang out on the computers. (I bring down a number of laptops for them to use.) And that's absolutely fine with me. :)

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cswarts 1p · 706 weeks ago

That's great the program is working so well for you. I'd like to start an anime club at my library. Even if they're not watching, do you have an anime playing in the background? Is there always something going on to tie it to the anime theme, or is it a little more of a free-for-all?

Thanks!

1 reply · active 706 weeks ago

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abbylibrarian 68p · 706 weeks ago

We do have an anime playing in the background, although it's hard to hear it. It was so chaotic last month that I think from now on when we put in an anime movie, I'll turn the sound off and put captions on. It's been more of a free-for-all, but I think going forward I'm going to have some more activities for them to do and make it a little more structured. Honestly, it was a little crazier last month than is ideal... They're great kids and I want to let them be themselves, but I think having a little more structure will help tone it down a little bit.

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Kate · 706 weeks ago

Sounds like the kids are having a blast, Abby! How did you get the club started? Do younger children attend as well?

I've been wanting to do this in my library branch, but I'm wondering how to swing it since both the children and teens love anime and manga, and I wouldn't want to leave either group out. Thoughts, suggestions? :-)

1 reply · active 706 weeks ago

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abbylibrarian 68p · 706 weeks ago

Kate, we started this summer and sent out publicity to the middle schools and high schools before summer vacation started. We also made a calendar of summer teen events and let kids know about it as they were signing up for Summer Reading Club. We only do it for teens (grades 6-12). We are hoping to offer a second monthly program, a manga art studio, once my teen librarian gets back from her medical leave. Some of our teens stopped attending Anime Club because it was too boisterous, so I'm hoping they'll feel more at home in a quieter environment. But we won't try that out until January or February, though.

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Allison · 706 weeks ago

I ran an anime club at my previous library, and it was my FAVORITE program to run. (Sadly, no budget for one at my current lib!) I'm so excited to hear you're doing an anime club! Anime Dance Party would be an awesome idea. You could probably get the teens to teach each other!