Catalyst Grant Final Report
“STEAM To Go Kits”
Please provide a brief narrative explaining your project and its outcomes.
Kids love my STEAM programs but they can’t always attend them. This led me to think of STEAM to go where the child can borrow a STEAM kit and bring home to use on their own time! My hope was this would lead to more children using STEAM and help with their education as they learn and grow.
What is the most remarkable accomplishment or finding of your project?
I wasn’t too sure about the robotics and coding kit-I was worried it might be too hard but the kids loved it and it was one of the more popular kits!
How did your project differ from what you originally proposed?
At first, I had the kits set so they would only be able to go out for 2 weeks with no renewals. But after patron feedback I changed the kits to have one renewal. This made the patrons very happy.
Please provide a brief summary of your evaluation activities and/or results, if available.
I evaluated by circ and patron feedback. Out of the 6 kits, the most popular where the Dinosaur Kit and the Robotic and Coding. (they both have gone out 18 times!) The Ready for Kindergarten was least popular but as mentioned I plan to push it this summer and fall. I think it could be really useful, people just need to know it exists! The total circ for all 6 kits is 102!
Anything else you’d like us to know?
I started by bringing the kits to school visits and letting them know they could borrow them from the library. I also talked to our social media coordinator to make sure they were promoting it. I also wanted to have a kickoff event to introduce patrons to the STEAM Kit. Unfortunately, no came and that was disappointing. But I pushed through that disappointment and made sure patrons knew about these kits by word of mouth. The kits are here to stay and I plan on doing a big push during summer (our busiest time) and am working on a blog for our library website.
Sarah Heukrath
Youth Services Coordinator, North Syracuse Library
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