When I was the Teen Services Librarian in Joplin, one of my favorite ice breakers to do at teen programs was a “name three things” game using items found in the library. The best scenarios were always something like: “The Zombie Apocalypse is upon us. There are zombies outside this building about to breach the windows, so you must leave if you want to survive. What three things found in this library will you take with you to increase your chances of survival?”
The Joplin Public Library was similar to the Pryor Library in that it had equipment to care for the grounds, tools for maintenance work, etc. so the teens normally chose those sorts of items in our hypothetical game. A shovel and garden loppers were favorites of mine, but my third thing was always “survival and homesteading guides from the 600 section of nonfiction.”
Almost without fail there would be a teen at the program who was blown away by my third choice. “You have survival guides?” they’d ask. Then we’d get to talk about all sorts of resources the library has – survival guides, woodworking books, plant and animal identification books, books on how to fish, how to camp, etc. All things you’ll need once you’ve managed to clear the zombie hoards surrounding the library.
These days, now that I’m not trying to survive hypothetical zombie attacks, I use our 500 and 600 sections for books so my kids and I can identify the flora and fauna we find in our neighborhood. Our current favorite (besides the bird book that sits on our window sill) is the “National Geographic Backyard Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America.”
Overdrive has quite a few books you can download for free as well, but you might make sure you know where the books are in the building. We probably won’t have much internet service when the zombies come