By: Beth,
on 10/30/2015
A short list of tweets from the past week of interest to teens and the library staff that work with them.
Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between October 30 and November 5 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
By: Beth,
on 9/27/2015
According to the 2013-2014 Core Values for the Teen Services Profession, developed by the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) Professional Values Task Force, there are “nine core values that define professionalism for those who work for and with teens through libraries. 1” One of the nine core values is “Compassion,” where librarians who work with teens “strive to identify with others’ experiences. Shows concern, empathy, and consideration for the needs and values of others.” Within this value, librarians will demonstrate the following:
After reading through this report, the one core value that speaks the loudest to me is compassion. If we, as teen librarians, were to prioritize these values, compassion needs to be the number one value that we need to act upon; not only is compassion the key to solidifying honest relationships with teen patrons, these connections provide us with the information and insight to support many facets of teen services including connected learning. According to The Future of Library Services For and With Teens: A Call to Action: “To support their learning—personal, work-related, and academic—library staff must connect with teens as individuals. As one participant noted: “Many teens don’t have relationships with non-supervisory adults…teens need more adults who are not “in charge of charge” of them” (2014, p.10). By showing compassion, we are conveying to teens that we are genuinely interested in their opinions and thoughts, which is why we develop teen advisory boards and similar programs. These programs allow us to build rapport with teen patrons because we are providing a dedicated forum for teens that tell them that we do value their input. If we are unable to create these kinds of avenues, we need to get up from behind the reference desk and actually talk to teens when they walk into the library. What exactly do we talk about? Talk about anything and everything! If you have a question about the latest trends, or don’t understand what’s going on Twitter, they are going to be your best resources. More importantly, if we want to know about the school curriculum, teens will tell us all about their assignments, which help us purchase materials they will need. In fact, about six years ago, I remember working with one teen who was so painfully shy that he couldn’t look at me when I said “Hello.” After a few weeks of trying to have a conversation with him, he opened up and was literally my go-to for everything anime and technology. In fact, he ended up joining the Teen Advisory Board, which was super awesome because he brought a ton of his friends to our events and some of them joined as well! It is amazing how word of mouth spreads and, if you can influence one teen, they will tell their friends, which means great turnouts for events and a whole army of minions as my colleagues once said.
As we build working relationships with teens, we also need to understand that teens want to relate and confide in us. Along with wanting to be seen as individual, teens need an adult to seek advice and to listen to them. In other words, they are searching for a neutral third party that isn’t exactly a parent, but not a stranger. When teens confide in us, they trust and value our opinion because they know that we have compassion and we are mentors who genuinely care about them. At the same time, we also need to draw clear boundaries. In other words, if teens can’t behave, they will suffer the consequences; if teens need help, we will do everything we can in our power to make sure they get what they need. It’s not always easy dealing with goofy teenagers, but, with a little love, patience, respect, and kindness, teens will see that they have someone in the library that will help them succeed and win at life.
References:
By: Beth,
on 9/1/2015
What do accountability, excellence, innovation, and social responsibility have to do with the teen services profession? The quick and easy answer is a lot. However, a more specific answer is that these 4 ideas are a few of the Core Values listed in YALSA's new Core Professional Values for the Teen Services Profession. This Professional Values document was published by YALSA last month after a year-long development process by the association's Professional Values Task Force. The Task Force began their work after discussions by the YALSA Board of Directors during their 2013 Annual Conference meetings The Board wanted to develop and support the professional development of library staff serving teens and to help others in the library profession understand the value of what library staff working with and for teens work towards every single day of the year.
The document, a one of its kind in the area of library teen services, is an excellent framework for the values that all those working with teens in libraries should embrace. Not only does it list the Core Values but it includes ways of demonstrating those values. For example, if you demonstrate Innovation, which is defined in the document as:
Approaches projects and challenges with a creative, innovative mindset
Then you demonstrate that by:
- Recognizes that learning comes from failure and experimentation
- Demonstrates a willingness to take calculated risks to improve teen services
It is important for all staff working with and for teens in libraries to go through the Core Values and assess strengths and weaknesses in demonstrating each value. Weaknesses aren't a bad thing as knowing where you are weak gives you the chance to find out what to improve on in order to serve teens even more successfully. Actually, the Excellence Core Value includes continuous learning as an area to focus on:
"Engages in acquisition of new knowledge throughout one’s career" as a demonstration of that value.
Along with assessing your own personal strengths and weaknesses related to the YALSA Core Professional Values, it can also be really useful to use the document as a way to help colleagues, administrators, trustees, principals, superintendents, community members, funders, and more understand what you do and why you do it. You can go over the document with them or make it a point to highlight different sections of the document for them over several months. You can talk with them about how you already achieve the values and what you are working on in order to do an even better job to support the needs of teens in the community. You can give those you talk with ideas about how they can support the Core Values by demonstrating at least some of the practices outlined in their own interactions with and for teens.
The Core Values are a core tool for you to use as you continue to work with and for teens in your community. Use it professionally as a way to make sure you are doing what you need to do and as a way to inform and advocate for the value of teen services in the library and the community at-large.
By: Beth,
on 7/10/2015
A short list of tweets from the past week of interest to teens and the library staff that work with them.
Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between July 10 and July 16 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
By: Beth,
on 6/12/2015
This is a guest post from Kelly Stade, Area Manager at the Hennepin County Library.
All leaders need support. Intentionally building your network can support you when you feel stuck, spark creativity and connect you with new opportunities.
As a private person, it can sometimes be difficult for me to ask for help. Networking within your library system, school or professional organization can feel challenging. I admire my colleagues who seem comfortable reaching out to a broad network of supporters. As I have pushed myself to build connections, it has been beneficial both for myself and the library where I work.
“What would you do?” moments. We have all run into situations where we feel stumped or puzzled. We also have moments where we feel confident, but would value a second opinion. Both are excellent opportunities to reach out to trusted peers. By the nature of being a leader, you try new things, push yourself, explore, and you extend beyond your comfort zone. When venturing into this new territory, it is only natural to have moments of uncertainty. Asking questions and asking for help demonstrates your confidence as a leader. The answers you get back will help you learn new skills and expand your perspective.
Even if you feel confident in your approach, reaching out for second opinions provides an opportunity to learn a diversity of styles. I love hearing how a single challenge can be approached from a number of different angles. The diversity of opinions challenges me to reframe and refine myself as a leader.
When putting myself in a vulnerable position of asking for help or for a second opinion, I can open the door to become a trusted support for others, repaying the favor.
“What are you up to?” moments. Creativity sparks creativity. The librarianship profession is one that rewards begging, borrowing and stealing. Need to develop a new summer program initiative or Teen Read Week promotion? Don’t reinvent the wheel. Reach out to your network to learn what other libraries are doing. The community or network you reach out to may live in-person or online.
Another benefit to building a network is that your network may lead you to new opportunities, like the opportunity to write on the YALSA blog.
Where can you start building your network? Look within your organization or neighboring libraries. Reach out to leaders in your organization who are doing work you admire. Do you know someone who seems to be well connected? Ask those well connected individuals to introduce you to a broader circle. You can also look within YALSA, ALA or your local library community. Join a committee, attend a conference or participate in professional opportunities. Intentionally build your network through professional leadership programs such as the PLA Leadership Academy or ALA Emerging Leader Program. I am fortunate to be a graduate of the 2014 ALA’s Emerging Leader program. Through the program, I was able to make strong connections to librarians across the country. It is exciting to learn from and share with librarians outside of my home state. As a leader, challenge yourself to ask for help and reach out the leaders around you. Making professional connections will not only benefit you, it will make our profession stronger.
Start small. The next time you feel stuck or in need for inspiration, intentionally connect with one new person. You will soon find that your efforts feel more natural and your network richly diverse.
Kelly Stade is an Area Manager for Hennepin County Library, with a background in Youth Services. She is passionate about leadership development and supporting others in active leadership. Connect with Kelly via LinkedIn.
By: Beth,
on 2/26/2015
Since ALA Mid-Winter was conveniently located in Chicago this January, I decided to make the trip and attend the conference on Saturday. I had been to professional conferences before, but all for writing centers, not libraries. My first thought upon walking into the conference center was the same familiar feeling I got in writing center conferences: a bunch of people who are all passionate about one thing: libraries. I always love the energy at conferences; the energy that helps renew your passions and reminds you why you do what you do day in and day out.
My focus at Mid-Winter was seeing how ALA and the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation worked together to promote libraries to work with their communities to affect social change. They believe that public libraries should use their position in a community to help facilitate conversations that could lead to effective change. This is all under the ALA umbrella of Transforming Libraries. I was interested in these sessions because during my first semester in graduate school, I found myself drawn to and working with communities (both talking about community ideas in class and then working with a community for my assistantship). I’m currently taking a community engagement class and was interested to see Harwood’s spin on engagement.
After some freight congestion, I was able to attend two out of the four sessions: intentionality and sustaining yourself. Intentionality focused on the three As: authenticity, authority, and accountability. They wanted to make sure you deeply knew the community you were working with and followed through on promises. The final session, on sustaining yourself, focused on knowing personally what keeps you going (ways to destress and relax) and who you can talk to about frustrations and triumphs. Both sessions stressed small group discussion, which gave me the opportunity to meet other librarians (in all variety of roles). There was good discussion all afternoon however I left wishing I could have heard more from the pilot libraries who were coached by Harwood. Two different libraries gave short intros to start the sessions, but in five minutes, you can’t learn much about all the successes (and also the roadblocks).
In some ways, I felt out of my element at ALA. I was simply a student, one who didn’t have any long term experience in libraries. I could listen to conversations but sometimes felt I had nothing to add. However, at the same time, I got this great sneak peak into the professional world I’m preparing to jump with two feet into. Public libraries and communities are a big deal right now and if I can present a resume with experience in working with and for communities, then I help to separate myself from the rest of my peers competing for the job opening. What ALA and Harwood are picking up on isn’t a new concept — public libraries have been working with communities since they first began. These sessions serve as reminders that we as librarians are serving our community and should be an open, safe place to have tough conversations and conversations that begin to work towards social change.
By: Beth,
on 2/23/2015
Happy Monday, amazing YALSA members!
Can you believe it's already near the end of February?
For those who've made New Year's resolutions to be more involved in the profession, it's not too late!
The deadline to apply to join a YALSA strategic committee, jury, or taskforce is this Sunday, March 1st!
You can see the full list of committees and juries here.
Strategic committees are a great way to get involved with YALSA, as they are virtual committees. Or, if you are a new member and looking to try committee work for the first time, the strategic committees are a great way to learn about YALSA, connect with teen service professionals from around the country, and help you develop your virtual work skills and teen expertise. So, if travel and conference attendance aren't an option for you this year, please take a minute to fill out the volunteer form here and send it in before March 1st!
My Appointments Taskforce and I will begin the process to fill the over 200 open positions that help YALSA accomplish the work of the strategic plan and the work that moves the association and members forward immediately after March 1st, so please be sure to get your application in before then.
I strongly encourage all YALSA members to apply - it is an easy and great way to get more involved in this amazing association, especially if you are interested in joining a YALSA selection or award committee in the future.
Please feel free to contact me at candice.yalsa (at) gmail.com if you have any questions!
By: Beth,
on 9/4/2012
Even if you don’t work in a school media center, I’m guessing your life still tends to run on an academic schedule when you work with teens. So welcome to the new school year! Here’s what I think might be interesting, useful, or intriguing to you and your patrons this month.
What are your plans for this upcoming academic year? As always, your questions, comments and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged!
By: Beth,
on 8/31/2012
For some of us, it’s an uphill battle advocating for the teens in our libraries. Budgets are never quite large enough, there’s never enough time to do everything, so if any group gets the short end of the stick, it’s our teens. We all know how important it is to have teen programming and teen spaces and an excellent teen collection, but it can be difficult getting the higher-ups to see it our way. You might find, as I have, that you need to justify your teen programs beyond getting teens in the door.
No one really questions the benefits of Storytime for the kids. It’s fairly obvious how it fits in with the library’s mission. A teen Halloween party, on the other hand, might be subject to more scrutiny. Recently, I found out that the Halloween party I’d been planning for our teens didn’t pass muster in its current state. It wasn’t enough to try something to increase our program attendance. Our circ starts are awesome, but we have an unfortunate floor plan for our teens, so they don’t really have a place of their own to hang out. They get their books and go, which has made it a lot harder in creating relationships and encouraging them to come to programs. There was no way I was giving up on this party. Instead of a Halloween party, it’s now a Favorite Character party, where you must come dressed as your favorite book character (and act the part, if you’re really good). The activities we’ll have will tie in to our collection, like YA horror trivia, and we’ll be more book-focused than Halloween-focused.
The key to justifying a program or a service for teens is two-parted. First, tie it to your library’s mission. Say that your mission statement includes words like informational and enriching your community. There you go. Teens are part of the community and the Favorite Character party will enrich their lives by widening their exposure to the YA collection and allowing them to use their creativity to enhance what they’ve read to a tangible form while testing their knowledge and sparking their interest to seek more information about the horror genre.
Second, beyond the direct result of such a program, look for other possible objectives. For example, providing a program for teens not only accomplishes the objectives of the program, but also gives teens a feeling of being welcome in the library. Teens who feel welcome in the library may be more interested in volunteer opportunities at the library. Teens who volunteer can take over tasks, such as shelving or shelf reading, from staff members, who are then free to complete other tasks. This in turn can lead to improved customer service because staff members will be able to spend more time with patrons and will be less stressed about helping someone with a particularly difficult or time-consuming problem because they will know that they have the time to devote to the problem.
It would be great if we could have teen programs just because they’re fun and it’s what our teens want, but a lot of us are under constraints that are out of our hands. Being prepared to justify your programs might mean that you’ll need to broaden your focus to find the positive outcomes.
By: Beth,
on 2/10/2012
For this post I thought I would share my personal top 10 favorite YA websites. Of course, the YALSA Blog would be on this list, as I check it at least once a week. It is a great resource for YA librarians and for people who work with youth in general. But, since you’re on the blog, reading this post, I’m going to assume you’re already aware of the awesomeness of the blog:) The sites are listed in no particular order, with the exception of number 1, which deserves to be there. Please feel free to share your favorite sites in the comments section!
Number 1 http://socialtimes.com/ Social Times
I discovered this website over the summer and it has become my all time favorite website. It has all kinds of different information that is pertinent to our field. It gives quality info about all things digital. It has information about new technology that is coming out, new websites, old websites, any current news going on in the world of technolgy. This website helps me to stay on top of many different areas of my job and gives me the knowledge to competently speak on current issues in our field.
In edition to all of this useful information, it also has a very cool web video section. Every week the editor puts together viral youtube clips on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Whenever I am stuck trying to find something to post on my library system’s teen Facebook page, I just go to this section and find a funny video to post – total lifesaver!
Number 2- www.teenreads.com Teen Reads
This is a great source for checking out new (and old) YA titles. This site offers reviews of newly released or soon to be released YA books. It has booklists and resources for starting a teen book club. It has author interviews- some are podcasts, some are written. I’ve also seen video book reviews on this site. You can sign up for their monthly newsletter so you don’t have to remember to check it all the time. There’s also fun stuff- like polls and all kinds of different giveaways ( I enter every month and haven’t won anything yet. I still keep trying- it’s gotta be my turn sooner or later, right?).
Number 3- www.etsy.com Etsy
I’m going to assume most childrens and YA people know about Etsy. It’s a website where people sell handmade crafts and crafting supplies. Don’t judge it yet- there are REALLY nice things on Etsy. If you’ve heard of it and have been meaning to check it out, today is the day. When I’m totally stuck on what to do for a teen program, I check out Etsy. There are all kinds of different craft categories and I just start browsing through for inspiration. Some of the things they sell are really cheap. ( I also just found out about www.regretsy.com – crazy stuff found on etsy and similar sites- funny stuff:)
Number 4- http://www.the4yablog.com/ 4YA
I decided to just go ahead and keep with the craft theme and mention the 4YA blog here. One of my co-workers had this site up one day when I came to take my turn at the desk. HELLO- it’s awesome! It has all kinds of great ideas for YA librarians to use from program ideas and crafts,plus useful information about things like new gaming systems and video game reviews. It has a focus on outreach oppurtunities.
Number 5- http://www.webjunction.org/1 Webjunction
Do you need to brush up on your reader’s advisory? Want some tips on how to deal with unhappy patrons? Tyring to figure out what ereader is the best for your library system? Have no fear, webjunction is here. The website has fantastic FREE webinars for library workers. I have listened to three or four dif
Add a Comment
By: Beth,
on 2/4/2012
To Err is Human. It is also human to look for a scape goat, make excuses and wrap denial around ourselves like a cloak of invisibility. Alina Tugend, author of Better by Mistake, summarizes the process in her book. However, I think we can all recognize the steps we take to distance ourselves from mistakes. For example…
In December, I had a holiday party for our library’s anime club. The teens had been asking me for an anime trivia game, and I kept putting it off because I thought it would suck. I figured that I would do trivia at the Holiday Party. It would be like a special treat. I was delusional. I spent days coming up with trivia questions. I sat in my living room watching anime taking notes. I consulted the listserves. I read and reread fan sites and Wikipedia. I took online anime trivia tests. I drove myself mad writing questions. I stood in front of them with my list of questions, and they answered me with blank stares. There were 14 kids. They got 1/10 questions I wrote down. My more outspoken teens gave it to me straight. “Those series are old, I don’t know what you are talking about.” I kept my head on right. I started making up new questions on the spot, but I also started making excuses. Internally I was passing blame to the teens. “They should have told me what series they wanted me to draw from” and “I’m not a thirteen year old girl, I’ve never read Chibi vampire.”
In her book, Alina Tugend relates the definition of error established by James Reason, a Professor of Psychology in England. “Reason defines error as the failure of a planned sequence of mental or physical activities to achieve its intended outcome when these failures cannot be attributed to chance.” I knew things had not gone as planned. The teens were not so overjoyed with my trivia they raised me on their shoulders and elected me King Nerd. It was clear to me, that I had failed somewhere.
That night I laid in bed reflecting on my day and my errors. I was still frustrated with how the program went. But I was frustrated with myself. I had finally begun removing the layers of bull shit that I constructed to protect my ego. My father says “every failure is your friend.” I made a lot of new friends that day. I went over my own performance with a fine toothed comb. I found a lot of them. My mistakes were not limited to the execution of trivia, my buddy and co-worker Peter made sure I knew that. But the trivia stood out in my mind.
One, I should have asked them the kind of trivia questions they’d like. I could have easily asked them what series they would have liked too. Two, I could have had them help me write questions a few months ago when they first brought it up. Three, writing trivia the same week you have library school assignments is unintelligent at best. Four, and this is the most important, it’s not about you it’s about them. Five, I’ll say it again; I could have had them help me to write the questions. No matter how badly I wanted to be right, or how hard I worked. If they were not satisfied, then I needed to look for my errors. After that, the rest were easy to see.
We all know we make mistakes. The thing that is hard to do is own them. Not just confess them, but internalize them. Make them a part of yourself and your fiber in a positive way. No matter how difficult, the steps are simple.
1) Stop making excuses to yourself and others – Admitting failure is like swimming in the ocean on a hot summer’s day. I dread the cold of the water going in, but once I’m in I love it. Really.
2) In the words of my father “First stop the bleeding, the system can be overhauled later.” – The other day, three teens come in looking for memoirs in a short period of time, so my coworker put a cart of books together in under ten minutes. It is mistake Triage. Changing tactics in the middle of something is scary, but if you realize you are failing, do it with style. Go the extra mile.<
Add a Comment
By: Beth,
on 1/25/2012
My colleague, YALSA member, ALA Emerging Leader, and first time conference attendee agreed for me to post her observations of Midwinter. I’ve no doubt we’ll be hearing from her more often! A warm welcome to Catherine Haydon!
I’ll admit that I’m a bit jet-lagged, over-caffeinated, and used every ounce of remaining energy I had to be enthusiastic and on-point for an outreach visit to a local middle school once I returned from Dallas– but today’s slugglishness was definitely worth the amazing experience attending my first ALA Midwinter Conference. I’m participating in the 2012 ALA Emerging Leaders Program and had the opportunity to learn more about the organizational structure of both ALA and YALSA, as well as observe ALA and YALSA leaders in action throughout the conference. I sat in on a YALSA Board of Directors meeting and was pretty impressed with our leaders. Connecting with and providing support for librarians, whether in school or public libraries, in order to ultimately engage and empower teens was kept at the core of every topic they discussed; I observed a particularly engaging discussion on ways YALSA can partner with state library associations in order to have the greatest impact on teen-serving library staff.
While in Dallas, I also braved a chilly morning walk and attended “YALSA 201,” a short session that provided information on how members can get more involved in YALSA. I’ve been a YALSA member for five years and have relied on programming, technology and advocacy resources developed by various YALSA Committees and Taskforces to get me through my day-to-day work with teens. I’m sure it was the buzz and excitement that came with finally being at an ALA Conference, plus all the friendly encounters I had with YALSA folks, but I got the final push I needed and feel that it’s now my time to contribute to YALSA. I’m excited to work on YALSA’s project through the ALA Emerging Leaders Program and hope to serve on a committee or two in the next few years.
Now that I’m back at home, several colleagues have asked me about my favorite experience at Midwinter. I’ve shrugged some folks off or just replied that I enjoyed the entire experience, but when I thought a bit harder there’s one moment that really stood out. It was Monday morning during the ALA Youth Media Awards, and specifically when they were announcing the Morris Award finalists and winner. A group of librarians several rows in front of me jumped up and screamed loudly when YALSA President Sarah Flowers announced Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
as the winner; while my attention was initially focused on the group of excited librarians ahead, I was distracted by the librarian sitting directly in front of me who leaned over to her neighbor and whispered, “That’s it! That’s the book I was telling you I wanted to recommend to Drew. He comes by the library every afternoon and I know he’d love it.” Miles away from home and sitting in a theater with hundreds of fellow librarians so focused on the books, this librarian remained focused on the teens she served. As the next award was announced, I smiled and silently thanked the librarian for reminding me why I was there – to connect teens with books. I spent the remainder of the awards presentation thinking about these new award-winning titles and the ways in which they would engage, inspire and challenge the teens at my library.Was this your first time attending an ALA Conference? If so, I’d love to h
Add a Comment
By: Beth,
on 12/7/2011
A major goal of every YA librarian is to increase her market share, that is, to increase the number of teenagers using her library and those teens’ level of engagement in the library. In my experience, the most reliable and lasting way to accomplish this goal is for the YA librarian to actively embed herself in her community.
When I moved to Mitchell, I had no ties to the community: I knew nobody except the library staff who interviewed me, and the only time I had been in town was the one day I drove out for the interview from 400 miles away. From this thin knowledge base, I have in three years fostered connections throughout the community that grew my library’s offerings from 7 youth programs a year to nearly 200, 8 summer reading program community partners to 16, and 0 grants earned in the prior 6 years to 3 in the 3 years of my tenure. I have fostered new partnerships with local homeschool groups, the elementary schools’ teacher groups and principals, the high school science department, the local state park, an assisted living facility for youth, the pregnancy care center, the charity consignment shop, 4H, youth groups at a local faith-based agency, 100% of listed preschools in our taxing district, and more. These successes are largely due to embedding myself in the community.
When moving to Mitchell, I made the conscious choice to become engaged in the community. I leased an apartment in walking distance to the library, shopped for a church, volunteered at local charitable events, attended community meetings, and generally stomped the pavement for the combined purposes of making myself known and publicizing the library. When attending school board meetings, dropping off brochures at preschools, and even when buying groceries, I introduced myself as “Jacqui the Librarian” to give people a person to connect to the library building.
Following the age-old advice that “you have two ears and one mouth, use them proportionally”, I spent the vast majority of my first year getting to know the community’s priorities, concerns, prime movers, and average citizens. I also let them know me, so that they felt they had a personal connection at the library. From there, in my second and third years I was able to make scores of suggestions for collaborations with the library, new initiatives for patrons, and personalized suggestions for library usage. Again and again to every group who would listen (and plenty who wouldn’t), I suggested how the library could assist them in accomplishing their own goals; and again and again, they took me up on my offers.
You too can find collaborative opportunities by embedding yourself in the community. Wherever possible, I would encourage you to live in the same area as your patrons, attend social events that they attend, volunteer with charities that serve your patrons, and always be prepared to represent the library. Wherever your library is and whatever size your YA department takes, you can increase its market share in teenagers present and engaged by building collaborations within your community, to the ultimate effect that you serve more patrons and in more diverse ways, create funding opportunities, and increase community support for your library.
Add a Comment
By: Beth,
on 11/28/2011
I’m going to have to keep this brief today, which is fitting because today is all about time. When did you last say that you had too much time on your hands? If you’re like a lot of us, you don’t remember the last time you could just sit back and relax. There’s always something else that has to be done – another program to plan, more weeding to be done, desk hours, etc. You keep putting things aside to do later, but later never comes. If you already have a fail-proof method that keeps you scheduled and on task, I’m super jealous, and please share in the comments!
I, on the other hand, tend to be really disorganized, so at the beginning of this month when I started NaNoWriMo, I had no idea how I was going to manage that on top of everything else. I had to come up with something to do differently, or else I was never going to make it. So, here are a few tips for keeping your head above water:
1. Start using your calendar!
Whether it’s Outlook or Google or a planner that you keep in your desk, start putting every little thing you have scheduled or need to accomplish in there. Is there something that you constantly have to find time to do? Put it in your calendar and set a reminder. The key to this is using something that’s going to be in your face and hard to ignore.
2. Use your apps!
It can be an app on your phone – I use one that syncs with my Google calendar – or a site online. The folks over at Lifehacker suggest Zirrus, which allows you to prioritize your tasks in the form of a tag cloud. Using an app online or on your phone gives you the added advantage of taking your organization wherever you go, and if it syncs to your calendar, that’s even better.
3. Write it down!
Even with having your calendar and prioritizing your tasks, I’ve found that writing out what I have to do the next day makes it easier to best my arch nemesis: procrastination. Put it on sticky notes, real or virtual (I use Evernote because I can access my notes online or from my phone), and even if I don’t look at them again, what I have to do the next day is already in my mind.
That’s all I have time for today. I have 3,300 more words before I hit the 50,000 mark, so I have to get crackin’. Be sure to leave your own tips and tricks in the comments. This is Heather, signing off from my tablet on the go!
Add a Comment
By: Beth,
on 10/31/2011
Tuesday, Nov. 1st (ahem, tomorrow) is the deadline to submit your nomination for Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers list. That doesn’t leave you much time to nominate that person you met at ALA Annual whose efforts caught your attention. Or your co-worker who seems to be ahead of every trend. Or yourself! It may be that you don’t know anyone who fits the strict criteria. Oh, what are the criteria, you ask?
A M&S is a “leader in the library world” who is “innovative, creative, and making a difference”. Previous teen services-related winners have kick-started teen services in their branch, library system, and community. (One winner got gaming systems in all 20 branches in her library system!!) Others began a project on a small scale only to have it adopted by their surrounding community. Let me highlight a few previous winners so that you might be inspired to nominate someone or strive to be a contender for next year’s award.
1. I’ll start with a woman I have met on a few occasions. She spoke at a small workshop at my previous library, and at a few other, larger settings. Jamie Watson of Hartford County, Maryland is so high-energy, you cannot help but get a little excited when you hear her talk. Her humor and candidness is likely what attracts teens to her. She was recognized as a 2008 M&S because of her involvement with YALSA (Quick Picks Committee member), and because her blog was is syndicated by a Washington DC-area public TV station. *Traits to mimic: enthusiasm, blogging
2. One of 2010’s M&S winners was Monique Delatte, a librarian in Los Angeles, CA. This customer service oriented librarian has won grants for the La Puenta public library as well as the Rio Hondo College (where she is an adjunct professor) totaling over $57,000. Delatte serves a very impoverished community where low income and low education levels are common, so that money is more than needed. *Traits to emulate: grant-writing, customer service
3. Librarian Maureen Ambrosino took her role as Youth Services Consultant for Central Massachusetts Library System very seriously, and took the opportunity to teach her co-workers all about the benefits of working with and for teens. Maureen brought in trainers to teach staff members how to “work effectively with teens”, which resulted in a significant growth in the number of teen summer reading programs. *Traits to imitate: imparting knowledge on others, dedication
The efforts of previous M&S winners are noteworthy. They saw a need and they met it, usually with so much success that it garnered community- or state-wide attention. We can all strive to be Movers & Shakers. Even if Library Journal never recognizes our achievements, your teens, your coworkers, and your community will notice.
Add a Comment
By: Beth,
on 9/25/2011
If you’re like us at my library, you’re fairly limited in the software you’re allowed to use (ahem, Microsoft Office suite), and your in-house publicity is made with Publisher. If you’re in the habit of making signs or flyers for your programs, check to see if you’ve gotten into the clipart-gradient background-text rut. If this isn’t you, please please please help your fellow librarian who fits this description. If you’re thinking, But what’s wrong with my clipart?, I beg of you, please keep reading.
Backgrounds
Flyers and signs should be eye-catching, especially when you’re competing for the short attention span of teens, and it all starts with your background. It shouldn’t be just any color, or a color at all. The background you choose can determine what images you use, as well as the type and color of your font. If you choose a plain background, you’d better have an image that pops, and your font color should be a high contrast. On the other hand, if your background is an image, use other pictures or clipart sparingly (if at all), and consider a “washout” effect, essentially increasing the brightness and lowering the contrast. You want the text to be readable from a distance, and an image background can obscure readability.
Images
Think about cropping an image in a neat way to only use part of it. Instead of a floating ninja head, put that same head with the chin cropped off at the bottom of the flyer to make it look like it is looking over something. If you’re looking for something fresh, try searching through Google Images, Flickr, or other photo sites. Remember to keep copyright in mind, though, and look for images licensed through Creative Commons instead, which is often easier to use and understand.
Fonts
The last important element is the font. Even if your IT department protests every time you try to install something new, that doesn’t mean you can’t use special fonts. For a Halloween program, use a Friday the 13th-esque font or some other font that embodies your gruesome theme. Having a spa program for girls? Use a super girly font with a lot of flourishes. You can even try to match the font from a book cover (think Hunger Games). Here’s the trick: download the font, unzip it if required, and save the TrueType file to your desktop. Open the file, and like magic, the font becomes available when creating WordArt in Publisher. As long as the font file is open while your Publisher file is open, the font is available and will show up properly (Side note: even if you save the Publisher file, the font will revert back to a standard font if the downloaded font file is not open. To avoid this, save the file as a .jpg). Fonts can come from a number of sources, but my usual choice is dafont.com
The most important thing is don’t forget to have fun with this! What tricks have you learned along the way to keep your publicity from getting boring? Leave your answer in the comments.
By: Beth,
on 9/24/2011
Last spring some library school students asked me how to avoid burn-out. We’d been talking in class about all of the activities that librarians serving teens needed to be involved in – collection development, advocacy, programming, management, outreach, personal professional development, technology, and so on. When I was asked the question I had to stop for a little while and think about my answer. Here’s how I did answer:
By: Beth,
on 9/12/2011
You’ve got the materials. You’ve got the space. So, what can a teen librarian do to draw the teens in and get the books in their hands? A lot, actually. What follows is a brief list of some of the techniques that can be used to make the most of your teen collection.
1. Displays, displays, displays!
By far the easiest way to highlight new books to your collection, under-the-radar reads, and staff favorites. Themed displays work well to capture those audience members who like a particular genre or subject, but eclectic displays can also be just as effective. (Blue-covered books, anyone?) Let the display do all the work for you.
2. Cross-merchandise
Filling displays with books is a no-brainer, but don’t forget to include other formats including audiobooks, Playaways, music CDs, magazines, and whatever else you may have available to enhance your displays and invite potential use.
3. Build the buzz
Create a display featuring books that are in high demand—if you can keep them on the shelves—and include a visual that indicates when the sequel is due. Not only does it answer readers’ questions about when the next book will be coming out, it also builds anticipation and discussion between yourself and your teens.
4. Highlight crossover authors
The YA publishing industry is still going strong, and many authors who have typically written for an adult audience are finding that there’s an untapped teen market out there. Best-selling authors including James Patterson, John Grisham, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Harlan Coben have made the leap into young adult fiction, so featuring their work not only introduces teens to well-established writers but also draws adults into the amazing world of YA books.
5. Make use of your TAB
What better way to get the word out about your library’s materials and resources than by having the teens themselves do the marketing for you in a convincing, authentic way.
6. Tag your titles
If your library catalog supports a tagging system, such as Encore, used by the Cuyahoga County Public Library system, then make use of it! Tagging your books allows similar titles to be linked to each other, so when searching the catalog by tag, other like-minded titles will appear as well. It’s a great way to “recommend” titles to those patrons who’d rather discover books on their own.
Of course, these are just a few of the ways to feature what you have in your collection, and really, there’s no wrong way to do this. Experiment with different approaches, be creative, and have fun; if you can do these things, then your teens will get what they want and need from your collection.
By: Beth,
on 8/29/2011
Any teen librarian who is fortunate enough to work with a talented children’s librarian knows that the possibilities for collaborating on innovative programs are endless, providing youth from birth to young adulthood with programming that meets their developmental, social, and educational needs. If you haven’t taken the opportunity to work closely with your children’s librarian on a project, there’s no better time than now to do so. Why collaborate? Here are three good reasons:
1. Youth-oriented resource
While teens aren’t their primary focus, children’s librarians are just as concerned with the development of youth as teen librarians, so working together on collaborative programs not only benefits the youth the library serves but the librarians themselves. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there’s another resource within the library who understands the unique demands of serving youth and shares your vision on how to do so; someone whose support and knowledge are invaluable tools, especially when working together on tween programs and those that provide mentoring possibilities for teens. Joint teen/children’s projects can provide librarians with much-needed resource-sharing and insight.
2. Assets builder
Collaborative programs can provide teens with opportunities to mentor younger participants, and in some settings, earn the teens service credit as volunteers. Not only do these joint efforts reinforce many of the 40 Developmental Assets for adolescents, but they effectively and organically grow future teen participants in library programs. For example, our system has offered a successful “Reading Buddies” program for years, and many of the teen “Big Buddies” who mentored young readers this past summer are “Little Buddies” graduates and are equally as comfortable working with the children’s librarian as they are with the teen librarian. Programs such as this help develop strong, self-actualized teens while encouraging children to see themselves as future library leaders.
3. Entertaining process and product
Who else can appreciate teen programs such as creating “Gocks” or playing extreme musical chairs? Why, the same person who makes paper plate masks: the children’s librarian, of course! Brainstorming with the children’s librarian when you’re seemingly fresh out of ideas will get both of your creative juices flowing, and when the intent is to come up with a joint program that will attract youth to the library, then bouncing ideas off one another may result in something that can be developed into an engaging and innovative program. Turn the library into a giant game board? We can do that! Have teens help children build and decorate spooky, edible gingerbread houses in October? No problem! There’s no limit to what can be accomplished when teen and children’s librarians work together.
Whether you’re looking to expand your programming repertoire, create volunteer opportunities for your teens, or just find a comrade-in-arms, then look no further than your friendly children’s librarian, one of the best resources for a teen librarian. You’ll be glad you did.
By: Beth,
on 8/24/2011
I am noticing a big problem at a lot of libraries – mine in particular, since, you know, I’m there a lot. The problem is that the teen patrons only talk to the teen librarian. When I’m not there, reference questions go unasked. Books stay missing. Computers go unused. They are scared to talk to anyone else. A girl approached me that had been looking for a book for three weeks that was sitting on the shelves the whole time because she was too intimidated to ask anyone but me what the call number meant.
The kids, being kids and all, come in after school and are noisy. Shocking to all of you, I know. Since when are kids noisy? It bothers other patrons and usually ends with a staff member scolding them. This scolding is usually the only time the teen patrons interact with any other members of the library staff. They only know people I think of as helpful and kind as yelling, angry adults. Thus, they avoid them. I am in the YA room nearly every day for multiple hours, so I am a familiar, friendly (I hope) face. I have talked to them, so they know that they can talk to me. The rest of the staff are all really fantastic people that would be happy to help the teen patrons, but the teens are afraid and refuse to approach them.
I’m doing my best to encourage the teens to go to the staff with their questions. I have supplied the other reference librarians with book lists and summer reading lists so that they are well-equipped for reader’s advisory and other YA questions. As you all well know, the teen years are when libraries lose most patrons. I want to make sure that we are showing these kids that the library is a place they are welcome to be in. If they feel welcome, they will keep coming here well past their teen years. The question is how to get my staff involved? I am guessing that many of you have dealt with a similar problem. What did you do? I’d love some advice to make my teen population feel more comfortable.
By: Beth,
on 8/16/2011
Gretchen came up with the idea of visiting Erin when we found out that our libraries (in southern Connecticut and southwestern Massachusetts respectively) are not terribly far from one another. We were looking for a cultural exchange: to see what was new and exciting in each other’s libraries and teen programs. It’s also just fun to meet Internet friends in real life. (Thanks for introducing us, YALSA and Twitter!) Here’s what we found.
Gretchen’s visit:
I asked Erin if I could visit for one of her anime club meetings because my manga club is one of the most consistently well-attended programs I run, but I feel like I need more ideas and a better sense of how more established clubs work as mine finds its stride.
Erin’s library is beautiful both outside and inside, with tall ceilings, pleasant lighting, and wood accents everywhere. Their children’s room is downright magical.
After giving me a tour, Erin walked me through their summer reading club: participants log the number of hours they read, earning prizes for reaching different levels. They’re also automatically entered into weekly raffles for bigger prizes. I really liked how she has the raffle prizes on display in the teen area, and I liked that raffle winners selected the prize they wanted from everything that was on display, rather than having specific prizes given away on designated weeks. I also love that she’s giving away a couple of ARCs, billing them as “not even published yet!” That makes the prizes–and reading–more exciting and cool.
Erin’s summer reading program runs on Evanced’s Summer Reader, and she showed me how kids log their reading, how the service desk staff members help teens collect their prizes, and how she selects raffle winners using the software. Since my summer reading club is in its first year, I’m doing everything online by hand using forms on my library’s website and spreadsheets in Google Docs. It’s worked reasonably well, but it’s been more complicated and time-consuming than Erin’s program. I’m hoping to make the case to my administration for summer reading software next year, and being able to see it in action helped.
Teens had gathered outside the room before the anime club meeting, some even coming to the library an hour early just to hang out and read. Once everyone had arrived, Erin unfurled this big (like, the size of the conference table big) collaborative drawing the club had been working on. My manga club has a lot of aspiring artists in it, so I am definitely going to bring this idea back to them!
We watched the first episode of America’s Greatest Otaku and an episode or two of Black Butler, and then, for the last few minutes of the meeting, Erin announced it was Random Stuff on the Internet Time, where teens could show their favorite anime-related things, so long as they were library-appropriate. Lots of kids had anime music videos (AMVs) they wanted everyone to see. I like that her club isn’t just about passively watching: it’s also about finding cool things and sharing them with others.
Erin’s visit:
I went to visit Gretchen’s library last week. She works in an older building, in a well-off suburban town. The older building requires a bit of wandering to find things, but I found that as
By: Beth,
on 6/14/2011
Are you going to Annual next week? If you’re a new member to YALSA, the amount of programming and opportunities within the organization can seem overwhelming. Or maybe you’ve been a YALSA member for years, but want to get more involved! Either way, a great way to learn more about YALSA and how to get involved is to attend the YALSA 101 session on Friday, June 24th in New Orleans!
YALSA 101 is a mixer style event where seasoned YALSA members will be seated at tables available to talk about various YALSA events and initiatives. Conference attendees can wander and visit the tables they are most interested in learning more about! This is a great chance to address specific questions, issues and to provide a networking/mentoring opportunity for all involved.
YALSA 101 will take place Friday the 24th from 3 to 4p.m., just before the Opening General Session. All members are encouraged to attend and to contribute!
By: Beth,
on 5/26/2011
Ah, summer and the teen summer reading program. It’s one of my favorite times in the library. I love that the library provides a safe place for teens to spend some of their summer hours—a place where they can read, use the computers, hang out, and go to fun programs. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found that as much as I love the summer reading program, preparing for and promoting it can be just as fun. School visits are the best!
In my district, school visits are usually an all day event, and for the teen summer reading program we normally only visit middle schools. We set up in the school media center and classes come in and visit us throughout the day. It’s a very fun, but very long, day. The time allotted to us varies by school, but is usually about 30-50 minutes per group of kids. We spend the first half of the visit talking about the summer reading program (dates, prizes, programs over the summer, etc.) and the second half booktalking and giving the teens ideas for books to read.
This was my first year doing school visits as a librarian for my district. I’ve been having a blast meeting with teens, telling them about the summer reading program, and booktalking some great books. I have some really great colleagues and I’ve learned a ton while doing school visits this year, so I thought I’d share some tips and tricks to help other new librarians.
By: Beth,
on 4/26/2011
Last week was spring break, which means that this week, teens are dragging themselves back to school and back into their normal lives. I know a lot of them thought their break was much too short–but for me, it was much too long: there was absolutely no one at the library last week and I was lonely!
I should have known this was coming since the public schools also get a week off in February and the library was dead during that week (my library serves a very family-based area, so when the kids have vacation, everyone has vacation), but I’d also been attributing some of the February quiet to the weather being especially crummy and the families who were home wanting to stay out of the snow and ice and ick. I was hoping that spring break would be different.
But it wasn’t, really. We’re very firmly an after-school destination. The good side of that is that kids come to the library just to hang out, and in getting to know the regulars, I’ve cultivated a core group of kids that attend nearly every program I put on. But the downside is that if there is no school, we’re not a destination–and I think that above all else is the primary thing I want to change in the next couple of years. I want kids to come to the library not just because it’s within walking distance of school and they need somewhere to be until their parents get home from work. I want the library to be a place they want to go because there’s something specific here for them that they want to do or use or experience. I think part of it is the battle all of us fight to successfully advertise ourselves, but a big part of it is that our programs and services for teens are still really new.
I have some plans for how to do that (though I’d love more ideas if you have them!), but for now, I’m just going to revel in actually having my patrons back in my library after a long and lonely week! I was able to knock out a lot of planning and paperwork while they were gone, but having to do all of that boring stuff and go to meetings without the relief of being able to talk about Minecraft, joke around with my TAB kids, or do any readers’ advisory at all left me feeling out of sorts and made me realize that I am definitely in this profession for the kids, not for the library itself.
I’m really into the goals and ideals of our profession and I want to promote all of the great things libraries do that people might not know about and to make information more accessible and understandable to people. I like YA lit a lot and I’m interested in raising its reputation outside the YA world. But what really matters to me is what I can do to make my teens’ lives–both right now and in the future–more awesome.
I want to help them find reading material that is engaging to them. I want to help them totally nerd out in their interests and hobbies. I want them to be able to have fun, to have opportunities to grow as people, and to feel valued in our community. I want to be their advocates within the library and to everyone else in the town. As overly earnest as it sounds, I want to use the library as a force for good in their lives.
I was kind of surprised by how bummed a week without my patrons made me feel, but it’s shown me that they’re definitely what gives my job meaning. I like that I know that about myself now, and I’m really looking forward to building our teen services and getting the word out about what we do.
By: Beth,
on 3/15/2011
I had the opportunity to chat with a group of School Library Teacher students from Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science on Twitter recently. These students, from various parts of Massachusetts, are all working on practicum experiences in school libraries. They meet up once a week on Twitter to support each other, compare notes, puzzle out questions of teaching in libraries, and help each other accurately document their experiences in their required binder. They use the hashtag #prakchat, for practicum chat, when they have these tweetups, as well as throughout the week to share their trials and triumphs on the front lines of their school libraries.
I was impressed by their initiative in using Twitter and the way they articulated its impact on their library school experiences. The support of colleagues is so important in library school and in the profession in general. Professional Learning Networks need not rely on proximity. A simple agreement about how to communicate can go a long way. Check out the transcripts from our two part conversation.
Part One
ErinCerulean Erin Daly
As I understand it the folks using the #prakchat hashtag are Simmons students. Are you all in Boston or are there some GSLIS West folks?
alidahanson Alida Hanson
@ErinCerulean we have one GSLIS west person #prakchat
ErinCerulean Erin Daly
@alidahanson Yay GSLIS West, that’s where I went!
alidahanson Alida Hanson
@ErinCerulean i can tell you how #prakchat started cuz I did it
alidahanson Alida Hanson
@ErinCerulean the twitter chat works for us because it’s impossible for us to get together with our busy schedules #prakchat
jendimmick Jennifer Dimmick
@alidahanson I agree! I <3 reading the stream the day after the chat time; don’t feel so left out. So helpful w/ideas & support.#prakchat
ErinCerulean Erin Daly
@alidahanson cool, you can tell me about it now and then I’ll come back and talk w/people at regular #prakchat time on Tuesday also.
alidahanson Alida Hanson
@ErinCerulean amanda bock wanted to put together a discussion group and asked for suggestions. #prakchat
alidahanson Alida Hanson
@
