The first time I read The Future of Library Services for and with Teens, I was inspired. The second time I read the report, I was overwhelmed. The third time I read the report, I was determined. As I looked at the findings in the report, and the steps YALSA calls out to ready our libraries to serve teens into the future, I felt like I was drowning. How could I implement all of these changes? And then I remembered that I was not alone, I was surrounded by amazing library staff who could, actually they should, come on this journey with me. So I started a discussion centered on the findings in the report and it has been one of the most professionally satisfying experiences of my career. If you feel a little overwhelmed, or want to build support for the actions outlined in the support with your colleagues, I highly suggest starting a discussion group.

First, the report looks deceptively long, don’t let that scare you or your colleagues from diving in. The real meat of the report, that provides the best fodder for discussion is only 33 pages long, that is achievably short, even for the time poor. We broke our discussion up, planning to cover the whole report in three discussions of 30 minutes each (about 10 pages per meeting).

We started small, with a look at the executive summary and the introduction to the report. This generated more discussion than we could cover in 30 minutes (I might recommend at least an hour) but I would rather get the conversation started and have it continue in the staff room, at the desk, and over coffee breaks. I knew we should allow for thoughts of dissent, one of the things I love about my colleagues is our ability to challenge assumptions. We want to really break things down so we can understand them better. You will notice a lot of questions that allow for the voice of dissent.

Introduction

• How do recent cuts in school librarian jobs change our role as public librarians serving teens?
• Does the Library play a role in closing the achievement gap? Are we succeeded at that? What could we be doing better? Is that what our community needs? Is our community defined merely by our serving district, or does it expand beyond city/county/state borders?
• What are the negative influences on our teens that we can help alleviate or solve?
• Do you feel prepared to deliver culturally competent library service?
• What is our role in preparing teens for the workforce and making sure they have 21^st century skills and technological literacy?

Executive Summary

• The report states that libraries are grappling with diminishing resources. How are we facing diminishing resources to serve teens? What resources are diminishing?
• The report also states that we are serving a changing teen population. How is the teen population of our community changing? What have you noticed?
• If the diversity of teens is grown everywhere, how are we welcoming to all users? Have we changed anything to meet our new users where they are? What do these demographic changes mean for how we serve teens?
• How do you see rapid technology adoption impacting our services to teens?
• Do you feel it is the library’s role to help prepare teens for the workforce with critical skills? What skills do they need? How are we already meeting those needs? Where and how do we need to grow capacity?
• How do you feel about this statement, “…[The library] needs to evolve into a place, physical and virtual, where individuals can learn how to connect and use all types of resources, from physical books to apps to experts in a local, regional, or national community. Libraries must leverage new technologies and become kitchens for ‘mixing resources’ in order to empower teens to build skills, develop understanding, create and share, and overcome adversity.” How do we already do this? What challenges do we face?
• YALSA highlights the library’s critical role of providing an education system outside of formal schools. Are we leveraging that opportunity? How so? What would it mean for us to become the center for community education?
• Who is our audience? How do we balance outreach and serving those who come through the door?
• YALSA calls for skilled staff to act as mentors, coaches and connectors. How are we primed to do that? What challenges do we face?
• What do you think about Outreach as a tool to measure need in the community? Is that how we use it?
• What kind of policies do we have around serving teens? Are they flexible and easy to update as YALSA calls for? How can we impact change?
• Do we take a whole Library approach to planning, delivering and evaluating teen services?
• What does “literacy as a social act” mean? Are we serving our community in this way? Are our teens literate by this definition? What can we do to influence that?

With the care of passionate librarians, my colleagues created such a thoughtful and meaningful discussion around the report and these questions. We really came to focus on the ideas of being culturally competent and the changing demographics of our teen community. After our first discussion, several staff dove into Department of Education statistics about the schools nearest their location, and municipal statistics on poverty and race. They prepared reports for our next discussion over pages 4-12 (which will be summarized in part 2 of this series!).

As I continue these blog series about The Future of Library Services for and with Teens, I am curious what conversations you are having around the report? Which one of these discussion questions really piques your interest?

A big thank you to my colleagues who have participated in the discussion. I have the advantage of working for a library system. We have over 300 employees, staffing 13 libraries, serving an county of over 500,000 residents. I get to work with almost 40 passionate youth services staff members who have really embraced our discussions around the support.  We have a wide variety of voices and perspectives in our department, which is one of my favorite things about our staff. Their insights have challenged me to look deeper into the report, think differently about it and notice things I had skimmed over on previous reading.

YALSA is seeking a Member Manager for its upcoming web resource, Teen Programming HQ, The mission of the new site is to provide a one-stop-shop for finding and sharing information about library programs of all kinds for and with teens. The site will promote best practices in programming by featuring user-submitted programs that align with YALSA’s Teen Programming Guidelines and Futures Report. The site will also enable dissemination of timely information about emerging and new practices for teen programming; raise awareness about appropriate YALSA tools to facilitate innovation in teen programming; and provide a means for members and the library community to connect with one another to support and display their efforts to continuously improve their teen programs. The site is expected to have a soft launch in July and a full launch in September. Please note that web developers have been contracted with to build the site. The Member Manager is not expected to have any web site design or development responsibilities.

The Member Manager will work with YALSA's Communications Specialist to ensure the site is relevant, interactive, engaging and meeting member needs for information about innovation in teen programming, as well as participates in the maintenance of the site and work within the guidelines for the site as set by the YALSA Board of Directors. The Member Manager assists with the recruitment of experts and the collection of content for the site; generates ideas for direction and content; helps obtain, analyze and use member and library community feedback about the site; assists with marketing; and assists with ensuring programming related activities, news and resources from YALSA are integrated in the site, and vice versa.

List of Qualifications for the Member Manager:

1. Strong project management and organizational skills
2. Ability to delegate work and to manage a variety of contributors and volunteers
3. Dynamic, self-motivated individual
4. Excellent verbal and written communications skills
5. Experience in web site maintenance
6. Ability to set and meet deadlines
7. Knowledge of best practices in teen programming, as outlined in YALSA’s Teen Programming Guidelines and Futures Report
8. Ability to work well in a team environment
9. Ability to work well in a mostly virtual setting, including using tools such as Google Drive, Google Calendar, Skype, etc. to coordinate work and communicate with others
10. Membership in YALSA and a passion for YALSA’s mission
11. High ethical standards and no real or perceived conflict of interest with YALSA or its portfolio of print and web publications

General Member Manager Responsibilities:

Oversight & Coordination

• For the inaugural year of the site, work with the Communications Specialist to create and implement systems and processes to ensure efficient oversight, promotion and integration of the site and database. Make adjustments as needed
• For the inaugural year of the site, work with the expert panel to formalize the vetting process and create and utilize guidelines, standard messaging, etc. to create consistency with the vetting process. Make adjustments as needed
• Work with the Communications Specialist to recruit and vet experts to vet the program proposals, and submit recommendations to the President
• Communicate with the Communications Specialist on a regular basis in order to assign tasks, discuss marketing strategies, discuss site management, etc.
• Work with the blog managers and YALS and JRLYA editors as appropriate to coordinate dissemination of information to members and the library community.
• Maintain communication with YALSA member groups whose work relates to teen programming
• Follow all established policies and guidelines, enforce them as necessary and periodically conduct a review of them to ensure currency
• Direct questions about sponsorships, advertising, etc. to YALSA’s Executive Director
• Write reports prior to the Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting for submission to the YALSA Board

Seek Out & Manage Content & Contributors

• Provide oversight to the panel of experts to make sure the quality of program submissions is acceptable complies with YALSA’s Teen Programming Guidelines and Futures Report
• With the Communications Specialist recruit contributors on a regular basis
• Effectively motivate, support and manage a group of volunteers
• Manage a strategy to deal with comments and spam daily in order to guarantee that the site content is appropriate

Promotion

• Seek out opportunities to recruit contributors and inform the library community about the site
• Answer questions and inquiries about the site in a timely fashion
• Work with the YALSA Website Advisory Board and the Communications Specialist to create cross-promotion of all YALSA's web presences
• Utilize social media to increase awareness of the site and its content

Technical Maintenance

• Work with YALSA’s Communications Specialist as appropriate to update and manage software
• Monitor new technologies and their potential to impact the site, and make recommendations to the Communications Specialist, as appropriate

YALSA Communications Specialist Responsibilities:

• Communicates regularly with Member Manager to provide support and facilitate work
• Works with the site developer and the ALA IT Dept. as needed on technical issues
• Handles all financial transactions for the site
• Promotes the site through appropriate venues
• Coordinates efforts and facilitates communication among all YALSA publications, including the blogs and journals
• Manages the site software, including liaising with the developer and ALA’s IT Dept. to troubleshoot technical issues
• Ensure site guidelines and policies are complied with
• Oversee the recruitment process for Member Managers, as needed

The Member Manager will be selected by the YALSA Executive Committee by August 1, 2015. The term of the appointment is one year beginning in August 2015, with an option to renew for a second year, based on performance. The Member Manager will receive an honorarium of $500 per year plus $500 towards travel to each Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting while serving as Member Manager. Candidates must send a cover letter and resume, which includes project management, teen programming, marketing and website maintenance experiences to [email protected]. All resumes, etc. must be submitted via email. The deadline for submission is July 1, 2015. Please note that this is not a salaried staff position, but a member volunteer opportunity. Please direct questions to Anna Lam at [email protected]