U IS FOR...

Understanding Teen Environments!

Creating a teen friendly library atmosphere where teens feel welcome and safe is something that was very present in my mind when we were opening our new library. Now, maintaining and improving this type of environment is something that I'm constantly working on. As a Youth Services Librarian, working with teens has been one of the most rewarding and fun experiences of my career thus far. I'm a huge advocate of teen library services because I know how important it is to reach this underserved population. I feel lucky to have many teens visiting and using our library as well as participating in our programs. It can be challenging at times to maintain the interest of teens and get them involved in library activities. Anyone who has worked with teens knows that this requires a tremendous amount of patience and flexibility but it is worth every effort.

At our library we offer various teen programs such as music lessons, teen council activities, art classes, dance classes, short story programs, monthly dance and music showcases, video game challenge, tutoring, and reading programs. Our library has become one of the teen hang out spots in the community. When we first opened our branch we were having problems with some of the teens. I think they were testing the boundaries and wanted to see how much they could get away with. After a couple of months of dealing with some behavior issues, teens started establishing a level of trust with staff and vice-versa. I got to know many of our teens through our programs but what I believe has made our services for teens successful is that everyone on staff is on board with programs and services for teens. I believe that enthusiasm towards serving teens can be contagious and that has proven to be true at my library. Recently, when our teens were working on the video for the ALA "Why I need my library" contest, I witnessed just how involved we've all been with our teens. Most of them know us by our names, and depending on their interests, I almost feel like each of them has a favorite staff member. During the filming of our video I witnessed things like our security guard lending his laptop to the teen music group so they could use his software for the video, and our library clerk, who's hobby is video production, giving tips to our teens on storyboarding and on how to shoot the video. Our entire staff was so proud of the teen music group for creating the video and they all encouraged them and made it known to others how proud they were of the group.

Recently, the area around my desk has become the "unofficial" teen space area. At times it does get a little hectic and I have to let them know when I need some time to work on projects, but I do try to be as available as possible to them and appreciate the fact that many of them feel really comfortable coming to my desk and talking to me about almost anything. In the last 6 months I've had teens come to me with some heavy issues such as the death of a parent, suicide and loved ones in prison. I try to be there for them in the capacity that I can and let them know that their library family cares and supports them. I appreciate the trust they instill in me, to be able to talk to me about their problems or share their excitements and triumphs. I believe that teen council has also played a huge role in this and find that teens that participate in teen council have developed a bond with each other as well as library staff. They are like a family and look out for each other and of course I'm thrilled when they tell other teens how "cool" the library is.

Creating understanding and welcoming teen environments can go a long way with teens, give them a sense of pride and ownership as well as motivate them to advocate for themselves at the library. Hopefully teens sharing their enthusiasm for the library becomes contagious as well!

C is for...

CRAFTY C.A.T.S.!

Crafty C.A.T.S. (Community Action Teen Service) is a creative arts-based community service program for tweens and teens ages 11+ that I run at the Escondido Public Library. Volunteerism is a requirement for almost all high schools, academic associations, community groups like the Scouts, and scholarships, so I wanted to provide students with a way to earn community service credit while strengthening their creative and artistic skills.

Over the last four years, I have developed partnerships with the following community groups:

• Escondido Humane Society - knit Snuggle blankets for shelter animals
• Palomar Hospital, Escondido Literacy Department, and First 5 San Diego - knit beanies for newborn babies as part of the Born to Read program
• Sharp Memorial Hospital Cancer Center - knit hats for chemotherapy patients
• Ships Project - knit hats and scarves for troops overseas
• Knit squares and sent them to Africa to be made into quilts for AIDS orphans

We also make handmade bookmarks to sell in the library, and we even put our painting skills to use last summer when we removed graffiti from city property. Projects like these give students both a local and a global perspective on philanthropy while engaging them in a creative, artistic way.

Reading Program On the Cheap

Last week our library began the I <3 Books reading program. While the main goal of the program is promoting literacy, we were also hoping to encourage patrons to use our resources and borrow library material. Our circulation has been somewhat low since the holiday season and starting a reading program seemed like an obvious choice to boost circulation. Of course, with a limited budget, we had to find resourceful and creative ways to implement this program. With the help of our teens and financial support from our Friends group, we not only started our reading program but we were also able to have a successful kickoff event where many patrons registered to participate in the reading contest.

Here are 5 tips that worked for us in implementing a low cost reading program:

1) Use your leftovers. We used our of leftover material such as books, pencils and bags from previous programs to offer as part of our incentives.

2) Find an inexpensive incentive that is appropriate for most ages. Silly Bandz did the trick for us! Both children and teens in our community can't get enough silly bandz and the price was just right. Of course we did not forget about the little ones and adults, but the cost for these incentives was minimal, given that we had several leftover items from our summer reading program that were appropriate for both of these age groups.

3) Solicit financial support or donations for grand prizes. This was our big cost item. We were fortunate to obtain our financial support from our Friends of the Library group. If you don't have a Friends group though, try local businesses, community partners or generous patrons who are often willing to help.

4) Go green and keep the printing of reading logs and promotional material to a minimum. Our reading logs were printed as half sheets in black and white. We told patrons if they loose their reading log to write it on any piece of scratch paper. Our printed fliers were limited and our promotional information was distributed electronically to the schools and local partners. Teen Council created a couple of large visible posters with the program information and placed them in the areas of the library that receive the most traffic.

5) Recruit volunteers and FREE local talent to host a kickoff event. Our teens did it all! Teen council volunteered to run the event and register patrons for the program. Our teen music group joined forces with local teen dancing crews to provide the entertainment and promote the event.



Check out more pictures of the I Heart Books Kickoff Event.