They might drive you crazy, they might drive the children's department crazy, they almost certainly drive your high school teens crazy. They are the tweens, the 9-13 year-olds in your library, and they might just be the next big thing in youth services. They already mean big money for marketers.
In teen services we often talk about attracting teens to the library. Why is this?
We lost them at 10 or so when they got bored with American Girl Teas and Captain Underpants. This is not meant to be negative towards children's departments at all, I know how difficult it is to plan programs for so many developmental levels, but let's not forget that second and fifth graders are not at the same level. I certainly don't have the answers, but here are some questions to consider:
- How are tweens using my library? Are they coming in at all?
- Can children's and YA cooperate in offering programs specifically for this age group?
- Would more older teens be interested in library programs if the sixth and seventh graders had different activities? (at my library this gets a resounding yes)
- How can we make the middle grade books more attractive and accessible to this age group? What are the go-to titles? What graphic novel, manga, and non-fiction series are appropriate for this age group?
Check out the YPulse Tween entries
The CDC has already caught on with the Verb campaign:
Info for adults
Interactive tween site
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