Asset: High Expectations

High Expectations is one of forty developmental assets for teens, and in my opinion it is one of the most important. In serving the public sometimes there is a tendency to melt to the lowest common denominator, and while those patrons deserve service too, we can provide so much more.

I have heard adults in my community say that nobody ever talked to them as if they were expected to go college. That struck me very deeply, and I always try to promote college as an option for my teens.

I encouraged them to show me their report cards and gave out candy as a reward. I required a 3.0, an A in English or Reading, or marked improvement from last term to get the reward. Yes, that is high, but I don't think that is unreachable for most of my teens.

This fall I launched Amplify. Amplify is a leadership development program that requires a twice-weekly commitment. I decided that I would go forward with 12 teens and limit it to 20, I currently have 22 teens enrolled because I just couldn't turn them away. Only time will tell if they last the year, but I expect most of them will.

Tweens: The Next "Big" Thing

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

All We Have to Give 4/4: Expertise

The similarities between the teen and the toddler brain don’t end with a lack of impulse control. Teens also soak up information like sponges, they are just a bit more selective in what they are willing to absorb. Here is where we come through again, this time offering expertise.

Sometimes it’s our own expertise in our reference work and programs we conduct ourselves. Sometimes it is teaching teens to recognize expertise through resource evaluation. In many cases we provide expertise by bringing in experts to teach, inform, and entertain.

Some well tested ideas for offering expertise to your teens:

• Invite a nutritionist to talk about easy to make healthy food
  
• Have a poetry workshop for teens featuring a local poet
  
• Put together a panel of college students and personnel to discuss the realities of college life.
  
• Ask your local yarn store about teachers for a knitting or crochet class
  
• Offer a safety and self-defense class in cooperation with law enforcement
  
  

How do you provide expertise to your teens?

All We Have to Give 3/4: Structure

You don’t always see teens and structure as part of the same thought, but it’s important part of what we do. Of course we provide structure through our rules and policies, and that certainly has its place helping teens become part of the adult world, but that is not really what I mean by structure.

The structure that is one of our greatest assets is in our ability to use our resources to create memorable experiences and events for our teens. Think back to your teen years, what do you remember? Not the small everyday things, but the one- of-a-kind experiences. Concerts in the library, lock-ins, teen summits, city-wide talent competitions, and other opportunities abound for our teens because of their local libraries.

CPL’s Wizard Rock Concert

More patron footage

What experiences will your teens remember?

All We Have to Give 2/4: Community

Libraries build community. I know, not exactly an original thought, but community is another thing that libraries have to offer teens. If play is a child’s work then it’s not that big of a leap to say that socializing is a teen’s. Providing opportunities for positive socialization goes a long way to providing for teens’ developmental needs.

Reading is generally a solitary activity, but libraries create a community of readers with programs like book discussion groups, Libraries all over the country are creating opportunities for teens get together over knitting, creative writing, anime, gaming, and anything else that interests them.

Libraries are building communities for teens virtually as well. Perhaps the best example of this is My Own Café, but it’s happening on MySpace, in SecondLife, and on library web sites like the Ann Arbor District Library .

What opportunities will you have this school year to build community?

All We Have to Give 1/4: Validation

Today on the YALSA blog Linda Braun busted what I think of as one of the great myths of YA librarianship, the coolness factor. You don't have to be cool to be a good YA librarian.

So, if we aren't projecting coolness what exactly is it that we as YA librarians offer our teens?

I've worked with teens in two very different communities and it turns out they basically want the same thing: acknowledgment as a valuable member of the human race. Don't we all?

Consider all the ways a good librarian does this:

• We listen to them.
• We look for their input and put it to use in all kinds of ways including teen advisory boards, surveys, and suggestion boxes.
• We buy books that will interest them, not just their parents and teachers.
• We advocate for them both in and out of the library.

What other ways do you give teens a sense of validation?