Do the Slam Thing: CPL's TRW

It's almost TRW and here at CPL that means getting ready for Cleveland Real Star. This is the third year of competition and it works like American Idol. Teens compete at the branch, the best three from each branch compete in three semi-finals by area of the city, and then the top three from each semi-final make the finals in the auditorium. The teens get backpacks, t-shirts, and the winner gets a trophy. The branch gets bragging rights. The library brings in a couple hundred teens, families, and friends throughout the course of the competition.

The first year was a singing competition, last year was dancing, and this year will be performance poetry.

See our web page and listen to the podcast announcement.

Talking With Teens

Jami had a great post over at the YALSA blog about how powerful and important it is just to listen and talk to teens (and other patrons too).

So many teens need more adults in their lives that are low pressure. Our Teen Coordinator often points out that we are one of the few adults in a teen's life that isn't a relative, a teacher, or here in the city:a security guard.

One of the great things about craft programs is how much the teens will open up when their hands are busy. This is a great way to get to know your teens and once they are comfortable they tend to stop by often when there is something on their mind. I have one young man whose mood I can tell easily from the way he flops into the chair by my desk for a chat.

I love conversations about books, but I've also had an opportunity to talk informally about much bigger issues including tolerance, violence, sex, and self respect. Building these relationships is easily one of the best parts of my job.

M for You, T for Me

I was really glad to see the new line of Kimani Tru books aimed at African American teens. The covers are attractive, the dialogue is realistic, and my high school girls, especially the ones who are heavy readers, are coming back for more.

I was leafing through some of the newer titles that have arrived at the branch and I was surprised to find a small sticker on the back cover, "M-Mature".

After prying the sticker off and throwing it out I couldn't help but ask "What on earth does that mean?"

I haven't been able to read all these titles, but the ones I have read are not especially graphic in any way. I also know that the girls reading these would be reading Triple Crown otherwise, so I doubt they would consider these especially mature.

That is the essential problem with ratings isn't it? What is mature for you might be teen appropriate to me.

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.

Book Review: Raise Them Up

I'll be doing informal book reviews from time to time, mostly for professional resources.

Raise Them Up: The Real Deal on Reaching Unreachable Kids by Kareem Moody with Anitra Budd, published by The Search Institute ISBN: 1-57482-866-5

Positives:
Mr. Moody is not an academic, he is the director of a program for at-risk youth in Little Rock, AK. Raise Them Up is filled with stories of how he used the strategies in the book with teens in his youth programs. His main suggestions are ones that form the foundation for anyone that works with youth:

• Listen to them
  
• Let them know they have value
• Set high expectations
• Help them put their education and skills to use
  

Drawbacks:
Raise Them Up has little to add for those with experience working with youth or familiar with the 40 Developmental Assets. Additionally, the recreation center and library environments are different in some key ways. For example, while effective and creative Mr. Moody's punishment for horseplay would probably not fly in most libraries. I am also a firm believer that one does not need a similar background to the youth they serve to be effective, however, many of the examples in Raise Them Up imply that one's own "war stories" are a powerful tool. That might be very true, but not necessarily relevant to all situations.

Recommended For: New librarians with little experience working with this age group or administrators without a background in youth services who would like to have more positive interactions with teen patrons.

Not in the Handbook

Asteve' "Cookie" Thomas might have been one of "my teens", but she'll never get the chance. Asteve', only 12 years old, was killed by a stray bullet on her way home from the corner store in Cleveland. She'll never get the chance to do a lot of things.

A new student at Cleveland School of the Arts she hadn't visited my branch yet, she likely would have been given a library card application in English class this week. A few of my teens knew her from class, they said had a smile for everyone. There isn't much I can do other than let them talk about it if the want and do my best to provide a safe space for them.

Asteve' died because two grown men were chasing each other down the street shooting at each other. The sad truth is that little will change in Cleveland until more of those over 18 start acting like adults and taking responsibility for their own behavior and their communities.

Why Not?

When you do as many programs (3-5 a week) as I do you tend to go a little soft on the traditional boundaries of library programs. Sure, we have book related and educational programs, but sometimes it's enough to keep them entertained and out of trouble. Here are a few of my more random programs or upcoming program ideas:

• Contest for the best house of cards.
• Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament
• Identifying scenes from Jeffrey Metzner's book Stick
• Building towers with dry spaghetti and mini-marshmallows
  
• All Haiku poetry slam
  
• Giant color by number with a little help from the overhead projector

Any ideas?

Class and Social Networking

There has been quite a bit of media buzz about this report from Danah Boyd. The basic premise is that mainstream, college-bound, white teens are using Facebook while their less affluent and minority counterparts are on MySpace.

The teens at my library are almost all members of a minority group and from working class backgrounds. They came late to the MySpace wave, mostly migrating from Tagged. I am yet to notice a Facebook page open on a public computer in my branch.

What bothers me about this article is that it seems to imply, while categorically denying that it does so, is that having a Facebook account is some sort of upgrade from a MySpace account.

If a social networking is simply a tool to connect people than why can’t different people prefer different tools? In library land we certainly have our preference for everything from email clients, to OPAC interfaces, to podcasting software.


My answer to why teens at my branch are on MySpace isn’t about “bling” or hip-hop as Ms. Boyd suggests, it is even simpler: Teens go where their friends are. Period.

If anything this means that librarians should seek input from a diverse group of teens before trying to reach them through social networking.