Engaging Teens Conference (Hosted by OCLC Eastern)

On May 8 - 9, 2008, Gretchen Reynolds and Ann Geht attended the Engaging Teens Conference, a two day event focusing on teen programming in libraries for librarians, educators, and staff who work with teens.

The conference began with a presentation by the ever energetic Michele Gorman called "This Ain't Your Mama's Library! Technology, Radical Trust, and the Role of Social Networking." Michele began by introducing us to the developmental stages and milestones of adolescence:

Early Adolescence (11 - 13 years)

1. Increased concern about appearance

2. Seeks independence from family

3. Displays rebellious, defiant behavior

4. Importance of friends increases

5. Peer group dominates

6. Ego dominates all situations

Middle Adolescence (14 - 16 years)

1. Becomes less self-absorbed

2. Makes independent decisions

3. Experiments with self image

4. Takes risks and seeks out adventures

5. Becomes sexually aware

6. Develops sense of values

Late Adolescence (17 - 18 years)

1. Views the world idealistically

2. Becomes more involved with world outside family

3. Relationships stabilize

4. Sees adults as equals

5. Seeks to firmly establish independence

The characteristics of early adolescence were a helpful eye opener given that a large number of the infractions of library policies that occur during the after school hours come from younger middle schoolers, not high school students. This makes sense given that 11 - 13 years olds are at a developmental point where displaying "rebellious, defiant behavior" and an "ego that dominates situations" is completely normal. Michele had a wonderful sense of humor about the eccentricities of young adults, and encouraged us to never take it personally when we bore the brunt of a middle schooler's bad choices or bad mood; their prefrontal cortexes just aren't fully functional yet, so oftentimes adults have to be the middle schooler's brain and help them realize choices have consequences.

Michele also stressed the developmental needs of teens, mentioning the Search Institute's "40 Developmental Assets" for adolescents: http://www.search-institute.org/assets/

Libraries can support the developmental needs of teens by:

1. Respecting and responding to unique young adult needs

2. Providing equal access to library resources

3. empowering youth through participation

4. Engaging in active collaboration

5. Supporting healthy youth development

Michele then moved on to the "New Digital Divide." She argued that whereas previously the "digital divide" had described the gap between people with money to purchase a computer and Internet access and those who did not, the new digital divide describes the gap between those who grew up as "digital natives" and those who are learning computer skills in adulthood. In order to connect with our "digital native" teens, we as librarians need to push ourselves to bridge this digital divide and go where teens spend a good deal of their time: online. She steered us through many web 2.0 sites, including a few that we could potentially use in library programs: www.picnik.com (free photo editing) and www.animoto.com (free video creation and editing). She emphasized the importance of social networking in teens' lives, and encouraged libraries not to shy away from involving themselves in social networking sites and teaching teens and their parents web safety skills. Some sites that were mentioned that promoted safe social networking were NetSmartz (www.netsmartz.org/netteens.htm) and the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use (www.csriu.org).

Next, the Loudoun County Public Library presented Hanging Out Rocks! which explained how a Loudoun County Youth Initiative (basically a group of concerned community leaders who wanted their county teens to experience the same sense of outreach and inclusion that younger children received) transformed a local library into a Friday night "Teen Center." Community leaders asked teens what they wanted from their county services, and teens responded that they simply wanted easy transportation and a place of their own to hang out in. No programming. No activities. Just a place to snack, hang out with their friends, and meet new people. So the library system wrote a grant proposal that included staffing a branch library to be open after 5 PM each Friday only to teens ages 12-18: they could buy pizza, bring food, play games (including Wii), and be loud. Although the turnout was very low the first Friday night (5 teens), the word spread, and now they host upwards of 100 teens each Friday evening. They discovered that when reaching out to teens in their community, several things were very important:

1. It was vital to reclassify library positions into Young Adult positions only (not YA + Adult or YA+ Children's)
2. Teen events often went smoother when the 12-14 age group was separated from the 15-18 age group
3. If a grant proves successful, and the community loves what you're doing with it, it's very likely to be included in the library's budget the following year
4. It's essential to share success stories with local media and to apply for awards (which are often accompanied by a cash prize)

Next was a presentation on Funding for Teen Programs by Kevin Cherry, the Senior Program Officer for IMLS. He emphasized that IMLS has funding that it offers as grants to YA initiatives. He cited the very successful, initially grant-funded program in Hennepin County that allows library users to check out free museum passes as if they were books and a week long "library camp" program offered to teens that was funded by IMLS. He said that successful grants do five things:

1. Present a strong "needs assessment"
2. Give a community context for the project
3. Show collaboration with community leaders
4. Show what success will look like
5. Are sustainable when grant funding is no longer available

On the second day, we saw a presentation by Cathy De Rosa (OCLC Vice President) on Teens, Technology, and the Mashed Up Library. She shared some new statistics about libraries: library website visits are down by 10% overall since the year 2000, and by 2010 teenagers will outnumber Baby Boomers. Teenagers tend more toward wanting to read information electronically, while Baby Boomers tend to print off electronic information to read (something we may want to take into account during future collection development decisions). Teen "digital natives" will often feel there is something "off" about media that's targeted at them but doesn't involve them in any way: they're used to web 2.0 collaboration and creating content. Therefore, a good library website (for teens) will allow them to interact with it and make it their own. (A "mash up," by the way, is when someone splices two website together to create new content. For example, if Worldcat combined its content information with Google Maps so that someone could look up the location of any book in Worldcat and see it mapped on Google Maps, this would be a "mash up.")

Next, Hedra Packman gave a presentation on Teen Employment and the 21st Century Grant at the Free Library of Philadelphia. The Free Library of Philadelphia has developed an amazing program wherein teen volunteers get paid a wage for after school homework assistance and technology help. Teens can work their way up the library ladder, beginning as after school workers, then mentoring other teens in the program, even getting their library degrees paid for and becoming regular library staff after college. Teens lead teen programs, train each other, and develop a yearly teen summit complete with t-shirts and a theme. An amazing program. The Nashville Public Library presented a similar program called Engaging Teens in a Shared Leadership Capacity: T.O.T.A.L. which involved unpaid teen volunteers creating programming, training library staff, and doing community outreach.

Rhonda Belyea from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library presented Reading Buddies: Teen Volunteers Reading With Kids! which involved 9th-12th graders visiting children at a Boys and Girls Club of America center, modeling good listening behavior during a story time, then reading or being read to by the children. Lastly, there was a presentation on books that appeal to reluctant readers by Jamie Watson, a member of the YALSA "Quick Picks" committee. She described the teen-centered approach she had to showing off books to teens, watching how they handled them and what they said about cover art. Surprise, surprise: the cover is incredibly important to reluctant readers, as is the pace of the book and the opening chapter. Several titles she book talked were the Drama High series (a toned down version of Street Lit), PostSecret (by a local author -- this book could work as a potential teen program), and anything by KaShamba Williams.

Some other ideas we took away from these presentations:

1. It would be excellent if the YA FANS started a teen programming wiki so that teen programs could be searchable by topic, and all YA FANS could work on adding comments, contact information, and keeping it up to date.

2. A great teen program (possibly grant funded) would be a "One Book, One Community" for teens. Each teen that signed up for Teen Summer Reading would get a copy of the same teen title in their giveaway bag, and summer programming could include author talks and book clubs that focus on the book.

3. What if we created our own collaborative teen version of the PostSecret book (by local author Frank Warren) as a teen program and published it? Mr. Warren could give author talks.

4. What if we invited KaShamba Williams to do an author reading?

5. What if we created a "Tackling the Issues" series of talks for teens and their parents?

6. What if teens were involved in training library staff about teens and technology?

7. What if we set up regional Teen Advisory Groups?

8. What if teens could apply online for volunteering at the library?

9. Do we do outreach to our juvenile detention centers?

10. What if teens could sign up for a monthly e-mail list on teen events at MCPL?

11. What if MCPL has staff dedicated only to teen services and these staff members had their own orientation training like Children's staff has?

Notes from PLA

This was my first PLA. In fact, it was my first opportunity to attend a national or state conference. The idea that over 9000 individuals cared enough about public library service to travel to a single location was empowering and thrilling at the same time.
What I did:
I attended a number of formal sessions including the inspirational opening session presented by John Woods and Paula Poundstone’s lighthearted closing session. I loved how she was able to look for the double meaning in each audience comment. I looked around the room to see several thousand tired but energized library people laughing until the tears ran down their cheeks.
Other favorite sessions included:
· The Columbus Metropolitan Library’s session, Get Off Your Seat and on Your Feet, Proactive Reference Customer Service
This session described how one library system decided to change how they delivered reference service. The concept of the roving librarian was implemented in different branches in varying ways, allowing local staff to tailor the concept to meet customer needs. The new mini-reference desks were innovative and creative. See http://www.placonference.org/handouts/1013_177Korenowsky_Christopher__116074_Mar05_2008_Time_104804AM.pdf
And http://www.placonference.org/handouts/1013_177Korenowsky_Christopher__116074_Mar05_2008_Time_104945AM.pdf
· Looking Inside: Adapting Staffing for Results @ Your Public Library
This session examined how the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library re-examined collection development work routines for quicker delivery of materials to customers.
· What I really meant was…
An interesting look at communication presented by colleagues who are also close friends, Gail Johnson and Pam Parr, discuss how we present our ideas may be as important as what we are trying to convey.
http://www.placonference.org/handouts/1013_319Johnson_Gail__116136_Mar12_2008_Time_105146AM.ppt
· Talking without Jargon: Improving Library/IT Relations
These soon-to-be-married colleagues, Robert Cullin and Kimberly Bolan, looked at the communications problems that often exist between library and IT staff. Suggestions included developing cross-functional teams that include IT professionals, breaking down attitude barriers and focusing on customer service. This was a very valuable session.

What I learned:
Public libraries are dynamic, living and growing organisms. We are adjusting to change in our staffing, clientele, services, modes of delivery and resources. We work with customers in large and small cities, and in suburban and rural areas, too. The more able we are to accept change as a continuum, rather than as service -disrupting force, the more powerful we become.

What I enjoyed:
I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with colleagues in a more informal setting. Thinking and talking about library issues with librarians from our own system and other locations was refreshing and rejuvenating. Being away from the day-to-day issues of home and work fostered an open learning environment.

What surprised me?
I was surprised at the number of 1-person libraries there are in the United States: Libraries serving a single town, township, or school district with a single professional librarian and limited support staff. These kinds of libraries, if they can afford internet technology, may be better able to answer customer questions than they had been in the era of print only libraries.

What I would do differently:
· In advance of the conference, I would read more of the information that overfilled my electronic and paper mailboxes. Many of the mailings had information about events that were not mentioned in the official program and email. Thanks to colleagues, I did not miss the opportunity to attend a Gale luncheon presentation about their new databases.

· I would be less timid. The idea of talk tables terrified me. Next time I will choose a table talk topic, prepare and go!

· Try to stay closer to the convention center. Our hotel was not within walking distance of downtown. This curtailed our ability to explore before or after shuttle time.

· Try to make time to see more of the city. I would plan way in advance: I did not realize the tours would fill weeks ahead of the conference

· Visit the exhibits more strategically: I spent a lot of time deciding what sessions I would attend, but did not plan my exhibit visits. I did decide in advance not to take bags of “free stuff,” that I would not be able to carry home.

Library Services to Children with Special Needs

LIBRARY SERVICES TO CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AT MLA/CSD

On April 14th, I attended the Maryland Library Association/Children’s Services Division training on “Library Services to Children with Special Needs”. Deborah Margolis, who is working with us from Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, also joined me - we both came back with some ideas that can be tried as part of the "first" inclusive Mother Goose on the Loose program geared towards including children of all abilities, to be held at the Olney Library on May 7th. Two children's librarians (one from Olney and one from Rockville) will observe this pilot program and incorporate ideas into their own children’s programs. We will be offering opportunities for other children's librarians to observe at a future time, dates to be announced.

Patricia Steelman, children’s librarian from the Library of Congress and a member from the Schneider Family Book Award Committee, described how the committee evaluates children’s books for “disability content”. Lori Bonnington and Jeanne Holsey of the Howard County Early Intervention Office offered tips for including children with disabilities in library programs and ideas for increasing accessibility of library materials and services to children of all abilities and their families.

Ms. Steelman shared the following resources, which adds some ideas for the process we use here in MCPL:

1. Evaluating materials for children with disabilities – see www.libsci.sc.edu/fsd/walling/web/evaluatingmaterialsabout.htm

2. Evaluating materials about children with disabilities – see www.libsci.sc.edu/fsd/walling/web/evaluatingmaterialsabout.htm

3. The Schneider Family Book Award – “honors an author or an illustrator that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.” (For more information on criteria – go to www.ala.org, awards) Next deadline for nominating a book for this award is December 1st.

Lori Bonnington and Jeanne Holsey covered discussed programming for children with developmental delays (ages 0-5).

Both Lori and Jeanne provided a copy of the Books and Young Children with Developmental Delays handout, which offers suggestions for selecting books, reading to a group and adapting books for interactive storybook reading. A copy of this handout has been sent to J heads at each library branch for your own use.

When the presenters suggested “watering down” or “modifying” the language of the story as part of the "adaptation process" - several children’s librarians expressed concern about “copyright issues”. Both Lori and Jeanne suggested that adapting books allows children to receive the basics of the story at their current language level. As children acquire more language, the child can read the book again and be able to read and appreciate the story as it is written.

In Howard County, they follow the 4 “S” model for programming to children with special needs –
· Say less
· Simplify/show
· Stress (emphasize to give certain words more attention)
· Go slow, increase pauses – the slower, the better the children can participate

We also discussed how to find the balance among the varying levels of abilities of all children. This is where “knowing your audience” becomes important.

If the librarian is expecting a child with a disability to attend the program – it’s always helpful to talk with the parent – and find out the child's strengths and how you can make the program a positive experience for the child.

There were a few suggestions I thought are worth mentioning here:

1. Create visual/physical “boundaries” in a programming room – to keep children seated. On the carpet, place 10” Utility Sequencing Spot Markers that can be used as “seats” or “resting places” for children. This product is available at Abilitations at www.abilitations.com.

2. Children with autism tend to have sensory issues – during a story time, the child can use a heavy blanket helps as it weighs child down and it helps the child be aware of their own body in connection to his/her environment. (I tend not to want to “single” out a child – but would leave that up to the parent.)

3. Find ways to offer activities that allow children to “interact” with the story or a book – modify books so that children can “participate” – i.e. copy illustrations of a book, add a Velcro to the back of the picture and attach it to the book – have child identify the item, pull it off and put the item on a flannelboard.

Do you have any inclusive programming strategies that you used in your programs that have been successful that you would like to share with us?

Susan F. Cohen
Coordinator,
Library Services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community
Librarian,
Children's Resource Collection,
Disability Resource Center