Resolutions

Yes, I know that New Year's Resolutions are pretty much a guarantee that things will NOT be done, but in the spirit of the season, here are a few suggestions we can all consider:

1. To read at least 2 new YA books a month (this one's for me, too--I've been slacking).
2. To make sure the "Summer Reading 2008" signs are no longer hanging in my library (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!)
3. To weed every book in my collection that looks like it's been mauled by wolverines.
4. To do a better job of being in touch with the YA librarians (this one's for me!).
5. To try a completely out-there teen program in the hopes it will be an amazing success (I can help you all with that one!).
6. To make at least 1 new outreach contact (a school, community group, etc.) before Summer 2009.

What else should we all resolve to do in 2009? Leave your ideas in the comments!!

Happy 2009, fabulous YA Team!! :)

A Mini-Rant

In my travels around Queens lo these long months, I've heard somethings that are, well, kind of scary to me. I am not naming names or pointing fingers, but I want to clear up a few things. And I will try REALLY hard not to be too harsh, knowing that everyone is super busy, funding is low and getting lower and teens are . . . complex people to work with/for. That said, here we go:

1. To those who have suggested that anything on the shelves (ie. books that . . . aren't very good, are falling apart/held together with tape and a prayer, are older than the teens they are meant for, etc) is better than nothing on the shelves: NO!!! NO, NO, NO!! I know your book budgets are small, I really do, but what teen is going to read garbage just because it's there? WOULD YOU? The solution to this is to be SMART about how you spend the little money you have, by knowing what YOUR TEENS read. Don't waste money on a Fantasy title if all the ones you have sit on the shelf collecting dust. If a teen comes in looking for it, well, that's why we have (the admittedly slow and cranky) reserve process. Weed, people! If your shelves look empty, use them to merchandise the nice, quality stuff you do have. Use large book ends to make program flyers, book lists, contest rules, teens' art and writing, etc, into a display (tape the stuff to construction or other colored paper, staple it around 3 sides to a second sheet of paper and slip it over the bookend--voila! instant display!) and scatter them around the shelves. Be creative! But don't settle for crap for your teens. EVER.
2. To those who say "teen programs don't work in my library" this may be true, but it may also mean you need to rethink what "program" means. Let's face it folks, none of us are teens and while we may be able to relate really well to the teens we know, their world and their experiences are VASTLY different than ours were (cassette tapes, anyone?). The point being, THEY know what they want and need from us. We can think we know what they want, and we can know what we think they need, but the bottom line is that THEY need to tell us and we need to work with them to make it happen. So a program in your library may just be opening the program room one afternoon a week for a teen hang-out where you put out some magazines, your new books, maybe some music (played at low enough volume so no one has to yell to be heard of it!) and just chat and listen. Some amazing things can come from something so informal and you can use that to build better relationships and more relevant programs for them (or not--the hang-out may be all your teens want, you have to ask to find out!).
3. To those who say "my teens don't read" do not despair! Most teens DO read, it just may not be novels or biographies, or whatever. They read plenty online, they read magazines, and they may read on their own away from judging eyes. Remember that, unfortunately, plenty of teens struggle with learning disabilities, a lack of skills, or other obstacles that make reading difficult for them. It's hard for me, a voracious life-long reader to image something that gives me such joy being so painful for some teens, and it really does break my heart that it is. Something a colleague who is a literacy teacher in NYC's juvenile detention centers talks about is making it possible for teens to have ownership of their own literacy; adult learner programs do this all the time by having students write about their lives, their families, their worlds. Teens are super creative and yearning to express themselves so if you feel like your teens don't read (and if they love to read!), look for ways to get them to write--poetry, rap and other songs, stories. If that's too much, get them to talk to each other and to you--storytelling is an innate human skill but they need space to do it.

The bottom line for all of this is that YOU MUST SPEAK TO YOUR TEENS!! Get to know them, watch how their power dynamics work, figure out who has group influence and work with them. Ask them about school, about their lives, their dreams, their futures. Give them room to be themselves but help them learn to respect boundaries (by working with them to establish them). Especially if the teens you work with are from a different cultural, racial and/or ethnic heritage than your own, conversations and dialogues are ESSENTIAL.

That is my mini-rant for the day.

As always, team, I am here to help so PLEASE call on me if you need me! I love to weed and merchandise and make displays, I love to talk to teens, I love to create programs and I can't do all of that in my cube! Use me, people. USE ME!!

Food Insecurity

Given the state of our economy, it should come as no surprise that food insecurity is increasing in our communities and among our neighbors. Here are some recent news articles on the subject:

Kraft Foods and Feeding America Step Up Efforts to Combat Hunger in Challenging Economy (press release)

Food pantries mobilize as ranks of hungry grow

Smoking may be linked to hunger -- in family members

Hunger in Massachusetts Increases at an Alarming Rate; 522,000 Struggle to Put Food on the Table

Hunger Doesn't Take a Summer Vacation (blog posting)

The YA Librarians' Manifesto

The YA Librarians’ Manifesto

We, the young adult librarians of Queens Library, state the following:

We believe that
• teens are beings of unlimited potential;
• teens are the keystone in a bridge of continuous library services at all stages of life; teens are our former child and our future adult customers, a vital link that must not be lost or broken;
• continual conversation with and input from our teens is essential to creating and maintaining relevant and flourishing library services for them;
• the programs and services we offer provide creative, educational, and experiential opportunities for teens unavailable elsewhere;
• teens should have separate spaces in our libraries, with dynamic materials collections that meet the wide range of their needs;
• high-quality library materials and programs for teens will keep them using the library into adulthood and that budgets for these services should reflect this.

We are
• experts on literature and information resources for teens;
• caring, supportive adults in our teens’ lives;
• resources for free information to help teens make the most of their lives;
• passionate advocates for our teens and for our libraries.

draft: September 30, 2008.
final version: October 16, 2008

Blog Action Day 2008

Today is Blog Action Day!

What does that mean? Here's the information from the website:

"Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion."

This year's (REALLY RELEVANT) theme is POVERTY. As urban public librarians poverty is something we see everyday, often without even realizing it. In my guise as Super Librarian (saving the world one library card at a time) I often wonder if we couldn't do more to fight poverty, but we do many things already, and pretty well, if you ask me, including

--free access to books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, CDs--pretty much all of the world's accumulated knowledge!
--free internet and computer access (and printing!)
--free recreational, cultural, informational programs
--a warm in the winter, cool in the summer safe place for people of all ages to spend time and be part of a community

Poverty IS a library issue. Here are some places to learn more:

ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services

ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table

NYLA's Social Responsibilities Round Table

Kathleen de la Peña McCook's (my librarian hero!)Blog A Librarian at the Kitchen Table

So what do YOU ALL think?

The Sermon

I usually describe my techy skills as being "just enough to get me into trouble" and this seems to be the case with getting the Sermon to play directly from this blog. So since I do know when enough is enough, here is a link which will (should) play the MP3 of the soon-to-be-infamous YA Services Sermon. http://www.archive.org/details/VikkisYaServicesSermon

YA In Service 9/30/08 Summer Reading Notes

Summer Reading 2008

Best practices:

Sunnyside: Book Reviewers of the Week
Librarian selects 1 teen review (from SR website) a week to highlight “based on writers’ enthusiasm and heart” and creates a poster to display in the library with the teen’s name, book title/author, and the review.

Queens Village: Teen Volunteers Make Piñatas
Have teens create piñatas to be used by younger children in library programs.

Forest Hills: Teen Volunteers
Encourage teen volunteering/community service with book and/or craft buddy programs. Let teens create displays, bulletin boards, etc.. Keep track of their time (informally is okay) and give them a letter to take to school at the end of the summer.

Bayside: Penny Jar
For each book logged by Bayside’s teens and kids, a penny was collected in a jar. At the end of the summer, the kids and teens voted on the charity they wanted the money to go to. Possibility of getting a matching donation from a local business, too.

Flushing: Breaking Dawn Party
To celebrate the release of the final Twilight book, held a party where the library’s circulating copies were raffled off (winners got to check out the books). Props included a life-size coffin!

Cambria Heights: K’nex
Used mini-grant money to buy a kit (enough for approximately 12 teens to use) to create rubber band powered racers. A hands-on activity boys and girls were excited about.

What Worked/Didn’t:

The booklist wasn’t successful:
--some schools used as reading list--not enough copies
--tweens were more likely to read listed books than older teens
--displaying/having a “summer reading books” area raised circ

The theme was okay but the incentives . . .?
--bug themed incentives were a hit in some places, not at all in others

Discussion about having a “store” concept for next summer--teens earn currency, save up or spend right away to “buy” from a range of items (ie. pencils to iPods)--AGREED, WE’LL PROCEED WITH THIS FOR 2009 (theme = Express Yourself)

iPod Nano Winners:
the 3 teens who won were from
Court Square
Far Rockaway
Central YAS