Man or Manufactured_ Redefining Humanity Through Biopunk Narratives.pptx
Making lasting connections with teens in the library
1. P R E S E N T E D B Y :
T H E R E S A F O S T E R ~ O C L T E E N L I B R A R I A N
C A R L Y S H I L L I N G ~ O C L C H I L D R E N ’ S & T E E N L I B R A R I A N
Making Lasting Connections
with Teens in the Library
2. Theresa Foster, Teen Services
Barnegat Branch of OCL for 2+ years
Prior to OCL, worked as the
Virtual Branch Manager of ACLS
Monthly
• Anime Club
• Teen Advisory Board
• T(w)een Maker Night
• Other notable monthly celebrations
Weekly
• Tuesday Night Drop-In Gaming (DiG)
3. Carly Shilling, Youth & Teen Services
Long Beach Island Branch of OCL for 3+ years
Has worked with OCL for 9 years
Yearly
Autism Awareness in April
Monthly
• Teen Advisory Board
• Teen Craft
• Gaming Fun
Weekly
• Family Programming/Drop In Crafts
4. Keep Them in the Library!
Having a strong, unified youth services team (YS & YA) can
help you home-grow children who already love the library into
tweens and teens who will love the library too
Ageing out – Going from juvenile tween teen 18+
Remember – they are growing into adults
The importance of tweens
School visits is a must!
5. Communicating with Teens… in the Digital Age
• Be where the teens are: in the
library, in the community,
and online
• Digital natives
• Follow the trends
• Word of mouth still works
• Find a linchpin
• Do your best to tap into their
needs
6. Popular Social Media
• Facebook – The trademark name in social media
• Twitter – Micro-blogging, short messages only, follow others and
share your own
• Tumblr – Micro-blogging, long messages, photos, videos, etc.
follow others and share your own – More teens are on Tumblr than Facebook
• YouTube – Video-sharing, mostly user-generated clips
• Instagram – Photo-sharing for photos sake, can include messages
• Pinterest – Photo-sharing, pin board style of themed collections
• Skype and FaceTime – Video chat, different platforms
7. Communicating with Teens…in the Library
Tweens and teens look up to their library staff advisors as
objective adults who care about their needs, who want to
listen, who they can have fun with, and who will encourage
them to grow into lifelong library users
8. The Teen Zone
No matter the size of your teen area…teens need a sense
of ownership
The Teen Zone in a large/medium sized branch:
9. The Teen Zone
The Teen Zone in a small sized branch:
The Long Beach Island library’s Teen Zone takes up a corner of the branch.
10. YA Displays
Theme your displays with books &
multimedia
• Let the teens give you the ideas
• Let them help choose the books
• Let them be creative
• Post the pictures online
• Reuse as much as possible
11. Popular Materials for Tweens/Teens
Hook them into the right book and they become
lifelong readers!
Know what’s popular in:
Books
Graphic Novels/Manga
Magazines
Music
Multimedia
How can you do this? Read YA!
Or keep abreast with news publications, such as
YALSA, SLJ, VOYA, or even Entertainment Weekly
12. Popular Materials for Tweens/Teens
Get your teens interested by:
Booktalking
Booktrailers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBenU9-0yYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldyMb9cneAQ
13. Comics & Graphic Novels
Superhero
• American Standard since
1930’s
• DC Comics & Marvel are
the Big 2
• Superman
• Batman
• Spiderman
• Wonder Woman
• The Avengers
• Justice League
Non-Superhero
• More often Graphic Novels
• Fiction, Non-fiction, Anthologies
• Real Life & Life Lessons
• Classics
• Biographies / Memoirs
• Non-Fiction / History
14. Manga – Japanese Comics
• Originally published in Japan
• Major part of Japanese publishing industry
since 1950’s
• Also refers to cartooning AKA Anime
• Shonen AKA Adventure / Fighting
• Shojo AKA Romance / Feminine
• Fantasy, Science Fiction
• Slice of Life
• Historical
• Sports, Games
15. Popular Materials for Tweens/Teens
Guide your teens with:
Booklists
Stickers on book spines
Displays
18. Crafts Continued…
• Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle
• Find crafts that allow them to tap into their interests and
express themselves
19. Gaming @ the Library
• Library isn’t a quiet place anymore, but with limitations
• Let them do the work
• Have an assortment of game types, i.e. video, board, open, retro
• Organize tournaments
• Keep it T-rated
• Don’t stress on stats
there is a lot of competition
• Homework
• Sports
• Jobs
• Etc.
21. TAB
What we do: TAB meets once a month to come up with
program ideas, crafts, games and sometimes just to hang
out! Teens need to know that the library is an active
social hub where they are always welcome
TAB members accrue community service hours for:
National Honor Society
Religious requirements
College applications
Resumes
To stand out in a competitive academic world
22. How to Grow Your TAB
It’s like tending a garden
First, plant the seed
Recruit members. Spread the word/build interest among regular teen library
users and new users
Feed and water
Meeting times (same time each month is best)
Elections
Set ground rules
Snacks are a must!
Have an agenda for each meeting
Plan social activities
Make time to enjoy each other
Work with a budget – Friends/Library Budget
23. How to Grow Your TAB
Watch your TAB grow
Maintain your TAB group
You will also lose members, but gain new ones too
Keep a membership list (names, email addresses, cell phone numbers)
Communicate with members via email or phone calls.
Membership Perks
Charisma and enthusiasm can go a long way
Remember: Teens are discovering their individuality. They are
looking for a place to belong with others like themselves. The
elements of a TAB can be an important life-experience for teens
24. Justifications for Having a TAB
Gives teens a sense of “ownership”
The benefits of mixing tweens and teens in a TAB
Develops lifelong readers and library users
Teaches teens responsibility
Grooming future library assistants/librarians? Yes!
25. TAB Differences and Similarities Between…
What works for a medium/large sized branch:
• Monthly meetings with President, Vice,
etc. running meeting
• 1 hour of meeting content, then socialize
• Have them choose the programs and age
groups targeted
• Let them “own” their ideas
• Sub-committees as needed
• Have guest speakers
• Reward as needed
• Snacks a must, food as leverage
• Find what works for you
and your teens
26. TAB Differences and Similarities Between…
What works for a small sized branch
Long Beach Island library has more tweens than teens in TAB
27. General Teen Volunteering
Teens can come into the library to
accrue community service hours
without having to join TAB
Have a wide variety for both
shy and outgoing personalities
• Book Reviews that go on display
• Adopt-a-Shelf
• Monthly programs & activities in
the Summer
• Have opportunities geared to their
interests, ask them what they like
S.A.I.L
29. Professional Relationships with Teens
Incorporate your personality
Be fun, but professional
Keep it PG-13
They are NOT your friends on Facebook, etc.
30. The Do’s & Don'ts with Teens
Do – snacks, snacks, snacks!
Do – music
Do – restricted access only
Do – you know the old saying: treat them the way you
would want to be treated
___________________________________
Don’t – be intrusive
Don’t – be a pushover
Don’t – let them interfere with your work
Don’t – tolerate bad behavior
31. Drama Queens & Know-It-Alls
When teens go bad
Innocent until proven guilty
Bad behavior traits:
o Rubber band slinging
o Cursing
o Horse play
o Ignoring authority