Youth Involvement

In class 12, Jenny spoke about services issues and program evaluation. I was not aware that there is so much science in program planning and evaluation. I was impressed with her knowledge of the field and her use of the library lingo but I was also quite confused by some of the information she provided. I myself have done a program evaluation as a library intern this semester but I don't think that I thought about the differences between a formative evaluation and a summative evaluation. I enjoyed reading the volunteer experiences in the manual in Chapter 11. I agree that volunteering in a library is a great experience for any teen. Not only does the teen give back to the community but they make friends and stay current on what is popular. Libraries are fun and interesting places to be and librarians can make this possible for every patron which walks through the door. I was also not aware that there are so many volunteer opportunities available to teens. Scavenger hunts sound like fun to me.

Youth Participation Services

Week 11 we spoke about youth services and getting to know your audience is an important aspect of program planning. The manual gave a lot of ideas about programming and raised several issues of how to implement a program, what to do about attendance and the overall success of a program. Of course sometimes teens don't show up for programming or book clubs in a library and I have seen that happen. There could be several reasons for this. It is easier to get 8-12 year olds involved in book clubs. They still have parents bringing them to the library and these kids have a genuine love for books. I am planning to organize a collaborated discussion with a librarian from Grand Army Plaza Library to do a book club discussion this week on The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. We decided that it is best to start to speak a little bit about the author and then introduce the characters, setting and plot of the book. For the most part the book club consists of the same four tweens that come every month. They choose the genre and book they are interested and the librarian prepares a discussion. This is the reason why I'm trying to be on top of the American Civil War subject.

Programming

In the Flipping It article, the author speaks about the positive affect of the youth counselors in the Youth Empowerment Initiative. Queens Library is a good model for other libraries who are interested in improving their library programming. The library has goals to motivate the undirected teens into lifelong library users and to encourage teens to succeed academically. Libraries already know that adding public-use computers brings young people into the library but many librarians are not trained in positive youth development which youth counselors provide. Last year Queens library hired eleven youth counselors who created programming during and after school hours. The counselors deal with the cases of abuse, pregnancy and other problems that concern teens. Summer Reading Program combined with a basketball tournament and Read Down Your Fees program are a great way to motivate teens to read. Teen spaces and programming deserve attention and everyone should serve the youth not just the young adult librarians. This was a powerful article and it represent the possibility of the library to change the teen community into something positive.

After reading the Pierce book about serving the multicultural youth I thought about the recent visit me and the librarian made to the Brooklyn Residential Center for troubled girls. These girls were avid readers and had particular tastes in novels. They like urban fiction and they are aware of the new bestsellers. Our library is not required to reach out to these girls but we find it to be a beneficial experience and there is a sense of satisfaction when a girl receives the book that she has been waiting for. We usually have a diverse selection of books available for their choosing.