Q: Where is the funding tree, where the money grows?

A: It doesn't exist, actually.

When I asked our teen librarians about our funding, I got a short laugh before I got an explanation.  The department relies on an annual $5000 grant from the Wells County Foundation (the county we serve).  Luckily, our proposal wins out every year.  Due to the limited rules on who can apply, there isn't a lot of competition for it.  There are some suspicions that this grant is privately funded by certain higher-ups within our library, but no one knows for sure.

We must rely on grants because library funds can not be spent on food or prizes.  For the summer reading program, when we offer a multitude of prizes to teens for number of pages read, we have to rely on donations from local businesses.  "Without that grant, we would have to beg."

I looked up other grants available to teen departments.  The Dollar General Literacy Foundation rang up a few hits.  In September of this year, the DGLF provided $246,806 to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).  YALSA, the teen-focused branch of the ALA, can in turn use that money to fund their nation-wide programs like Teen Read Week and summer reading.

YALSA also offers "more than $150,000 in grants and awards" to its members.  (You can also use that link to find application information.)  They coordinate with companies like Dollar General (again), Baker & Taylor, and ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Publishing to provide this funding.  Typically $1,000 per grant/award, but some are more substantial, like the Margaret A. Edwards Collection Development Grant which awards $5,000 for a library to improve its collection.  YALSA also offers a year's worth of teen material to 3 libraries in need, and they estimate that collection to be at $48,000.

I'm sure this is just preaching to the choir, but I will end this post with by linking to a blog entry by Danyelle Barber, a teen librarian in Texas who passionately for more funding for teen services.

Tissues for your issues

Social & ethical issues

I asked Leah, our teen librarian, what she considered some issues that she and Sarah into a daily basis.  She had to think a bit, but said socially, there was an issue with boundaries for some of the kids.  "Some of them just really want to be your best friend.  And I can't."  She wants to make a connection and have a positive impact on teens, but still wants and needs to set professional boundaries.  With social media, it can be tough because new levels of transparency has been injected into the lives of everyone who chooses to use it.  She told me she had to set her Facebook privacy settings and reject several friend requests from teens.  (I have student teacher friends who suffer the problem.)

Since my review, I have taken some steps to get
privacy awareness into the teen section.

Speaking of social media, another social issue is helping teens be safe on the internet.  It may not seem like a librarian's job and indeed we can't personally enforce any measure on a user, but as privacy is one of the tenants in our Code of Ethics, we should do what we can to educate our patrons.  For class, I had to review the article "Mobile Technology: Implications for Privacy and Librarianship" by John Cyrus and Mark Baggett.  Not only was it much more interesting that I initially thought it would be, but it was very eye-opening about the new trends in social media, and how much information individuals freely put forth.  High-school students and definitely middle-school students have grown up with this technology and the expectation of having an online social presence, so the danger isn't apparent to them.  We can use our positions to advocate for regulation and our resources to educate, but like anything with teens, it must be done in a way to get and keep their attention.



Another social issue is making sure that content directed at all teens is available.  The teenage years are tough for everyone as they form their own unique, individual identity.  But it can be especially tough for those outside the societal norm, and feel more estranged than the usual teen.  It can help to have stories on hand written from the perspective of minority, disabled, or LGBTQ teens, or written by authors of those groups.  It's also important to provide resources or information about organizations that can help.


Professional issues

One of the biggest professional issues of teen librarianship is also the most basic...just getting teens in the door.  Teens are unfairly given the notorious rep of being apathetic.  This is hardly true, but it is true that finding the right motivation (other than free food) can be difficult.  Libraries also have to fight the reputation of just being a big building that houses books.  Growing up in a world of innovative technology can leave books wanting, can leave them looking a little less shiny compared to the new iPad.

According to Leah, the number of teens showing up to programming now numbers consistently "in the -teens".  At the highest point, she said they would have twenty, or just a little more.  Rather than citing a difference in the quality of programming, however, she said the high numbers had to do with the type of people who came.  "There are some teens out there who just don't know a person who isn't their friend.  One girl would go up and invite anyone she saw in the library to come up to the teen department for whatever club was meeting.  We were hitting the twenties because some of these kids would just bring all their friends, friends who wouldn't have been there otherwise."  As it is, even just getting the attendance to number consistently in the -teens (I swear I'm not trying to make a pun), took years.

One of the ways our teen department has recently started to become more aggressive in outreach is by going to the local schools.  Instead of waiting for students to make their way to us for an application, stacks were given to the administration and times were worked out for librarians to go over library resources with the students.  (This unfortunately didn't work out to the most advantageous way, as one librarian would be asked to stand in front of the entire student body in an auditorium.  A few classes wouldn't be on time, others would forget their iPads..."by the time we could finally get going, we'd only have fifteen minutes left of the time the school gave us.")  Leah said that were cases of parents not allowing their student to take out a library card, for unknown reasons, but after that quick 'seminar' in which she would explain the library's available Freegal and Flipster apps (free music and magazines, respectively), suddenly there would be a stack of applications turned in late to the office.  Research databases aren't sexy, but free entertainment media is!

As I become more experienced and become more familiar with everything we have to offer, I wouldn't mind trying some outreach myself.  I'm on good terms with several of the English department teachers at the local school (where I graduated), and would like to try setting up a smaller-scale meeting with students...a class at a time, rather than everyone at once.  It would be a better way for students to get to know their librarian, or for us to learn what they want from their library, what programming they want and what resources they need.

The other issue she thought of was censorship.  Luckily, it hasn't happened often, but there had been cases of parents challenging material in the YA section, more often than in other departments.  "We're still buying for people's children, but the content is becoming more adult."  Sexual content is the biggest offender, but concern exists also regarding drug use and swearing.  (Bonus points if this in a graphic novel.  Those seem to offend parents more than just printed word.)  If you look at the ALA code of Ethics, you'll see that the second tenant is "We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources."  She, Sarah (our other teen librarian), and the director must make an ethical stand to protect our material from these challenges, even though it can cause headache and controversy.

What can I expect if I take the job?

You can look for a job as a teen librarian either in a public library or in a middle- or high school.  It's obvious why there's a need for a librarian with the skill set to work with teens is needed in the school setting.  Although, be aware that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics only projects 7% growth for all librarian jobs.  You may not find a job right away, but do not be discouraged!  More and more, in the public sector, the need for a dedicated teen librarian is being recognized.  Of course it helps that more and more YA dystopian books are becoming mainstream hits and bringing more attention to the genre.  But societal expectations are also changing, in that more and more teens are expecting to pursue higher education after graduating.  The library is uniquely suited to provide preparation materials and teach research techniques that will serve them well in the coming college years.

"Ok, so I can find a job in either a school or a public library.  But how much am I going to get paid?"

It's cool, no one thinks you're being crass by asking, we're all wondering.  Although to be fair, I didn't ask our teen librarians about salary expectation for that same fear.  I work as a part-time clerk at the branch library, however, so I do wonder what to expect as I work longer, gaining more experience and my degree.  The part-time teen librarian job posting in San Rafael, California, listed 26.99/hr.  That definitely doesn't hold for Indiana, in my neck of the woods!  But I found a site online that compares salary listings in area job openings.  Using Indeed Salary Search, I found that I can expect 36-39k a year.

The problem with this, however, is that the hours are not listed nor are the education requirements, so I can't ascertain the cause of the differences.

Because you can of course work part-time or you can work full-time.  If you have experience and good leadership qualities, you could become the department head.  You can become a member of a youth services association.  (More on that, later!)  You can write for a blog (more on those later as well) or you can write articles on your own peer-reviewed research.  Teen librarianship is a growing and vibrant part of librarianship, opportunities are constantly appearing.

How can I get into teen librarianship?

If you're an IUPUI LIS student, as I am, then there are several relevant courses to take.  There is a course plan offered for those who would like to specialize in Youth Services, and here are its required courses:

S571 is what it sounds like--this course will help you learn how to assess materials for children's and teen's departments.  S572 is the essential course, focusing on "the history, philosophy, and description of children and young adult library services."  According to the class description, it will also help evaluate programming and other services offered, and how to anticipate future trends in youth services.  S672 is the advanced seminar, that will cover a variety of topics, depending on the semester.  It can cover anything from minority issues to collection evaluation to poverty.

Teen librarians may of course work in schools, but if you're going to be in a public library, then a good class might also be S575, Public Library Services.

Internships can also be a great way to get experience.  In searching around for internships, I found several that were public libraries co-operating with local universities.  Here's one such example for the Sunderland Public Libraries in Massachusetts.  IUPUI also offers the chance of internships through course S605 for more advanced students--those who already have 18 credit hours under their belt.  You can get an application here after speaking with some possible sponsors.

YALSA (remember--ALA's Youth Services portion!) also has tips for finding volunteer spots if you just want a more casual experience, or don't have the time to commit to something more.  They recommend these following sites for finding volunteer opportunities:

Experience, skill, & education

When I look over job postings that come through the SLISS mailing list, it seems that experience that with the age group (12-18) is preferred.  That seems like a no-brainer...after all, doesn't every employer hope to find a new hiring that already (kind of, at least) knows what they're doing?

I spoke with the teen librarian at our main library and she told me that she had actually been in school to become an elementary teacher when she took the job here.  But after some bad experiences during her student-teaching portion, she decided to stay with the library, a job she consistently enjoyed.  Leah worked in several departments, from Tech Services to reference, but she was drawn to the Teen department and its creativeness.  She helped build the programming up, and eventually took the helm.  I had to laugh when she described her transition from almost-teacher to teen librarian:  "It was like going from being the mom to being the fun grandma that just gets to spoil the kids, but then send them home at the end of the day!"

The skill of effective communication along with the ability to relate to their needs and likes is of the utmost importance, again judging from the job descriptions as well as what is expected of the teen librarians and myself in my library system.  A positive attitude goes a long way with teens.  For this class, we read Agosto and Hughes-Hassell's article titled "People, places, and questions: An investigation of the everyday life information-seeking behaviors of urban young adults."  The teens surveyed were asked to rank the people and resources used to answer their information queries.  Librarians and libraries were also low on the list.  During the interview portion, here's what they had to say:

"Of the seven participants, only two (Sonya and Nicole) were comfortable talking to librarians:

Lavonnia: The librarian, they be ignorant.
Sonya: I love to go to the library. You talk to the librarian? I like her.
Lamont: They be ignorant.
Nicole: I talk to mine.

The others agreed with Lavonnia that librarians are ignorant, and generally unaware of their information needs and interests."  (Agosto, 2005)

It takes the right kind of personality to connect with teens, and keep them coming back to the library.  In fact, I asked Leah about what qualities she admired about Sarah (our other amazing teen librarian!) during her interview that lead to hiring her.  From a practical standpoint, Sarah had the education.  Leah only has "half an MLS", but Sarah had completed the schooling and she admired that.  She also knew Sarah, once hired, would be here for the long haul--it has taken several years to build the teen program up, and Leah wanted somebody stable to help continue that.  But what Leah really put emphasis on was Sarah's personality.  She's very bright and out-going..."I could imagine working with her all day!"  The younger patrons respond really well to Sarah as well.

But going back to the matter of education, according to the sample job description on ALA's website, a Master's degree is required to be a teen librarian.  Clearly from the paragraph above, that is not the case for every library.  Department heads are now required to hold an MLS, but not everyone.  (Although it's beneficial if you do, no matter what your position!)  We're a smaller library system, so maybe that's why it is not emphasized here.  However, looking over a job posting for a teen librarian in the Marion County Free Library, located in San Rafael, CA, the 'minimum qualifications' section stated thus: "Equivalent to an American Library Association approved Master’s degree in Library Science, Library and Information Services or similar curriculum. Course work in the area of service specialization is desirable."

Job Responsiblities

"Are you a fan of impromptu dance contests?  Do you enjoy in-depth conversations with teens about their favorite video game characters and manga titles?  Are you willing to endure a pie to the face in well-earned celebrations? We’re looking for you!

The Greenwood Public Library is seeking an enthusiastic, creative individual to provide high-quality customer service to adults and teens 40 hours per week. This person will assist with research, reader’s advisory and computing needs, programming and supervision in the library’s popular Teen Room, and collection development for Teen Fiction as well as some Adult non-fiction."

--job description taken from the Greenwood Public Library in Greenwood, IN

Examples taken from the Wells County Public Library TeenZone newsletter

Libraries are a great place for promoting creativity in teens.  Reader's advisory, pointing teens towards books that will get them reading, is a great way to get their imagination working and to inspire a love for writing/story-telling.  This job description mentions programming, and looking to the examples in my own library system, teen programming is another way to get teens to be creative, and not just with words.  The teen librarians here throw Iron Chef-style cooking contests, provide tools to create personal jewelry and t-shirts, or host comic-drawing or melted crayon art nights.

Along with providing outlets for their imagination, programming is also a great way to bring like-minded teens together and create a sense of community, of belonging.  I feel like this is a very important aspect, that's unfortunately looked over in a lot of cases.  Teens are working out their identities and starting to establish their own space in society.  It's confusing, and it's tough for those who are past that stage to remember exactly what it was like.  A lot of my classmates have posted in the discussions that they see this negative attitude of adult employees towards teen patrons in their library.  It would mean a lot to teens to not receive that negativity when they come to the library, from neither the adults nor their peers.

Let's not forget how librarians can assist middle- and high-school students in learning proper research techniques.  We have the resources, we just need to advertise them to teens.  Making time to sit down, one-on-one if necessary, to teach the berry-picking method and how to evaluate sources.  These are skills after all that will help them in college and possibly later on in their careers.  And as many students are now going on to seek higher education, it's important for teen departments to provide materials to prepare them.  Study aids and college guides are available to loan in most teen areas, as are pamphlets and other recruitment information for the military, if a student decides to take that route after high school.  It would be great for the patrons if a librarian was knowledgeable of the local colleges and universities, and could talk with teens about them.  (This may also be a good opportunity to set up a "community liaison".)

Readers' services is another way to really help out students.  Many times, for projects both during the school year and the summer, teens are coming into the library to find something to read for their English class.  Sometimes they have a list to choose from, sometimes they're given free will.  However, not every teen is a reader and they don't know what to even look for.  If a librarian is up to date on current YA hits (or has read some good ones that are under the radar!) and can ask the right questions to get a sense of what the teen might enjoy, then that librarian just may bring out the reader in them.

Work (?) environment

I think anyone in a public library would agree...youth service librarians have the best areas to work in!  It's part of our job to create fun spaces to get our younger patrons in the library, so it's no wonder.

Children's areas are bright, colorful, and full of imagination.  Teen areas also need some imagination, but they need to convey a more mature tone than the children's.  The area needs to be a place where they can hang out, but can also study.  Privacy needs to be considered as well.  Setting up an effective teen's area can be difficult.

Here is the Teen Zone of the Wells County Public Library, Ossian Branch, where I work.  While we work to anticipate our patrons' needs and provide all the resources we can, it suffers from a lack of space.  Those little couches are cool, but just on the other side of them are the DVDs.  As you can imagine, teens don't want to hang out right behind the family of four arguing over whether to get the Lego movie again or try a Doc McStuffins movie.  The TeenZone is also directly in front of the front desk.  As a result, students either sit in the children's area, in the back of the building (more and larger tables are available there as well), or on the other side of the DVD/audio book shelving, where we can't see them from the front desk.

The Main Branch of Wells County also had that issue, but created a makeshift wall with spinners.  According to the librarians there, it made a huge and almost immediate difference!  Teens feel more comfortable hanging out with their friends now with a degree of privacy.  That space included couches, chairs, and a Nintendo Wii!

Pictured: a teen actually having fun at his local library!















The people also make up part of your work environment.  Most likely, you'll be working with creative people.  Hopefully, the support they show to the teens extends to you as you learn the ropes.  I have been lucky in such a way.  I'm really not a crafty person, but I've been picking up some tricks thanks to the other ladies I work with.  Not to brag but I did make that display board in the first picture, along with the paper bats that I jerry-rigged with some fishing wire and magnets to hang from the ceiling.  (Literally, I shouldn't brag about that.)  I also became really good at creating facial hair out of construction paper for the No-Shave November theme for our display wall.

Spiderman and Jace have never looked better!

Who are we helping?

It seems obvious...our patrons are teens and pre-adolescents who want to move on from children's material and programming.  They are middle- and high school students.  We are helping sixth-graders adjust to new social pressures at school and we are helping high school seniors navigate scholarships and look up possible colleges.  There are athletes, musicians, artists, writers, and many others passionate about their hobbies who want to check out relevant materials.  And there are many--LGBTQ teens, minority teens, those from impoverished families or who have gone through the legal system--who want to know there are others like them, to find inspiration.

"Teens are great.  They're pretty much always willing to try new things...and they understand sarcasm, which a huge plus!  Teens are just a fun group to work with, once you get them in the door."
--Leah, teen librarian at Wells County Public Library

Wells County Public Library, Ossian Branch

But I've also noticed we help a lot of adults.  Many YA "blockbuster books" attract more than just those in the age range of 12-18.  I'm going to link an article written by Gretchen Kolderup for In the Library With a Leadpipe, an open access, peer-reviewed journal for librarians.  Kolderup is the Young Adult Education and Engagement manager at the New York Public Library.  The article "Are You Reading YA Lit?  You Should Be" makes a great case as to why YA literature crosses age boundaries.  Leah, the teen librarian I quoted above, admits to liking YA books more often than adult as well.  "[YA books] are faster-paced, because if they dragged like adult fiction, they'd lose their audience!"

Beyond adults searching for themselves, there are parents coming in who are looking to resources to help prepare their teen for their coming adult life after graduation.  I've also seen parents playing library-provided board games with their teens or giving in to their kid's recommendation of the latest dystopian series, laughing while they strengthen bonds.

Introduction

Hello everyone!

This is Janelle, and I'm getting a start on my career investigation for S550. There are a lot of interesting specializations that librarians can get into, but for my report I'm going to focus on Youth Services, specifically Teen Services.

When I was hired to work in my local branch library, I was told two things had a major effect on their decision to bring me in--one, I was going for my MLS and two, my age. (I am now playfully scolded for taking the title of "Young One" by the 54 year-old employee who held it last.) So now I am slowly taking over responsibility for our 'TeenZone' area, in the hope that the students who come through will feel more comfortable interacting with me, and hopefully I can relate better to them.

I've been working with the teen librarians in the main library, figuring out the job on the fly, so when this assignment came along, I thought "why not use this to get more familiar with what I'm doing?" 

These exploratory blog posts, cross your fingers, will not only help me get a grade but will also help me provide better services for the teens in my area.