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Grassroots: For High Risqué Librarians

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Feature Article
 
 

Members
 

Sarah Hudson, Secretary
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
Independence Regional Library
6015 Conference Drive
Charlotte, NC 28212
shudson@plcmc.lib.nc.us
704-563-0945
704-567-9703 (fax)

Annie Gardner, Treasurer
Davie County Public Library
371 North Main Street
Mocksville, NC 27028
704-634-2023
704-634-1270 (fax)

Christine Benshoff
County of Cumberland Public Library and Information Center
North Regional Branch Library
855 McArthur Road
Fayetteville, NC 28311-1961
910-822-1998, ext. 232
910-480-0030 (fax)

Dr. Gwendolyn Davis
2803 Bainbridge Drive
Durham, NC 27713 1437
dr.book@mindspring.com
919-572-0106
919-544-0269 (fax)

Ron Jones
State Library of North Carolina
109 East Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27601 2806
rjones@hal.dcr.state.nc.us
919-733-2570
919-733-8748 (fax)

Lise Keppler
Forsyth County Public Library
660 West 5th Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
keppleep@forsyth.lib.nc.us
910-727-2214
910-727-2549 (fax)

Suzanne Miles
Bordeaux Branch library
3711 Village Drive
Fayetteville, NC 28304 1598
smiles@cumberland.lib.nc.us
910-424-4008
910-423-1456 (fax)
 

Betty Moore
Rowan Public Library
201 West Fisher Street
PO Box 4039
Salisbury, NC 28145 4039
mooreb@corowan.nc.us
704-638-3014
704-638-3013 (fax)

Dasie Newton
Vance County Public Library
143 Rose Avenue
Henderson, NC 26536 4236
919-438-5838
919-438-3744 (fax)

Bea Shaw
Vance H. Chavis Lifelong Learning Library
Greensboro Public Library
900 South Benbow Road
Greensboro, NC 27406 2199
beashaw@yahoo.com
910-373-5838
910-438-3744 (fax)

Marcy Thompson
Transylvania County Library
105 South Broad Street
Brevard, NC 28712 3729
mthompso@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us
828-884-3151
828-877-4230 (fax)

Peggy Weaver
Asheville Buncombe Library System
West Asheville Branch
942 Haywood Road
Asheville, NC 28806
pweaver@ablsys.abls.lib.nc.us
828-251-4990

Grassroots: For High Risqué Librarians

"promoting young adult services since 1978"

This classy newsletter is published three times per year by the Young Adult Committee of the Public Library Section, a division of the North Carolina Library Association. Grassroots is sent free, upon request, to members of the Public Library Section. If you are not a Public Library Section member, rates are $10.00 for six issues ($15.00 if you live outside the U.S.).
 
 

Websites

Homework Helper from Wayne County Public Library

Teens Page, Cumberland County Public Library and Information Center

Hickory Public Library Teen Scene Click on the Teen Scene Link in the left frame.

Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Links Page Scroll and click on Homework Help or other topics listed in the left frame.

Young Adult Library Services Association

Teen Hoopla: An Internet Guide for Teens

Young Adult Librarian's Help/Homepage

Virtual YA: Public Libraries with Young Adult Web Pages

Connecting Young Adults and Libraries

Library Puramoderu Services Graphic Novel and Comic Book Collection Consultants.

High Point Public Library Children's Room

High Point Public Library Young Adult Web Site
 
 

Feature Article
 
 

     The numbers of teens in the US waned in the 1980s, but is
expected to increase through the year 2010 when a record
34.9 million people between the ages of 12 and 19 will be
living in this country.  This dramatic increase will
certainly impact upon libraries. According to the
professional literature, listserv posts and tales from
librarians serving YAs, ten trends are emerging that define
services now and shape them in the next decade.  The
ability of libraries to act upon each of these, not see
them merely as trends but as real opportunities, will
greatly depend upon each library's available resouces. If a
library can afford to open its door, then it can afford
services to young adults.  The problem is not that there is
not money available, but rather that it is being spent on
something else. YAs are not seen a priority because they
are viewed as a "special" user group. But YAs are not a 
"special" user group.  Instead,  they represent 23%  of our
patrons.  They are special only in that they have unique
needs and are important customers for today and tomorrow.

1.      EVALUATING SERVICES
The recent ALA publication, Output Measures and More, uses
familiar measures but also introduces new measures aimed
just at YAs. More than just numbers however, Output
Measures and More provides a rational for providing quality
service, then instruction on use of qualitative evaluation
tools to measure success.  To seek funding, libraries will
need to be able to state, then prove how they can affect
the lives of young people. The 1995 National Center for
Education Statistics report, Services and Resources for
Children and Young Adults in Public Libraries, provides
libraries with an opportunity to evaluate their strengths
and weaknesses, plus provide "benchmarks" for comparison. 
Collecting statistics like this on a national level should
drive the need for local libraries to look at WHAT they do
(prove it) as the first step to planning HOW to do it
better (improving it).

2.      CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS
One pronounced characteristic of this new crop of teens is
that it will be more ethnically diverse, both in numbers
and in influence.   In addition to an increased ethnic
diversity, other demographic factors weigh into decisions
about serving young adults.   In many ways, this next
generation of YAs will be "needier" than ever, yet
conversely also more independent.  More will be coming from
single parent homes, spend their early adolescent years
home alone, and work outside the home. YAs will be more
adult, less "young".

3.      RESPONDING TO "AT RISK" YAs
"At risk" teens are the focus of the Carnegie Council on
Adolescent Development.  The solutions are no surprise:
more programs, more services, more structure, and more
access to caring adults.  Services, programs, structure and
caring adults are what libraries can and do offer to YAs.  
If libraries are willing to work within their community
with other organizations to either setup cooperative
programs and/or seek outside funding for such programs,
then libraries can indeed, as a National Library Week
slogan proclaimed, change lives. If YAs "at risk" are akin
to walking a high wire, then it seems natural that
libraries and community based organizations need to team up
a provide a safe place for YAs to land.   Many of the best
new programs in libraries connect with at-risk youth.  For
example, theHouston (TX) Public Library has homework
centers for at-risk youth in library branches.  The centers
include study space, specialized collections, and computer
workstations with Internet access. In addition to
equipment, tutors are used to provide YAs with access to
caring adults. Ocasional programs are also offered.

4.      PROVIDING ACCESS TO AUTOMATION/ DEFENDING INTELLECTUAL
FREEDOM
All libraries are riding an ever-changing technology curve.
 The core issue for most of these technologies is access.  
For YAs that relates to free and fair access, as stated in
the Library Bill of Rights and reinforced with the ALA's
statement on electronic access. How about this for a
slogan: You don't need to be 16 to drive on the
(information super) highway.  There are so many issues and
decisions facing libraries due to technology. It seems even
more important in this swirl of change that libraries hold
onto their core values.  That core value -- access to
library materials regardless of age -- needs upholding now
more than ever. Librarians need to remember that youth
patrons are patrons first and youth second, and need the
same access to information as adults.  As we fulfill one of
these trends -- providing access to automation, it
interlocks with another -- defending intellectual freedom. 
A great deal of our patrons don't know anything about the
Internet other than that youth can access porn.  Libraries
need to do a better job of getting the "good word" about
youth and the Internet.

5.      INVOLVING YOUTH IN LIBRARIES
One of the findings of the Carnegie Council was that
programs where youth had some input into the planning were
very successful.  Librarians working with YAs have long
known the value of youth participation. By involving youth,
libraries provide kids with an opportunity to grow, and
libraries "grow" along with them.  One example of this is
in the creation of public library YA  web pages.  Many
libraries have involved existing youth groups or created
new ones to provide input into selecting sites.  Some, such
as the Internet Public Library's Teen Division and the
Boulder (CO) Public Library, have, for the most part, given
over this responsibility to teenagers.  While many a
director might express concern, this type of youth
involvement represents a most positive image for the
library in the community as well as for teenagers.

6.      SERVING "YOUNGER "YAs
YA services for many years meant serving high school
students.  Yet, some of the "hottest" action is even lower,
at the middle grade level where 5th and 6th graders
resemble very much their teen brothers and sisters.  Middle
grade students are not old children, but young YAs. As
schools reconfigure to "isolate" middle graders, libraries
need to reorganize as these years are now the "years of
decision" for students about many things, including library
use/reading.  Instruction, booktalking, and improved
collections for this age group will help hook them into
libraries for years to come.  The middle grade market is
untapped in most libraries and presents not just an
opportunity, but an explosion of possibilities to make a
real difference at this critical time in a young person's
life.

7.      COLLECTIONS ON THE EDGE
During the time of Margaret Edwards, YA collections were
made up of adult books.  With the development of the genre
of YA literature, most YA collections have shifted toward

stocking mainly YA novels.  The past few years have seen a
real change in both YA collections and YA novels. 
Collections are growing more diverse: rather than shelves
of middle school fiction, YA collections overflow with
magazines, paperbacks, compact disks and tapes, videos, and
graphic novel.  The hardback YA fiction is changing with  a
renewed emphasis in YA publishing on high school students
as publishers produce a new "edgy" fiction.  Full of true
grit and unflinching honesty, these new novels, represented
in works of authors like Michael Cadnum, Francesca Lia
Block, and Rob Thomas, take on sophisticated subject matter
with a sophisticated style.  Showing teens battling the
odds against immoral adults, brutal life circumstances, and
an obsessive atmosphere of dark emotions, these books are
breathing new life into the YA marketplace.

8.      REACHING OUT
One avenue to make such a difference is by providing
outreach services to YAs who, for a variety of reasons, are
not able to visit libraries.  One example is Cuyahoga
County Public Library (OH) "Leap" program Under this
program, the library gathered kits about topics of interest
to YAs, such as AIDS, parenting, relationships, etc. In
each kit, were books (fiction and nonfiction), videos,
posters, booklists and other items.  These kits went out to
institutionalized teens in homeless shelters, correctional
facilities, etc. When librarians reach out to YAs, they
often find YAs reaching out to libraries as a safe haven.

9.      TRAINING GENERALISTS
YA librarians have not only been reaching out to YAs, but
to other librarians.  Stymied by the inability for public
libraries to create YA services departments, YA leaders
begin to take a different track to focus on serving YAs
rather than YA services. While a well-trained or
experienced nonprofessional might be able to provide the
same quality of reference service as a MLS librarian, what
the nonprof might not be aware of are the possibilities of
service.  Similar, a trained YA librarian can provide a
range of services and responses unavailable to a
generalist.  Knowing the "bare bones" is necessary, but YA
librarians understand the muscle and the flesh of the
service.

10.     EMPHASIZING EDUCATION
The most asked questions of librarians by YAs do not
involve library programs, YA literature or even
recreational reading, but rather homework. Gallup polls
conducted a few years ago find that our public, as well as
community leaders, think this is what libraries do and
should do:  provide support for formal education efforts. 
Many libraries/communities are responding by increased
emphasis on  homework.  Homework resources take many forms
-- from a collection of YA nonfiction "hot topic" series
books, to more in-depth collections, to full blown homework
centers complete with tutoring, to "school corps" charging
youth librarians with the task of interacting with schools.
 With increased funding opportunities for technology, in
particular to program serving economically and
linguistically disadvantaged youngsters, this positioning
is coming at the right time.

These ten trends present libraries with tremendous
opportunities for growth, innovation and improvement. 
Teens are trend setters in society and services to them
needs to react quickly and change as needs change.  The
strength of services to YAs is that even amidst this
whirlwind of change, those charged with serving teens have
a strong foundation. YA services stand on the four piers of
advocacy, participation, access, and equality which remain
the same for the end of this century and the beginning of
the next.



This article was adapted from Connecting Young Adults and
Libraries - revised and expanded 2nd edition (Neal-Schuman,
1998).  Visit the Connecting Young Adults and Libraries web
site at 
http://members.aol.com/naughyde/connecting/