If you are a new young adult librarian or an experienced librarian with little time to plan and execute programs for teens, this book is for you! For each month in the calendar year, two or three programs popular with teens are presented with instructions, sample flyers, letters, and checklists. From simple programs such as a candy raffle to more complex programs such as a mystery night, librarians can keep their teen calendar full of activities with a minimum of effort. Programs that tie into both school events and national events for teens are included as well as those that can be presented at an individual library. Suggestions for programs range from a poetry contest to a summer job program. Instructions for ongoing procedures for soliciting teens' opinions are provided: a monthly question board, candy raffle, starting and running a Teen Advisory Board and so on. Basic skills for all YA librarians are emphasized in each of the programs; these skills include booktalking, working with the schools, and marketing your programs within the library and to the community. By creating variations in each of the programs, young adult librarians will have a wealth of ideas in this book to keep their YA program calendar filled for years to come.

Teen advisory groups (TAGs) may flourish in many libraries today, but many others are newly initiating them or hoping to revitalize ones that are floundering. But even successful groups need tips and best practices to make their TAGs even better. This updated and revised second edition remains the go-to guide for planning, running, and evaluating TAGs in both school and public libraries. Its wealth of positive advice and information leads TAG teens and their peers to meaningful experiences that encourage reading, library use, and library support—into adulthood. In this indispensable guide, Diane P. Tuccillo carefully explains and explores the current, wide landscape of TAGs, covering funding to bylaws; getting a new group on its feet to rejuvenating an old one; planning traditional TAG projects to creating unique roles; and community involvement to voting on adult library boards. Vivid profiles of successful teen groups, organized into public and school library sections, tell each group’s story along with pertinent teen feedback. Sample documents covering mission statements, applications, parent permission forms, publicity flyers, and teen book review ideas, as well as evaluation advice, can be borrowed or adapted. A helpful bibliography and webliography is included. Library directors, school administrators, library educators, and librarians who work directly with teens in school and public libraries will be unable to resist such compelling testaments to the value of TAGs.

It's no mystery that fun and exciting programs bring teens into the library. Theater programs provide a venue for teens to express themselves creatively, encourage their participation in library programming, and offer them the opportunity for lively interaction with peers and adults. In Library Programs for Teens: Mystery Theater, Karen Siwak provides readers with complete instructions for creating a successful mystery theater program. With this guide, Siwak solves the ever puzzling programming issues of timing, setting clues, props, costumes, decorations, and food. In addition to providing a basic formula for such programs, Siwak presents nine original teen-tested scripts—from the intriguing "Medieval Murder" to the hijinks of "Case of the Looney Librarian"—that will appeal to a wide variety of audiences. Reproducible graphics, flyers, bookmarks, invitations, nametags, book tie-ins, and player worksheets are included with each script. Programming is no longer perplexing with this heavily-illustrated collection of original mystery theater scripts for teens. Public and school librarians will find this volume a valuable tool for educational and entertaining programming and also for simply planning a fun party.

Teen library internships are becoming increasingly common in both school and public libraries. Librarians seeking guidance on how to launch or grow their teen internships will find help in this practical handbook. They will discover: Rationales and helpful advice for providing support and funding for meaningful internship opportunities. Shining examples that can be emulated and adapted in other library settings that comprise the book’s central focus. Testimonials by interns, librarians and library staff, and other adults who have worked with employed teens that will enhance points, give insights, and generate enthusiasm. Step-by-step plans for creating tailor-made teen library internship handbooks that can be used by teen interns, library staff, and others who are taking part in training, evaluating, and teamwork during internships in each unique setting. Advice on how to gain feedback and assess outcomes to make internships more relevant and valuable. Ways and means to adapt internship experiences during times of pandemics or other emergencies. A path to promoting innovative youth participation that will help teens to meaningfully develop knowledge and skills for their futures while encouraging them to become dedicated library users and supporters into adulthood. By providing this new way of encouraging youth participation, libraries can help teens to meaningfully develop knowledge and skills for their futures while encouraging them to become dedicated library users and supporters into adulthood.

Here are YALSA's answers to what advocacy is and isn't, what it takes to be an effective advocate for teens, how to practice advocacy skills and techniques, how to be a day-to-day advocate for teens, and how to set up a succesful long-term library teen services advocacy initiative. Front-line public and school librarians working in young adult services will find the volume useful as they will be able to use the information included every day to successfully advocate with administrators, colleagues, community members, and government officials. You get examples of advocacy campaigns from inside and outside of the library world that demonstrate basic principles of successful advocacy efforts, and you will learn to navigate the barriers of time and funding.

Learn how teens use social networking technologies and how these same technologies can be used to engage them in library services. Teens and Social Networking Now: What Librarians Need to Know is organized around ten major topics, including using social networking sites to connect teens to young adult literature, social networking and legislative issues, social networking and safety/privacy issues, and the social and educational benefits of social networking. Expert practitioners explain how such issues can and should impact library services to young adults, focusing on concrete suggestions and specific steps for best practices and program designs that will help librarians utilize social networking tools to enhance library services to teens, both online and in the library. As background, the book explores the reasons so many teens use these sites. It also shares a profile of an award-winning public library's use of social networking to engage teen library users and a national survey of the ways YA librarians are using social networking to deliver public library services.

The digital divide is a disturbing reality, and teens in our society increasingly fall into distinct categories of technology haves and have-nots, whether or not computers are available to them in the schools. This trend undermines the futures of our youth and jeopardizes the vitality of our society. Today's librarians are in a unique position to help bridge the gap. This guide helps librarians to identify tech-nots—technologically disadvantaged teens—in a community or school and to reach out and build information literacy in underserved teen populations. Farmer goes beyond recommending computers for every teen, and demonstrates how to overcome teen misperceptions and disinterest in computers. After examining the problem and the populations most affected, the author discusses how to build awareness and motivation, train staff, create space and time, build the collection, develop partnerships with other agencies and organizations, offer services, and overcome barriers with specific populations. Citing benchmark programs and services from around the country, Farmer offers a wealth of exciting new ways for libraries to connect with at-risk teens today. Grades 6-12.

From a team of experts who have researched the information habits and preferences of urban teens to build better and more effective school and public library programs.

Here is a highly readable guide to strategies and projects that have helped over 100 public libraries gain community support and funding during challenging times. Marylaine Block integrates survey responses from innovative library directors with her research, analysis, and extended interviews to showcase hundreds of winning programs and services. The strategies explored include: Youth Services; The Library as Place; Partnerships; Marketing; Stressing the Economic Value; Library 2.0; Outreach; and Helping the Community Achieve Its Aspirations. Projects are described in practitioners own words, with additional examples drawn from libraries long-range plans, annual reports, programs, and Web sites, as well as from news stories and library literature. The result is a rich source of ideas and inspiration for those who want their libraries to thrive, not merely survive. Supported by the author's Web page.

When teens volunteer at the library, they gain new skills, make connections, and build their resumes, while libraries benefit from a new generation of advocates. This guide shows librarians how to establish or develop a teen volunteer program. Advocating a flexible approach, this book speaks to every library, including both public and school libraries. From small libraries with no budget to large libraries with seemingly endless budgets and everything in between, all of the concepts covered can be scaled up or down to meet the needs of the community being served. The book begins with the big picture, discussing benefits to teens, libraries, and communities; it then reviews volunteer types and volunteer possibilities for teens, including the traditional roles of shelving and programming as well as passion-led projects, programming opportunities, and special initiatives and drives. Specific volunteer roles are described in depth, with instructions for practical applications, and concrete examples and experiences from various types of libraries illustrate principles discussed. Readers will also learn how to establish volunteer partnerships within and outside of the library. The book ends with a discussion of methods for evaluation and assessment.