Youth Services Professional Collection: Teen Services & Programming

Games can seem to do the impossible: reach patrons and drive traffic to projects and services. But how can libraries use gamification and game elements to improve instruction and outreach, or to encourage the use of particular areas and services? In this guide, readers will learn about how to structure game activities in order to best reach their patrons.

In this collection of essays, staff working directly with teens explore ideas, services and programs that continue to evolve within their libraries. The challenges revealed emphasize the fact that neglecting teen library services risks a future in which libraries themselves are no longer valuable to the community and the potential advocates which today's teenagers will someday become.

In this down-to-earth book, former Library Journal Mover & Shaker Jennifer Velasquez explores real-world challenges and obstacles to teen service that often present themselves, offering solutions and guidance for both new YA librarians and those wanting to freshen up their approach. Presenting fresh ways of thinking about the role of the teen services librarian and how it fits into the organizational structure, Velasquez Combines field-tested approaches with current research to tackle common teen library service issues such as truancy, curfews, programming philosophy and mission, privacy, and organizational resistance, whether subtle or overt Addresses each topic from the perspective of working with teens, family members, fellow colleagues, and community stakeholders Presents realistic strategies to help shift a library's culture towards one that embraces teens and teen services Shows how to get the most out of a library's teen space, discussing factors like location, age restrictions, time of day restrictions, and staffing, plus suggestions for using the shelf-space of the YA collection as a starting point.

Far-reaching but pragmatic, this book discusses such important topics as identity and community, sex and sexualities, what experts can tell us about the adolescent brain, and how teens use technology to mediate the world; replaces outdated developmental theories that have been discarded in their home fields but are still sometimes used in the LIS world; looks at how to blend what research tells us about teens with day-to-day work in libraries; reflects new norms of professional practice, such as the increased importance of community engagement and partnerships, offering librarians a path towards cooperation and collaboration with peers outside the library world; and includes a bibliography of essential reading for YA librarians.

"ALA's popular and respected Whole Library Handbook series continues with a volume specifically geared towards those who serve young adults, gathering stellar articles and commentary from some of the country's most innovative and successful teen services librarians.

Written by librarians who have experience with integrating technology into all subject areas and working with teens and young adults, this book is a toolkit for youth and young adult librarians--school and public--who wish to incorporate science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) into their programs and collections but aren't sure where to begin.

In this sequel to the book that takes teen services to a new level (Adolescence), YA experts Amy J. Alessio and Kimberly A. Patton present entirely new content while building on the successful formula they established earlier. This volume offers several new themed book lists and read-alikes as well as appendices with reproducible handouts for the various programs.

Here are more than 100 affordable and tested successful ideas for jump-starting YA programs and services

Planning teen programming is a lot of work, so why offer programs that teens don't want? Teens need especially exciting and dynamic programs to encourage them to use the library and its resources. In A Year of Programs for Teens, two young adult specialists take teen services to a new level with step-by-step instructions for planning teen programs.

Imagine: Teen and pre-teen boys, twenty-somethings, parents, and even younger kids streaming into the library. It's your library's monthly videogame tournament Step boldly into a new arena of library programming with lifetime gamer and Ann Arbor's library technology manager, Eli Neiburger.As a leading expert on producing videogame tournaments and events, Neiburger explains why videogame programming holds huge potential for libraries. He offers the complete toolkit.

Summer reading programs are a staple in libraries nationwide and provide a valuable service: keeping teens productive and occupied when they are no longer busy in school. Producing creative programs at the library can be challenging when faced with this easily distracted teen demographic; that's where Sizzling Summer Reading Programs steps in. Katharine Kan, editor of the celebrated first edition of Sizzling Summer Programs, provides the creative spark for libraries committed to working with teens and preteens through summer programs.

Those who understand the unique sensitivities of young people with autism spectrum disorder, now the second most commonly diagnosed serious developmental disability, know that ordinary library programming guides are not up to the task of effectively serving these library users.

Autism is now the second most commonly diagnosed serious developmental disability, and the number of children identified as autistic continues to grow. Introducing what autism spectrum disorder is, and identifying the great need to build and manage programs for autistic youth, Farmer offers librarians in or outside a school environment all the information they need to build a library literacy program geared towards these children.

In this compelling new tip book you'll find innovative and surprising ways to keep your personal diversity journey moving and the diversity commitment of your organization. Written to make this information bite-size and accessible, you'll find quick answers to typical What should I do? questions, like: What if I say the wrong thing, what should I do? What if I am work and someone makes a sexist joke, what should I say?

"If you believe that your organization has done everything it can to enhance its diversity, and if you are still frustrated at how little progress you have made, Moving Diversity Forward is for you. It is an instructive read for all of those who wish to live and work in a multi-cultural world where everyone has a fair chance to succeed and contribute."-- Frank P. Barron, Chief Legal Officer, Morgan Stanley