Youth Services Workshops
Overview
All sessions are 3 hours unless otherwise noted. Workshops can be customized for librarians serving teens, children, or both. Workshop length and content can be modified to 1 hour, 6 hours, or an online 3-4 week interactive session.
Collection Development
Young Adult Services
Collection Development
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Collection Development for Children
The ideal children's collection provides diverse, current and relevant materials in a variety of formats and reading levels that meet the informational, recreational, cultural and devlopmental needs of all children in the community. This session covers policy, budget, selection, and de-selection of children's materials for public libraries.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss key questions to ask in crafting a collection development policy for children's materials
- Share online and print selection materials and resources for children's collections
- Identify criteria for selecting fiction and nonfiction
- Practice prioritizing your children's selections
- Review CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation Weeding)/MUSTIE (Misleading, Ugly, Superceded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere) methods for weeding the children's collection
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Collection Development for Young Adults
The ideal young adults' collection provides diverse, current and relevant materials in a variety of formats and reading levels that meet the informational, recreational, cultural and developmental needs of all teens in the community. This session covers policy, budget, selection, and de-selection of young adult materials for public libraries.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss key questions to ask in creating a collection development policy for young adults
- Share online and print selection materials and resources for young adult collections
- Identify criteria for selecting fiction and non-fiction for reluctant readers
- Review CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation Weeding)/MUSTIE (Misleading, Ugly, Superceded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere) methods for weeding the young adult collection
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MySpaceBook and Internet Safety
What's so scary about social software, what developmental needs does it fill, and how can we teach youth to be smart and safe when navigating the Internet? Review web applications children ages 10 & up may be accessing, including but not limited to, MySpace, Facebook, blogs and other social network sites.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Review a number of web applications youth are drawn to
- Discuss strategies for instructing youth and their parents in online safety and discover resources for creating your own Internet Safety lessons
- Conclude with a plan to create an instructional library program for youth and parents about use of online social spaces.
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Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books
Get beyond "it's nice" and "it's cute" -- learn to evaluate books for youth with a discriminating eye! Beth Gallaway, administrator of the Hip Librarian's Book Blog (http://hiplibrariansbookblog.blog-city.com) will cover the terms to know and things to watch out for. Picture and nonfiction books to review will be provided. Please bring a written review of a title less than one year old. Advance copies and galleys for you to examine will also be provided. If you are NOT interested in book reviewing, this session will provide a solid overview of selecting for excellence that will aid collection development.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss key questions to ask in crafting a collection development policy for children's materials
- Share online and print selection materials and resources for children's collections
- Identify criteria for selecting fiction and nonfiction
- Practice prioritizing your children's selections
- Review CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation Weeding)/MUSTIE (Misleading, Ugly, Superceded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere) methods for weeding the children's collection
Programs
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Secrets of Successful Youth Book Discussions
In today's busy libraries, it's hard to find time to get away from the desk and lead a book discussion, and even harder for overextended children and young adults to make time in their schedules for library programs. How do you get started with is ambitious project? If you are currently running book discussions in your library, please bring your discussion kit for one book (author bio, discussion questions, readalikes) to share!
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discover best practices in book discussions for ages 10-18
- Explore and evaluate diferent mediums for conducting book discussions (librarian led, round robin, blog, listserv, bulletin board, instant messaging)
- Learn how to save time, money and energy by harnessing technology to create dynamic, interactive literary programs
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Creative Writing Programs for Youth
Libraries celebrate the written word in a myriad of ways; writing workshops for youth is just one. If you've always wanted to host a creative writing workshop, poetry slam or just need to answer a child's reference request for places that publish teen writing, this workshop is for you!
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Share online and print resources for creative writing program planning
- Try their hands at a number of simple exercises
- Identify criteria for selecting video games with high replayability and high quality gaming support materials
- Get tips for how to teach youth how to edit, present and deliver feedback on other's writing
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Technology Programming for Teens
Hands-on or lecture style! Play a video game designed by a team of teens during a library camp program. Chat with an author on AOL IM . Participate in a book review blog. Discuss the benefits and barriers to delivering tech programs for teens. Best of all, learn how to justify and then replicate these inexpensive and easy tech programs for teens in your library.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discover model programs in technology for teens
- Test new technologies and evaluate for usability
- Plan a Teen Tech Week program
Young Adult Services
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Who YA/Why YA/How YA
Call them what you like: millenials, gamers, twixters, or generation Y -- by 2010, there will be an estimated 34.9 million of them. How will your library rise to serve young adults?
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Identify characteristics of the young adult demographic
- Test new evaluation skills by editing a written review
- Define why service to young adults is not just important but essential
- Discover best practices in serving young adults
- Create a plan of service to this historically underserved group
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Pain in the Brain: Teen (Library) Behavior 101
They love to challenge authority and are notoriously moody -- are we talking about teens, or two-year-olds? Teen brain growth development rivals that of the toddler years -- maybe that explains the attitude and characteristics of this historically underserved age group. Discover the underlying biological and physical changes that may impact why teens act the way they do, and learn how librarians can address patron behavior issues in a way that will develop relationships with young adults.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Name three changes the teen brain undergoes during adolescence
- Identify teen developmental needs and assets
- Distinguish between library behaviors that are merely disruptive/annoying vs. harmful/dangerous
- Learn how to apply tips for nipping negative behavior in the bud
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Teen Advisory Boards
Teen input is essential to excellence in library service to young adults, but there are many obstacles to reaching beneficial youth participation! This session delivers a showcase of model Teen Advisory Boards and offers tips and suggestions for recruiting, establishing and evaluating aneffective Teen Advisory Board for your public library. Participants are invited to share their ideas and experiences!
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discover best practices in Teen Advisory Boards in the US and Canada
- Identify tools and resources for implementing Teen Advisory Boards
- Design a Teen Advisory Board program that meets YALSA guidelines for youth participation