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
Collection Development
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NEW! Adult Books for Young Adults
Youth tend to read "up" - the 10 year olds want books about 13 year olds, the 13 year olds want books about 16 year olds, the 16 year olds want books about 18 year olds... and they are all reading books published for adults by the likes of Stephen King and V.C. Andrews, not to mention authors like Stephanie Meyer, who published YA first, and James Patterson, an adult author who also writes YA. Come discuss the appeal of adult books for youth, hear and share booktalks for adult books to suggest to teens, and learn about YALSA's Alex Awards, a honor given annually to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18.
Prerequisite:
Please read any Alex award winner from the past 11 years and be prepared to give a short booktalk/review (less than 5 minutes). A complete list is online at http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/alexawards/alexawards.cfm; click Current Winners and Previous Winners to see the lists.By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss discuss the appeal of adult books for youth;
- Hear and share booktalks for adult books to suggest to teens
- Identify adult authors to suggest to teens
- Learn about YALSA's Alex Award.
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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 selections for children's collections;
- Review CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation Weeding)/MUSTIE (Misleading, Ugly, Superceded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere) methods for weeding the children's collection.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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Evaluating and Reviewing Books for Youth
Get beyond "it's nice" and "it's cute" -- learn to evaluate books for youth with a discriminating eye! Beth Gallaway, Alex Award Committee member and owner/administrator of the Hip Librarian's Book Blog (http://hiplibrariansbookblog.blog-city.com) will cover terms to know and things to watch out for. Participants should bring a written review of a title less than one year old.
Picture and nonfiction books to review, and 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:
- Learn how to read a book review with a critical eye;
- Share online and print review resources, selection materials and resources for children's collections;
- Discuss criteria for evaluating fiction and nonfiction for youth;
- Discover the nuts and bolts of writing reviews of books for youth;
- Test new evaluation skills by editing a written review.
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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.
Programming
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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 this ambitious project?
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.
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!
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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
Jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon by providing interactive, multimedia, content creation programs for teens! Discover model programs in technology for teens while experimenting with new technologies and evaluating for usability. Discuss the benefits and barriers to delivering tech programs for teens, and 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:
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Create an avatar;
- Try Wordle;
- Test a video game designed by teens, and create their own;
- Chat with an author via instant messaging;
- Participate in a book review podcast;
- Brainstorm a teen technology program to implement at their library.
Young Adult Services
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Who YA/Why YA/How YA
More than 50% of the world's population is under age 30. How will your library rise to serve young adults?
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Identify characteristics of the young adult demographic;
- 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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Teen (Library) Behavior 101
Discover the underlying influences that may impact why teens act the way they do, and learn how librarians can address undesirable behaviors in a way that will develop relationships with young adults.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Set the experience of current teens in the United States into a historical and cultural context;
- Define three physical changes in the brain during adolescence;
- Examine the effects of development on teen's social, physical and emotional behavior;
- Discuss preventative measures to deter undesirable behavior;
- Practice strategies for coping with, correcting and redirecting teen's undesirable behavior;
- Learn to advocate for the needs of teens to key stakeholders.
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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 United States;
- Identify tools and resources for implementing Teen Advisory Boards;
- Design a Teen Advisory Board program that includes meaningful youth participation.