[Publib] YA or younger children

[John]

I'm neither a YA nor a children's librarian, but...it seems to me that
there is a LOT of reference to the importance of YA/teen board stuff in
The Literature.  Many, if not all, the libraries in our area are
creating or have created teen boards, with varying levels of success.
Ours has been successful, I would say, although one has to have a
certain toughness of skin and not expect the unreasonable.  Our teens
are enthusiastic--but one month 8 people will show up for teen board,
the next month, 18.  Teens tend to have lots of outside activities (but
then, so do many younger children, often because their parents think the
kids need 70 million things to do...like the mother who said to my wife
the first day of our son's kindergarten, "Oh, you HAVE to get these kids
involved in sports so they'll stay away from drugs"...guess she didn't
know how many big-time athletes use drugs, from steroids to
you-name-it), which affects their availability.  It can be very
satisfying to see many more teens coming into the library, partly as a
result of a good librarian and as a result of an active teen board.  As
long as the little darlings don't forget where they are and start
attaching their bodies to other kids' bodies too, uh, provocatively in
front of G/god and everyone.

Then again, if you want a challenge, the so-called tweens can offer it
(a challenge).  Once the kids hit third or fourth grade, even that early
they may start drifting away from the library.  But it's wonderful when
our programs have worked, especially as some of the programs for the
tweens have been targeted at, and well-populated with, boys.  NOT
because we discriminate against girls, but because boys can be hard to
reach and *engage*, as they say in Jargon.

It might be helpful to know other staff members' inclinations,
enthusiasms, and, if you will, specialties.  If there's a youth
services/children's dept. in which one or two or ten--depending on the
size of library--people do really well with little kids, and shy away
from teens, then perhaps the YA route is the one to take.  We have a f-t
assistant in Youth Services who is excellent with little kids, admits
that the younger-to-youngest children are her favorites, and so I have
tried to hire YS librarians who can deal with, and *like*, older
children and young adults--while also, of course, being capable of
dealing with the littlest ones, as needed.  As with many other things,
context can be important.  So...if you don't feel *pressured* to go one
particular way, but really *do* have a choice, then studying the
surroundings and the people who inhabit them could be a top priority
before drawing your one-and-only (apparently) straw.

That was too much work for a Monday morning.  One can be Profound for
only so long....

John D. Richmond, Director
Alpha Park Public Library District
3527 So. Airport Road
Bartonville, IL 61607
Ph: (309) 697-3822, ext. 12
Fax: (309) 697-9681
E-mail: jrichmond at alphapark.org
_________________________________________________
"To do two things at once is to do neither." -- Publilius Syrus, 1st
century B.C.