[Publib] working with teenagers

[Becca Carden]

Kevin,

I think you did just fine--you walked her to the shelf and showed her how the alphabetical arrangement worked.  It may be that the teens are intimidated either by libraries or by adults in general--in which case, all you can do is be friendly, helpful and patient--and it certainly sounds like you are.  It may be that the kids just want you to hand the book to them and aren't really interested in how the collection is arranged--in which case it doesn't hurt to talk about what you're doing to locate the item, as long as it's in a friendly conversational manner--the 'how' may not stick but how you make them feel will. It also may be that your teens are asking a 'starter' question in order to figure out how things are arranged--and then they're waiting for you to walk away so that they can head for the author/title/section they're really interested in.

If it's possible, you might consider inviting teachers to bring classes to the library at the beginning of the school year--this could be a first step in introducing students to the public library
 and making them feel welcome.  Another option might be visiting the classrooms at the beginning of the school year--and perhaps you can invite the students to participate in some sort of scavenger hunt . . .

Hope this helps!

Becky
Interdepartmental Librarian
Allen County Public Library

--- On Sat, 6/21/08, Kevin Okelly <KOkelly at minlib.net> wrote:
From: Kevin Okelly <KOkelly at minlib.net>
Subject: Re: [Publib] working with teenagers
To: "Mary K Chelton" <mchelton at optonline.net>, publib at webjunction.org
Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008, 2:22 PM

I don't think there's any need for rudeness. I did (as you elegantly put
it) "get off my butt" as you would have noted had you actually read
what I
wrote. I walked with this person to every location in the
 building where
there was a book they needed.

Kevin O'Kelly
Reference and Cataloging Librarian
Somerville Public Library
79 Highland Ave.
Somerville, MA 02143
(617)-623-5000


-----Original Message-----
From: Mary K Chelton <mchelton at optonline.net>
To: publib at webjunction.org
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:46:05 -0400
Subject: [Publib] working with teenagers

> While I sympathize with the two posts below to a point, I would like  
> to point out that while reading is a survival skill, being able to use 
> a library is not, even if it does fall into a "highly desirable"
 
> category, at least for librarians.
> 
> Give the kid the book and then offer to help them learn how to find it 
> for themselves the next time. Maybe you could ever be excited that  
> they want to read it! I loathe this almost punitive need to give  
> somebody a lesson before we
 hand them what they want. I only hope, in  
> the interests of egalitarian service, you give these mini-lessons to  
> adults, too, although the resentment may be just as severe with them.
> 
> I think it's long past time that we incorporate into our reference  
> interactions some assessment of whether the use just wants the stuff  
> or is interested in our library organization and use lesson. If you  
> can point to the shelf, you can also get off your butt and walk to it.
> 
> Mary K.
> 
> Mary K Chelton
> Professor
> GSLIS/Queens College
> CUNY
> 65-30 Kissena Blvd.
> Flushing, NY 11367
> (718) 997-3790,3667
> 
> 
> ***********************************************************************
> **************************
> Message: 19
> Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:22:04 -0400
> From: "Kevin Okelly"
 <KOkelly at minlib.net>
> Subject: Re: [Publib] question about working with teenagers
> To: "Publib" <publib at webjunction.org>
> Message-ID: <WorldClient-F200806211122.AA22045361 at minlib.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Whenever a teenager comes up to me and says "I need this book,"
I have
> a
> little spiel I go through, walking them step-by-step through the
> process
> of finding a book. And I think I am being very clear, but the last few
> days I have had several teenage patrons who just did not get the idea
> of
> fiction being alphabetized by author, let alone call numbers.
> 
> A few minutes ago I was in the young adult fiction section. I told the
> patron that Duncan was the last name of the author she needed, and that
> the young adult fiction section was alphabetized by author.  I pointed 
>
 to
> the shelf we were in front (full of authors whose last names began with
> "E") and said "okay so we need to go in this direction
because that's
> where the "Ds" are." I walked a couple of shelves over with
her until
> we
> were right in front of the shelf she needed. I pointed to the shelf and
> said, "all you have to do is follow the letters ...and pointed to
spine
> labels with last names beginning Do, Dr, and moved my finger in the
> direction toward "Duncan." She just stared at the shelf. I tried
> explaining it again. Finally I pointed directly at the books by authors
> named "Duncan."
> 
> She stared at them a little while. I think I finally had to point out  
> the
> exact book she needed, I'm not sure at this point.
> 
> Honestly I don't know how to be any clearer--maybe she didn't know
what
> the word 'alphabetize' meant, but I
 would have hoped that my
pointing
> to
> the shelf and saying, 'follow the letters' would have clarified
that.
> 
> If these kids can't even find something filed alphabetically how the  
> Hell
> are they going to graduate high school?
> 
> I spend quite a lot of time trying to teach patrons how to use the
> library, especially teenagers who need to know how to use a library if
> they are going to have a prayer of getting any kind of higher
> education.
> If any of you have any experience working with teenagers and trying to
> teach them basic information literacy I would be grateful if you shared
> your insights.
> 
> Kevin
> 
> Kevin O'Kelly
> Reference and Cataloging Librarian
> Somerville Public Library
> 79 Highland Ave.
> Somerville, MA 02143
> (617)-623-5000
> 
> 
> Message: 20
>
 Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:52:42 -0400 (EDT)
> From: kferrier at grpl.org
> Subject: Re: [Publib] question about working with teenagers
> To: "Kevin Okelly" <KOkelly at minlib.net>
> Cc: Publib <publib at webjunction.org>
> Message-ID: <1483.10.0.210.97.1214063562.squirrel at webmail.grpl.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> Kevin,
> This is the tip of the iceberg.  What we are seeing is due to the lack 
> of
> school media specialists. Unfortunately, school systems all across the 
> USA
> are cutting these crucial positions to save money. What they don't  
> realize
> is the terrible damage they are doing. They replace the media  
> specialists
> with well-meaning volunteers. It's all very well and good to have
> parent
> volunteers helping in the schools and in the libraries, but so often  
> to a
>
 parent "helping" a child becomes doing the work for them.
> -Kayne Ferrier
> 20 + years in youth services and branch services
> 
> 




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