Notable teen experts and stellar practitioners from across the country explain why library service to adolescents in this age range is so important, and how you can enhance your collection and services to accommodate and win over this important group. Topics range from understanding adolescent informational needs and building and promoting a winning collection, to creating programs with tween appeal. Contributors include Sheila B. Anderson, James Rosinia, Deb Taylor, Robyn Lupa, and Kristine Mahood. Brimming with valuable insights and fresh ideas, as well as nuts and bolts directions, this is a must read for all librarians who work with young adolescents. If someone is described as a young adult, what image comes to mind? In fact, a young adult can be a twelve-year-old middle-schooler or a high school graduate. Libraries have traditionally offered a variety programs and services for YAs, and although more emphasis has been given to serving teens in recent years, little has been done to distinguish between groups within the category, and meet the specific developmental needs of this broad range of library users. This collection complements Anderson's previous collection, Serving Older Teens, by focusing on the needs of tweens and young teens, ages 11-14. This is the age range when many young people stop using the library and lose interest in reading. Notable teen experts and stellar practitioners from across the country explain why service to adolescents in this age range is so important, and how you can enhance your collection and services to accommodate and win over this important group. Topics range from understanding adolescent informational needs and building and promoting a winning collection, to creating programs with tween appeal. Contributors include Sheila Anderson, James Rosinia, Deb Taylor, Robyn Lupa, Brenda Hager and Kristine Mahood. Brimming with valuable insights and fresh ideas, as well as nuts and bolts directions, this is a must read for all librarians who work with young adolescents.

A comprehensive guide to working with teen parents and their children that provides practical program ideas for successful school and public library program development, implementation, and evaluation. Teen parents and their children represent an underserved, high-need population in many communities. Libraries have the potential to significantly influence the quality of life for teen parent families by providing free access to information and resources, developing specific programs, and serving as a safe, public learning environment. Serving Teen Parents: From Literacy to Life Skills helps library staff support teen parents as their children's first teachers, positively affecting two generations at once. The authors explain how to successfully communicate with this group and build upon their competencies and strengths. They offer best practices, professional anecdotes, and step-by-step direction on connecting with teen parents, collaborating with community partners, locating funding options, and implementing successful programs. This invaluable guide is the most comprehensive resource currently available that directly addresses the needs of librarians serving the teen-parent demographic.

As high school enrollment continues to rise, the need for effective librarianship serving young adults is greater than ever before. "Young Adults Deserve the Best: Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth,” developed by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), is a document outlining areas of focus for providing quality library service in collaboration with teenagers. In this book, Sarah Flowers identifies and expands on these competency areas. This useful work includes Anecdotes and success stories from the field Guidelines which can be used to create evaluation instruments, determine staffing needs, and develop job descriptions Additional professional resources following each chapter that will help librarians turn theory into practiceThe first book to thoroughly expand on this important document, Young Adults Deserve the Best is a key foundational tool not only for librarians but also for young adult specialists, youth advocacy professionals, and school administrators.

This collection of thoughtful essays discusses library trends and best practices in creating dynamic, effective, and enjoyable spaces for young adults. Young adult librarians face a wide of array of issues when planning spaces for teen patrons. At the same time, the "digital divide" has shrunk for many Americans in the past decade, and libraries are expected to keep up by providing more open access to mobile technologies, digital books, and online information—certainly a formidable challenge. Make Room for Teens!: Reflections on Developing Teen Spaces in Libraries serves as a thought-provoking tool for librarians who seeking guidance in creating, maintaining, and updating young adult spaces in their libraries. The essays contained within this book discuss the topic in clear language that is free from jargon, emphasizing illustrative (and sometimes humorous) anecdotes, experiential learning, and best practices. Rather than a "how-to" guide, the book provides a comprehensive thought exercise for librarians looking to better understand and create spaces for young adults and teenagers. Subjects addressed include important issues like common space, collection development, and the ways in which teens "own" a space, giving librarians an invaluable understanding of what a library space really "says" to young adults.

Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for engaging teens and 'tweens with ecofriendly, low-cost art programs that are appropriate for the library or classroom. Being "green" is a hot topic today, not only for businesses and adults interested in being socially responsible, but also for 'tweens, teens, and young adults. Today's young adults are keenly aware of environmental issues, locally and globally. They are also in need of art programs that provide a hands-on, creative outlet. Teens Go Green!: Tips, Technique, Tools and Themes for YA Programming is an approachable reference book for librarians or high school teachers looking for low-cost, environmentally themed art projects and programs that teens will relate to and find fun. In Part 1, the author explains the needs for these programs, offers tips for teaching them, and suggests ways to expand teen involvement in the library. Part 2 provides dozens of practical, easy-to-follow art project ideas that demonstrate how simple teaching green teen art projects can be.

Taking a genre approach, this overview of young adult literature shows new librarians and library science students the criteria to use for selecting quality books, including recommended titles. This third edition of Young Adult Literature in Action draws on the success of the previous two editions authored by Rosemary Chance, updating and expanding on them to meet the needs of today's librarians and library science students. It includes a new focus on diverse books, LGBTQ+ selections, the role of book formats, and the relevance of librarians serving teen populations and is an ideal resource for teaching young adult literature courses. Organized by major genre divisions, this easy-to-use book includes new information on timely topics such as audio and e-books, accessible books, and graphic novels. Each chapter includes revised and updated information on collaborative activities, featured books, special topics and programs, selected awards and celebrations, historical connections, recommended resources, issues for discussion, author comments, and assignment suggestions. Further updates include citations of exemplary young adult books and award winners, references, websites, and a bibliography.

Learn how teens use social networking technologies and how these same technologies can be used to engage them in library services. Teens and Social Networking Now: What Librarians Need to Know is organized around ten major topics, including using social networking sites to connect teens to young adult literature, social networking and legislative issues, social networking and safety/privacy issues, and the social and educational benefits of social networking. Expert practitioners explain how such issues can and should impact library services to young adults, focusing on concrete suggestions and specific steps for best practices and program designs that will help librarians utilize social networking tools to enhance library services to teens, both online and in the library. As background, the book explores the reasons so many teens use these sites. It also shares a profile of an award-winning public library's use of social networking to engage teen library users and a national survey of the ways YA librarians are using social networking to deliver public library services.