Serving special populations Teens and the library

Do you know who these characters are? If not – then you aren’t serving your teen readers

“Sometimes the biggest hurdle is simply getting the teens here, in the library, to show them all we offer.” – Jen Danifo

So how do you get kids through the door? “They need not feel like second class citizens upon entering the building.” – Rollie Welch

Empower them to make decisions Get them involved in activities Let them decide on the direction of teen services Teen Advisory Board

“We took the approach of empowering teens to choose what kind of program we were going to do.” – Liz Kostandinu Offer tie-in speakers Allow teens a chance to get involved in planning Suggestions On-site events like jewelry making and art classes Promote and celebrate Teen Read Week

Comics and Manga YA series Video games Gaming magazines DVDs and blue rays Music Carry the types of materials they are interested in

Gaming and graphic novels

Popular YA titles

Teens thrive on social media Have a twitter and facebook page Have teens contribute to a library blog Live where they live

Dress up as characters from a book or series Do zombie make-overs Have a spooky story contest Teen Read Week

Baur, J., & Lee, J. (2012). Talking Comics. Young Adult Library Services, 10(4), Corradini, E. (2006). Teenagers analyse their public library. New Library World, 107(11), doi: Danifo, J. (2012). Hungry for Teen Services. Pennsylvania Library Association Bulletin, 67(2), Welch, R. (2008). From Platforms to Books? I'm Game. Young Adult Library Services, 6(2), Snowball, C. (2008). Enticing teenagers into the library. Library Review, 57(1), Biography

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