Two interesting articles about library services to teens, if you haven’t read them already:
The Transparent Library : Embracing Library Services to Teens by Michael Casey and Michael Stephens
What Would Madison Avenue Do? Marketing to Teens by Anastasia Goodstein (discovered via Librarian in Black)
And here’s a related question — what do you think about the fact that many libraries have staff who specialize in serving niche populations (e.g., teen librarians or children’s librarians)? Is it better to have all library staff serve an entire population in similar ways, or is it better to have a handful who are specially trained and prepared to serve certain subsections of the population?
As a children’s librarian who specialized in YA librarianship in library school, I have to say that niche librarians are a wonderful luxury. I worked in a branch where I did planning on all age levels, and I think I am a better librarian now that I can focus on one individual group.
In fact, I specialize further since I am the “Early Literacy” person in my system. I can do many more creative things in my particular area when I don’t have to worry about being all things to everyone. It’s a lot easier to keep up on professional information and trends in one age group. Especially since the information on what babies need changes about every six months!
I agree with E McGrew, I think it is a wonderful luxury. I think that part of the goodness stems from having someone to focus on each group, so they have the benefit of someones full attention (I can dream, can’t I?). I also think that if you are lucky you manage to get someone who is good at working with a particular group to focus all their energies on that area, thus utilising their skills. I’m not saying you shouldn’t collaborate (it’s my favourite way to work), but it is a great way to make sure someone has ownership and makes sure that stuff gets done for each specific user group.