I feel like I don’t do as much with teen services as I could, and I know that I don’t do quite as much as I used to.  Part of it’s because I figured that scaled-back programming might work better (and so far it has), and because I’ve already got a lot of other job responsibilities on top of teen programming (and I think it’s better to do a few things really well rather than a bunch of things not-so-well).

Anyway, I was happy to see this post on the YALSA blog by Kelly Czarnecki about the Obama-Biden transition team.Kelly Czarnecki about the Obama-Biden transition team.   The question of “why libraries matter” seems like a dumb one to ask, but as I’ve said previously, it’s a question worth asking if we should expect to stick around:

Fast forward to today, where the transition team of Obama-Biden  has asked us (yes, they have!!) of how to make a positive change in the U.S.  The important role that libraries and librarians have in impacting the community, is a great response to this call for participation.

It’s refreshing, to say the least, to see teen services framed in terms of real policy (or at least an appeal to policy), something that can provide definitive guidelines for libraries and information professionals in designing and implementing programs and outreach for teens and young adults.

If you haven’t already, I do recommend checking out Barack Obama’s 2005 speech to the American Library Association, as well as the rest of Kelly’s post for the links to ALA funding requests, teen services talking points, and other links of relevance to anyone who works with youth.