Encouraging teens to get involved with their library

I thought I would contribute to your blog Beth--I hope you don't mind!

Getting teens to become involved in their community is very difficult; after all, they are involved with a lot of other activities both in school and out of school. Adding to their demanding schedules is time to spend with friends, homework, family obligations, after-school jobs, etc. which makes for a very busy teen. On top of that, add add all of the teen angst and social and developmental issues they are going through at the time and you could have a very stressed, very busy, very active teen.

So how do you get them to WANT to be involved with their boring library? Some ideas I have were to provide services and activities that the teen specifically would enjoy which makes perfect sense until you realize that YOU are no longer a teenager and really have no clue what THEY want! Figuring out what they want is actually rather easy--ASK THEM! They will be more than happy to tell you what they want, when they want it, how they would like it, and how you should do it.

Forming a Teen Advisory Board or group is one of the best ways a librarian can connect with teens. You will have a hard time getting teens to join--the library is not the coolest place in town to be spotted. However, find a few ambitious teens who need or want to pad their college applications and you will be surprised what you will get. Anytime a student applying for college has community service, volunteer work, experience working in groups/teams, decision-making skills, budgetary experience, etc. it makes a strong case for admission. By forming a Teen Advisory Board, a teenager gets a lot and it's fun!