Putting Teens First in Library Services

by Linda W. Braun

Implementing innovative teen services in libraries requires that library staff learn and adapt with their communities. Using core concepts outlined in YALSAs The Future of Library Services for and With Teens: A Call to Action report as a spring-board, this publication takes a deep dive into the theory and practice behind meaningful, cutting-edge teen programs and services with contributions from diverse leaders in the field including front-line practitioners, managers, and researchers. From novice to expert, readers will explore the knowledge and information that they need in order to design a relevant and sustainable strategy, which will improve the lives of the teens that they serve.

Genres: Nonfiction, Professional Development

178 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2017

About the author

Linda W. Braun is an education technology consultant with LEO: Librarians & Educators Online. She provides training and consulting to schools, libraries, and other educational institutions on how to integrate technology successfully. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where she teaches courses on Web development and teen services. Linda has written books for ALA Editions, Neal-Schuman, Libraries Unlimited, and Information Today. She is also a TAG Team Tech columnist for Voices of Youth Advocates, and was blog manager for YALSA from 2006 through 2009.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beginner's guide to Teen Services. The nice part about the system I work for, is that we have grown to understand that Teens are an ever-increasing importance in library futures. This book provides a great jumping off point.
The thing I took most away from this book how (and its unfortunately at the end of the book) (It should be noted in at least 3 parts in this book and should be required to be written down and tested on), are the core values of being a Teen Specialist...its not just the soft skills, outreach, marketing or the programs, but the essential values that makes a teen specialist who each of them is....This is crucial to success.

[Kayla Martin-Gant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is solid and will be very helpful for a lot of youth services staff, especially new teen librarians. A lot of it is set up in an easy-to-follow structure with multiple case studies that have a description, what was learned, etc. It's also a nice introduction/brief exploration of Connected Learning concepts and how they can be applied in libraries. It's a little dense in terms of information considering it's such a small book, but I think if readers take their time with it they'll get some good stuff out of it.