Summer Reading Program

Well, this is my first Summer Reading Program. It's been fun so far - we've done crafts and cooked different recipes each week on Wednesdays. Of course, we still are doing the Yu Gi Oh Club, Game Night, Movie Night, and Manga Club, but our most popular activity is our cooking program. Last week we made Milk Tart, and the week before we made Stroganoff. Both tasted great, but the Milk Tart was very runny. That didn't stop the teens from coming back for seconds and finishing it off though! I print off a copy of the recipe for each teen, then I split up the recipe into several different parts. If there is an onion to be chopped, I let 2 or 3 teens work on it, so more hands are busy, and it goes faster. I let each teen measure some ingredient, chop something, stir the pot, or sprinkle in spices. If they don't have something to do for a while, they get bored, so I have to be sure each one gets occupied as often as possible. Another thing I've noticed about the cooking program is that it appeals to both sexes. I don't have to worry that it's too girly (like I do with most of my crafts) or too boyish (Game Night and Yu Gi Oh Club are dominated by boys). Also, there's surprisingly little clean up afterwards. The teens are learning the basics of cooking, enjoying the products of their efforts, and trying new foods.

Gaming: not just the video kind.

As a Teen Librarian, I feel it's my duty to do more than feed my teens books. I want them to feel comfortable in the library - comfortable being themselves. So I remembered when my brother was a teenager and he used to love Yu Gi Oh (it's a card game). He had a hard time getting people together to play him, and a lot of kids his age thought it was nerdy and wouldn't give it a try. So I thought, hey, why not start a Yu Gi Oh club at the library. Get some cool, older guys to mentor and teach younger players about the game. Provide another outlet for my teens, and a safe one at that. The first meeting, only one player showed up. At the next one there were 9. Word is spreading, and now I hear the younger ones bragging about the older ones, and really getting into it. Teens who had given up on the game because they had no one to play are now talking to their older counterparts and getting advice about building up their decks. It's a great thing.

Facebook and Twitter, oh my!

When I first got the job, I knew that I would open a Facebook group for my teenagers so that I could inform them of stuff going on at the library. I didn't know that I'd also be making a Twitter account (Yikes!). But I ended up doing both. Since I'm not fond of tweeting, I gave up on that pretty quickly, but I've used the Facebook group ever since. In fact, I go on that account at least 3 times a week to post updates, add pics, and attempt to get input from my teens.

You do have to be careful about using Facebook and Twitter though. You can't name names, because of privacy issues. You can't post pics of minors without parental consent.

Library Science was not my major . . .

I'm a Teen Librarian. Library Science was not my major. I just sort of fell into this position. However, it has got to be the PERFECT job. If you like teenagers, and maybe you have to like libraries too.

Well, the reason I'm writing this blog is to 1) keep track of my own progress, 2) brag a little, and 3) help out other newbies to this field of work. I don't know what I would have done for inspiration without bloggers like The Imaginary Librarian and Zakka Life. Check them out, by the way . . .