Getting Teen Services Out from Under the Radar

Sara Flowers, a well-known YA librarian, presented this program about some important YALSA resources that will help libraries get their YA services out out from under the radar.

The evaluation tool, an official YALSA publication, is meant to get libraries self-evaluating and moving their YA services in the right direction.  Libraries rank themselves in different categories as distinguished, proficient, basic, or below basic. 

The categories are:
-leadership and professionalism
-knowledge of client group
-communication, marketing, and outreach
-administration
-knowledge of materials
-access to information
-services

A co-presenter from Multnomah County led us through some exercises where we talked about our own libraries and where we thought we might rank ourselves.  I thought the feedback from the group was very helpful in realizing that we all struggle with similar issues when it comes to teen services.  Things like attendance at programs, building relationships, and reliability seem to be universal among libraries and something that takes time and dedication to overcome.  

The YALSA tools seem very useful and will definitely be valuable as we complete the Teens@RCPL grant this spring.