Comments on Library Talk: What's Broken? What Needs To Be Fixed?

Oh yes, I read this article the day it came out an...

2007-01-05T14:43:00.000-05:00

Oh yes, I read this article the day it came out and my head popped right off!

I surfed over to the library in question's website and see that they're doing programming for teens, they're offering IM reference and they've got a blog as well. So I don't think this is necessarily a case of a library stuck in the tarpits of library service.

What bothers me most, is that we're going to be answering to the public about the actions of this library - over 3,000 miles away from where my library is both physically and mindset-wise!

Yes, having a great physical space for teens is great! Not everybody has that - to be sure, but we all have staff who interact with youth and THAT is the key to dealing with problem behaviors in the Library.

I have spent over a decade working in the trenches with situations just like the one they describe but NEVER has closing the doors been considered as a solution to those issues.

In cases where kids are unruly, kick them out! With that said, whenever you kick a kid out of the library, invite them to come back and try again the next day. Always make a point of interacting with kids when there weren't any problems so that there is an established positive history going between the teens/tweens and you as a librarian. Try to learn their names, particularly the "troublemakers" and ask them about things they like - chat about WWE or videogames or fashion or music. And after-school you just have to put most of your staff out on the floor - and NOT stuck behind a dest - walking the floor and dealing with the kids where they are.

Michael Stephens has a post about it, and he says,...

2007-01-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

Michael Stephens has a post about it, and he says, "I think we'll see this one RIPPLE across the Biblioblogosphere like crazy in the next few days." He's obviously right, because here are some more posts about it:

Pop Goes the Library
What I Learned Today
Library Stuff

MPOW (a library branch with the exact same square ...

2007-01-03T20:02:00.000-05:00

MPOW (a library branch with the exact same square footage as Gregg's...which means small) is in close proximity to a high school, a junior high and an elementary school. We are frequently besieged by kids of all ages, even more so during school breaks. We have a YA collection of books and magazines (on the adult side of the library, not the children's side), but absolutely no space for teens. None. (The YA books and magazines are right at the edge of the extremely popular area for public computers.)

I agree with Jessica, a public library needs a space (and dedicated staff) for teens. (Gregg's POW, BTW, has a really cool teen room. I'm very jealous.) But Gregg's right, no matter how much space, there will be tweens and teens who will be energetic and mischievous, and some who will be outright disruptive and destructive. As Jessica said in her own blog post about this, a lot of parents aren't parenting, and you get kids who don't know how to be respectful of others (and don't care).

I think a public library is a community center, but that doesn't make it the Home For Wayward Kids. That being said, I think closing the library punishes everyone, and I think that's a mistake. You handle unruly teens the same way you handle any unruly patron. Of course, if the Maplewood library has really exhausted every other solution, maybe closing the library during "afterschool hours", at least temporarily, might get people to take notice (the media certainly has) and get people to help find a better solution.

Still, closing the library really doesn't sit will with me.

Funny this article should pop up - I work at a lib...

2007-01-03T19:47:00.000-05:00

Funny this article should pop up - I work at a library in an exurb that is within fifty feet of one school and within two blocks of another and we're besieged with kids every weekday afternoon at 3:15 when the schools let out. We've had problems that sound eerily similar to the ones described in the article. (No feces-smearing, though. At least none that I know of.)

To my mind, it's a problem of a community that asks libraries to fulfil a function that we're not set up to solve. Library accessibility isn't the issue - even a platonic ideal of a library with a wide-open, clearly-lit YA section will still be full of kids, goofing off, fighting over the computer, flirting, shoving, laughing, riding their skateboards on the carpet, hassling younger kids, etc.

One of the keys here is staff involvement. In my library, we have a list of unacceptable behavior listed in tiers, from Level 1 (a warning) to 3 (bannination). After two warnings, kids are asked to leave and we excort them out. If they refuse or give us problems, we call the police. Period. Staff is mostly on board with this, so kids know that we're going to be fairly consistent across the board. I have no idea if the NJ library in the article has tried anything like this, or if the staff has had any sort of special training.

I admire them in a way - by shutting down the library, they're forcing the community to admit they have a problem (lack of afterschool care) and hopefully the community will realize the emormity of the problem (front page of the NTY Times certainly won't hurt) and do something about it.

Thank you, Josh, for setting up such a nice discus...

2007-01-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Josh, for setting up such a nice discussion topic.

As far as it relates to teens and their appreciation of (and subsequently behavior in???) the library, I think that the libraries in my neck of the woods lack a useable and inviting teen space. When I see pictures of the teen area at Michael Casey's library, I want to cry/move there immediately.

Many libraries in my state still put their YA collection in the same area as the children's room - personally I think this is a HUGE mistake. Teens are not "children," and do not want to be lumped in with children. And all too often, the children's librarian is great with little ones, but not so great with adolescents.

In a state like RI, where many many libraries are still housed in historic buildings, the issue is often simply one of space - there's no place to put the teens and their collections, activities, and computers. But because so few people, from twon/city government to board members, to librarians themselves see the VALUE of having a well-funded YA program and a well-designed YA space, the teens often find themselves on the outside looking in. I mean, think about it - when was the last time you went to a public library that did not have a children's area, but had a teen area? Now, when was the last time you went to a public library that had a nice children's area, but no (or a tiny uninviting) YA area? Uh huh.

My library has a huge children's room - huge - and an ugly, tiny, YA seating area that is almost always full of elderly patrons (soft chairs). And to make matters worse, the children's room is poorly set-up and completely underutilized - a third of that space (easily) could be partitioned off and made into a teen space. At the very least, we have a cubby-esque room which houses newspapers and a rarely-used microfilm reader (both things could be relocated), and that area could make a semi-decent teen reading or computer room. With $200 bucks, I could create a nice space - but it's simply not a priority.

So, ok, we have perhaps defined part of the problem - YA services are not a priority for many public libraries - so what are we going to do about it? And, can "trench-level" librarians do anything about it? Or are all y'all pissing up a rope like I am?