YACS (Young Adult and Children’s Services) Panel

featuring Youth Services Librarians

Feb. 18, 2009

UCLA

Panelists:

· Erica Cuyugan, Young Adult Librarian, Santa Monica Public Library: erica.cuyugan@smgov.net

· Shawn Thrasher, Senior Youth Services Librarian, Monrovia Public Library: sthrasher@ci.monrovia.ca.us

· Laura Henry, Young Readers Department Manager, Palos Verdes Library District: lhenry@pvld.org

· Michelle Simon Frommè, Head Librarian, Wildwood School, Second Faculty Head: msimon@wildwood.org

Introductions:

· Erica: Publishing Background, UCLA Grad, Worked in Northern California Library for 6 months before relocating to Santa Monica; Least Favorite thing about job: Being the only YA librarian can be overwhelming; Favorite thing about job: Working with Teens and YA Lit

· Shawn: Graduated from Emporia State in Kansas; Children’s Librarian in Kansas for 5 years at 2 different branches then moved to Pasadena Library as a Teen Librarian; Senior Librarian at Monrovia for 3 years; Least Favorite thing about the job: Grumpy Adults who have no stake in children; Favorite thing about the job: Reader’s advisory and having a kid come back to tell how much they loved the book

· Laura: Originally wanted to be a teacher but decided against it and attended UC Berkley for MLS instead; Worked at LA Co. La Verne Branch, West Covina, and a library in Wisconsin where she was the only full-time professional; Has been at PVLD for 9 years; Least Favorite thing about job: Problem Patrons and Performance Appraisals; Favorite thing about job: Storytime

· Michelle: Museum/Archives focus in library school (UCLA Grad) and knew a friend who recommended her for the School Librarian position; Most challenging thing about the job: Collaborating with Teachers; Favorite thing about the job: Being able to have relationships with students (past and present)

Education/Career

· Erica: Most Valuable classes were YA/Children’s classes, especially those by Walter, Cart, & Meyers as well as subject cataloging. She followed professors more than topics. Also internships were vary beneficial as they can help you determine the size of library you would like to work in, the type (its good to have a variety just to test the waters), and good to establish mentors/networks. Expected of Entry level children’s librarians is being responsible for part of a collection, programming (tenns/storytimes), outreach, class visits/tours, being on committees; Reference desk is best learned on the job

· Shawn: didn’t go to a Public Library focused school; thinks school is a great place to make connections/network since it’s a small world for librarians and you will invariably run across your classmates/professors again. For an entry level librarian (and librarians in general), you need to not only sell yourself in the interview, but to the public as well, especially in a small library/community where you will bump into these people at places like the market.

· Laura: best classes were storytelling, intellectual freedom, and cataloging. Most of the children’s classes she took were more common sense and better learned on the job and were not that helpful. For entry-level librarians, internships help people to know what they’re getting into and gives them practical knowledge about libraries rather than an idealized view which may not come to fruition. This experience can also be gained through things like volunteering. Knowledge of up-to-date technology, especially for groups not currently utilizing the library is important as well as understanding customer service and how people work (and actually liking people) and good problem solving skills are a must.

· Michelle: Subject and Descriptive cataloging as well as Reader’s Advisory. Her archives background helped in teaching students how to conduct more meaningful and fun research by showing them that you can find documents and things other than books to use as research materials, especially by incorporating new media like podcasts. In an entry-level librarian, she looks for people who fill her own gaps (for example, her strong suit isn’t cataloging, so she looked to hire someone good at it) as well as flexibility and a willingness to do anything.

Professional Associations

· Erica: Associations are good for networking as well as gaining different perspectives on the profession and seeing how others do things; good place to share misery and help you acclimate to a new place (especially good for re-location). In Northern California, she joined BAYA to help make friends and learn more about the profession. Currently she is a member of MCLS and YALSA (on the quick picks selection committee). Being active in an association often requires large time commitments (especially national associations) and your library will have to be willing to let you go to things like ALA Annual and Mid-winter. Local organizations are best if the library won’t support national-level commitments. Local organizations force you to go into the community and participate in outreach

· Shawn: Active in YALSA for 8 years – chaired committees, selected DVDs for YA. Best for making connections and networking, but associations can be rather cliquey and daunting. Local Associations are almost as important if not more important than national associations. Local associations he’s involved with are: MCLS Children’s committee and Southern California Children’s Committee. Also a thing to remember, is that even if you’re not active, its still good to join associations because your dues are supporting other people who are on the front lines and people who are doing research.

· Laura: Member of ALA and CLA and think that associations are important to hear what your colleagues are saying. Also important are list-servs like pubyac. She suggests that if you can be active and time constraints are not an issue, go for it

· Michelle: Member of YALSA and ASL; reads blogs/newsletters & magazines to stay up to date; also a member of a local school library association, Independent School Library Exchange (past president) which has a listserv and helped with her learning curve; There is also the California School Library Association although she is not a part of it since life is very different for private school libraries than public.

Most Successful Teen Programs?

• Erica: Built through time and investment; Teen Council (where she has a core group of kids who then branch out into her other programs); Gaming Club; Teen Film Festival; Partner with Farmer’s Market (Iron Chef challenges); College Prep; Least Favorite/Successful: Arts and Crafts; Best programs come one you know your community and groups of kids change and so do their interests, making one program not necessarily always successful year after year.
• Shawn: The more money you spend, the smaller the number of people who will attend. Book groups never worked for him. One of the more successful programs he had was chocolates for Christmas. Tweens are a group that is in need of services right now and really want services.
• Laura: Most successful programs involve food; Extreme Makeover (making houses out of graham crackers); Candy Sushi
• Michelle: Kids are too busy for book clubs so she does literary circles instead. Gaming Programs are big – no games with violence, especially since it’s a private school. She likes to have DDR, Wii Bowling, and collaboration/team work types of games. For her gaming programs, the kids bring their own consoles and share.