Diane P. Tuccillo - The Teen Library Internship Handbook

A former English teacher and high school drama director and coach, Diane P. Tuccillo earned her MLS degree from Rutgers University in 1980. After serving as a young adult librarian at the Rutherford (NJ) Public Library and the Reading (MA) Public Library, she became the long-time young adult coordinator at the City of Mesa Library in Arizona, where she led a dynamic, nationally known library teen advisory group for twenty-seven years. From 2007 until 2017, she was a teen services librarian at the Poudre River Public Library District in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she co-led a vibrant Interesting Reader Society teen advisory group.

Tuccillo has been actively involved in and has received awards from several professional organizations, including the Young Adult Library Services Association, the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Arizona Library Association. She has been a book reviewer and article contributor for professional journals such as School Library Journal and Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) magazine; has contributed to books such as Nilsen and Donelsons classic Literature for Todays Young Adults; and has been a regular and an emeritus member of the VOYA advisory board. Her second book, Teen-Centered Library Service: Putting Youth Participation into Practice, was published in 2010; her third book, the completely revised and updated second edition of Library Teen Advisory Groups (the first edition published in 2005), was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018; and her fourth book, Totally Tweens & Teens: Youth-Created and Youth-Led Library Programs, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2020.

Through the years of her professional involvement, Tuccillo has taught in-person and online college and university classes in library science; she has presented at many local, state, and national conferences; and she has offered workshops, programs, and webinars related to teen library participation and YA literature.

Tuccillo lives with her husband, Mick, in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she serves as a library volunteer and on the Board of Directors of the Poudre River Friends of the Library.

A BOOK LIKE THIS THAT GIVES practical guidelines and uses real-life experiences and testimonials to illustrate them can only come about through the kind input from those librarians, other library staff members, and teen interns who were willing to share their information and stories. I received many generous responses from those who had something to share from around the country, and to those people, I am sincerely grateful.

Adults who supervised, mentored, advised, led, or otherwise were instrumental in arranging or approving teen internships that came about and sent me details of, documents from, and photos of their experiences are: Scott Bahlmann; Cody Brownson-Katz; Holly Burrell; Hayley Burson; Eric Button; David Clark; Zayda Delgado; Kathy DeWeese; Brittany Garcia; Mary Hirsh; Luke Kirkland; Joanna Kolosov; Christie Lassen; Angela McCaffery; Zach Miller; Janet Monterrosa; Bel Outwater; Sierra Pandy; Analiza Perez-Gomez; Lindsey Tomsu; Patricia VanArsdale; Anna White; Natalie Williams; and Joe Wisniewski.

Likewise, the teenagers who were chosen as teen library interns and shared their thoughts, ideas, advice, and images with me are: Ty Allen; Iris Alvarenga; Marcus Bennett; Yasmeen Chavez; Kathleen C.; Rachel Cosgrove; Emily Brooks Friel; Matthew Heath; Annie Jean-Baptiste; Cheyenne Jones; Madelyn Lakeman; Morea Lee; Christine Miller; Makynna Reiff; Jaishna Sivakumar; Sam Stucky; Nayana Thompson; Alia Touadjine; Aaron Vivanco, Jr.; Emma Weisler; Sade Wilkens El; Bethany Worrell; and Stevenson Youyoute.

Thanks also to my astute and encouraging editor, RoseMary Ludt, who has helped me make my book the best it can be, and to Sharon Rawlins for writing a foreword that is a perfect fit.

Finally, I have a great appreciation for my readers. Those of you who have read my books and put the information to practical use have helped lead our teenagers into the future and are essential to a book like this. For me, my books are a labor of love that allows me to share knowledge and wisdom with you so that you can pass it on in various ways with our next generation. Thanks for keeping the light shining brightly for our teenage library leaders!

F OR MANY YEARS UNTIL THE present time, internships were adult-only territory provided in various businesses, organizations, agencies, medical facilities, and community services. True, many of those adults who have been and are interns were and are college students and very new adults, but not all. Some older adults who changed careers or only just embarked on one after raising a family have been and are interns.

In the last decade or so, internships have altered to include younger people still in high school. This is a positive change because it affords teenagers a chance to test the waters before deciding upon and heading off to a college or university; to pursue other higher education; to get worksite training through an employment area of interest; and, overall, to learn numerous real-world job skills.

In this chapter, we will examine the concept of internships for teens in general and three in-depth reasons why they are a beneficial experiential model for the young adult age group and their adult sponsors.

Teenagers can be given opportunities to participate in many forms of experiential learning. These include volunteerism, service-learning or community service, civic engagement in any number of ways that enhance and advocate for vital issues in a community, project-based learning, job shadowing, student employment, and internships. For this book, internships will be the primary consideration, although the information you will find can be adapted and applied to other kinds of teen experiential learning.

On that note, let us begin with a detailed look at internships and what they encompass. Reflecting upon a definition and general description is a good start:

Internships are work-based learning activities in which teenagers engage in learning through practical and relevant experiences at various internship sites. They are targeted to career goals and allow teens to explore careers that require additional degrees, certification, or on-the-job training following high school.