mk Eagle - Answering Teens Tough Questions

2012 by the American Library Association. Any claim of copyright is subject to applicable limitations and exceptions, such as rights of fair use and library copying pursuant to Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. No copyright is claimed for content in the public domain, such as works of the U.S. government.

Published in cooperation with the Young Adult Library Services Association.

Extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of the information in this book; however, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

ISBNs: 978-1-55570-794-1 (paper); 978-1-55570-852-8 (PDF); 978-1-55570-854-2 (ePub); 978-1-55570-853-5 (Kindle)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Eagle, mk, 1983

Answering teens tough questions: a YALSA guide / mk Eagle.

p. cm.

Includes .

ISBN 978-1-55570-794-1

1. Libraries and teenagersUnited States. 2. Young adults librariesUnited States. 3. Young adult services librariansUnited StatesAttitudes. 4. TeenagersUnited StatesAttitudes. 5. TeenagersUnited StatesSocial conditions. 6. TeenagersServices forUnited States. I. Young Adult Library Services Association. II. Title.

Z718.5.E19 2012

027.62'6dc23

2012015104

Cover design by Rosemary Holderby, Cole Design & Production

Contents

Chapter 1. Who Are You, Anyway?
Your Own Background and Biases

Chapter 2. Who Are Those Teens in Your Library?
A Brief Introduction to Teens Themselves

Chapter 3. What If I Go All the Way?
Sex and Sexuality

Chapter 4. Does That Girl Even Have a House?
Homeless Teens

Chapter 5. Did That Hurt?
Tattoos and Piercings

Chapter 6. You Wont Tell Anyone, Right?
Dating Violence and Abuse

Chapter 7. Does That Get You High?
Drugs and Alcohol

Chapter 8. Why Does Everyone Keep Telling Me to Relax?
Mental and Emotional Health

Chapter 9. You Wanna Fight about It?
Teen Violence and Juvenile Justice

Chapter 10. Did You See What She Wrote on My Wall?
Teens and Technology

In the past ten years, I have done more than 100 workshops around the country about working with teens in a library setting. The comment I hear most often from workshop attendees is that they want to do right by the teens in their library, but they have no formal training about working with adolescents. The idea for the YALSA Guides series came about when I realized that what these librarians and frontline staff need are simple, practical guidebooks about best practices for working with teens. Since no one does professional development and opportunities for growth better than the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), it seemed like a no-brainer to partner with this national association of librarians, library workers, and advocates whose mission is to expand and strengthen library services for teens and some of the best practitioners in the field today. The book you are now holding is one of three inaugural titles in the YALSA Guides series, aka boot camp-in-a-book for library staff new to teen services. In fact, the author of this book, mk Eagle, actually came up with that term to help define this series of books that were developed specifically to help library staff learn the basics about serving teens in libraries.

If youre already familiar with YALSA, you might recognize mk Eagles name from the YALSA Blog. As the YALSA Blog manager, mk has been at the forefront of sharing information with teen librarians since 2009. She is also a high school librarian in Massachusetts. Both of these gigs have given mk a unique perspective on both directly serving teens and working with adults who work with teens, and nowhere is that experience more apparent than in this book. Using real-life examples and practical strategies for handling teen life scenarios, mk has created a primer for library staff to guide them in talking with teens about tough and often controversial topics, including sex and sexuality, homelessness, tattoos and piercings, violence in relationships, alcohol and drug use and abuse, mental and emotional health, teen violence and juvenile justice, and technology-related issues. In addition to an overview of each of these topics, mk has included information about adolescent development and the developmental needs of young people, as well as recommendations for empowering teens. All of these elements together create an excellent reference and resource guide to keep librarians who serve teens moving forward in their professional development.

Michele Gorman

Author, Connecting Young Adults and Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual

Teen Services Coordinator, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

Editor, Teens at the Library Series

Your day in the library includes several disturbing images that you think about after you go home:

One girl was shaking, near tears, trying to get help for her friend who had punched her locker, but shes convinced the nurse wont give her an ace bandage.

Four older boys surround a slight fourteen-year-old boy, not quite touching him, explaining exactly how theyre going to kick his ass after school.

A boy is convinced that information in books and on the web never quite holds the entire truth, so he wants to know whether you can get AIDS from oral sex.

Working with teens is a roller-coaster ride. No amount of research or theory can prepare you for the reality of daily life with young adults. Sure, you can get instruction on how to effectively manage your space, or how to collaborate with coworkers and market your librarys programs. You can keep up with the latest young adult (YA) titles and learn any number of Web 2.0 tools. But when youre actually there, face-to-face with a teen, the game changes.

Librarians who never intended to work with young adults may have no idea what to do the first time a teen asks a question beyond books and databases. Even those of us who trained specifically to work with youth find ourselves stumped, time and again, by questions we never could have anticipated. Increasingly we find ourselves called upon to be social workers, triage nurses, and mediators, answering questions no one prepared us for in library school. I dont know about you, but Im not in the habit of saying, Thats not my job. So what should we do?

Librarians who work with teens have to be prepared for teens to change the game. Theyre going to ask us questionsdeep questions, silly questions, terrifying questions, perplexing questionsand the way we answer may determine the kinds of relationships were able to have with them. Will we merely be seen as the purveyors of books and databases, or will we be adults who care and can help, even when were confused, too?

Teens who love historical fiction dont need a librarian who can point to every single historical novel. They dont even need a librarian who likes historical fiction. They need a librarian who can help them find the books they want, and the books they didnt even know they wanted. The same is true in every area of teen services.

Whether you work in a school library or a public library, teens will come to you from all walks of life. They may be in their fourth foster home in as many years. They may be trying to get into Harvard. They may be staying at the library late into the night because their neighborhood isnt safe. They may be scared to tell anyone about a pregnancy. As a librarian, your role is unique. Youre not a parent, not a teacher, not a police officer. You dont need to understand their crises on a personal level, but you do need to understand the underlying issues in order to serve your teens well.