Young Adult Customer Service

While reading about customer service in the Connecting Young Adults and Libraries text, I was surprised by the example scenario created for Bare Bones by Jim Rosinia and Mary K. Chelton.  The entire exchange seems a bit extreme and absurd.  I cannot imagine a librarian responding to a patron in this manner.  Perhaps it happens in some libraries, but I cannot image it is a common occurrence.  

I agree with the point that a youth services public librarian does have to do a bit of coaching with co-workers to help them better serve teen patrons.  However, I doubt that the need is as extreme as the example.  From my observations being in public libraries and volunteering at a high school – too often a librarian does not ask the right questions or get down to the core need of the teen.  Rarely are librarians rude and unwilling to help. 

My guess is that because libraries tend to be understaffed, librarians do not spend the time or focus on helping teenage patrons.  One example:  a class of 30 students comes to a high school library to check out books.  The librarian not only has to help with readers’ advisory, but also stand at the circulation desk and check out the books.  If he/she only has a few moments to help with a student, will the right questions be asked and need met?  I doubt it.  I have observed librarians do the best they can with the resources they have available, most of the time they ask a quick question and then start making suggestions.  “Have you read Hunger Games?  It is soooo popular!”  This is obviously not the best method, but how does one improve?

I would be interested to learn about strategies to cope in these types of situations.       

Library or Counselor's Office

I have made a variety of observations while doing my practicum at a high school library.  One that surprised me was how the library is not just a place for education support.  It is a social outlet for a variety of teens and an emotional haven for many others.  At times, I feel like I am volunteering in a school counselor’s office and not a school library.  Maybe this particular high school is strange or the dynamic is different because of the school librarian?  My guess is this is not a unique situation. 

The library has 2-3 student helpers each class period, so there is always student activity near the circulation desk.  These students work with the library staff, but they also talk to them.  The topics range from pop culture to school to their person lives.  The small group dynamic allows for these students to form a fairly close bond with the staff in the library.  

The librarian is also the yearbook adviser, so there is a steady stream of students coming to talk to her about yearbook.  Yet, they also come to the library just to hang out.  Many times they visit the library for study hall without any yearbook related reason.  The librarian tries to make herself available to talk with them about a variety of topics.  

This week I was reminded that sometimes being a teacher and supporting students is not all the positive situations I describe above.  It can be tough.  The librarian found a personal note that had been dropped by a student in the library. (I was surprised that teens still write notes?!?)   The student talked about her relationship with her boyfriend and some of her fears, stress, pressures. It also made reference to how she is a little frightened of her boyfriend and how aggressive he can be when they are intimate.  It was a disturbing note to read, and it was easy to identify the author.  The librarian had to make a judgment call on what to do with the information.   She decided to bring it to the school counselor, since the topics in the note were fairly serious nature.  I am not sure what the school counselor will do with the information.  

 I would imagine that similar issues happen in public libraries, but these individuals do not have a school counselor to call for support.  It made me wonder what responsibilities youth public librarians take on because they work with youth.  Do these areas end up be like a counselor’s office too?  Who do they turn to for support?

School Library Cataloging

My practicum has been a great experience; because it has given me an opportunity o see the day-to-day workings of a high school library.  This week my volunteer hours were not spent in the library but at a district librarians meeting.  During the meeting a variety of topics were discussed – common core, 21st century learning skills, curriculum mapping, among other things.  It was excellent!

The afternoon was spent reviewing questions and concerns of the librarians.  One of the discussion topics was concerning the online catalog system.   The district is using Follett’s Destiny to circulate books.  The librarians are frustrated because Destiny is a union catalog, so all of the schools share title records.  This means if one school creates a title record, then it could possibly impact all of the rest of the schools. 

I have taken cataloging, so I understand that each version of a book – hardcover, paperback, special edition etc – will have a unique title record.  The school librarians claim that student do not care what version they receive from the library; they would just like the book.  It becomes difficult for the librarians to teach students especially the younger ones to use the catalog when there are multiple title records for one book. 

A great example of their complaint is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  When a student does a search they receive results that include ten different versions of the book.  It is difficult to discern from the catalog the difference between versions.  Students get frustrated because they want the book and many times want to place a hold on it.  The system is not smart enough to know all ten versions are the same book.  In order to place a hold, the student or librarian would have to mark all ten records to ensure a copy comes to the student as soon as one is available. 

The librarians have decided that they are going to merge all similar title records within the catalog. (When I heard this news, I imagined my cataloging professor freaking out over the situation.)  They are going to create their own cataloging handbook with rules that fit a school setting and try their best to stay consistent across all schools. 

I do not think it is possible to be more specific and strict then AACR2, so it is a near impossible task for this group to rewrite a manual that will be specific enough to avoid any future problems.  My guess is that this will be a continuous discussion.  It was fascinating to see a group make library decisions, so they can better serve their patrons.  I am wondering if 5 years from now, they will be glad that they did it.   

Readers Advisory

During my practicum at a high school this semester, I have had the opportunity to interact with many students.  It has been especially helpful, because the past few months have been filled with reading Good Night Moon (or similar activities) with my young daughter.  Being a new mom has made it difficult to keep up with what is new in pop culture or YA literature. 

This week I had the opportunity to work with a student who genuinely wanted help finding a book.  He was interested in realistic fiction and teen issues.  I realized while I was helping him, how unprepared I am to help boys with readers advisory.  Obviously, many books appeal to both males and females, but a majority of the realistic fiction books I have read are more female centric.  I have read at least one book by many of the authors that are recommended for YA males, but the list is small. 

In addition, I realized that realistic fiction that deals with teen issues (drugs, pregnancy, suicide, gangs, etc) is not a strong area for me.  To be honest, I do not care for this genre because it can be depressing.  If I am going to do readers advisory, I need to get over my own preferences and widen the types of books I read. 

Reader’s advisory is not all about reading books in order to make recommendations.  I know I can cheat and read reviews, summaries, and get recommendations from others.  Yet, it is important for me to have a well-rounded reading list for myself.  For fun, I did a couple searches for readers advisory resources.  This ALA blog had a couple really helpful tips:

http://www.alaeditions.org/blog/163/tips-young-adult-readers-advisory

Most of the suggestions I am already doing, such as keeping a journal of what I read.  Instead of a paper journal, I keep track of what I have read on Shelfari, GoodReads and LibraryThing. 

One of my favorite suggestions on the blog was “admit your likes and dislikes when asked – be honest with your teens!” I sometimes forget that it is okay to admit what I personally like or do not like.