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.       

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.