In Youth Services: How to Build Relationships, Programs, and Engagement starting May 2, explore graphic novel programming, ways to engage teens, and innovative approaches to co-designing. Over 3 weeks, you'll learn conflict resolution and trauma-informed practices for managing teen behavioral challenges. Designed for school and public youth services librarians, you'll gain practical ideas to authentically engage youth in your library.
Make sure to also check out How to Apply Restorative Justice in Your Library starting April 30.
Course Program
Week 1: Thursday, May 2, 2024
Led by: Christi Showman Farrar,
Library Consultant, Massachusetts Library System (MLS)
Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET
Managing Teen Behavioral Challenges, Pt. 1: Understanding and Advocating for Teens
What should youth services librarians know about adolescent brain development to improve teen advocacy and to help proactively prevent behavior challenges? How do you advocate for youth inside and outside of your library? And how can you establish clear boundaries and expectations to help set everyone up for success? This session will discuss tangible ways to better understand, advocate for, and mitigate challenges with youth.
Led by: Laurel Dooley, Teen Services Manager
Session 2 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET
Managing Teen Behavioral Challenges, Pt. 2: Restorative Practices
How can you respond to teen behavior challenges in a trauma-informed way? And how can you use restorative justice practices to encourage accountability and relationship building when harm is caused? This session will discuss ways to handle behavior issues with youth, both during and after an incident. We will also discuss proactive strategies such as how to be an effective mentor and how to build meaningful relationships with young people.
Led by: Dr. Laurel Krapivkin, Ph.D. (she, her) Adjunct Professor of Writing & Literature
Session 3 | 4:00-4:30 pm ET
Perceptions of Youth: Recognizing and Removing Biases
What perceptions do we have of adolescence, and how do those perceptions impact how we treat young people? This session will discuss how to recognize and work through age-based biases to improve your services with and for youth.
Week 2: Thursday, May 9, 2024
Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET
Engaging Teens in Library Programs
How do you get young people involved in library programs and services? What are the best outreach strategies to make sure they know about what the library offers? This session will discuss practical outreach and engagement strategies to reach teens where they are and encourage them to participate in the library.
Led by: Isaiah West, (he, him) Teen Services Specialist, Prince George's County Memorial Library System (MD) and Donna Gray, Bronx Library Coordinator for the NYC School Library System
Led by: Jane Gov,
Senior Librarian, System-Wide Youth Services at Pasadena Public Library and Branch Manager at Jefferson Branch Library
Session 2 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET
Including Youth Voices: Partnering with Students for Youth Programs
The best way to know what young people want and need is to ask them directly. Many librarians are struggling to engage youth in programs, but this session will help you solve this problem by teaching you how to create meaningful youth partnerships. You will learn tangible ways to involve youth directly in the conception and development of youth programs, from focus groups to youth advisory boards and more. Join this session and hear from experts about innovative ways that they’ve involved youth to co-create successful, sustainable programs.
Week 3: Thursday, May 16, 2024
Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET
Establishing Partnerships Between Schools and Public Libraries
This session will discuss ways to work smarter not harder when establishing programs for youth in your community. You'll learn how to de-conflict with your local school or public library to ensure you are complementing each other's services instead of competing for student engagement.
Led by: Julie Koslowsky (she, they) Director of Teen Services at Chicago Public Library and Kara Thorstenson, (she, her) Director of Digital Learning and Libraries at Chicago Public Schools
Session 2 | 3:00-4:00 pm ET
Innovative Youth Programs: A Roundtable
Do you want new ideas for programs to develop in your library? Hear from a panel of librarians about programs they've run that have successful engaged teens.
Led by: Robin Brenner, (she, her), Creator & Editor in Chief, No Flying No Tights, Olisha James, (she, her) Manager, Teen Ambassador Programs, The New York Public Library and Tess Wilson, Deputy Director of Library Freedom Project
Offer Details
Purchase one seat to any of our Spring 2024 courses and receive 50% off the price of one seat to a Fall 2024 online course.
Why take this course: This half-day online course will teach you the foundations of restorative practices and justice from a library perspective. You will learn about peace circles, how to initiate communication about an incident, and how to facilitate ongoing relationship repair and accountability from those who have caused harm.
Who should take this course: This course is for librarians of all levels who have a new or emerging understanding of restorative justice and restorative practices.
The Summit will bring together current and aspiring youth services leaders from across the country for a day and a half of timely and actionable learning, sharing, and connection. Join leaders who are driving the future of public libraries and gain ideas and skills that will help you take your career, and your youth services programs, to the next level.
