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It is possible to define adulthood using factors such as chronological age, financial and/or domestic independence as well as the nebulous concept of maturity. There was a discussion at the beginning of the course about how to define “young adults.” Is the label best applied to the traditional age range of 13 to 19? Or is it necessary to expand the parameters in order to reflect a social shift?

Statistics Canada reports that there has been a significant increase in the “the proportion of young adults aged 20 to 29 who resided in their parental home” (Human Resources, 2008). It is interesting that they exclude teenagers altogether from this category. The decision to return home can be the result of graduating from university, changing or losing a job, planning marriage or a divorce. All of these life circumstances often include some form of debt. They have been referred to as the “boomerang generation” or going through “adultescence” (Powers, 2007).

Consequently, young adult librarians may find themselves answering as many questions about resources for proper resume formatting and child custody as they do for high school projects on the solar system and the life cycle of trees.

In most cases, the aforementioned scenarios are temporary and individuals will resume their independence once their situation has stabilized. Unfortunately, there is a more worrisome trend that has been a focus of research by sociologists in recent years.

“Boys are in serious trouble. Doing worse in the classroom now than they did ten years ago. Hard to talk to. Unaware of their emotions. And the most violent in the industrialized world” (Thompson, 2008)

This can lead to a life characterized by endless drifting and insecurity. Many young males are abandoning or delaying responsibility as much as possible. They do this in favour of a life of recreation. This has most recently been addressed in State University of New York professor Michael Kimmel’s “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.”

In it he describes “the wasteland between ages 16 and 26″ (Tucker, 2008) (an echo of the Statistics Canada figure that seems to be the common redefinition of young adulthood) when:

The guy is in no hurry to shed youthful egotism and hedonism and take up the mantle of adulthood. The Guy mentality is rooted in resentment, drenched in booze and dedicated to pervasive, sometimes violent denigration of women and gays. It’s a perpetual carnival of pornography, violent video games, hypermacho music and blustering talk-radio hosts who stoke resentment by constantly reminding Guys of the lost paradise that should have been theirs (ibid).

One of the problems is a lack of suitable role models for boys as they grow up. This problem is recognized in the school system. In a report by Ontario educators, the province was urged to “act immediately to boost the already low and rapidly shrinking number of male teachers” (CBC, 2004).

However, I believe it is equally important to have male representation in public libraries, particularly in youth services departments. These males can be available throughout a youth’s academic career, whereas exposure to a teacher typically lasts only one year. Furthermore, boys are required to go to school. Yet it is often observed that boys are not physically present in the library. There is some exciting and innovative library programming to address this issue. The ALA awarded its 2007 Diversity Award to Break-4-Boys: Male-2-Male Mentoring in which men speak and do activities with tweens and teens (ages 11–18) on a consistent basis. Mentorship is performed free for males by males (Nichols & Wilcox, 2007).

This is is no way intended to deride the contribution of women to librarianship. However, at a time of decreasing literacy, particularly for recreation, the value of male staff in the library as role models for boys cannot be overstated.

References:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2004, November 13). Ontario urged to counter drop in male teachers.
Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/11/12/male_teacher_041112.html

Human Resources and Social Development Canada. (2008). Family Life — Young Adults Living with their Parent(s) .  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/indicator.jsp?lang=eng&indicatorid=77#MOREON_1

Nichols, K.D. and Wilcox, L.J. (2007). Male-2-Male Mentoring Is Working in Chicago Libraries. Information Today, Inc.  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov07/Nichols_Wilcox.shtml

Powers, G. (2007). What to do with boomerang kids. Sympatico MSN Finance. Retrieved Retrieved October 23, 2008, http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/retirement/gordonpowers/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5767869

Thomspons, M. (2006). Raising Cain: Protecting the emotional life of boys. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from:
http://www.michaelthompson-phd.com/media.htm#cain

Tucker, C. (2008, October 5). ‘Guyland’ by Michael Kimmel: No girls or gays allowed. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October, 23, 2008, from: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-bk_guyland_1005gd.ART.State.Edition1.269f7db.html

It seems like one of the best ways to get teens interested in visiting the library is to get them involved in the library. By giving teens a voice and listening to what they have to say, we can better serve their unique needs. It’s apparent that these needs go way beyond just basic information needs – teens definitely have social needs, too. If the library is portrayed as a welcoming space where teens can hang out, contribute, and have their ideas heard, perhaps teens could view the library as more than just a building full of books and shushing librarians, but as a social hub that they themselves have helped mold.

It looks as if more and more libraries are creating Teen Councils. I scanned back through some old posts and saw that there were a couple that mentioned teen councils, particularly the Teen Annex at LPL, so I’ll only briefly talk about teen councils. I wanted to see if all teen councils have similar aims, so I looked at a few different libraries’ web sites to see how they describe what their teen councils do.

From the Homewood Public Library (http://www.homewoodlibrary.org/teens/teen-council.html):

“The Homewood Library Teen Council gives teens the opportunity to help make the library serve them even better - through fun programs (like gaming and movie nights and teen trips) and materials (books, DVDs, CDs, etc).”

From the Sidney Memorial Public Library (http://www.4cls.org/sidney/teens.html):

“The Teen Council plans special events, contests, and trips…. Members have fun while helping to make the library more fun for other teens.”

From Coquitlam Public Library (http://www.library.coquitlam.bc.ca/Programs+and+Services/ Teens/Teen+Council.htm):

“The Teen Advisory Council meets from October until June to talk about cool books, as well as to suggest services, materials and program ideas for the library.”

And, my personal favourite description, from the San Francisco Public Library – I found this description to be quite comprehensive (http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/teen/councilnew.htm):

“The San Francisco Public Library Teen Advisory Council is a group of San Francisco high school students who want to make the Public Library a better place for teens. We meet every month to plan Library events such as the teen summer read program, Teen Zine production, and other teen-related programs… We aim to make the Library more visible for teenagers, so that they will know about the great free resources we have right here in our city. Each Council member is responsible for advertising Library programs in our area of the city. We talk to other students about what the library has to offer. We also want teens to participate in library decisions. We meet with library administrators to let them know what improvements the Library can make to invite all teens inside the doors. “

Teen councils aren’t the only way to get teens interested in visiting libraries. After a lot of poking around on the Internet, I found that some libraries are doing some very interesting things to bring out the creative side of teens. The Denver Public Library, for example, held a contest where teens could win prizes by creating a video using one of the Internet’s most popular sites: YouTube. “How I Have Fun at the Library” was the theme of the contest, and teens sent in their videos for a chance to win an MP3 player.  Here is a link to the contest site, and the winning videos (the 2nd place video is no longer available, but the 1st place video is still viewable): http://teens.denverlibrary.org/media/youtube.html#entries.

Virtual library websites have also become an outlet for teens to express themselves and express their creativity. The Internet Public Library, for example, hosts a Teen Poetry Wiki (http://www4.ipl.org:8080/index.php/Main_Page) where teens can read, write, and anonymously post their poetry. As well, Thinkquest.org (a learning website where students can create learning projects) holds annual competitions for teens aged 19 and under to create websites, and win free trips, laptop computers, digital cameras, and school monetary grants. All of the websites are posted to the Thinkquest Library, where the winners are listed under each topic (http://www.thinkquest.org/library/).

Here are some of the many, many winner websites created by teens from Thinkquest that I thought were a bit fun and pretty unique:

Mom! You’re Embarrassing Me! (http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01023/)

Chicken Dumplings For Your Mind (http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00044/)

I Don’t Flip Burgers!! – The Student’s Webguide to Entrepreneurial Success (http://library.thinkquest.org/C0114800/about/index.php)

Jammin’ ‘bout Diabetes (http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00281/)

Pee or Poo – Break the Taboo! (http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00581/) (yes, this was one of the winning websites!)

And, just for us librarians:

Do We Really Know Dewey? (http://library.thinkquest.org/5002/)

Has anyone else witnessed creative ideas used at public libraries to draw the attention of teens (beyond more ordinary tactics like gaming, book clubs, movie nights, ect)?

For my blog posts I’ve decided to focus on teenagers and sexual health information. How available is information on sexual activity? How useful and accurate is it? How accessible? Are rates of STD/STI infection and pregnancy reliable indicators of an “information gap?” Is engaging in risky sexual behavior a sign that one is uninformed? In the first few years of the century, news stories were reporting that incidents of STDs were on the rise among young adults. A recent article, however, based on evidence from Stats Canada, reported that Canadian teens have become more sensible about sex disease risks. Are we seeing the start of a new trend toward more awareness and lower rates of STIs? The government has certainly taken initiatives to inform people about sexual health with their huge (and controversial) HPV vaccination campaign.

In this blog post, I want to briefly explore some barriers to information and comment on factors that contribute to risky sexual behavior in young adults.

It seems to me that when I was a teenager, in the 1990s, sexual health information was not as readily available as it is today. We mainly learned from our peers (which is probably still the case for teens today) and we had sex ed classes every so often. When someone was faced with a very serious issue, like pregnancy, there were sexual education centers and birth control clinics where they could go to get help. These places were also known as good sources of free condoms (for those who were not shy to go and ask for them). AIDS was big news in those days and we understood the importance of practicing safe sex and using condoms. Teenagers involved in risky sexual behavior then, as now, for a variety of reasons.

Since the Internet has given rise to a plethora of information, sexual health information is more prevalent and accessible then ever. In fact, the amount of sexual health information is overwhelming. Governments, hospitals, medical associations, and other authoritative bodies have put together, or subsidized the creation of comprehensive and reliable collections of sexual health information on the Internet. Barriers to access are multiple and varied. For starters, not everyone has access to the Internet. Many young adults who do have access to the Internet do not know how to conduct proper searches or assess the reliability of information. Still others are prohibited from conducting proper searches due to filtering imposed by parents. Teens who seek sexual health information at public institutions like libraries face similar barriers, lack of experience and knowledge using technology, and filters. Additionally, being in public may be a deterrent to some. Other barriers exist besides these, such as cultural, psychological, and institutional barriers. At least in Canada educational policies support sexual health education as a basic human right. This is not necessarily the case in the United States where some State systems actually prohibit sexual education.

Finally we cannot underestimate the importance of rebellion to teenage development. Although rebellion is played out in different ways and to different extremes, it is considered a natural aspect of a child’s transition from dependence to autonomy. It would be difficult in this day and age of media saturation to argue that children and teenagers are unaware of the dangers of smoking and drugs, yet some young adults still engage in these activities. Sexual activity is often a part of this rebellion.

This analysis would be incomplete without mention of the competing educational and pop cultural messages that influence (and confuse many) young adults. See:

I personally do not like the term “information gap” because it implies a lack of information and oversimplifies a very complex problem. I don’t think we need more sexual health information. Rather, we need to increase access to that information and foster an atmosphere of openess, encouraging a safe environment for teens to engage in a critical discourse of sexual issues. Many library systems are creating websites for teens that include links to authoritative sexual information. The problem with these library pages is that they are generally only available through browsing. In order to promote these resources libraries should partner with sex educators, school programs, and local health institutions.

Tomorrow I will do a review of a teen sexual health website.

Several weeks ago, a friend sent me the link for the Real Public Librarian blog.  It happens to be the blog of Debra Burn, who was so instrumental in developing the verbYL Youth Lounge/Youth Library I blogged about yesterday.  She blogs about lots of different library issues, but one particular post that I found interesting was “Youth in libraries—are you really ready to let them in?”, which I used as the title of this post.  After reading glowing accounts of the wonderful teen library spaces out there, I recalled this post and started thinking about its very real relevance for all libraries.  Even in the midst of our desire to provide appropriate spaces for our young adult patrons, we need to examine how we deal with them in the library, particularly when their behaviour is somewhat less than stellar.

Burn’s post centres around a hypothetical separate young adult library, but I believe her comments apply to regular libraries as well, whether with separate teen space or without.  Burns asks us to imagine the creation of a successful new teen library space, which achieves the desired goal of drawing in masses of eager young adults, ready to enjoy the library and its facilities.  What happens, she asks, when you as the librarian find yourself faced with a group of “at risk” young people who over time establish a pattern of disrupting the library?  Their behaviour goes beyond the normal thoughtless exuberance that can sometimes characterize youth; some of the youth “show little regard for adults and authority”, and some “are downright scary”.  Her question:  do you ban them from the library or do you stand firm that all are welcome and continue trying to work with them, keeping in mind that by so doing you may alienate some “good” patrons?

My first instinct, pondering this situation, is to kick the troublemakers out.  Yes, access for all, but unacceptable behaviour may mean one loses that privilege.  But what does that accomplish?  Relative peace in the library, I suppose, but how do I reconcile the fact that I have denied access to some?  Obviously, in some extreme cases, this may be the only way to go, but, as Bernier and Herald stated, “Zero tolerance fails every day all over the country…criminalizing [youth] does nothing but perpetuate useless and costly cycles of recrimination and retaliation.  Nor does it help bridge the service gap between libraries and disenfranchised youth” (1997, p. 47).  And as one youth services librarian put it:  “I don’t believe that there are bad kids, but that every kid can have a bad day, week, month, or span of years” (Farrelly, 2007, p. 41).  I’m simplifying a complicated issue, but these quotes would seem to suggest that banning “at risk” youth should be a rare exception.

Burn gives rational arguments for both sides of the question, as obviously it is a decision libraries need to come to on their own.  She goes into more depth in discussing the second option, which she believes requires the assistance of human service professionals in order to provide optimal support to “at risk” young adult patrons, which obviously is tied to her experience planning for and implementing verbYL.  Once again, I was struck by the genius of community partnerships.  It would be asking a great deal of librarians to require them to deal with such patron behaviour on their own, but if the library worked in tandem on a day-to-day basis with human service professionals trained in dealing with such issues, think what could be accomplished.   It wouldn’t be easy, and it may not work everywhere, but in the quest to be truly accessible to all, it might at least be worth exploring the possibility.

References

Bernier, A., & Herald, D.T.  (1997).  Rude and crude?  School Library Journal, 43(8), 47.  Retrieved September 27, 2008, from EBSCOhost.

Farrelly, M.G. (2007).  Unleashing your inner man.  Public Libraries, 46(2), 40-41.  Retrieved September 27, 2008, from ProQuest.

 “Real Public Librarian” blog   www.paradigmlibrary.blogspot.com

I still think of myself as a teenager. I swear I don’t feel any different than I did when I was in high school. I don’t even feel more mature. And I don’t think I’m unique in this way. My grandmother, for one, always insisted she felt as though she were still eighteen years old – even while she was well into her sixties!

And yet, I have changed — and my grandmother has changed – without even realizing how.

So often, adults think back to their own adolescence when trying to relate to youth. While this can be a valuable exercise, our memories can be poor reflectors of reality. Besides, the older we become, the greater the difference between life for us when we were teens and life for teens today. As YA librarians, we need to familiarize ourselves with the youth of today, understand what they understand, and see the world as they see it.

To better understand youth and some of the cultural and ideological differences between younger and older generations, check out the Beloit College Mindset List. This list provides a window into the cultural milieu in which youth today have grown up, and highlights some of the cultural and ideological gaps between younger and older generations. It’s easy to forget what youth today remember and don’t remember, or what does and doesn’t resonate with them. While the focus of the list is on older YA’s, specifically those entering their first year of college/university, it still holds true for many of the younger YA’s as well.

Of course, the goal of such an exercise isn’t just to gain some new depth of understanding of youth today (although that’s important for anyone who has to spend work-related time with youth). Instead, in a library setting, the focus should be on answering some of the following questions:

How do these factors affect the worldview of our patrons?

How do these factors affect our own services, outreach and attitudes?

Where do we need to adjust our thinking and make changes in our outreach tactics and programming?

I found that video we viewed about Coolhunting was really interesting, and it got me thinking about new and different ways that we as librarians could market to teens. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to get away from that stereotype of being uncool and boring, without compromising our librarian integrity? I think one of our best assets is to keep informed, whether it be with the news, with literature, with library issues, and for youth work especially, with new and upcoming TRENDS!

Granted, it could be difficult and expensive to insert new trends into the library atmosphere (ie. It may be practically impossible to replace furniture constantly or computer technology) but online environments could be enhanced by keeping up-to-date, as well as programming, and art displays, etc. I found a trendhunting site from a journalist in Toronto named Bianca Bartz. I will post the link on the blog for future reference.

http://www.trendhunter.com/bianca 

Bianca posts constantly about the newest, hottest things, both for teens and in general. I thought I would use this blog space to point out some new things that have been identified as “up and coming”, as well as illustrate the importance of using this kind of tool to stay current.

These crazes may be short lasting or long lasting, no real way to tell. However, I do think that trendhunting sites would be a fresh new way for librarians to keep on top of the ever changing world of teens! Even if we can’t possibly do everything, we can at least keep up to date on what’s going on and be able to talk about it. Here are a few of the things I found most intriguing, and that I think could be incorporated into libraries in some way, shape or form:

Manga: Business Scenarios (for a slightly older audience)

“Manga is becoming hugely popular in North America, but we’re missing a whole genre,” Pink says. “In Japan, there’s manga for adults on business topics. We don’t have that here.  So I decided to create the first business book in manga for a western audience.”

Pimp My Flats: Shoe Decorating Making a Comeback (Cool Programming Idea?)

A plain, white pair of tennis shoes provides way too much creative potential to leave them as they come. Case in point, the Pimp My Flats exhibit has some stellar designs, showcasing ordinary plimsol shoes that have been taken to the next level of hip. Each pair of Lazy Oaf shoes has been decorated differently, from designs that are wearable, even seriously desirable, to others which are just plain hideous.

Although American, The Nation became one of my favorite reads when I first began working in libraries because the articles are so different than so much of main stream journalism. It totes itself as offering “unconventional wisdom since 1865” (thenation.com). After some of our discussions in class I began searching around on the magazine’s website to see if they had anything geared towards the next generation of voters. Student nation can be found on the main page and is geared towards youth. It showcases political pieces written by students and has some useful links. I found this article (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060717/domonoske)there posted in June of 2006 by a junior in an American high school named Carmila Domonoske. Carmila’s article earned her a finalist position in the running for a writing contest supported by The Nation. I think her article outlines a common frustration among youth in the pre-voting years. It confirms for me something that I have always believed, and that is that the public library should not shy away from politics. Creating awareness with the youth population can often be a great start. Especially during the years before they are able to vote but old enough to be frustrated by policy makers. Sources like The Nation offer a wealth of ideas, showcase student work and can be a springing board for discussions with community youth regarding the issues that are troubling them and what sort of programs or projects they’d be interested in. If you want to read a more recent piece, here’s a link to this year’s winner of The Nation’s writing contest:http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071022/thoreson

     I found an article from Time magazine that was written in 2000 at the height of the high tech industry where new dot com CEO’s were making millions but were not yet old enough to vote or drink legally in the U.S. This article was listed in Anderson’s (2004) reference list and although it may now be considered slightly dated, I believe it provides an excellent springing board for which to begin a discussion on the changing culture of teenager hood.      A new era of adolescence seems to be emerging as the largest population of teens is currently coming of age. So what does today’s teenager look like? Is it the young capitalist already investing in the market or the one in a new pair of Uggs bought with a credit card which is still paid by mommy and daddy? The norm these days is difficult to identify with so many twenty something’s and thirty something’s acting like teenagers themselves. It certainly doesn’t help that pop culture seems to glorify this stage of life that everyone goes through causing a “Peter Pan Effect”.

     As future Youth Services Librarians we must remain in tune with our user group we often refer to as YA-Young Adult. But are they adults or are they youth? How does this changing user group really want to be treated? I believe the library has a duty to enhance the community’s youth population by engaging them in activities that allow them to be themselves and enjoy this time of coming of age. The only way to understand this age group is to keep in contact with them, bringing them into the library by offering programming that interests them, helps them and allows their voices to be heard by the adult decision-making members of the community.

Here’s an electronic link to the Time reference: http://www.time.com/time/reports/v21/live/teen_mag.html

 References:

Anderson, S.B. (2004). On the verge of adulthood: Older teens and thelibrary in Serving older teens. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Kirn, W. (2000, February 21). Will teenagers disappear? As kids grow up even faster, that carefree age known as adolescence may soon be a memory. Time, 155(7), 60-61.