Big Island Booktalk April 29, 2007

I love the neighbor islands. The Big Island booktalk went well. Enthusiastic students, librarians, and teachers welcomed us to their school. We had a total of 4 sessions the longest 60 minutes and the shortest about 45 minutes. There were several classes in each session mixed with 9th, 10th, and some 11th graders. Booktalking went quickly because I was tag-team booktalking with Linda.

Again my non-fiction was the most popular and got the best reaction. Kenji Kawakami’s Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions is a hit with the teens. Other ones that got a good response were With A Little Luck by Dennis Fradin, Invisible Enemies by Jeanette Farrell and my Optical Illusions book. I can’t wait until the next booktalk! Wooo hoooo!

Shameless Plug for Kawaii-Kon 2007 April 9, 2007

This is a shameless plug for Kawaii-Kon 2007. The Hawaii State Public Library will have a YA presence at this year’s conference. This is an effort to get out and seen at a young adult event.

I have a feeling this will be what it’s like:

Scenario 1

Me: Hey, if you show me your library card, you can get a pin or a bookmark.

Teen: Errr…okay…

Me: So what manga do you read?

Teen: manga A-Z

Me: Cool. Did you know the library has manga A-F?

Teen: Really? [trying to slip away]

Me: Try and stop by the library this summer for summer reading, manga counts too!

Teen: Uh, ok… isn’t summer reading for kids?

Me: It’s for teens too! If you’re not too busy, drop by the library!

Scenario 2

Teen: Hey, I know you, you’re the library lady!

Me: Hi there ____! Good to see you. Thanks for stopping by the table. [slips kid undisclosed bribe]

What I’m hoping to get out of this is a new connection with more teens and YAs. I want them to know that we’re here for them and libraries have a lot to offer including borrowing stuff for free. The teens at my library know they can ask me anything and I’ll help them the best I can with helping find what they want/need. This is an effort to get to all those teens who don’t come to the library. I want them to know that the library is not just a place where you accrue fines.

Anyway if anyone has any suggestions as to other library come-ons I can employ at this event, let me know.

Whistle at Whistler Public Library March 28, 2007

I find myself oddly jealous again of a library somewhere else. This time it’s the Whistler Public Library in British Columbia, Canada. The sad part is, it’s not even finished yet. Sure the structure is up, but it has no books, no walls, no plumbing.

So here are the reasons why I am jealous of the WPL:

1) It’s smack dab in the middle of Whistler Village in the center of Main Street no less;

2) They started up in 1986 with a tiny collection (less than 5,000 books), and they only service a population of less than 10,000 yet their circulation is comparable to my library’s;

3) The floorplan of the new building includes a lovely “living room” complete with fireplace;

4) The librarians can go skiing and/or snowboarding on their days off;

5) There’s a somewhat captive library user base when the weather’s bad.

Well, that’s enough of that rant. I probably just need a change of scenery every now and then and I can’t help but fantasize about working in a library somewhere else sometimes. Hopefully my neighbor island booktalk will give me enough of a getaway to help me appreciate the islands again.

YA vs. Teen Which Nomer Will Prevail? March 16, 2007

According to www.googlefight.com the term teen wins by about 40,000,000 results.

Young Adult has the connotation of something more serious than you want it to be.  Like when someone calls you “young lady,” you know you’re in trouble.  There’s a sort of formal distancing when the term is used.  Teen seems like a casual, passe term that people just fling around.  You hardly ever hear a teenager refer to herself as a teen, or with any label for that matter, but she’d sooner identify with the term teen than with young adult.  

The term young in itself seems an affront to some teens who like to think of themselves as mature beyond their years.  As we get older “young” develops a more positive connotation especially when you start to consider yourself old.  Age ain’t nothing but a number.    

There have been occasions where I’ve directed an adolescent to the YA section only to get a bewildered look like I was speaking another language.  Perhaps that’s an example where library terminology gets in the way of connecting with our target audience.  Libraries tend to treat teens marginally, not as adults, but as kids too old for the kid’s section.  As young adult librarians we’re trying to change that status quo.    

So you decide, is it young adult or teen?