Almost a year later...

I'm still here. This full-time work thing has made blogging all but non-existent in my life - I have no idea how my fellow librarians do it. Most of you have lives fuller than mine in that you have children and work and blogging and a social life and conferences, while I only have a job and a husband and part-time children. By the time I get home most days, I am simply too burned out to devote further thought to library land (or, rather, I think about it plenty, but just do not have the motivation to put thoughts to posts). I have spent the better part of the past year trying to decide if I would continue this blog, with no real conclusion reached as yet.

HOWEVER-

My last post was about the teens in my Teen Advisory Group, and their seeming complacency with regard to college-level work, research, and the usefulness/role of libraries in their educational lives. I was frustrated by the failure of the school department to impart on these kids the importance of libraries, and disheartened by the blase attitudes of the kids themselves. None of that has changed.

So, I was not at all surprised by this Facebook status update, posted tonight by one of the kids (now in college) referenced in my last post:

"(I) had no idea that trying to navigate her way through bookstacks in a library would be so difficult! Who needs books when you have the internet? The 24 hour mission: write an 8 page research paper and study extensively for an exam. Time starts...NOW!"

I tried to warn her...


I wonder if she will be able to get through four years of college at a rather prestigious university without actually needing anything more than the internet. If she can, I don't know if I will regard it as a triumph of modern technology (which I love) or a failure of our educational system from start to finish.

Some Things I Have Learned about Teens

One of the things I have done at my library is develop a YA program - when I arrived there was small collection of YA books and ZERO YA programming (because when a library is under-funded, and in our case, under-staffed, this is the first area to be neglected). I am happy to say that 9 months later there is a nice collection, twice-monthly teen programs, and a Teen Advisory Group (TAG) with 10 pretty dedicated students. That's the good news.

I learned some of the "other news" at this morning's TAG meeting...

We were talking about advertising the next teen movie on Facebook - which works well for reaching the high school kids, but is not as effective at reaching the middle school kids - and I asked how I could get more kids to read the Teen page of the (new) library website. The answer: "We don't look at websites. Kids do Facebook, and that's about it. We'll Google if we have to for a school paper, and maybe check out Wikipedia, but, really, don't bother with the teen page."

Now, I'm not sure how surprised I was by that. One look at my stats tells me that no one looks at the teen page that I slaved away on for days - in spite of all the PR I have done - but I guess I was surprised to learn that high school students don't seem interested in surfing the web at all (gaming sites not withstanding). Oooookaaayyy....

Next up:
"So, I was thinking of having a workshop on blogging - would there be any interest in that?"
"Nah, we say everything we need to say on Facebook."
"Ok, what about Twitter?"
"Twitter is for old people. My mom is on Twitter. Which is cool, I guess, because I didn't know she even knew what Twitter is, but really, what's the point of Twitter?"
Well, I can't fault this question, since many people find no use for Twitter, and those that do are usually connected to a network of other like-minded adults. But again, I guess I was just surprised by the total lack of interest.

Moving on:
"I've noticed on some of your Facebook pages a lot of talk and excitemnet about college. Some of you are getting your acceptance letters back, the juniors are making the rounds visiting schools - what about a Get Ready For College workshop?"
"What do you mean? Like college work?"
"Well, yeah. Um, I noticed just now that you said that you use Google for your research papers. Uh, you can't really get away with that in college."
"What do you mean? How else do you find stuff?"

From here we discussed what, exactly, happens during their paper writing process: they use Google to find websites. They cite (if they are even required to have a works cited page) the websites. They are often required to have one or two "book" sources. They use Wikipedia. They cite Wikipedia (and sometimes get away with it). They LOVE SparkNotes and copy them profusely. NONE of them had ever heard of a "journal" or used a "database."

Back to reality:
"OK, so when you go to college in the fall, you will have to use databases and find journal articles and read books in order to do a paper properly. Wouldn't you like to learn some of that ahead of time? I can show you..."
"Nah. I mean, if we don't know about all that, we can't be the only ones - we'll figure it out when we get there."

Now, I feel I need to make something really clear, here - these kids, the kids in TAG, are the cream of the school's crop. Seriously. Top of the class. Members of band, theater, Student Council. One has been accepted to an Ivy. And not only do they not know what a database is, they have never been required to know.

At this point I must have looked stricken because one of the young men looked at me somewhat sadly and said, "This is why we're here - to tell you how it is and what we do. We're trying to help."

I feel really really old, and completely "uncool."

Talk Back to the Librarian!?

According to this article in the New York Times, The Maplewood Memorial Library in Maplewood, NJ, will be closing during after school hours because of the "rowdiness" of middle-school children. Apparently they "fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, scrawl graffiti on the walls, talk back to librarians or refuse to leave when asked. One recently threatened to burn down the branch library."

Of course, closing the library is not the answer to the problem - but what is? I like this suggestion:

"David Huemer, who represents the Maplewood Township Committee on the library board, said he would like to see the current police station, which is being retired in favor of a new one, converted to a youth center.

“What we have to do now is build some long-overdue facilities and fund some programs so kids can have alternatives to hanging out,” he said."

Unfortunately, this type of problem is not unusual; I know of at least three libraries in the small state of Rhode Island that have private security details during the after-school hours. And, as evidenced by the article, this type of behavior by children can no longer be termed a "class" or "race" or "urban" problem - this kind of thing is happening in suburbia with increasing frequency.

I fully admit that I have been ultra-lucky at my job in this respect. The only time I have had any real issues with teen behavior problems was when a particular group of kids discovered that they could hack the filter and get on MySpace. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, we get few teens in on a regular basis - my job is quiet. But that one group of kids was unbelieveable to me. The girls narrowed their eyes and ignored what I said. They called me "bitch" under their breath, and at times simply refused to get off of the computer. They would go down to the kids room and disrupt that area if they were told to get off of the computers in the adult/YA area. The outright defiance, anger, and disrepect just amazed me - and I'm not that old. But I am old enough that I was raised in a whole different manner than children are being raised now.

This might seem like a tangent, but I firmly believe that what librarians, teachers, store clerks, restaurant patrons - everyone - is seeing is the result of two generations of children being catered to yet ignored. Children who never have to wait for anything (be it a milestone or a popsicle). Children who are allowed to say, "Who do you think you are?" to their mothers (I have seen/heard this more than once with my own eyes). Children with poor impulse control and zero RESPECT for authority, their parents, their friends, or themselves. At one point in my struggle with two of the young women giving me grief, I said, "What would your mother think about the way you are behaving in here right now?" And they answered in unison, "My mother wouldn't care." And sadly, that's probably the truth.

And because in many cases libraries do become the default teen hangout, we are left to parent children who have had very little parenting. And that's not supposed to be our job. I certainly don't have the answers; luckily the fact that I look 10 years younger than I am and my ability to roll my neck and say, "Oh no you didn't," and "Don't make me get up outta this chair," has worked well enough most of the time. But just what are you supposed to do when a kid pees on the floor or refuses to leave when told to or threatens you? Closing the library to everyone isn't the answer, that's for sure, but I don't know what is.

Here is the message board for Maplewood and discussion about the issue. I'd love to hear what people think about this over at Library Talk as well.