Young Adult Services Meeting Minutes for November 1, 2006

YA Meeting Minutes 
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 
1:00 – 4:00 p.m. 
Warr Acres Library 

In attendance: Emily Williams (OUT), Dana Morrow (OUT), Lisa Wood (OUT), Julie Ballou (MSL), Heidi Port (DVS), Rebecca Spence (Pioneer Library System), Adrienne Butler (ODL), Barb Johnson (BI), Priscilla Doss (BI), Angela Hill (CH), Charleen Miller (CT), Tulin Lafollette (CT), Simona Long (DC), Ronna Davis (ED), John Hilbert (SO), Josh Schell (VI), Rondia Banks (WA). 

Emily introduced our new ODL youth consultant for Oklahoma, Adrienne Butler. 

Book Talks

John Hilbert from SO presented The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, dealing with a teen who produces parodies of ads in order to accomplish social change. John presented a video produced by a media group that does similar things. They sponsor TV Turnoff Week, among other projects. If you are interested in finding out more about their projects, contact John. 

Josh Schell from VI presented an equally excellent booktalk. His choice was Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss. Through a fictional story the author gives teens a way of talking to people in their lives that may have cancer. Josh says that this book takes the reader through all of the phases of the illness, and that as bibliotherapy it is better than any nonfiction book that he’s seen. 

YA Bibliography

Julie from Materials Selection said that MSL is working on a variety of YA bibliographies to be included on the YA part of the library website. If a special bibliography is needed, be sure to allow MSL a couple of months lead time. Dana commented that this is great: any bibliography compiled by Material Selection will recommend quality books and those with high customer demand. 

Game On

Rebecca Spence of the Norman Public Library talked about her impressive successes in using video games at the library. She received money from the PLS Friends to buy equipment and games. Their monthly program, entitled Game On, is particularly effective in attracting teens that have never been to the library before. Many teens like this have become library regulars. Rebecca brought lots of useful resources such as descriptions of the activities and how to implement them. If you could not make the YA meeting, be sure to contact Emily for copies of handouts.   

Important points described: 

• There are many video games that can be considered. Teens sometimes bring their  own games to use in a program. Rebecca checks ratings for language and  violence, and only allows games that are rated T (for teen) or lower. She has  considered the possibility of doing a special gaming event for higher rated games  like Halo, where parental permission would be required. 
• Library equipment—Metro owns a Playstation 2 and DDR equipment. Emily can  route it to you from Outreach or provide her own expertise in setting it up. 
• Rebecca publicizes in fast food restaurants near the high school and in the schools, with mini-handouts (they’re best because they fit easily in teens’ pockets). 
• Video games at the library are better than at the mall—safer environment, and you might recruit especially techno savvy teens as part of TAB or a special gaming TAB subcommittee. 

Emily mentioned that her DDR surveys, done at the programs in October, indicated that the teens had plenty of suggestions for other games they’d like to play—including Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution, and Super Smash Bros. 

Discussion by librarians followed—things mentioned: video games can attract teens that have never used the library. Library should be a place where teens can safely socialize. Emily suggested having a retro gaming night for the over-twenties crowd, with old school games like Pong, Super Mario Bros., Frogger, etc. John mentioned that we need more library programs and services to college students and young adults in their 20s. 

Marketing ideas—bring flyers to fast food places near the schools, give to teachers, and use your e-mail lists that you have compiled. Pioneer gathers e-mail addresses from teens during summer reading program sign-up, and uses that listserv to publicize big teen programs. Metro YA librarians discussed the possibility of our system doing something similar. 

Sharing

Southern Oaks—Anime club: John said that his club already existed and just wanted a sponsor. He did not know at first that they required dues. John is also sponsoring a Fan Fiction/Fan Art program. Art submitted can be anything as long as you can carry it into the library. He mentioned cosplay (costume play) as a programming option. They dress up like anime characters. 

Miscellaneous items: backpacks from last summer are very popular and cheap. We are working on getting them as a sign-up prize for summer 2007. Emily is also working on gathering good links for the teen website. 

Warr Acres—Rondia has produced a very successful Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe program. 

DVS-Heidi Port—asked if anyone missed the tutor/homework helper volunteer program. Not found to be working well for various reasons in different libraries. 

Village—Congratulations to Josh, his wife is expecting their first baby. 

Choctaw—Librarian gave out survey asking for teen preferences in programming.  Del City—Simona designed a scavenger hunt form. 

Belle Isle—Barb has been doing Outreach to schools, signing them up for library cards. She visited the Muslim school. Found that some of them have been reluctant to go out on field trips, because of public attitudes toward Muslims. She is encouraging them to return to the library. 

Barb also mentioned a very useful resource on the internet:  www.citationmachine.net should get you citation formats for papers, can cut and paste. 

Liz Kiser, who some of you have worked with, is now at UCO in Creative Studies. 

Miscellaneous Programming

Teen Tech Week—first year that YALSA has sponsored it.  Encourages teens to learn about technology. Could lend itself to displays. 

Andes Manta are Native South Americans playing traditional music. They have played at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts and many many venues across the U.S. Promote it, talk about it, contact teachers, and use your e-mail lists. This is an outstanding musical program that promotes understanding between peoples. 

Lisa Wood mentioned the possibility of making tax preparation info available specifically for teens. Important to put up where web information can be found. 

New Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book (Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood) is coming out January 9th— good time to do jeans-oriented craft class. 

More about GAME ON in Norman—librarian had 76 teens with only 1 day of advertising. They had pizza and snacks. She rented some of her games. There are some video games that are “community” games that up to four people can play. Nintendo Gamecube is cheaper than the others, and usually has more community games. You often can’t have more than one person play on Playstation systems. 

Ratings on video games: 
www.esrb.org
E for everyone 
E 10+ for older children 
T for teen 
M for mature (17+)