By Jenn Cournoyer

• How I came to

libraries

• What else I do

• My passion

Spoiler alert: there is

no magic formula!

What we WILL talk about

Your turn!◦Make it your goal to walk away

with at least one change you

can make

What I inherited:

-Good collection of roughly 10,000 items

-Usable Space that was changing

-Teen Den

Café

Area

(I’m happy

to chat

funding

after)

Old “Fortress” New, smaller desk

A blank calendar except for Anime Club

A tangled mess of bad communication, hurt

feelings, and the old “us against them”

mentality.

“This is how we’ve always done it”

“That doesn’t work here”

“We can’t talk to the teens or Jenn will give us

dirty looks when she walks by”

Image courtesy of Switchpitch.com

I had anime club so that’s

where I started to get to know

some of the teens

Use your fresh eyes

to assess the space,

and how patrons

are using it

Food and drink

Wifi and computer access

Comfortable seating

Positive Signage

Attractive displays of

teen materials

Where is your desk?

Do they know how to contact you? Email,

Facebook, text

message, etc?

SAY HELLO!

Hang out

BE YOURSELF

White board/ chalk board

Geek Posters

Teen Pick in Newsletter

Showcase their work on

Facebook, around the library,

in the local newspaper,

on the library website

Build off the audience you have, not the audience you wish you had

(anime vs. book club)

• Use your own passions and interests as a springboard (writer’s workshop, coding club)

Don’t be afraid to fail (it’s the program that didn’t work, not you)

(but don’t cancel a program just because no one signed up)

• Market, market, market

Program reviews

Teens guiding programs

Anime club has president

and own FB page, etc.

Tarantino Thursdays

Improv Club

Start listservs

Got rid of spinners

Added genre baskets

Face-out Shelving

New books displays

2-3 displays at any given time

Series project

A little about my school experience

Boys and Girls Clubs, etc.

• My awesome second floor

• Model how to talk to and interact with teens

• Introduce your teens and brag about them

• Talk about how you handle issues- it’s not a

secret! Let them know when you think you

could have handled something

better/differently

• Empower the staff to use behavior

modification they are comfortable with (3

strikes, etc.)

• Have a staff training with role play

• Remind the staff they don’t have to be

you, or use your style

• The power of a name

• Get your admin’s blessing

• Only you know how much you can do– Are you full or part time?

– Do you have to cover a reference, children’s or

other department’s desk?

– What’s in your budget?

Ask for what you need- the worst that will

happen is you will be told “no”

• Find a formula and go with it for as long as it

works! My formula is roughly - 4, 4, 4, 2

4 anime, 4 monthly, 4 specials, 2 passive

Don’t reinvent the wheel! Your colleagues

(and Pinterest) are great resources!

Take a vacation – you should want to come

to work when you get up in the morning

Good is not the enemy of perfect

Some final thoughts ◦Drinks + rug = bad idea

◦Never make it you and the

teens against the other staff

◦Ask for your colleagues’ input

No teen computers

Not enough space

Magazines are weird

Furniture doesn’t hold up

Tied to reference desk

I’m just one person

Now I have the teens coming

in-where do I put them??

Change your story:

Use the sheet and

come up with at least

one thing that is in your

power to change

What is your ONE THING

from the brainstorming

session?

Any questions for me or for

the group?

It’s

about

the

teens!!

“Enthusiasm is one of the

most powerful engines of

success. When you do a

thing, do it with all your

might. Put your whole soul

into it. Stamp it with your

own personality. Be active,

be energetic, be

enthusiastic and faithful,

and you will accomplish

your object. Nothing great

was ever achieved without

enthusiasm.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Contact me:

jenn@cumberlandlibrary.org

@libgirl5