12-24’s @ your public library in Australia and New Zealand

I was recently fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to attend the AUSLIB Conference, which was held over the long weekend in June in Brisbane.

I was amazed at some of the activities for youth that are going on in Public Libraries. I thought I’d share some of them with you……………but just briefly. Conference proceedings will be published eventually. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in finding out more.

General points raised that I found of interest
– does anyone actually have a plan in place for keeping their gaming technology up-to-date? - NO!
- most libraries were not charging for wifi/internet access
- many libraries do not fine their junior patrons – just follow up on overdue/ lost items
- I particularly loved the idea of youth actually designing library cards, and patrons having a choice of design for their card.

The speakers included (among others);

Aimee Rhodes, Melbourne Library Service, Vic.
Have a gallery space that includes a piano (!), artworks, zines, manga, lots of desks with power points
Also offer a Homework club that’s run in conjunction with the local Community Centre

Felicity Macchion, Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Vic.
During Youth Week held a ‘Get loud’ event that was presented by and for local youth.
Have a book club for teens, use the ‘Inside a dog’ reading list from the Victorian State Library.
Have ‘Teen Kits’, that travel around their branches, similar to our storytime kits
Recently went on a study tour on the US – saw inter-library gaming events being held.

Anne Spelman, Moreton Bay Region Libraries, Qld.
o Held a game on event, which attracted previously non-users to the library
o Anime club – attracts many young people who are helping to develop and run programs
o Also purchased and lend hardware, such as cameras, video recorders. Have not had a problem with damage – overall feeling is that the youth really appreciate the trust put in them and take care of things.

· Natasha Griggs, City of Belmont, WA
o Initiated the Finding My Place program, a now well-established initiative delivered through metropolitan and regional libraries in WA. It is designed for young people assessed as at high risk of leaving school early.
o Through motivational and information workshops, students develop a greater sense of what they want in life after school.
o The library is used as a neutral venue for the talks & guest speakers are invited by library staff. Often these young people have never been to the library.
o Being held on library premises helps teachers too, enabling them to see the young as people, rather than just troublesome students.

Adrienne Hannan, Wellington City Libraries, NZ
Share ideas and advertising with local youth services, such as ethnic and church groups. Put up each others’ banners.
Use their blog for teens to register for events – much more interactive than a web page
Often run team events – the leader is most likely to be a library user, but will bring along other non-library members for the team
Have a variety of designs for their library cards. All customers get to choose their preferred card. There are 4 designs for kids, 3 for Youth (which were actually designed by youth!) and 3 (or 4?) for adults

· Mylee Joseph, State Library, NSW
Introduced us to the concept of Youth Librarians as Ninja Librarians – with terminology supplied by Stacey Bale – (many of you will remember Stacey who now works at Camden.) Eg we need an understanding of “gerido” – the new and the recent – ie what’s happening in youth culture as a whole and specifically in our area. Also “madasa” – to gather or collect information from places ranging from the traditional to the bizarre. Ie we need mad chopping skills to cut through the crap, the umms, the ahhs, the ‘helpful’ parents
Healthy youth create healthy communities in which libraries thrive – Patrick Jones consultant and author, Minnesota, USA

Su Ikin, Dunedin Public Libraries, NZ
Got a bequest to use to fund their new teen space.
Free access to internet is a recurring theme. Even though kids might have the internet at home, they may not always be able to use it freely – they may have siblings using it for their own homework, and/or networking. Parents may also be limiting the teen’s use. Siblings can also be a distraction wanting use of ruler, pencil sharpener etc etc.
Decided NOT to install gaming in their new teen space – at the kids’ request. Bought lots of retro furniture, and decorated the space with artwork created by youth.
One of their walls was decorated with old (discarded) books bolted together at uneven heights, all mish-mash style. It looked great!
Across the country, NZ has as part of their local councils a Youth Action Committee – the local one was used for consultation, and helped form focus groups etc.

Cathy Shay, Lake Macquarie City Council, NSW
Have class visits for the whole of year 7 from their local high school. Conducted surveys (paper questionnaires) on the type of events local youth would be interested in attending
Use email and myspace to promote their events

Carolyn Bourke, Fairfield City Library, NSW
Hold an ‘Achievers Day’ in conjunction with their Local Studies Librarian. Use the local High Schools to contact ex-students to present on the day which is held in the library. Schools then attend to listen, pizza is provided. Had a competition for new members on this day – whoever borrowed went into the prize draw. The kids chose and bought the prize – they even bartered to get the best possible prize/price!
This function helps to simultaneously build the Local Studies collection.
Have found electronic ‘eavesdropping’ useful. Eg google alerts. But of course, you don’t always hear what you want to.
Have screen savers on their OPACs , promotional slides such as the ones we have on our Library Channel TV.

David Cranswick, The Edge, State Library of Qld.
The Edge is a visionary space opened earlier this year – a centre for creativity showcasing Qld innovation, invention and imagination.
The art world and the literary world are converging. Sees the future where people will download their audiobooks straight onto their mobile using Bluetooth (this is already happening in the Netherlands)
(I found this talk an interesting contrast to the earlier speaker form WA where rural indigenous young people would most definitely not have access to the same sorts of technology!)

Jody Gayton, Manukau Libraries, NZ
Has held a ‘Manix’ teen reading event for the past few years, which has proven successful in attracting teens into the library, and also promoting literacy among this group.
Each branch bought prizes and displayed them at their branch – such as graphic novels and manga, guys and girls hoodies, movie tickets, hair straightener, MP3 player.
Teens participated by submitting reviews – they could review any book, but there were additional points for reviewing books from a staff-compiled list. Some books reviewed were worth more points than others. Ordinary books, 5 points per review, genre books, 10 points, ‘super’ books 30 points (eg from PRC say, or book week)
Had local celebrations which involved staff at each branch.
Also had ‘remix’ jams, teens could respond in an artistic way to the books reviewed.
Also had quizzes such as one based on Beauty and the Geek, where the boys get asked girly questions and vice versa. Sounds like fun!

· Ellen Forsyth, State Library NSW
Games and reading – explored the use of readers advisory skills in working with young people to investigate how to suggest titles gamers might like to read, AND games readers might like to play!
Fastest growing ‘new’ gamers are women about 50-60 years! Eg Bridge!

Mya Robertson, Hastings Central Library, NZ
A storytelling festival was held, with the intention of developing a wider perception of ‘storytelling’ by highlighting the many different media used to tell stories.
Particularly focused on those that appeal to young people such as texting, tattoos and graphic novels.
Now have ‘texting’ (ie mobile phone) lessons regularly programmed for customers (mainly older). Lessons are done by young student shelvers
Resulted from their “What’s the story?” festivals – Ta Moko (traditional tattooing) stories; oral storytelling; traditional storytelling

Paula Kelly, Mylee Joseph, State Libraries, Vic and NSW
Youth Services Strategy Framework, to support support public library staff in planning and delivering services for young adults
Some suggested ‘Booktalkers’ for teens
James Roy
Tim Flannery
Cathy Cassidy
Jonathon Stroud

· Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van de Geer, Delft Public Library The Netherlands
Erik and Jaap have been inspired by Irish Storytellers (Shanachies), and have been travelling the library world sharing library stories – with a particular focus on technological changes.
Have played games such as ‘spin the library bottle’ – when the bottle points at you, you tell a story.
Passionately believe that we need teens to be in libraries now as they’re the ones who will be in control in the future. If they don’t enjoy it now, why would they want to come back in the future?
Libraries will become community learning centres – new things, old things, technology – even a book is technology!
Believe books, games and film – are all just ‘container’s’ for information.
Charlotte and Mecklenberg library (USA) – the reference librarian started gaming in the library as a strategy to bring people in – it worked! It is now used as a place for socialising, games.
Which led to stories from conference attendees. Geelong library held a LAN gaming party which ran from 9.30am to 4pm. It only cost them the pizza, and was hugely successful.
Other libraries have held Wii games – for seniors as well as teens – even teens VS seniors!, like bowling and tennis
Videogames are bad for you?? “That’s what they said about rock and roll” (Apparently attributed to the creator of Mariocart)
Delft library – thinking about the library of the future – audiobooks will be downloaded via bluetooth onto mobile phones.
Delft again; have a Microsoft Service Table. Photo archives from the library are connected to the table. Put your card on the table, it recognises your address and brings up relevant photos from the archive! Or connect to google maps from it.