Get those who are in the library

• Ask them! Be prepared to write down names, phone numbers, and email addresses
  • Approach teens and offer them comment cards.
  • Approach teens and tell them your name and that you're responsible for buying materials and ask for suggestions. (We can't buy everything, but find a way to say YES!)
  • Hand teens flyers and ask if they'd be interested.
• Post flyers and sign up sheets in the library where teens will see them. (Make sure all staff members know to whom to give the sign up sheets or refer an interested teen.)
  • by the pay phone
  • at the teen computers
  • next to the water fountain
  • in YA books
  • in bathrooms
  • at YA book shelves
  • under flap of photocopy machine
  • on teens' tables
• Make a display in the YA area including: (This would be a great project for the TAG!)
  • photos or collage of things the group has done or things the group can do
  • sign up sheets
  • reprints of newspaper coverage
  • who to ask for more information
  • web site address of TAG
  • email address of advisor
  • dates of future meeting
  • survey for teens to fill out
  • future projects and programs
  • books reflecting positive teen images
• Put meetings on the library's calendar of events.
• Put articles in the library's newsletter.
• Advertise the TAG on computers that use screen savers.
• At all teen programs announce that the TAG is accepting new members. Alternately, you could take a sign in sheet and send out invitations to join.
• Invite those who have signed up for the last year of the children's summer reading program to join the TAG.
• Advertise on library produced teen reading lists.
• Invite all participants in the teen summer reading program
  

Get those who are not in the library

• Contact school and community agencies to see if they would nominate someone to serve and/or post flyers about the group.
  • 4-H
  • Boys and Girls Club
  • Boy Scouts
  • Church youth groups
  • Girl Scouts
  • Home schooling organizations
  • Junior division of coin or stamp collecting clubs
  • Junior high and high school librarians and guidance counselors (public and parochial)
  • Salvation Army
  • YMCA
• Make school and agency visits so you become a familiar face.
• Send out press releases and public service announcements. This gets the parents who would like their children to join.
• Get articles in schools' newspapers
• Post information on the library's web site
• Have a booth at volunteer fairs or activities fairs at the local high school or elsewhere
• Attend junior or senior high orientations to peddle services including the TAG
• When the group does something in the community, but outside the library, take along sign up sheets and enthusiastic members to act as recruiters. Also try to arrange local press coverage so teens and their parents can see that the group actually *does* something.

Follow up Contact in Preparation for the First Meeting

• Set up a time and date to meet with interested teens via their preferred communication method with promises of food. (Communication methods in order of increasing success)
  • Phone calls--teens hard to catch at home, messages get lost, time and date get lost
  • Letters--require using a mail merge database which can change frequently, postal cost
  • Postcards--your hand gets tired writing the same thing on 10 postcards; can't attach the agenda
  • Email--you're speaking their language many times, it's easy to attach the agenda, it will be answered; set up a YA distribution list in your address book
• Set the agenda and send it out early so everyone is there and prepared.
• Send a reminder email a few days before the meeting.

The Meeting

• Feed them!
• Consider having background music with members taking turns choosing the radio station. (to fill uncomfortable silences)
• Introductions are important even if you do the introducing. The book Recreation Handbook for Camp, Conference, and Community by Roger E. Barrows has some terrific ice breaker suggestions that could be used as introductions. (ISBN 0786409533)
• Follow the agenda loosely with room for tangents.
• Doing is better than talking; don't fall into the rut of talking to the teens about issues unless, of course, your teens like that! Try to have a project ready no matter how small. Then the talking takes place as an incidental. It becomes comfortable.
• Laugh!
• Be prepared with ground rules and create a mission statement. That could be the project for the first meeting. Ask the teens what they would like to do.

Projects for the Group

Some of these are talking projects, but they encourage participation as opposed to a librarian running a meeting. Try pairing a brainstorming session with another project if needed. Every group is different.

• Writing a mystery to perform for children during the summer reading program
• Dramatizing some children's stories and perform them
  • Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
    • Fractured Fairy Tales
    • Readers Theatre
• Make items to sell to benefit local charities or families in need
• Is there a large project they could help with? A mailing or other project that lends itself to assembly line work is perfect.
• Rearranging or shifting of books or furniture (be sure they're physically able and willing)
• Putting up displays of their own creation from theme to contents
• Gathering data from surveys
• Working on a library web page
• Book discussions
• Improving an existing program with a brainstorming session
• Making props for dramatizations and mysteries
• Creating game show like programs for children (Trivial Pursuit, Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy-like games)
• Choosing paperbacks to purchase
• Choosing music CD's to purchase
• Developing a list of TV shows, musicians, authors, etc. about whom teens would read
• Choosing posters
• Suggesting display ideas
• Making bookmarks and posters using the teens as models and a catchy phrase (Normal Teens Read was used in Normal, IL)
• Writing and producing television commercials for the library
• Writing and recording PSAs for the library
• Suggesting pathfinder needs for homework and read alike lists for leisure reading
• Suggesting topical programming for teens
• Writing book reviews to be used in the library
• Producing a teen audience library newsletter
• Designing or fine tuning a teen summer reading program
• Giving library tours
• Reading stories to children at holiday or community festivals
• Decorating or redecorating the YA area
• Greeting, ushering, and handing out refreshments at children's or adults' programs

Follow up and maintain the group

• If the teens make suggestions, act on them to any degree possible. Then show them how they made a difference. (If they suggested posters for the library, show which ones were purchased and ask for help hanging them.)
• The meetings will be a great place for the teens to ask reference questions. Get back to them as soon as possible.
• Remember their reading likes and tote along books that may strike their fancies.
• Tell them to bring friends to the meetings.
• Have meetings somewhat regularly.
• Create an atmosphere that allows teens to miss meetings, arrive late, and stop coming. If they have stopped coming to the meetings, still greet them with a smile the next time you see them in the library or elsewhere.
• Call the teens by their names when you see them using the library or out in public.

Prepared by Lisa Matte for The Elusive YAs: Getting Teens to Use the Library presented at Mid-York Library System headqarters in Utica, NY on March 14, 2001.

Updated by Lisa Matte for Even for the Faint of Heart: Getting Teens to Participate in a Teen Advisory Group presented at Jervis Public Library in Rome, NY on November 7, 2001.

Print and distribute for educational use is allowed as long as the author's name remains on the document.

Return to TAGs

Return to Young Adult Home Page

Updated 3/27/03 by Lisa Matte