Flowers,
S. (2012). Evaluating Teen Services and Programs. Chicago: Neal-Schuman
(imprint of American Library Association).
This
book focuses on evaluating and improving existing teen programs, and contains a
lot of background information on Millenials and how they differ from previous
generations in their information-seeking behaviors, working styles, and preferences
for group study over individual study carrels. Whether one approves of the
differences or not is irrelevant. The job of the library is to be relevant to
its users and support their interests and endeavors. To do this, it is
important to understand the characteristics of your patrons. Chapter 3 specifically describes the
Millenial generation, and this knowledge is very pertinent to a teen services
librarian trying to serve a particular group. The author is a member of YALSA,
a part of the American Library Association dedicated to serving young adult
library patrons.
Flowers
also goes into a lot of very useful detail on the development of goals and
objectives and how to evaluate with data what ideas are working and which ones
are not. Because Millenials are far more likely to communicate via social media
than other generations, paying close attention to making sure library teen
centers and programs are providing access to things that are actually used and
staying on top of changes is emphasized.
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