Like all good satire, the television show South Park is often thought provoking. The recent episode The Ungroundable hit me where I work. In it, the school’s popular students embrace the current vampire craze (Twilight is directly referenced) to the point of wearing black clothes, plastic fangs and drinking Clamato juice as a blood substitute. No one is more horrified and disgusted by this than show’s well established clique of goths. They feel this is an appropriation and debasement of their style. For me, the show raised an immediate question with larger implications; how as a youth librarian, do you cater to both the vampire kids and the goths?

In a previous post I talked about subcultures, distinguished them from more nebulous youth trends, and discussed why it’s important to take subculture participants seriously. If anything I have become more steadfast in this belief since I became aware of the murder of Sophia Lancaster and other recent acts of violence against alternative youths. In many ways we have the same obligations to alternative youths as to other minority groups. We must serve them and make them welcome. If they become frequent users we cater to them more, and always we need to protect them from harassment. On the other hand minorities are, by definition, small groups, and we want to serve as many people as possible. Often that means we have to be populists. These two goals can sometimes be at cross purposes.

I haven’t had to deal with this problem in a teen services context until recently. At a previous, more urban branch assignment I had several young goths as branch regulars. At my current suburban branch I’ve barely seen goths until recently. What I’ve had instead are scores of Twilight fans. My Twilighters have been a clean cut lot, seldom even wearing the Hot Topic level of spooky clothing. Two weeks ago, I was shifting books to make room for my ever expanding graphic novel and manga section, when I spied a new face, one studded with pierced jewelry and framed with dyed black hair. We hit off immediately. My steampunk attire let her know that I was also an alterna-kid, albeit one with graying hair. She had never been in the branch before and was quite enthusiastic about the teen collection and the fact that someone with some “individuality” was in charge of it.

While we were talking one of my regular patrons, who is a very hardcore Twilight fan came into the teen section and wanted to say hi. I thought two teenage girls who’s tastes ran to things dark might hit it off, so I introduced them. The goth girl was pleasant but pretty dismissive to the Twilighter. The Twilighter and I tried to sell the goth girl on our Book Club. We had just finished the Twilight series and had moved onto Anne Rice’s first three books vampire books, again the goth was dismissive. I kind of already knew that a lot of goths don’t like Twilight (too mainstream, anti-feminist etc), but I figured now that we’ve moved on to Anne Rice maybe the Twilighter and the goth could meet in the middle and my dwindling book club could grow a bit. It didn’t happen. The two of them were like darkly tinted oil and water. Their superficial similarities just seemed to highlight the extent to which they were incapable of mixing. South Park had it spot on. For all my talk of serving youth in subcultures, I find myself stymied by this basic problem. Both the Twilighter and the goth felt comfortable with me, but how can I ever make them comfortable with each other? If I can’t, how can I find ways to cater to them separately when I already feel overwhelmed by programing responsibilities?

The need to simultaneously cater to both the mainstream and minorities is common to all public librarians, but I think teen specialists are put in the most difficult position by it. Forming an identity is one of the most crucial tasks of adolescence, so difference often out weighs similarity in teenage eyes. Yet we somehow must try to cater to all these differences.

If you are new to young adult services getting started can be daunting. The first step is mental. You must have a clear, professional, and personal understanding of why you are developing a teen program.

Professionally; pleasure reading and library use decline during the teen years. Traditionally we have reclaimed these lost patrons when they have children of their own but the changing face of the information, education, and entertainment world may change this. Young adult programs are needed to help teens think of libraries as relevant to their lives, so that we don’t lose them as patrons in the first place.

Personally; your feeling may be different than mine, but I feel that teenagers are one of the most poorly treated segments of the population. They are frequently viewed with distrust and distaste and are welcomed few places. At a stage of life when they are trying to develop a sense of who they are and what their place is our society responds by making them feel like outcasts. Libraries have the potential to counteract this message. We can provide a welcoming environment where young people can explore their values and sense of self through books and other media. A young adult program is a way to let them know we are there for them.

The next step is to get to know the patrons you have and to let them get to know you. The teens that use the library are your window to the rest of their community but getting them to open up can be a challenge. It helps tremendously if you open up and let your own interests and personality show, particularly if some of your interests may give you common ground with some teens. I read science fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels. I watch anime. I am interested in underground music and style. I express all of these interests as much as professionalism reasonably allows.

As you are getting to know your young patrons you should also work to understand the environment they are part of. Where are the schools? What are the schools like? What extra-curricular activities do they offer? Where do teens hang out? Where are the malls? The coffee houses? Are there underage night clubs? How many? How far away are they? How do teens find out about local events of interest? The answers to these questions can let you know what you are competing with for young people’s time and interest, which you might be able to partner with, and how you might be able to promote your program.

Next you need to assess your resources. What funds are available? Do you have a meeting room or other space that you can use? Is it sound proof? Do you have a video projector and or sound system? Do you have Wii system? What are your agency’s Internet use policies? Can you create a blog or myspace for promotion and feedback? How much time do you have in relation to your other duties?

Bearing in mind the interests and needs of your teen community, and the resources available, create as many varied programs as possible. Teenagers are complex and diverse. It is impossible to fully anticipate their responses to the activities you present. Try crafts, book clubs, speakers and performers, video game contests, role-playing game sessions, and film showings.

Assess your successes and failures, seek feedback and do not get discouraged. There will be programs that are poorly attended or greeted with apathy. Adolescents also lash out as part of their need to develop autonomy. Don’t take it personally.

This process is a cycle. By definition a teen community is constantly changing. There will be new youths to get to know. The community they live in will also change as will the resources at your disposal. Build on your successes, and evaluate your failures. Never forget why your job is important.

There is no shortage of books on youth subcultures. Generally they fall into two types, popular and academic. Many popular works are written by rock journalists with strong editorial biases. Others are written by subcultural participants who also have agendas to push. Scholarly works are more objective but are often aimed at graduate level sociology students. Even if you are really interested in youth sociology these can be hard dry reading. Finding accessible, reasonably objective survey works for a reader who just wants to be a bit more “literate” about youth subcultures can be a challenge, but this book is good start.

Streetstyle: from sidewalk to catwalk by anthropologist Ted Polhemus was originally written as a companion book for an exhibition by the same name at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. It stayed in continuously in print for more than a decade after the exhibit closed and is still readily available. It has a very visual approach presenting subcultures as “style tribes.” It covers nearly ever style based subculture that emerged in the English speaking world from the 1940s through its 1994 publication. Many of these groups, such as goths and punks, are still around. Those that aren’t still have influence on current issues of style and identity. Streetstyle is truly accessible but its biggest strength is the author’s clear belief in cultural relativism. Every subculture is of worth to its participants and Polhemus’ writing reflects that.

He introduces the book with a brief portrait The Edwardian Drape Society (T.E.D.S.) a teddy boy group in existence decades after the 1950s heyday of the original teddy boy subculture. He uses them as an example of tenacity of subcultures and the dedication of their participants. These are themes that run throughout the book. He concludes with examples of subcultural and stylistic cross over that was a growing trend in the nineteen nineties. New subcultures have emerged since Streetstyle’s publication and brevity of each section forces him to oversimplify frequently but as an introduction to the world of subculture I have yet to see this book equaled.

“Youth subculture” is part of the lexicon of pop sociology. Most teen librarians can point to examples of youth subcultures, punks, goths, metalheads etc., but even sociologists haven’t always had a practical definition of the term. Defining “youth subcultures” can be key to understanding the world view of some of the young patrons we serve.

The term has its origins in the work of Albert Cohen in the fifties. He studied the cultures of delinquent gangs. “Youth subculture’s” biggest public exposure came from “Subculture: The Meaning of Style,” Dick Hebdige’s 1979 book. The book was published in the aftermath of the first wave of British punk and was often sold in alternative record stores, despite its very academic style. It is still the most famous work on the subject despite being both dated and flawed. Hebdige’s work tied a definition what youth subcultures were with a questionable Marxist theory of why they were. He also did not interview or interact with anyone in a subculture.

Paul Hodkinson’s 2002 book “Goth: Identity Style and Subculture” contains what is probably the most practical definition of what a youth subculture is to date. He is both a goth and a sociologist. His is a case study based on his participation in the goth scene in central England in the 1990s. He argues that subcultures can be distinguished from other broader trends in popular culture because of their “substantiveness.” Hodkinson cites four indicators that demonstrate that goth is a substantive culture. They are, “consistent distinctiveness,” by which he meads the shared tastes and values that are distinct from those outside the group, “identity” the fact that they share feelings of identity with one another, “commitment,” and “autonomy.” By autonomy he means that much of the clothing, music, and events that kept the goth scene going were produced by goths and are directly marketed to goths.

Hodkinson’s definition provides ideas that every librarian who has ever had an unusually dressed teen come into their branch should understand. The young patron may be following some nebulous trend that value only marginally however, he or she might see what they are doing as substantive identity to which they are very committed. It’s important to know the difference, and useful to know of enough about established and emerging subcultures to help make that judgment call.

Hodkinson’s concept of autonomy points out another important fact. Recording and publishing music, starting a small scale clothing company, or booking a venue for a club night require access to money and other resources that teens seldom have. This means that the movers and shakers in a subculture are not teens. They are in their twenties, often their thirties, sometimes even older. Teens who are seriously involved in a subculture know this. This means that they see themselves as forming an adult identity. Activities geared toward them should not appear juvenile.

The concept of consistent distinctiveness is also an important one. The tastes and values of teens in a subculture are not shared by their peers. Indeed subcultural participants and their tastes may even be mocked by those outside their group. A program geared to them may not appeal to other teens. On the other hand the fact that subcultural teens often feel unwelcome in many public places and so lack places to gather, can make catering to them a strategy for gaining a very loyal group of young patrons.

The teen community of every library is different. You may work at a library with a firmly established group of very mainstream youth, but this could change quite suddenly as high school classes graduate and new youth come in. Having some understanding of the dynamics of youth culture and subculture and knowledge of existing and emerging subcultures may help you build a strong connection with some smart literate teens.