Right now, thousands of our colleagues are skittering about Chicago, attending programs, meeting authors, diligently attending to board, committee, and interest group work, and enjoying every open bar event they can find.

But if you’re like me, one of the rising number of people who can’t attend conferences because your travel budget has disappeared or, more sadly, the coworkers who would normally cover your travel no longer have employment, you’re less likely to be pushing through lines for Catching Fire than you are to be breaking up a fight in your Teen Space.

So if you want to wait out the conference craze before sorting through the tweets, blog posts, meeting minutes, selected lists, and live coverage, try one of these things to take a load off and enjoy your time on the homefront.

1. Re-read a teen book you love – When I was 12, I was bored to tears in my local library’s children’s section when I stumbled on this new, strange-looking book profiling a kid wearing sunglasses and a neon wind-breaker (it was the 90s, after all). Lightning strikes abounded, and I pulled it from the shelf and read it–a gripping story about a bullied child who finds a pair of sunglasses imbued with the magic to change reality. Then I returned it, not to think of it again.

   Fifteen years later, I’m helping my boss with a weeding project, when I come across this old, strange-looking book profiling… well, you can guess. That book was Neal Shusterman’s The Eyes of Kid Midas of course, and I ended up rereading and enjoying it, despite all those years behind me. It may not have been the latest ARC, but I still enjoyed reacquainting myself with the characters, suspenseful situations, and the subtle nods to the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life.” And now I can recommend it to teens who the publishing cycle completely skipped!

2. Have a “wouldn’t it be cool” brainstorming session – Remember all those times you said “wouldn’t it be cool if…” but never wrote it down? Well, your overactive imagination could kickstart your teen services into the next decade. Take some time to brainstorm, either yourself or with coworkers, your wildest dreams for teen services, programs, and collections at your library. What was once a passing fancy will now be recorded for posterity.

   Afterward, run your list by teens to see what grabs them and discuss with administration what aspects of your list you’d like to prioritize for the upcoming budget year. You might surprise yourself with what you come up with–as well as what you’re able to incorporate into your services.

3. Have an in-depth conversation with a teen – While our colleagues are off setting the agenda for teen services, to come, remind yourself of why you do the work in the first place by carving out some time from what’s surely a very busy day and having a pretense-free conversation with a teen. Let the teen drive the conversation, if they’re willing, and be reminded of what an incredibly smart, creative, energetic, engaged, crafty, awkward, skilled, friendly, challenging, diverse, and ultimately rewarding population we serve.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

In 2009, only months after the Pittsburgh Steelers won an NFL record sixth Super Bowl, the Penguins won the NHL Stanley Cup with players who–not too long ago–were teens themselves. The win came alongside news that The Economist ranked Pittsburgh America’s most livable city and that President Barack Obama hand-selected Pittsburgh to host the September G20 summit. Pittsburgh’s also been fortunate enough to be seen as a national example for recovery from media outlets like The New York Times and Newsweek.

Indeed, it’s been a banner year for the Steel City. But what does it mean for your library’s teen services?

Pittsburgh offers a number of potential lessons that you can use when revitalizing your library services to teens. So if you see your teen stats are in recession or you are looking to push yourself over the edge, think about these examples:

1. Develop a distinct teen services “culture.”
   
   When people visit Pittsburgh, many of them probably have an idea of what they are visiting–a friendly, yet hard-nosed and resilient city with strong ties to its working class past. When teens stop by your library, do they have an idea of what’s in store for them? Giving teens a “take it or leave it” option when it comes to the tenor of your teen services might end up making your library more attractive. Promote your library as a fun place for dorks (and totally proud of it) or push a more academic, research and homework-fueled image. What’s important is that teens respect and promote that image, even if they don’t relate to it. Pittsburgh effectively transformed itself from the steel city to a leader in medical research and higher education without losing its image, so don’t think that developing a lasting image locks you into a specific set of programming, collections, or services.
2. Build on teens’ competitive fire.

   While Pittsburgh restructured its depressed economy and dwindling populace, many of the residents invested their hopes in their local sports teams. The Steelers weren’t just carrying the ball, they were carrying the dreams of an entire city. You can also incorporate a “team” identity into your library programming to mobilize teens into investing in your library’s future. Face off against other libraries in online Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournaments or get together with other football cities for an upcoming Madden 10 online franchise. You could also search for comparable library systems for summer reading competitions or even assigning teens to intralibrary teams when they sign up. Posting the results on your website can also be a way to retain former teens as vested advocates as they track how their old team is doing in summer reading or read about their library’s online gaming league.

3. Don’t be afraid to promote yourself!

   While Pittsburgh residents may have a cynical attitude toward all the attention, it wouldn’t be getting it if there wasn’t a concentrated city effort to promote itself. The city regularly sends out press releases to media, puts itself on billboards across the country, showcases itself in the bizarrely-named but popular Pop City blog, and sends its mayor on the Late Show with David Letterman. You can do the same (though maybe not Letterman)! Don’t feel awkward or intimidated about initiating conversations with teens. Don’t just wait for classrooms or official outreach opportunities. Hang out in general areas where teens congregate, armed with promotional postcards. Don’t just build a Myspace and hope they come, tell teens about it, in person, and ask them to friend you. Of course, you can be active without coming across as desperate. Pittsburgh tempers its self-promotion with a blasé attitude, which you can replicate even as you strive to be ever-present in the minds of teens.

   In spite of all this marketing, one of the best things Pittsburgh has going for it is being a city full of ambassadors. When somebody visits Pittsburgh, they are likely to share enjoyable times with generous people who want nothing more than to provide a fun, hospitable experience for their guests. When you see somebody new at the library, make sure you aren’t ever too busy to say hello, introduce yourself, and offer to introduce them to some of the things the library might have to offer. Or, you can let the teens themselves be an ambassador. Or consider sponsoring a teen “take your friend to the library day,” where teens and their otherwise library-avoidant friend are shown a good time at the library and each have a chance to win raffle prizes.

4. Lower the barrier for teens to engage the library.

   Pittsburgh’s overall population decline and decades of struggle has allowed its housing costs to remain affordable and steady as other cities struggled to cope with their bursting housing bubbles. This has allowed many young people to stay in the city as homeowners and entrepeneurs, as well as provided lots of performance spaces and galleries for young people to showcase creative endeavors without ceding control of their environment to bureaucratic arts organizations or landlords. Before Pittsburgh knew it, it had a core of active, young creative people filling the city with fun, interesting things to do. You can replicate this success by opening the library for events that teens themselves organize and promote, setting aside gallery space that teens can take turns curating, or offering marker board walls where teens have free reign to express themselves. It’s also important that teens have opportunities to expressly transform their ideas and desires into reality. That means working with administration to build faith and garner pre-approval for how teens creatively make use of their library space.

So if you’re struggling with how to revitalize your teen services, consider these four lessons from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen

With the weather changing (and changing again, and changing back, etc.) and the adrenaline rush of finals starting to subside, it’s time to think about teen health.

Whether teens have been chronically ill all their life or are just starting to get that weird tingle in the back of their throat, there are reasons to make sure that they get the kind of health care they need. Unfortunately, there are some traps that can keep them from visiting a doctor:

• No health care - According to the 2007 Census, 11% of all minors are without health coverage. While many teens might take for granted that they can cheaply see a doctor for a stomach ache, it’s sadly not the case for everyone.
• Busyness and presenteeism – Even if teens have access to health care, they might feel like they don’t have the time — or inclination — to use it. Their parents might be too busy to take them to the doctor for “little things,” or their coaches might tell them to “be a man” and fight through sickness.

A number of great online resources exist to get teens through cold season, as well as any other health issues they might be battling. Of course, no online resource is a good substitute for a doctor, but it is a start.

Insure Kids Now! – If a teen doesn’t currently have health insurance, a recent government bill might make them eligible for free or low-cost coverage.  They can use this program to find their state’s program and start their parents on the path toward applying.

TeensHealth - TeensHealth is part of the award-winning KidsHealth Network, a project of the Nemours Center.  The center was founded as a place where pediatricians and other medical experts develop health media free of “doctor speak,” and is reviewed regularly for accuracy.  It also has a Spanish-language componenent por la salud de los jovenes!

TeenHealthFX - TeenHealthFX is a nationally-renowned teen health site funded by Atlantic Health’s – Morristown Memorial Hospital and Overlook Hospital.  The site has it’s own Teen Advisory Board and aims to be a comprehensive place where general health info exists side-by-side with the “traditionally teen.”

MedlinePlus - MedlinePlus is a service of the National Library of Medicine and has two teen-specific pages: Teen Health and Teens’ Page are specific (though slightly redundant) pathfinders that lead teens to a number of specific health issues and various bits of research.  It also scrapes articles from PubMed related to teen health.

Adolescent Health Transition Project - This important resource from Center on Human Development and Disability (CHDD) at the University of Washington gives teens with special health care needs due to chronic disease, disability, or developmental issues a resource to help them transition into independent young adulthood.

TeenGrowth  - TeenGrowth is a simple, yet effective Q&A site from the Pediatric Health Alliance.  It’s easy to navigate and includes some sections that you might not usually find on teen health pages, like information on sports injuries and doctor visits.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Every year, around this time, many of America’s high school students start turning their thoughts to one thing: prom.

Prom is a legendary night of gowns, tuxedos, photographs, limousines, coursages, spiked punch, romance, late-night hotel parties, and figuring out where in the world you are when you wake up the next morning. (If you don’t believe me, read Brian Sloan’s A Really Nice Prom Mess.)

At least, that’s what I’ve heard. I never went to prom, but I sure did hear lots of stories about it. Some may have been real, some may have been imagined, but it was all fascinating.

It turns out that trumped up prom stories go as far back as prom itself. The first proms were held in Philly in the 1920s and quickly emerged as the definitive status event for high schoolers who were growing up after World War I, in a land filled with more accessible technology (automobiles and radios), increased prosperity, and a public sentiment that resented immigrants.

In fact, one newspaper headline stated “If You Don’t Like This, Go Back to the Country Where You Came From.” Along with baseball & apple pie, prom became a national past time and a way for immigrant teens project an “American” identity. National newspapers and radio programs were a big part of this. The second they caught wind of the new phenomenon, they started promoting proms as one of the most important events in a teen’s life. Juicy stories from proms were immediately published in teen magazines, and it wasn’t long before the first “guidebook” for prom was published, in the early 1930s.

To this day, proms are still big business, and their stories (as well as all their social implications) will define America’s cultural identity for another generation. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make prom your own at your library.

For instance, you can make a creative display with a fake mirrored ball–which you can make by gluing sequens to a small foam ball–and have teens “party plan” your display (selected titles are below). You might also find a nice outreach opportunity by volunteering to chaperone any local “alternative” proms (such as those which might be sponsored by your local GLSEN chapter).

You can also do what the NYPL library has done and hold your own alternative prom, where anybody who might feel alienated from the prom at their own shool, as well as any local home or cyberschoolers, can find a fun place to dance and create their own memories. The NYPL posted lots of information and video on their LGBT blog, which you can glean for your own event.

Websites:

BuzzFree Prom – sponsored by MADD, this program is for teens willing to go sober on prom night, in exchange for a card you can use for discounts to your favorite stores.

Lambda Legal: What LGBTQ Youth Need to Know – Do you feel like your school’s prom is discriminating against you because of your sexual or gender identity? Check out this Q&A to see what’s within your legal power to stop them.

My Prom Style – from the people that bring you Cosmo Girl & Seventeen comes a site dedicated to the fashion, make up, and social cues you need to know about today’s prom.

Prom Night – it may not look like much, but this prom site offers good, no-nonsense information for ladies and gentlemen alike.

Stuck at Prom – If you and your date build your outfit out of duct tape, you could win a $3000 scholarship. Even if you decide to go the cloth route, check it out for the pictures alone.

Books:

Anderson, Laurie Halse
Prom

Ash doesn’t want anything to do with senior prom, but when a teacher steals the school’s prom fund and her best friend (the prom organizer) turns to her for help, Ash decides to save the day.

Cirrone, Dorian
Prom Kings and Drama Queens

When Emily is forced to choose between a new relationship with her dream guy and planning an alternative prom, all of her values are called into question.

Levithan, David and Daniel Ehrenhaft
21 Proms

This anthology of 21 prom stories is filled with as much dancing, drinking, and debauchery as it is about the quiet, fringe moments that make life really special.

Medina, Nico
Fat Hoochie Prom Queen

The large, boisterous Margarita challenges her stuck up former friend (and now enemy) Bridget Benson to a prom queen contest. How will Margarita size up to the competition?

Nelson, Blake
Prom Anonymous

Laura, Jace, and Chloe are three best friends on a prom mission. Will they survive finding dates, dresses, shoes, manicures, hairstyles, and limos long enough to actually go?

Preble, Laura
Prom Queen Geeks

Becca is the self-proclaimed “Queen Geek” at her high school. When she decides to cement her status by starting her own alternative prom, her best friend Shelby must decide whether to support Becca or go with her boyfriend to the traditional prom.

Prom Nights from Hell

Featuring author superstars like Meg Cabot and Stephenie Meyer, this anthology of short stories takes the rose-colored glasses off prom and shows it for the demonic, monster-infested hellpit it truly is.

Wood, Maryrose
How I Found the Perfect Dress

Morgan is a sixteen-year-old half-goddess whose earthly concerns (i.e., junior prom) take a backseat to when she must save her love Colin from a fairy curse.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen

From time to time, YALSA teen blogger Katie and I will get together to have a heart-to-heart talk about issues affecting teen librarians from both a teen and librarian’s perspective. This episode: how do misconceptions slip into our daily routines and how you can we identify and overcome them?

The decades may be gone, but many of today’s teens still have an affinity for the albums that for generations have carried a cult following in America’s high schools. Here are 25 time-tested albums that you can share with the teens you serve, culled by teens at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

The Beatles
Abbey Road (1969)

You can’t pick just one, but The Beatles’ last album to be recorded vies for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for the most iconic cover. It also contains a nice array of songwriting contributions from all four members of the band, whether in Lennon and McCartney’s moody “Come Together” or George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.” Mak Delaney’s Pepperland is a touching teen novel you can use to follow up with any Beatles-loving teen.

Black Flag
Damaged (1981)

This incredibly visceral 80s hardcore album has raged for over two and a half decades. Damaged vacillates its lyrics between the serious (alienation, boredom, etc.) to the humorous (television), but it never falters in the intensity department. From the riffs to teens ears, Black Flag is a blistering document of young rage.

Black Sabbath
Paranoid (1971)

Quite easily the most popular and influential heavy metal album of all time, Black Sabbath’s Paranoid maintains a consistent atmosphere of dark, heavy riffs that still resound with teens who are looking to take metal back to its heavy blues rock roots. It’s unfailingly dramatic themes take listeners through war, annihilation, death, and drugs and deposit them thoroughly rocked.

The Cure
Disintegration (1989)

There’s no denying the aesthetic influence that Robert Smith’s teased hair and eyeliner has had on today’s teen music fashion, but The Cure’s dark, bittersweet pop songs developed a soaring, epic quality that’s been faithfully replicated in some genre of teen music for the last 20 years. [Editor's note: while typing this write up, a teen actually walked past me, gave me a thumbs up, and exclaimed, "The Cure... all right!"]

The Doors
The Doors (1967)

The Doors blended hypnotic, seductive, and accessibly daring music with Jim Morrison’s drug-fueled poetic musings to create another psychadelic 60s album that maintains a place in music lore. Morrison died four years later, presumably of an overdose, leaving a legacy of neo-surreal abstraction that teens love.

Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Every generation has its inner folkies, and today’s high schoolers are no exception. For the contemporary teen, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited is probably the best bet. It’s the first full Dylan album to go electric, and the first in which Dylan takes on the persona of the erstwhile folk wanderer for a more streetwise urban feel.

Eminem
The Slim Shady LP (1999)

Eminem’s bouncy, yet entirely disturbing rap debut eschewed gangster tropes in favor of dark humor and vivid imagery. It’s hard to look past the iconic pop status (not to mention multiple Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award) to remember how villified Eminem was, from critics who were afraid of the effect that Eminem’s violent creative imagination would have on America’s children. Despite not releasing an album since 2004, Eminem remains one of the most popular rappers, and this album still has a legion of teen fans who enjoy dark rap with biting sarcasm and incredible lyrical skill.

Green Day
Dookie (1994)

This album sparked the mainstreaming of pop-punk and still holds up as a snotty, self-loathing document that’s still scrawled in marker on teens backpacks. Filled with adolescent jokes without losing as much edge as being on a major label can afford, Dookie is still a safe bet.

Guns N’ Roses
Appetite for Destruction (1987)

Sex, drugs, liquor, urban decay, and skulls? It’s not just doodles in the average teen’s math notebook, but Axel Rose and company’s debut album of fast and dirty hard rock. With ugly riffs, even uglier lyrics, and frenetic guitar solos, Guns N’ Roses turned the tide from “good time” radio rock to something much more angry, dark, and disaffected.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced? (1967)

In an album that over 30 years later still seems otherworldly, Jimi Hendrix and company fused the most future-sounding elements of sixties psych with rock, pop, blues, and soul to form one of the most lasting and virtuoso rock debuts to grace teen ears. I recommend Jimi & Me, by Jaime Adoff, as an exploration of the relationship that Jimi Hendrix can have with teens today.

Led Zeppelin
IV (1971)

Rife with bluesy big riffs, dramatic lyrics, and epic bombast, Led Zeppelin’s IV epitomizes everything that teens hold dear about 70s hard rock. Robert Plant’s sensual, otherworldly vocals cap off an album that has staved off all attempts at imitation to remain fresh with each successive generation.

Bob Marley & The Wailers
Burnin’ (1973)

The most iconic reggae artist in history (and one whose image adorns the wall of many high school seniors on their way to college) returned in 1973 to lead The Wailers in an album full of downtempo, anthemic protest songs. This album captures Marley perhaps at the most confrontational and anti-authoritarian, addressing the stark poverty of the Jamaican streets.

Nine Inch Nails
The Downward Spiral (1994)

Nihilism, depravity, and bleak soundscapes round out this Nine Inch Nails mainstay. The Downward Spiral gave heavy industrial music a nuanced pop structure and a very handsome, if brooding, face. For many teens, this album remains a gateway to even bleaker, heavier, noisy fringe music.

Nirvana
Nevermind (1992)

Full of raw music, buzzsaw guitars, guttural yelps, and dark lyrics, Nevermind has remained a mouthpiece of youthful disillusionment. The subsequent suicide of Kurt Cobain will likely preserve this status for generations to come.

No Doubt
Tragic Kingdom (1995)

Gwen Stefani’s persona straddles the line between punky riot-grrl and innocent blonde. These internal contradictions have made No Doubt’s early blend of punk, pop, and ska still hold up amongst teens, despite the propensity for teens to forget about the early works of current pop stars (i.e., Beyonce, Lil Wayne, etc.).

The Notorious B.I.G.
Ready to Die (1994)

The East Coast counterpart to 2Pac was The Notorious B.I.G., who elevated New York gangsta rap to commercial success with this brilliant collection of anthems. In spite of its subject matter, Ready to Die is full of easygoing bravado, slick beats, and a slew of expertly crafted narratorial voices that resound with teens (that is, if you trust the close-up of Christopher Wallace that adorn teens’ memorial shirts).

Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here (1975)

Dark Side of the Moon may be their most famous work, but Wish You Were Here tends to be the most appealing to teens. Formed as a song cycle dedicated to Syd Barrett, who’d left the band amidst speculations of mental illness caused by heavy drug use, it’s mostly David Gilmour’s warbly and shimmering production which resonates with teens who are really into recreating the drugged-out aesthetic.

Queen
A Night at the Opera (1975)

Self-conscious pomp and circumstance form the basis for a lot of music teens love today, and it’s hard to find a band who does it any better than Queen. While it doesn’t have the stadium anthems of A Day at the Races, this album has enough proggy, overblown, and epic rock to get teens going.

The Ramones
The Ramones (1976)

The Ramones stripped rock to its bare elements with this wildly fun debut. Widely heralded as the founders of punk, the Ramones parlayed three chords, upbeat drums, and goofy lyrics into an album that’s still fast and loud enough to annoy parents but simple enough to birth countless high school bands.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bloodsugarsexmagik (1991)

Another defining quality to many teen-appreciated albums from the 90s is infectious funk. Red Hot Chili Peppers employ this in spades on Bloodsugarsexmagik, a slap bass romp through topics like failed relationships, drug addiction, and hippie-ish dreaming of a better world.

The Sex Pistols
Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)

A snotty assault on all things “good taste,” The Sex Pistols crafted this album to offend as many elements of British high society as possible. What resulted is a fashionably anti-melodic and harsh set of anthems about being dissatisfied with the establishment. Their fashion statements still live on in the hallways of high schools wherever rebellion lies.

The Smiths
The Queen Is Dead (1986)

Morrissey’s clever, coy lyrics and sensitive sap persona have led to a dedicated cult of personality that has emerged with each successive generation. The Queen Is Dead has proven to be The Smiths’ most lasting effort, with a slightly more varied and occasionally rocking album full of wistful masterpieces that alternate between young love and clever satires of British class mores. For an amusing look at one teen’s relationship with Morrissey, read Lauren Weinstein’s comic collection Girl Stories.

Sublime
Sublime (1996)

Sublime’s eponymous album arrived just months after singer Bradley Nowell died of a heroin overdose. This made their pop singalongs, culled from a fusion of reggae, dub, and so-cal punk, all the more appealing on long bus rides or driving around town with no place to go.

2Pac
All Eyez on Me (1996)

Langston Hughes’s age-old question “What happens to a dream deferred?” may have been answered by this gangsta magnum opus, the first two disc rap album of original songs ever released by a single artist. 2Pac began recording this record within hours of being released from prison, and its nihilistic, middle-fingers to the world attitude is as relevant to the teens we serve now as ever. For a good look at how this relationship can play out in the real world, see Jacqueline Woodson’s After Tupac and D Foster.

The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

While it might be a Pittsburgh thing based on the Andy Warhol connection, almost all teens who are interested in left-of-center rock (from indie to contemporary new wave) can–and often do–trace its roots back to this album. This album was as diverse as it was expressive, with hints of pop, garage rock, and R&B fleshed out by Lou Reed’s risque lyrics and colorful, if grim, guitar.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen

From time to time, YALSA teen blogger Katie and I will get together to have a heart-to-heart talk about issues affecting teen librarians from both a teen and librarian’s perspective. First up: what does intellectual freedom mean to the teens who use our library?

For more information about teens and what you can do to be an advocate of intellectual freedom, please visit the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom or YALSA’s own Intellectual Freedom Resources.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen

Pop ruled 2008. From indie to hip-hop to dance to punk, no genre was immune to pop’s grasp. Even pop got poppier! In no particular order, here are my picks for the must-have albums for teen music collections in 2008.

Any additions or insight? Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Tha Carter III
Lil Wayne

After saturating the rap game with mixtapes and guest appearances, Lil Wayne (aka Weezy F. Baby)’s opus became the most anticipated album of 2008. This bizarre, disjointed joyride takes you from club bangers like “Lollipop” and “A Milli” to songs like “Phone Home,” in which Weezy raps through an alien voice filter. There will be no shortage of interest in this album for several years, at least, if Lil Wayne’s casual swagger is any indication.

19
Adele

Adele is a young London soul singer who drew musical comparisons to Amy Winehouse, both because of their chosen genre (soul) and because they both graduated from the same performing arts high school. Adele breaks from the Amy Winehouse mold with a plush, singer-songwriter element that enmeshes listeners in the dynamics of teenage heartbreak. This is a great album for any teen who, like Adele, seems “older than her years.”

Santogold
Santogold

With guest production by M.I.A. collaborators switch and Diplo, as well as a pan-continental flavor, it was easy to write off Santogold as 2008’s Kala. Over time, this album proved that it had a personality unto itself, with verses and hooks by Santi White that will catch the attention of “new millennium” teens looking for a fun, intelligent, and altogether interesting indie dance album.

Folie A Deux
Fall Out Boy

Though only released a couple of weeks ago, it won’t be long before long-time fans find and snatch this one up. While the album is a lot more on the melodic, powerpop side of spectrum than the crunchy, high-octane (yet unmistakably poppy) anthems they’re known for, it retains a lot of the self-conscious reflection by which Fall Out Boy has made a name for themselves. A lot of people have compared this album to developments in the career path of Elvis Costello, which wouldn’t be out of place, considering that Elvis Costello guest stars on the album.

Shine
Estelle

Another Londonite, Estelle, showcases multiple talents on the fine R&B album Shine. Skillfully singing and rapping on tracks that run the gamut between reggae and glitzy pop, Estelle hit it big on the charts with the fun, flirty summer jam “American Boy” (featuring Kanye West). While the buzz quickly dried up, the album remained as a fine piece of pop R&B.

I Am… Sasha Fierce
Beyonce

A counterpoint to albums like T.I. vs. T.I.P. which explore what it means to be a pop star, Beyonce returns with a split-personality album that alternates between personal ballads on the “I Am…” side and infectious pop numbers like “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” from the Sasha Fierce persona. The ballads may feel a little sappy, but just about everything Sasha Fierce touches is as fierce as a dance floor can handle. If you like it, then you should have put a hold on it.

Circus
Britney Spears

This album definitely wins comeback album of the year award, for singlehandedly resurrecting an entertainment career that was completely derailed by tabloid escapades. One MTV special and enormously fun, catchy single (yes, I’m talking about “Womanizer” later), Britney was once again part of the teen pop landscape. The rest of the album pumps with a hyperkinetic energy and is flanked by a couple of surprisingly heartfelt ballads. Britney forever!

New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
Erykah Badu

While Erykah Badu didn’t release an album that one might normally think of for teens, Erykah Badu re-emerged with the kind of album every teen could benefit from listening to. At once moving, intelligent, and bewildering, Badu lobs pronouncements about racism, crime, and the American government from in front of booming basslines and soulful melodies. This is a great album for any teen looking for an album in which style and substance are fearlessly soulmates.

One of the Boys
Katy Perry

Not too many people realize that this pop sensation, who cloys about kissing a girl (and liking it), was once a Christian artist who wasn’t even allowed to listen to secular music. While you might debate the merits of sultry ballads like “UR So Gay” and sassy electro-rock club hits like “I Kissed a Girl,” they were nonetheless on the tongues of teens everywhere in 2008. The latest bouncy club hit, “Hot N Cold,” shows that Katy Perry may be divine after all.

Juno: Music from the Motion Picture

Juno’s quirky, smart, and youthful exuberance captured the attention of many teens, who clamored for the quirky, smart, and youthful soundtrack (which quickly rose to be a surprising chart-topper). The album predominantly features Kimya Dawson, formerly of the Moldy Peaches, whose rambling lyrical delivery and sweet guitar melodies make it a great companion for those awkward teen years.

Twilight Soundtrack

Top 3 reasons to get the Twilight Sountrack:
1. It’s related to Twilight.
2. Did I mention Twilight?
3. Seriously, Twilight (oh, and Paramore).

A Little Bit Longer
The Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers somehow managed to become even bigger tween-pop superstars in 2008, with the release of the successful movie Camp Rock and the follow-up album A Little Bit Longer. Featuring saccharine guitars, vocal harmonies, ballads, and the inevitable rocker, these hearthrobs have starred in an album that’s sure to get tweens swooning.

Breakout
Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus ditches the Hannah Montana moniker for another breakout album from this Radio Disney/Camp Rock star. Breakout is punchier, more guitar driven, and appealing to those tweens are are going through the same sort of growing pains in their lives as “Hannah Montana” is going through musically.

A Pocketful of Sunshine
Natasha Bedingfield

If you take a wayback machine to January of 2008, you might remember this little under the radar pop gem. Full of sweet, upbeat numbers like “Put Your Arms around Me” and the titular “A Pocketful of Sunshine” (as well as reggae-tinged songs like “Love Like This”) this album lent teens a solid offering of sunshine during the last dreary winter.

Indestructible
Disturbed

Apparently, the new hard rock that was attracting teens in 2008 didn’t go away, it just got darker and angrier. Enter Indestructible, Disturbed’s fourth studio album. Indestructible takes the pounding riffs from The Sickness and pairs then with the dynamics of Ten Thousands Fists to create what fans are lauding as their best album yet.

Paper Trail
T.I.

While performing 1,000 hours of community service related to federal weapons charges, T.I. spent a lot of time in America’s schools, talking to teens about the importance of education and civic participation. This “back to school” theme resonated with T.I.’s latest chart topper, Paper Trail, which holds a title that refers more to a creative process (literally writing lyrics on paper, which hadn’t been done since 2001’s I’m Serious) than to tracing criminal activity. With a refreshing frankness, T.I. returned to top form with the Rihanna-backed song “Live Your Life” and packed the rest of the album with a thoughtful assessment of life, hip-hop, and life in hip-hop–in addition to fun party jams like “Swing Ya Rag” and the epic guest-filled monster “Swagger Like Us,” which features Jay Z, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West.

Year of the Gentleman
Ne-Yo

In addition to producing and writing hit songs for such performers as Plies, The Pussycat Dolls, and Rihanna, Ne-Yo struck gold with the album Year of the Gentleman. With each song expressing heartfelt, gentle affection (from the R&B/house fusion single “Closer” to the upbeat, stacco synth-fueled “Miss Independent”), the album more than lives up to its name.

Mail on Sunday
Flo Rida

The party rap album of the year was Flo Rida’s Mail on Sunday. From the T-Pain assisted “Low” to the Timbaland collaboration “Elevator,” Flo Rida featured several strong club hits. Mix it with the absolutely infectious “In the Ayer” (which I still hear kids singing to themselves on the bus), and you have an album that may not last long but is sure to be a fun ride.

Here I Stand
Usher

Usher returns with a 5th studio album full of piano-sprinkled, synth-laden R&B ballads. While it’s been derided as “married man’s music,” losing the hip-hop energy that got teens excited about 2004’s Confessions, Usher is still a household name–and how can anybody deny the magic of the single “Love in This Club”?

Fight with Tools
Flobots

A little bit of jazz, a dash of funk, a sprinkle of soul, and a teaspoon of hip-hop, blended with some crushed hard rock, round out the album Fight with Tools, from the Flobots. One of the few bands gracing the alternative stations that actually had a record in 2008, Flobots have crafted a hopeful, politically uplifting album for any eclectic, change-oriented teen.

The Recession
Young Jeezy

Young Jeezy returns with another album of gritty down south beats, guttural vocals, and a stark, street realism style that’s been Jeezy’s trademark since Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. But with songs like “Put On,” “Crazy World,” and “My President Is Black,” Young Jeezy is also beginning to show how even thugs are getting motivated to help build a new America.

Funhouse
P!nk

With every song sounding like the “one hit” from a one hit wonder, P!nk’s Funhouse is a raucous pop affair led by P!nk’s “divorce song,” “So What.” Love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny that Funhouse is unfailingly spunky for such a personal pop album. Through it, P!nk shows she can still get the party started.

Rotation
Cute Is What We Aim For

Cute Is What We Aim For aim and hit with a style-conscious emo-pop album that adds some polish (in addition to some synth and horn flourishes) to their 2006 offering The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch. If songs like “Practice Makes Perfect” aren’t reminiscent of those joyful, yet excruciatingly painful moments of youthful desire, then I don’t know what is.

Fast Times at Barrington High
The Academy Is…

After showcasing a darker direction with their last record, Shanti, The Academy Is… dip back into their palette of glossy emo pop to deliver a concept album from the perspective of an 18 year old letting go of old loves and embracing the changes of a new life to come. Equally mournful yet joyous, as well as big yet claustrophobic (perfectly exemplified in the song “Winter Passing”), Fast Times at Barrington High will make a lasting impression.

Lost in the Sound of Separation
Underoath

Frenetic and often atmospheric, the openly Christian Underoath have unleashed one of the most pummeling (yet inexplicably accessible) metalcore albums of 2008. From the first breakdown in “Breathing in a New Mentality” to the moment “The Only Survivor Was Miraculously Unharmed” fires up its jet engines and explodes, Underoath have offered teens an awesomely brutal album that will have even the most secular moshing.

Skip School, Start Fights
Hit the Lights

In 2008, Hit The Lights put the popular in pop-punk, releasing their sophomore album Skip School, Start Fights, the first after former vocalist Colin Ross left the band. With a slightly more distinct identity under the band’s bouncy singalongs, Hit The Lights will probably “start fights” as to whether fans like the new direction. But it’s a good position to be in when fans care that much.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen

Late in the movie, Norah tells Nick about the Judaic concept of tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase that translates to “repairing the world.” It turns out to be the perfect phrase to chart the course of two characters who begin the film broken but find solace in one wild New York night. [view trailer]

Nick (Michael Cera) begins the movie not with Norah but in the bedroom amidst photos of Tris (Alexis Dziena), the lying, manipulating heartbreaker who has reduced Nick into a blubbering sack of tears, rambling voice mails, and mix CDs. Norah (Kat Dennings) goes to the same private school as Tris and uses the tossed-away mixes as a way to escape Tris’s cutting comments, her best friend Caroline (Ari Graynor)’s constant state of drunkenness, and her father’s shadow of fame.

Nick also happens to be the only straight boy in the queercore band the Jerk Offs (played by Aaron Yoo and Rafi Gavron), and they soon arrive to pull Nick out of his stupor and out to New York City, where they have a show the same night that Nick’s favorite band, Where’s Fluffy?, is playing a secret show. Where’s Fluffy? happens to be Norah’s favorite as well, and soon the entire cast finds themselves at the Jerk Offs’ show in preparation. To prove to Tris that she isn’t a boyfriend-less loser, Norah goes over and makes out with the first single guy she sees. That guy just happens to be Nick.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist winds its script around the strengths of its two leads. As characters, Nick and Norah’s ultra-hip energy are toned way down in favor of stressing the moments between the two. Michael Cera’s nervous, quiet stutter and bashful smile blend well with Dennings’s distant coolness to create a believable night in which two people can meet each other and fall in and out of love faster than you can ask, “Where’s Fluffy?”

In between, humorous interludes featuring gay holiday cabaret, an awkwardly sexy dance on the hood of a Yugo, and a disgustingly well-traveled piece of gum set up each emotional beat so well that everyone in the theater was groaning, awww-ing, and cheering Nick & Norah until they “see red” (you’ll get it once you see the movie). This is a can’t-miss film not just as teen librarians but as human beings with human hearts.

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen

I’d imagine that for most librarians, the thought of several thousand screaming middle schoolers is more a nightmare than a dream come true. But for pop idols Jesse McCartney and Jordin Sparks, each hysterical 12 year-old is the bread and butter of their professional life. Such is the land of teeny boppers, a cultural and marketing phenomenon of pop music, fashion, and celebrity aimed at adolescent girls.

As teenybopperism doesn’t necessarily hit where its aimed, I was obsessed with the New Kids on the Block when I was a kid (Joey was my favorite, of course). I collected shirts, buttons, posters, pillowcases, trading cards–you name it. My friends and I practiced the moves to “Step by Step” in algebra. So when I had the chance to nab free tickets to Jesse McCartney and Jordin Sparks’ Pittsburgh tour stop, I seized the opportunity.

Jesse McCartney is a product of the “boy band” explosion of the late 90s, debuting with the group Dream Street in 1999. The 15 year-old Jesse launched a teen-pop solo career in 2002, releasing the platinum album Beautiful Soul in 2004. After a lackluster follow-up in 2006 (Right Where You Want Me), Jesse McCartney became reinvented as a electro-pop/R&B hybrid act and just recently had a #1 single with the song “Leavin’.”

Before winning American Idol’s sixth season in 2007, Jordin Sparks gained notoriety in her home state of Arizona as a talent show contestant and winner of a plus-sized model contest (to this day, lots of Jordin’s communications with fans are about maintaining a healthy self-image). After a tour-de-force win in which Jordin never finished below the top three in voting, she signed to Jive Records and put out a successful self-titled album featuring such singles as “Tattoo,” “One Step at a Time,” and the immensely popular “No Air,” a duet with R&B superstar Chris Brown:

As my friend and I experienced the show, full of impressive choreographed dancing and legions of hyperfans screaming their lungs out over the two hours that the show commenced, I wondered how libraries can help incorporate teeny bopper fandom into their services and collections.

In addition to the obvious array of music (which you can learn about through its flagship radio station Radio Disney), magazines are still a major vehicle within which teenyboppers get the scoop on their favorite stars. Check out J-14, M Magazine, Right On!, and Black Beat. If you’re struggling to provide a successful discussion group for teens, try a magazine discussion group and pore over the celebrity news of that month.

You can even load up your shelves by cross-referencing the latest stars against the biographies available from your book vender of choice or stocking such fiction as Grace Dent’s LBD (Les Bambinos Dangereuses) series.

Your library can give teeny boppers a forum to share not just gossip but their excitement about the stars and songs that shape their lives. This can be a great way to involve teens in your library services as they transition out of the children’s department… and who knows? Maybe the next time you visit their schools, you’ll be the one greeted with hordes of screaming fans!

~Joseph Wilk
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Teen