“The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture…” –Thomas Jefferson; Memorandum of Services to My Country, after 2 September 1800

You may have heard a lot of talk lately about seed libraries. In February, NPR ran a story entitled “How to Save a Public Library: Make it a Seed Bank.”  If we put aside the argument over whether or not public libraries need to be saved, this story actually highlighted an interesting movement that has been sweeping across the country and libraries are leading the way.

A seed lending library works on the simple principle that you can ‘lend’ out seeds to be grown by patrons who will then harvest new seeds and return them to the seed library to be lent out again.

Hosting a seed library can help you connect, create, and collaborate with your community, and especially with your teens.

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by Heather Booth

If you are a librarian or teacher in the Chicago area, you have an rare opportunity to give your teens these three awesome intangibles, all in one day, by bringing them to the Best Fiction for Young Adults Teen Session on Saturday, June 29th from 10:30-12:00.

Power. Their words have power. They will be up there, at the front of the room, holding the microphone. The microphone is power. The room will be full of adults, sitting at rapt attention, waiting for them to speak, hanging on their every word, relishing the opportunity to hear what they have to say. Their opinions on these books are powerful. They are seeds on the wind that will fly home with every librarian in the room and be planted in library collections nationwide. Your teens deserve this power. (more…)

She starts January 1^st deciding which book is going to be the one she will start the year off with. This will be the book that leads to hundreds of others that she will read throughout the year. Her name is Nevaeh Mosher and I had the pleasure of interviewing this remarkable young lady last week.

Nevaeh is a 6^th grade student growing up in the South Bronx. She didn’t really enjoy reading early in school; in fact she thought it was a waste of time until she got into the fourth grade. At that point she had a teacher who felt that reading was important; saw that the students needed to be reading more and also needed to be reading better. With her fourth grade teacher pushing her to read more books Nevaeh grew to love reading. In the fourth grade she read 200 books and last year in the fifth grade she read over 300 books. This year her goal is to read over 325 books, beating last year’s number. In her school, Nevaeh has teachers and a librarian who support her. She also has Ben Fechter, a representative from the organization City-Year, an education focused, nonprofit group that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service to keep students in school and on track to graduation (http://www.cityyear.org).
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This Friday, April 19^th, is the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) Day of Silence. Students will participate in GLSEN’s 18th annual Day of Silence, which is a student-led day of action to raise awareness about anti-LGBT bullying, harassment, and discrimination. The student participants and their supporters believe that LGBT students deserve to go to school in a safe and respectful environment.

The GLSEN Day of Silence was founded in 1996, and has become the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It started with the first Day of Silence at the University of Virginia in 1996, and moved to the organizing efforts of over 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across the country.

The idea behind the Day of Silence is to be silent against bullying, harassment, and discrimination. As the GLSEN website informs us, “By taking a vow of silence, you’re making a powerful statement about the important issue of anti-LGBT bullying, and when you organize others to join you that message becomes stronger. “

Students have the right to be silent before and after school and between class breaks. They may have to break their silence during class time if called upon by a teacher to speak. It’s best for students to discuss the Day of Silence event with their instructors ahead of time that way teachers will be informed and students won’t have to break their silence.

The GLSEN website has all of the information on this incredibly important day including resources, activities, social media opportunities, postings, and more. Check out GLSEN’s Day of Silence website at http://www.dayofsilence.org/. Find out how to post Selfies (personal pictures of yourself stating your beliefs against discrimination), see how to register for the Day of Silence, read more about April 19^th in general and much more.

In the South Shore of Massachusetts, a team of young adult librarians meet monthly to discuss ideas, experiences, and future professional plans. Collaboration has become increasingly important in the world of public library services as our role in the community begins to change through incorporation of our expert technology skills, through community partnerships and outreach, and an emphasis on the library as a community space. Although we all serve towns in the South Shore of Massachusetts, the range of demographics, such as ethnicities, affluence, and local cultures within these towns, contributes to a dynamic team of librarians. These other Teen Librarians have guided me towards innovative programming and the creation and relevant use of Teen Spaces.

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Have you planned, hosted, or simply thought about outreach programs for teens? How do you make your school visits unique?

What do you do for summer to fill out your Summer Reading Program calendar? Is it crafty? Outdoors-y?

Your ideas are the ones that get teens in your door, and that keep them coming back. Share those ideas with us so all library professionals serving teens can try them out. YALSA’s 365 Days of YA Task Force has been asking for programming ideas from you all since last fall, and we are in the home stretch. We have received ideas ranging from fun, passive, and educational, to zombie- and literature-themed. Thank you for your help!
With only 7 days left until we end our call for ideas, we are in need of programs to fill out the summer months as well as ideas for outreach. To give you an idea of some of the program ideas we have been sent:

- Create blackout poetry with old newspapers
- Play-doh sculpting: remember your childhood, but put a grown-up twist into your creation
- Try to break Guinness World Records
- Emergency Preparedness Month program: on a large blank sheet of paper as “what is in your bug-out bag?” Host a corresponding program with soldier or hiker who can give appropriate advice

Please email your ideas to 365daysofya@gmail.com 
Thank you for contributing to this collaborative project!

WIth maker culture on the rise, many librarians have begun venturing into the world of makerspaces, maker faires, and maker-related activities. Some have found this an easier task than others, and even those who are learning quickly tend to do so in isolation, without a way to reach out and talk with others who are doing similar work.

Sharing and collaboration are integral not only to maker culture, but to libraries, as well. It was in this spirit that I set out to create MakerBridge, an online community for everyone interested in makerspaces and maker culture. MakerBridge is intended as a network for librarians, teachers, club leaders, scout leaders, community leaders, and even individual tinkerers and geeks who want to share their experiences, learn from others, and ask for advice in their own work. Everyone is welcome, regardless of affiliation, geographic location, or level of knowledge. (more…)

Title: MoPho: Prints and Photo Gifts

Cost: Free (with exclusion to in-app purchases.)

Platform: Requires iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Compatible with iOS 4.3 or later.

In this day and age no one carries around an actual camera anymore, especially when the quality of our phone’s camera is just as good. Today we are all about simplifying things at our fingertips. We like that our smart phones are just that… smart and can handle more than just one function.

Everyone has tons of photos on their phones and especially teens, who constantly take “selfies” and pics of their “bffls.” There are, however, some circumstances where you would like to have an actual print copy of a photo that you love rather than risking it being deleted or lost in the god-forbid, sudden death of your phone. Enter, MoPho. MoPho is so simple and the user experience cannot be clearer. MoPho is an app that lets you print and develop your cell phone’s photo stream right from your phone! This app allows you to choose the photos you wish to print by drawing from your phone’s camera roll, Instagram, and Facebook pictures. (more…)

I had a chance to speak with Michelle Luhtala, department chair of New Canaan (CT) High School Library, late last year about her students winning the American Library Association’s teen video Contest, “Why I NEED My Library!” in 2011. After learning that the American Library Association was sponsoring the teen video contest, “Why I NEED My Library!” , Michelle Luhtala, school librarian at New Canaan High School (CT) sent the information to a group of students interested in videography.  She let the students ponder the idea of the contest and they did the rest… ultimately winning the top prize of $3,000.00 cash.  The focus of the video was the library and the services offered.  Michele said the $3,000.00 cash prize was a huge incentive for the students.

Even thought they did not get to keep the money for themselves, the students did get to decide how to spend the money for the benefit of the school library, a way to leave their legacy.  Ultimately, 5 iPads were purchased for the school.  Each iPad is individually engraved with the student’s name and has its own cover which represents each of the award winning students.  Since receiving the iPads, Michelle said that many students come to the desk requesting to check out “The TIM” or “The Nick” iPad.

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Many libraries provide opportunities for teens to build skills through volunteering, attending or leading a program. In the past few weeks at my library, meetings have come up where I thought it would make sense to invite teens to have a presence at the table and I’m glad we got them involved. Here are a couple of examples of how we had teens participate in meetings:

• A teen intern at my library proposed a handout for a film festival and indicated what the festival categories should be. At about the same time, my co-workers and I were having discussions about such a festival and setting up a meeting with a director of the premiere festival in our town. (Someone with expertise who has run and coordinated such an event for several years.) (more…)