YALSA Board @ Annual Preview: Incentives for Members to Implement Futures Recommendations

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“The Future of Library Services for and with Teens: A Call to Action” report represents a much needed resource to address how libraries are serving teens and provides recommendations on how libraries will address the challenges to continue serving this growing population.

We know YALSA members are reading, sharing, and implementing the findings of the report in their libraries. Our Future of Teens and Libraries Taskforce is already hard at work creating promotions and talking points that we can all use. But the YALSA Board knows the importance of supporting and honoring members who have been inspired to rethink and remarket teen services. This proposal offers some suggestions on how YALSA can support and promote those implementing recommendations from the report.

Read more about this and other Board documents here.

Sarah Sogigian, @sarahatmls, sarah@masslibsystem.org

Dollars & Sense #16 Prizes and Incentives for Teens

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While planning a program with/for teens, it’s always important to ask yourself questions your teens will ask: “Is it too much like school?”,’  “Why should I participate?”,’  and perhaps the most important, “What’s in it for me?”

While giving back and doing for the benefit of others is all well and good, teens often find themselves with too many activities and not enough time. They pick what to spend their free time doing, and often that last question helps them decide. Will they get community service hours? Or something to put on the resume/college application?’  But often, it can be as simple as a reward for participating.

I am sure that while teens like to read, many of them also participate in summer reading programs in order to have a chance a some great prizes, as so many of us offer in our’  programs. But with our shrinking (or non existent) budgets, how can we provide incentives teens will want?

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