Congratulations on getting teens into the library. That is a wonderful thing. I would recommend a teen librarian with a desk in the immediate area. That way the librarian can be working on other things, like collection development and teen programing, instead of looking like a monitor. Given time, the right person will be able to create a connection with the teens that will serve as a calming effect without driving them away. I would highly suggest some hands-on teen programing in the department once in a while during the after school hours. Even if no one but the librarian works on the projects at first, it will help them get use to the idea that there are other fun things to do besides tormenting each other. It may take a while to change the dynamics in the room but a persistent non-judgmental adult presence should be able to do it. Just remember, unless you want to chase them away, you can't aim for a quiet space; but, given boundaries that aren't to onerous, they should calm down for you. The rules I established and the teens delight in telling each other are: "No murder in the library" "No maiming in the library" "No petting in the library" These rules have given me a humerus way to deal with bad behaviors, but they didn't get created until I knew the teens and how they would respond to correction. Good Luck! On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 9:42 AM, Andrea Estelle <aestelle@otsegolibrary.org> wrote:
Happy Friday Everyone!
Does anyone have an after school monitoring type of program set up? If so can you tell me what you do? Do you pay someone to come in and monitor or do you dedicate a staff member to this?
We currently have a difficult and large group of middleschoolers frequenting the library. Our teen room is located down behind the shelving away from our desk, and it has become frustrating for the clerks who are working the desk to constantly go back and forth from the teen room all the time afterschool. We do feel the need to have a monitor in the area of the teen room for the hours after school. We have security cameras in the room but this has not deterred some of the problem behaviors we are seeing.
We have tried offering programs geared towards the group. They do not want to participate in programs, they are are just looking for a hangout/wifi space. It would be fine for them to come in and talk and use the wifi if there wasn’t so much drama all the time – we have kids fighting, crying, becoming too affectionate, etc. We want the library to be a safe space and all the drama is making it uncomfortable to the people who do want to use the space appropriately.
I am torn about what to do with this because we are happy that our space is being used heavily by the teens and tweens but we do feel it is not going well for them to be basically unsupervised in this area, so that is why I am asking about any libraries that have a monitor system set up. I am afraid a monitor might drive away all the teens so I am interested in a monitoring system that has worked, where teens and tweens still feel comfortable using the library, but also they are being monitored so that problem behaviors are kept at a minimum.
Thanks for any thoughts and ideas! Andrea
*Andrea Estelle, *Library Director
“*Brighten the Corner Where You Are*”
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Every Great Community Deserves a Great Library
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-- Linda Smith Teen Services Coordinator Traverse Area District Library 610 Woodmere Ave. Traverse City MI, 49686 www.tadl.org 231-883-8066
