I thought I was totally done with ALA yesterday, but since I was coming in to the conference center to have lunch with Josie, I thought I would stop at the exhibits hall one more time. Everyone says that they have a "fire sale" on the last day, but all the exhibitors looked like they were protecting their wares pretty well, and most of the books were for sale, rather than "free." I put the free in quotes because nothing is truly free and I will let you interpret that as you will.
However, I did get some cool tranformation pens from the Jan Way booth. Most of their teen oriented products were good, although a few looked like little kid stuff. They don't have the transformation pens on the website yet it looks like, but they are in the glossy pamphlet they gave me. But, they are expensive--1.99 if you order 250, so I doubt we will go there.
I also stopped by the Vernon booth and won a $25 coupon for their products. I somehow doubt that I will be using that. Especially since they gave me a lovely pen shaped like a syringe...seems like the worst idea ever. When I was a student teacher I was saddened to see a little boy pretending a pen was a syringe and that he was injecting himself with drugs.
I also stopped by some of the furniture exhibits. I wish I could get some teen-centric furniture after the Teen Third Space presentation I went to. The teen space at University is so limited in what you can do. Right now we have some *cough* lovely, stiff, high-backed chairs and a couple of low stools, which are at least useful.
Then I had a really nice visit with Josie and Truc before Josie had to leave for her flight.
Showing posts with label teenspace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teenspace. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
The Teen Third Space
My final session was The Teen Third Space. There were 3 speakers during this panel, two talked about teen spaces in libraries and the third spoke about having a teen webpage separate from the library website and catalog. Here is a link to the handouts--it is a word doc, so don't be surprised when it asks you if you want to open it.
Kimberly Bolan is a facilities planning and design consultant and has published a book displaying her design triumphs. She is also a librarian with 20 years of experience. She went into the history of the idea of a "third place" and summarized it as being a social surrounding separate from home and work or school, as well as an environment that facilitates community building. She argued that creating a comfortable teen space increases use of all our services, which is always desirable. In order to get teen input, she recommends showing teens the options, rather than saying "you want [this], don't you?" (Hmm, reference interview anyone?) A couple of the things she says makes teens happy in a space are food and drink and a variety of furniture.
Anthony Bernier is an assistant professor at San Jose State University. His presentation was called, "Why Bean Bags 'Bite:' YA Seating." Obviously not a big fan of the bean bag chair, not only because they are messy and get smelly, but because teens don't like them and they are uncomfortable. He have 4 "rules" for choosing teen area furniture:
The final presenter was Angela Sigg, web developer of the Denver Public Library. She worked with teens and staff at her system to create a teen web page for the library. Her summary of what teens like in a website:
Oh, speaking of teen read week, the YALSA president's meeting was just before the panel, and the president urged us all to register if we are participating in teen read week. It is free and helps them report the number of participants, which in turn helps them get funding. All around goodness.
Kimberly Bolan is a facilities planning and design consultant and has published a book displaying her design triumphs. She is also a librarian with 20 years of experience. She went into the history of the idea of a "third place" and summarized it as being a social surrounding separate from home and work or school, as well as an environment that facilitates community building. She argued that creating a comfortable teen space increases use of all our services, which is always desirable. In order to get teen input, she recommends showing teens the options, rather than saying "you want [this], don't you?" (Hmm, reference interview anyone?) A couple of the things she says makes teens happy in a space are food and drink and a variety of furniture.
Anthony Bernier is an assistant professor at San Jose State University. His presentation was called, "Why Bean Bags 'Bite:' YA Seating." Obviously not a big fan of the bean bag chair, not only because they are messy and get smelly, but because teens don't like them and they are uncomfortable. He have 4 "rules" for choosing teen area furniture:
- Maximize Options
- Mix and Don't Match
- Offer Movement
- Explore the Floor
The final presenter was Angela Sigg, web developer of the Denver Public Library. She worked with teens and staff at her system to create a teen web page for the library. Her summary of what teens like in a website:
- short blocks of text
- one that reflects what they like and who they are
- mentions regular teen patrons
- features their reviews of books and movies
- Boring!
- too much text
- using teen "lingo"--trying to be cool
Oh, speaking of teen read week, the YALSA president's meeting was just before the panel, and the president urged us all to register if we are participating in teen read week. It is free and helps them report the number of participants, which in turn helps them get funding. All around goodness.
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