City Council Meeting Date: September 18, 2018
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Layna Mestad, Youth Services/Teen Librarian
Title
Consider Proclamation Declaring October 2018 as Teen Read Month.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is being asked to approve the attached Resolution declaring October 2018 as Teen Read Month.
Summary Report:
The Library Board is requesting the City Council declare October 1-31 Teen Read Month in Northfield in recognition of the importance of encouraging teens to read for fun. Teen Read Month is a national observance sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and libraries across the country each October. It is a time to celebrate and encourage teens to read for fun and to visit their libraries for free reading material.
§ In Northfield we especially want to focus on pro-actively welcoming teens back into the library who have stayed away because of fines on their account, so we have proposed a fine waiver for teens.
§ The theme for this year’s library month is “It’s Written in the Stars: READ.”
§ The theme for this year encourages library staff, afterschool providers, and educators to use this theme to encourage teens to think and read outside of the box.
§ Northfield has not recently celebrated or recognized Teen Read Month. We are hoping to change that this year. The Northfield Public Library has a variety of activities planned this year that will include:
Teen Read Month events:
• Monday, October 1-Wednesday, October 31 teens have the opportunity to waive all fines on their account, excluding “lost” items.
• There will be a Teen Advisory Board Booklist and display on the second floor that will include a favorite book or series from each of the 20 members of the Northfield Public Library’s Teen Advisory Board.
• Teens will have the chance to write recommendations of books they read during the month of October. They will write a short review of the book and why they are recommending it. This is a great way to get readers’ advisory for teens, by teens. There will be a binder in the library’s YA section for teens to place completed recommendations forms, in addition to a prize drawing bowl for them to place their name for each completed recommendation. A grand prize winner will be drawn at the end of October.
This year has been a tremendously positive and eventful year for teen services. In May we hired a new youth services librarian, which is the first teen focused position the Northfield Public Library has hired. We have brought back the Teen Advisory Board (TAB), which has been instrumental in positioning the teen voice to be reflected throughout the library. New teen groups, the Fan Fiction Writing Group and Anime & Manga, will begin this fall. Support from the City, our patrons, and the library Friends have been critical to the success of teen programming. Please join us in encouraging teens to read for fun, and to visit their libraries for free reading material and all of the wonderful resources the library has to offer.
Alternative Options:
None.
Financial Impacts:
Not applicable.
Tentative Timelines:
Events summarized in the Summary Report section of this memo.