NYLA 11 It's Just the Beginning

I am pleased to say my first official library conference has been a rather pleasant, thought-provoking, and interesting experience all around. I enjoyed mingling with summer classmates (Julianne and Kate!), meeting my slew of on campus cohorts (so many names to list here, it was a pleasure to meet them all!), THE Barbara Stripling, and many other librarians and professionals. I attended some great sessions and cannot wait to share some of the things I learned with my readers and colleagues.
I made myself at home sitting at a table of librarians during the NYLA Networking Breakfast. I ran into Alison Herrero, an adult services librarian at Howland Public Library, multiple times during the conference as she was also NYLA New Members committee member who coordinated volunteers at the NMRT booth. Volunteering was a great experience. I met a couple of people including a local librarian and a U.Albany student both who I spoke with for long periods of time.

The first session I attended was Connecting with Teens Through Social Media with author Michelle Zink.She lives in a household of teens; her four kids range from 12-19. She made a great point that social media bridges the gap between teens and adults. Teens seem to be mostly involved on facebook and tumblr; many teens don't see a point in Twitter yet because they simply view it as a "glorified facebook status." (my words) Forums are another great way for teens to discuss anything from books to movies to video games. 

The big thing is you want to get teens involved in social media within your library. For instance, you can have a teen blog for you and become a library advocate. This does not mean they are blogging everything library like; they can blog about anything they are thinking about-books, school, movies, etc. within reasonable bounds. The idea is to connect with teens; not to sell them. Michelle gets great input from teens on her facebook asking for their suggestions for a "song of the week" every Tuesday. Teens really like to share what they are listening to with someone who cares.
There are so many ways to get teens involved:

• enlist someone to run the library's facebook page and Twitter account
• create a review blog by teens, for teens
• assemble a teen advisory committee
• host a contest for mock book jacket design, book trailers, etc. (Note: authors like to donate prizes for library contests)
  
  Social networking is an open door for teens. I really enjoyed this presentation because this topic is something I really focus on when I get my first library job. I generated an idea for a series of social networking workshops which I would love to make happen in the future so I took a great deal away from this presentation.

Zink, Michelle. "Rocking New York Teens with Social Media." Saratoga Hilton, New York Library Association Conference. Saratoga Springs, NY. 3 Nov. 2011.