Young people in the 'tween,' 'preteen,' or 'preadolescent' ages - a group as diverse as the names by which we call them - are experiencing a time of rapid growth and transition. The challenges of puberty are frequently accompanied by big questions about themselves: who they are and how do they fit into the world? How does their background, life experience, family, race, religion, sexuality and gender identity shape their lives? What kind of person do they want to be, and how can they grow into that role? For library workers, it can be challenging to determine where and how this age group best fits into public library service. This class will address preadolescent development and common experiences, and how to apply those concepts to create effective library collection development and programming for tweens.
Please note this is a synchronous course that will meet live the following dates/times:
- Thursday, October 6, at 11:00am CST
- Thursday, October 13, at 11:00am CST
- Thursday, October 20, at 11:00am CST
- Thursday, October 27, at 11:00am CST
Learning Outcomes
Participants will:
- understand common characteristics of preadolescent development.
- develop skills to recognize tween library users' needs in your community and design services to meet them.
- develop a plan for implementing or further developing a tween-centered collection for their library.
- design programming specific to their library/community that promotes the intellectual, social, and emotional health and well-being of tweens.
Who Should Attend
This course is designs for librarians, support staff, and others who serve tweens (or want to better serve tweens) in their libraries and through their programming.
Instructor
Kylie Peters is a public librarian specializing in services for tweens and teens. She works as the Librarian serving middle and high schoolers at Geneva Public Library District in Illinois, is co-manager of the networking group Tween Illinois Librarians (TWILL), and has held several leadership roles with Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) and the Illinois Library Association (ILA). She is passionate about building relationships and community, social justice, comics, middle school literature, gaming, technology, and youth and YA reader's advisory. She writes about middle school literature at http://www.flashlightchronicles.com.
Registration
Cost
Class size is limited to 30 students.
ALSC Member: $156.75
ALA Member: $188.10
Non-Member: $209
Member rates apply to personal memberships only. To learn more about joining ALSC, including benefits of membership like discounted continuing education opportunities, please visit our Membership page!
How to Register
Registration for this eCourse is now open!
Cancellation and Transfer Policy:
Cancellations can be made in writing via email to the ALA/MRS department no later than five days before class begins. Cancellations will result in a full refund less a $35 processing fee. No phone cancellations will be accepted. Refund will be processed two weeks after the beginning of the course. ALSC reserves the right to cancel the course for reasons including insufficient enrollment. Cancellations after the course has begun will not be accepted.
If you are registered by unable to take the course you may transfer your registration to another student, if that student falls under the same registration category. (E.G. An ALSC member may transfer their registration to another ALSC member free of charge.) If you would like to transfer your registration to someone in a different category, the difference is prices must be paid at the time of the transfer. All requests for registration transfers must be made in writing no later than seven days before the beginning of the course. Transfers are not accepted once the course begins.
Tech Requirements
ALSC webinars are held in Zoom. Speakers or a headset for listening to the presentation are required. Closed captioning is available in the Zoom platform. You may interact with the presenter and ask questions through text-based chat. The webinar will be recorded and the link to the recording shared with registrants shortly after the live event.
Contact
If you have any questions about the course material, please contact the course instructor, Kylie Peters.
If you have questions about registration, please contact ALA's Member and Customer Service Department by email or by calling 800-545-2433 ext. 5.
All other inquiries, including sponsorship questions, can be directed to Sarah Polen, ALSC Program Officer for Continuing Education, via email or by calling 312-280-4026.