1. Working together to prepare teens for college libraries.
Can’t I just google it?

2. Introductions Gretchen Madsen Webb Alanna Graves
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Residence Hall Librarian
Alanna Graves
Teen Services Librarian
Cape May County Library, New Jersey
Introduce ourselves
What our positions entail
How we met (GA postions)

3. How this conversation got started…The Academic Perspective
Working in a non-traditional academic setting
Residence Hall Libraries
Freshman have no formal introduction on how to use an academic library
Trying to figure out how to encourage students (18-22) to use the libraries
Helping students get over library anxiety
Helping student workers engage with their peers in initializing library
While we were both at the UofI we had lots of convos about the frustration of college students not understanding the library
Especially at at a huge school like u of I with 33,000 undergrads and an enormous library system

4. How this conversation got started…the public Library Perspective
School librarians positions are getting eliminated due to budget cuts
Lack of routine library exposure
Lack of information literacy skills
Our county schools have cut the majority of elementary school librarians, now only high school librarians remain if they’re lucky
High school students don’t have scheduled visits to the library. Instead, they drop in if they have homework, a hall pass, or their teacher has a specific project. This is also if the school librarian has a good rapport with the teachers (which is not always the case)
My average high school student doesn’t know the difference between databases and Google, why they need to cite sources, or how to retrieve accurate information effeciently

5. What we learned From these conversations
Many of the students we work with do not understand how the library is organized, operates, or how we can help them
We know teens are using their phones to access information, and often poorly
Only 16% of teens answered “very likely” to using a school or public librarian for help on a research assignment (PEW)
Many of us make assumptions about the skill level of teen library users
Lack of communication between public, school, and academic librarians
Relationships with teens help
Collaboration is key
What did Gretchen assume? What did Alanna assume? Students know these things already!

6. ICE BREAKER!

7. Have you had experiences with these issues at your library?
Question 1
Have you had experiences with these issues at your library?

8. How do you work to educate patrons about library services?
Question 2
How do you work to educate patrons about library services?
(formal or informal)

9. What are ways we can reach out to other librarians in our communities?
Question 3
What are ways we can reach out to other librarians in our communities?
How do we start having these conversations? “This is what we should be doing together to fix this”

10. What are good passive ways to educate patrons about library services?
Question 4
What are good passive ways to educate patrons about library services?

11. What are good programs to educate patrons about library services?
Question 5
What are good programs to educate patrons about library services?

12. Wrap up! Questions, comments, concerns, big ideas? Contact us:
Gretchen Madsen Webb:
Alanna Graves: