Professional Activity 4: Interview a Youth Services Librarian and give a description and reflection of the interview. PART 1 - THE INTERVIEW

Justin is the Youth Services Officer at Kogarah Library.

Does not having a designated youth space make providing youth friendly services more challenging? Not necessarily, the ethos is to have an open accessible space to adapt to different needs of different community groups.

How important has it been in your experience to have an advocate for youth needs?

Very important. It helps build rapport with young people, build networks with other youth services and as a point of education for other staff who have less confidence dealing with young people.

Have good/bad attitudes towards young people had a positive/negative influence on youth who use Kogarah Library? Like all customers, young people need to feel that they are being heard, understood and that they have access to services that are appropriate to them and designed with their needs in mind.

Would you encourage training staff to be youth friendly? Yes it is important to break down stereotypes wherever possible. All customers need to be served in an appropriate way. We need to be flexible and respond according to need.

Do you have a regular youth program? Yes monthly book club, school holiday programs, HSC support, Homework Help, monthly Youth Advisory Council.

Have you targeted special groups such as disadvantaged or troubled youth in your area? Can you describe the projects? Kogarah Intensive English Center has regular orientation to the Library and its resources (ESL students). We had a Graffiti Art program and exhibition for at risk young adults. We also have the Storyworx program for Children and Young Adults with intellectual disabilities.

A lot of the Libraries Publicity has amazing graphics for the teen pages? Do you do that art yourself? I produce a lot of art and give direct feedback on graphic design. Documents and Publicity have to be appropriate for their intended audience. Making youth promotions stand out from general publicity helps emphasise that the services are especially created for young people and makes things more cool.

That must make a real difference to the marketing and success of your events and competitions. Can you comment on this? My personal involvement in art and publicity helps build rapport with young people. It helps provide a more friendly personal service. It gives a human face to the library institution.

Summer Reading Challenge is pitched mainly at Primary aged children, what sort of ways can you get youth participating in SRC? Separate, appealing promotional material helps but this is not always possible with uniform graphic design rules.

Offering prizes that appeal to teenagers works, and offering cool ways to get involved, such as pizza parties and social networking. The social aspect of youth events is really important.

What part of the Youth Collection has the highest turnover? Probably Graphic Novels, (mostly Manga). Fiction has a high turnover as do DVDs. DVDs are not youth specific so their popularity with teenagers specifically is hard to assess. But it would be very high.

Do you purchase for Youth Collection? Yes 80% outsourced 20% discretionary purchase. I contribute to purchase profiles and Collection Strategies.

Do you have a dedicated School Resources/HSC Collection? Yes years 7-12 supported. HSC Collection is separate.

You were one of the first libraries to hold HSC Lock In events, was that your brain child? And can you tell me how many participated last year? It started the year before I took the youth role. I have refined the program in consultation with young people and professional peers over the last 6 years. We have an average of 60 students each night.

Do you do regular Outreach? Yes - to high schools, to teacher Librarian networks and to Council Youth Advisory Committees.

“Young People use technology in different ways to adults- staying abreast of technology is vital”.  (Youth Services Strategy Framework) Can you discuss this statement from the perspective of your experience? It is not always useful to point out difference and put young people in the different category. All customers have needs that we (being in customer service) need to assess and respond to if possible. My personal interest in technology does help me follow and respond to tech trends. But this also applies to children and adults customers.