When I started at my new library I knew right away that the old TAB group needed to be restored AND massively restructured. Having done this before I knew why I thought the group had gone extinct. So enter TASK:
The Teen Advisory Squad of Kansas (TASK) became my pet project for our teen services. Unlike the original group this new one would have a limited number of members and membership requirements. Now, I have 11 of the 15 available spots filled within the first month and 2 middle schoolers on the wait list. I thought it was important to go for as even of a divide in age ranges as I could so right now my middle school spots are full.
When members decide to leave (or in the rare case I have to ask them to step down) I will revisit the wait list and start calling in teens for interviews. That's right-they have to interview for their spot. This is of particular importance to those teens that I do not know very well.
I immediately began by creating bylaws (using ones that I spent so much time crafting at my last library as my starter). In them you will notice that I have four officer positions. The first three are standard roles: President, Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer. The fourth is the Historian. This position chronicles TASK. They are responsible for our digital scrapbook that will go on our blog and have to make sure we have signed photo/video releases. This was one of the many awesome ideas I got from Library Teen Advisory Group by Diane P. Tuccillo (VOYA). If you do not have this in your professional collection I highly recommend it.
These are my base requirements for all members: attend monthly meeting, participate in at least 2 teen library programs each month and volunteer at least 3 hours at the library each month (meeting time counts). Requirements do have wiggle room at my discretion. I think it's important to have the understanding that you are more than willing to work with your teens so long as they communicate with you. Which means that the teen who has a crazy May coming up can talk to me about rollover volunteer hours and then I can plan on them not being here as much that month.
I'll attach some other resources at the bottom that you are free to use. Goodness, you can even use our name and logo (well if you are from Kansas....or Kentucky-let me know and I can send you an editable version). Just let me know if you are using it. I would love to share it with my group.
Application Packs
Information SheetApplication
No comments:
Post a Comment