1. Best
Practices
Assignment
Teen-­‐Led
Story
Times
in
the
Library
By
Rebecca
Buckley
LIS
506
Annotated Bibliography
Carlson, Virginia. "Summer Teen Volunteers At Pikes Peak Library
District." Colorado Libraries 29.3 (2003): 53-54. Library Literature &
Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article focuses on teen volunteer program initiatives put in place at the Pikes Peak
Public Library in Colorado. The summer volunteer program utilized teens in all aspects
of library services, from shelving to reading aloud to children. This library has a program
called “Reading Buddies” where teens mentor kids in grades 1-5 who are reading below
grade level. Teens are trained to help these young readers comprehend fun
supplementary reading as well as serve as positive role models. The program has been
extremely successful with both the young readers and the teens. Teens who take the
leadership roles in this volunteer program gain valuable work experience and can take
part in a great community service program as well.
Colvin, Sharon. "Story Teens: Putting Teens To Work In The Children's
Room." Voice Of Youth Advocates 33.2 (2010): 130-131. Library
Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct.
2012.
This great article focused on a Teen-led Story Time program with the Scituate,
Massachusetts Public Library. The article shares some fun programming ideas, such as
pajamas and story times, as well as practical tween and teen training ideas for story time
implementation. The article very helpfully by including “Story Teen” program policies
as well as tips for choosing books and tips for running a successful teen-led story time.
Fesko, Shari. "Reaching Out Through Outreach: Providing Service To Teen
Parents." Voice Of Youth Advocates 33.3 (2010): 227. Library Literature
& Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article is a bit different in its focus on teen story time readers. This article focuses
on teen parents. The brief article highlights this service at the Evansville Vanderburgh
Public Library in Evansville, Indiana. Maryann Mori, a teen specialist at the branch,
started the program with expecting and new teen parents. She taught them storytelling
skills and basic early literacy teaching skills. The article mentions how amazing the
difference in the teen parents’ behavior with their babies was. Many of the teen parents
were struggling readers themselves and the initiative worked toward improving their
own reading skills as well.

2. Goldsmith, Francisca. "Literacy Daycamp At The Library: Collaborating With
Coworkers And Teens." Voice Of Youth Advocates 23.6 (2001): 408-
409. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson).
Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article detailed a pretty original summer reading program for children and teens at
the Berkeley Public Library in California. This program is like a literacy day camp and
parents can sign their children up for 24 hours of free tutoring over the summer. The
program was led by teen tutors and the article mentioned how teens were recruited.
Bilingual teens were especially valuable as many of the children were from immigrant
homes. The program offered story times, games and snacks as well as academic tutoring.
Teen volunteers could gain valuable experience and community service hours while
helping underprivileged children in the community. The program has been a tremendous
success.
Lai, Elizabeth. "The Buddy System: Teens And Children Share The Joy Of
Reading." Children & Libraries 4.1 (2006): 21-24. Library Literature &
Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article focused on a teen-led literacy program that was a little different than most of
the others I have discovered. This program, implemented by the Toronto Public Library,
was not focused on group story times, but on pairings of one teen and one child for read
aloud sessions. This occurred over the summer once per week for six weeks. The article
gave the positives and negatives of the program and suggestions for getting the program
to run smoothly. It detailed how teen volunteers were selected (through an interview
process) and also gave some nice programming ideas for keeping the story time fun for
teens and young children.
MacMillan, Kathy. "“Kidworks Is Kid-Made”: A Teen Volunteer Program That
Won't Quit." Voice Of Youth Advocates 26.4 (2003): 280-281.Library
Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct.
2012.
This was a very practical article about the KidWorks program in the Eldersburg Branch
of the Carroll County Public Library in Maryland. The article describes the student-led
children’s story time program and describes in detail the planning that occurs for their
monthly story time sessions. The KidWorks program is open to teens and tweens and the
group meets once per month to plan and once per month to hold the children’s story time.
The article describes how successful the program is and how it empowers teens and
tweens. It is also a great way to get parents and young children active in the story time
sessions. The article even gives a brief outline of how the meetings are run in order to
give the reader an idea of how to lead their own KidWorks-style program.
Parikh, Neel, and Marcia Schneider. "Book Buddies: Bringing Stories To
Hospitalized Children." School Library Journal 35.(1988): 35-39.Library
Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct.
2012.
This article was a bit older than the others I read (1988) and it was a bit off topic to teen-
led story times, but I include it here because it widened my programming scope a bit and

3. got me to think a bit broader in my teen-led literacy programming mindset. This article
profiled a great program from the San Francisco Public Library system called “Book
Buddies”. This program recruited volunteers of all ages, including teens all the way
through the elderly, to read to sick children in the San Francisco Children’s Hospital.
What a great idea! The article described the creation of this program as well as the
organizational aspects, including recruitment and training. It talked about the impact
the program had on patients as well as the volunteers and the library system as a whole.
The volunteers became Library Ambassadors of sorts and improved the library image
around the city in a big way.
Smith, Alice L. "A Lifeline To Beginning Readers." School Library
Journal 36.(1990): 48. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text
(H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article presented another great idea for a teen-assisted summer reading program for
public libraries. Rather than the group story times, these teens were recruited and
trained as “Literacy Lifeguards” for children over the summer. These teens, after
attending the acquired training sessions, staffed the children’s section in the Chappaqua,
New York Public Library branch. These teens and tweens were available to read aloud to
the young patrons from 10am – 4pm every weekday over the summer. The program was
a great success and gave a wonderful learning and service opportunity for teens and
tweens as well as a great story time session to build early literacy for the young child
patrons.
THOMPSON, SARAH BEAN1, teenqueen@gmail.com. "Teens Rise To The
Occasion." Public Libraries 52.4 (2012): 28-29. Library Literature &
Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This is another article profiling a great teen-led story time program, this time at the
Springfield-Greene County Library in Missouri. The author wrote about how she was
surprised that the teens were so excited about the children’s story time program and
about how they rose to the occasion beautifully. She talked about how the teens impressed
the library staff as well as parents with their enthusiasm and willingness to serve. She
also mentioned how much the small children enjoyed having the teenagers involved. The
story time success eventually let to other bigger programming for children led by teens.
Tuccillo, Diane P. "Teens Take The Stage." Voice Of Youth Advocates 34.4
(2011): 348-349. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W.
Wilson). Web. 4 Nov. 2012.
This article examines in depth a few exciting youth-led programs at the Poudre River
Public Library District in Fort Collins, Colorado. These programs are called Library
PALS, Theater PALS and Puppet PALS. All three programs are led by teens and tweens
and involve storytelling, theater and puppets and encourage literacy among the library’s
youngest patrons. The article mentions how inspiring it is to see the teens perform and
take pride in serving young children. The programs teach performance and literacy skills
to teens and they benefit greatly from social interaction with other teens and all ages.

4. Additional Articles about
Teen Volunteering at Libraries
Barban, Leslie. "Building Character And Responsibility: A Decade Of Junior
Volunteers." American Libraries 28.(1997): 94-96. Library Literature &
Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Bernier, Anthony. "Young Adult Volunteering In Public Libraries: Managerial
Implications." Library Leadership & Management 23.3 (2009): 133-
139. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson).
Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Coleman, Yvonne K. "Teen Corps Reaches Out With Pride." Journal Of Youth
Services In Libraries 9.(1996): 243-247.Library Literature & Information
Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Dagg, Emily. "Middle School Volunteers With Special Needs At The Denver
Public Library." Young Adult Library Services 4.4 (2006): 40-41.Library
Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct.
2012.
Farmer, Lesley. "Teen Library Volunteers." Public Libraries 42.3 (2003): 141-
142. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson).
Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Holden, Susan, and Carol Albano. "“Do You Have A Knack For
Storytelling?”." School Library Journal 34.(1987): 50.Library Literature &
Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Honnold, RoseMary. "Get Teens Active @ Your Library!." Young Adult Library
Services 4.4 (2006): 18-19. Library Literature & Information Science Full
Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Kendrick-Samuel, Syntychia. "Junior Friends Groups Taking Teen Services To
The Next Level." Young Adult Library Services 10.2 (2012): 15-
18. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson).
Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
King, Danielle. "Tame The Beasts: Try A Little TLC With Your Teens." Florida
Libraries 50.1 (2007): 8-9. Library Literature & Information Science Full
Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Suellentrop, Tricia. "Step Right Up." School Library Journal 53.12 (2007):
24. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson).
Web. 26 Oct. 2012.