Thursday, March 31, 2022

Getting to Know Your Library: Youth Specialists

A week in the programming life of a Youth Specialist at the Forsyth County Public Library can entail some surprising things and offer a great deal of variety. One morning may be spent leading songs and rhymes to foster early literacy and language development to a bevy of bouncing babies while cranking up the bubble machine. In the afternoon you may be testing conductors to create a "banana piano" on a laptop during an elementary aged STEAM based book club.The next day, you may don a superhero cape to present story times to toddlers and preschoolers with the grand finale being a puppet show you adapted and recorded with silly voices, adding music and sound effects. The day after that brings an evening meeting leading teens who are volunteering their time and talents to support their community as members of the Teen Advisory Board or mentoring teen writers sharing their original work. A Youth Specialist plans and presents programs to all ages from birth through the teen years that support early literacy practices, foster a love of reading, and provide community. Creativity and silliness are must-have requirements!

A Youth Specialist can guide a child towards a new author or series at their appropriate reading level that also engages their interests, and can assist parents in finding reading materials that align with their family values. They can direct students to the best print and digital resources for their school projects and provide homeschooling families with materials and programming to support their educational goals. During the pandemic, Youth Specialists learned new skills like recording, filming, and video editing to create virtual programming to stay connected to our library families.

In addition to all of their programming creation and presentation, Youth Specialists share all of the same duties as the Information Specialists and can assist library patrons with all of their account management needs, provide guidance in finding information and reading materials, and assist with copy, printer, and fax machine use.

The privilege and joy derived from this position comes from working with children and their families and watching our littlest patrons grow into independent and enthusiastic readers!

Holly Raus
Youth Specialist
Cumming Library
#WeKnowBooks

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