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Community Corner

Youth Services Librarians Experience Busy Schedule, New Training in the Summer

"We are constantly learning, ourselves," said Judith Dubin, youth services librarian at the West Bloomfield Public Main Library.

Without the confines of school and teachers, summer vacation can lack adequate educational direction — or at least it would, if not for youth services librarians. 

And now with school-age children on summer vacation, the area's youth services librarians are as busy as ever. 

"There are two, maybe thee times more kids spending time at the library in the summer," said Laura Scott, head of 's Children's Department. 

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It's nothing new to Judith Dubin, a youth services librarian at the , as she's been helping children keep up with reading and learning this summer with Summer Reading, an incentive program designed to encourage youngsters to read at least 12 hours this summer.

However, Dubin is always busy — during the school year, she visits every first- and second-grade class in the and works on other community outreach programs to promote literacy.

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"This is a very busy, well-used library," Dubin said. "That never changes — especially in the summer, as we have so many programs to offer and, of course, Summer Reading.

"It's been shown multiple times that students who participate in summer reading perform better during the school year," Dubin continued. "We promote that by enticing children to read 12 hours, and then they get a token that they can trade in for a free book at the end of the summer."

Similar sentiments have been echoed at the Farmington Community Main Library, which tries to continue the reading efforts put in place by public schools before the summer begins. 

"During the school year, they deal with media specialists in who make suggestions and help make recommendations," Scott said. "So in the summer, we have a bigger role of helping suggest and point kids in the direction of a book they may be interested in — but haven't heard of before."

Beyond summer reading

While maintaining an adequate education direction is the main attraction for area libraries in the summer, it's simply the first of many tasks for the youth services librarians this time of year. 

Dubin puts together programs for campers at , and she helps run a children's book discussion with pizza. 

"A good book alone is great, but what's better than a good book and pizza?" Dubin said. "That's why we offer our 'Pizza and Pages' program — four times this summer, we'll have book discussion and provide the kids pizza and a drink."

While the Pizza and Pages program brings children into the library, Dubin's efforts extend into the community. It's not unusual for her to make a trip promoting literacy. 

"For instance, today, I went over to the Parks and Rec and did a program with the day campers this morning," Dubin said on the day of this interview. "After that, I went over to to help with a performance of .

"And then, of course, I'll be on the desk all afternoon," she said.

Farmington Hills also offers programs of its own, as is under way — a program that features magic acts and other extracurricular activities that help the library better embrace the world of the Harry Potter series. 

Keeping up with the times

The role of youth librarians has changed during the past couple of years as the rise of new technology has forced them to adapt to meet children's needs. 

Librarians in Novi, Farmington Hills and West Bloomfield all offer a plethora of technology — from computers, video games and electronic books — and the librarians have to understand what the children are talking about. 

"You do have to be more tech savvy now," said Suzanne Carpenter, Youth and Teen Collection specialist at . "We have kids come in looking for videos and movies, some have electronic readers, and some even come in for video games … so you have to stay on your toes to understand it all."

Sometimes understanding new technologies that young readers crave is a task of both preparation and being willing to learn on the fly from a tech-savvy child.

"We are constantly learning, ourselves, and given the opportunity to teach ourselves and be taught by others," Dubin said. "We all just had to learn how to download e-books. We are always, always, learning."

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