It's like a New Year's Resolution

For the past couple of weeks I've been finishing up my thesis. Since I didn't have any class for the month (that's me, classless!) I spent most of my time writing, revising, or just thinking about that paper.

I've also come to the conclusion that I don't think I'm going to try for a TAG anymore. A thought that may surprise many librarians... I'm glad I don't have the grant at my branch (Wallace) that requires me to run a Teen Advisory Group. When I started at my branch last May, I dove right into Summer Reading. From there I tried to build a Teen Advisory Group, but to no avail. It's so incredibly frustrating to set the time, resources, and effort forth for no one to show up repeatedly. For now I think I'm going to operate solely on a program-basis, with input from the program attendees. If a TAG emerges, so be it. If not, I think that will be OK too... I'll just have to find enough crafts and stuff to fill one session per week (required).

Recent Reads (most recent first): Burned by Ellen Hopkins, Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls by Bennett Madison, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Vote for Me!

Ah, the pleasures of having one community room for the whole library... We have registration for ESL (English as a Second Language) classes tonight. They're setting up in there at 5:15, which will cut my TAG meeting short.

I think, however, that I'm going to try a different tactic. Maybe one or two tweens have been popping in for the meetings (since September), so I really need to get more people in (I'll admit this is disheartening). I've got a few bags of holiday candy leftover and I've made a "What can a TAG do?" flier, so I'm going to rove the library handing out candy and fliers.

It feels like high school elections, when people would hand out lollipops with their names on the tags to promote themselves...

Team Edward

Over my winter holiday vacation I got the chance to read both Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, which was recommended to me by just about every other YA librarian I know. Being a Buffy fan, I had the feeling I would love the novels, and I did so very, very much. Thankfully, for my tastes, it wasn't too gothy or Anne Rice-ish, to which it will draw comparisons from others. I'd hate to write more about Bella and Edward's story and ruin it for others, though. I will say that Forks exists in my mind very clearly and reminds me much of Ashland Nature center in Hockessin, Delaware (weird, eh?). And Edward reminds me of a couple of the boys I've fallen hard for in the past. Which means Meyer got it right!

Have the first TAG meeting of the new year, today. This is one thing that's not going so well for me. I can't seem to get kids to show up. I want to bribe them with the PS2 and XBOX-360, but I'm afraid it will just turn into Game Night. Also, I have no idea what to do with the TAG if they show up and we don't game. Yeargh.

My thought today is that if anyone comes up to the room for TAG, I'll try to have a discussion with them and bargain the games for TAG time... I feel like I'm doing this wrong. :(

Currently Reading: The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld (I need to read some non-vampire/non-Westerfeld books soon!)