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"Do They Even Know That Librarians Exist?" How One City's Youth Services Librarians Work, Learn, and Support Youth

Sat, April 6, 4:10 to 5:40pm, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Floor: Lower Concourse, Grand Centre

Abstract

Over the past several decades, public libraries have transformed from silent book depositories to lively community centers that provide everything from early literacy support to after school programming (Wiegand, 2015). This study engaged 14 youth services library staff in an urban library system as well as a system level supervisor. Our findings suggest that library staff engages in relationship-based work with young people in order to facilitate interest and need-based learning. In contrast, library staff feel that community stakeholders expect them to engage in old-fashioned resource-based work. This resource-based role is reflected both in national and local competency standards. This study supports the similarities between library staff and informal educators and reveals missing competencies for training as informal educators.

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