Are there reading/interest levels for graphic novels when recommending them to patrons?

There are quite a few good resources in both print and online that can aid you in you in finding age/interest levels in your graphic novel readers’ advisory work. They use various rating systems, so you will want to check their explanatory remarks.

Here are some books that you might find on your shelves:

500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide by Gene Kannenberg (2008)
Divided into by genre and designates age levels as All ages, 12+, 15+ and 18+.

Graphic Novels: A Genre Guide to Comic Books, Manga, and More by Michael Pawuk (2007)
More inclusive than Kannenberg, listing all titles within series. Age levels are All ages, 10 and above, 13-15, 16-17, 18 and older.

The Librarian's Guide to Graphic Novels For Children and Tweens by David S. Serchay (2008)
Targeted specifically towards younger readers, this book uses the following age categories: younger elementary, older elementary and junior high, tweens and early teens, all ages (but appealing more to younger readers).

The Readers' Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels by Francisca Goldsmith (2010)
While this book is the most current and has much useful information on readers’ advisory, its only special designations are “appropriate for younger readers (under sixteen in some communities, as young as under twelve in others)” and “crossover titles for readers unfamiliar with the format.”

Two good books devoted exclusively to manga are:

Manga: The Complete Guide by Jason Thompson (2007)
Includes age levels with film rating equivalents: All ages (G-PG), 13+ (PG-PG13), 16+ (PG13-R), 18+ (‘hard’ R- NC17).

Understanding Manga and Anime by Robin E. Brenner (2007)
Contains both the publishers’ age ratings and the recommendations of the author (grades 6-8, grades 7-9, grades 9-12, adult).

Web Resources

YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Lists for 12-18 year-olds beginning 2007; with a top ten list for each year.

No Flying No Tights
Includes three separate sections of reviews: the Main site for teens, Sidekicks for ages through 12, and the Lair for older teens and adults.

Graphic Novels: Resources for Teachers & Librarians
Lists of recommended titles (by genre) for all ages, younger teens (11-14), older teens (17 and older,) plus a list of titles recommended for girls and a list of “teen favorites not recommended for younger readers.” The site also includes lists by genre and publisher.

Checking publisher web pages can also give you information on age levels. One very good example is the Dark Horse Comics page for libraries. The backlist is even sorted by age level (8+, 10+, 12+, 14+, 16+, 18+, all ages).

You can keep up-to date by reading reviews in professional journals:

• VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
• School Library Journal
• Library Journal
• Booklist
• Publisher’s Weekly

And, of course, knowing your collection and your readers is the best way of knowing what titles to recommend.

Program Help - Top Ten Resources

This is the first in a series of "top ten" lists. If you are looking for resources to make 2010 the best year ever for your library programs, look no further! The websites in this guide discuss several aspects of programming.

Event$ "on the cheap": Keeping the "bottom line" in mind is important in these budget-conscious times. Here are several websites with programming ideas that are inexpensive or free.

1. Hudson Valley Library E-Z Program Database

This is a searchable database of free and inexpensive program ideas, created by librarians in New York. Ideas are searchable by cost range, topic, audience, and/or program type.

2. What's Your Story? Find it at the library.

From the state library of Montana, this list of programming ideas for adults includes forty topics. Each is discussed in detail, with a catchy title, possible subtopics, approximate program time, suggested types of speakers, and more.

3. Calendar of Teen Programming Ideas

This wiki by YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association, presents ideas for teen programming in a calendar format. Everything from national holidays to library-specific events like Teen Read Week gets its due in this resource with something for everyone.

Working the Crowd: Partnerships with other community organizations can benefit everyone involved. Look in your community for like-minded organizations, and approach them about working together.

4. Check your community's website for a list of organizations, like this one from Salisbury, MD.

Making Your Mark(er): Arts and crafts make-and-take events are great for children and teens. To cut down on costs, you can ask for donations of art supplies from community members (everyone needs to clean out their closets sometime!) or local stores.

5. Choose crafts that are inexpensive to make, like origami boxes. View the directions with pictures here.

Here are two great books with lots of inexpensive ideas for kids' crafts:

6. Kids' Crazy Concoctions: Different mixtures in this book include homemade Play-Doh and other recipes for art supplies that use inexpensive household ingredients.

7. EcoArt!: Earth-friendly art and craft experiences for 3 to 9 year olds: Suggestions for activities made with recycled or reusable materials turn one person's trash into another person's treasure.

Looking Ahead: Find out what made your program great, and what to do next. Use your most important resource to the fullest - your patrons! Here are some websites including ideas for questions to use in both planning and follow-up surveys.

8. For planning programs: Planning Programs Survey

9. To follow up after a program: http://www.slrc.info/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=42890

10. SurveyMonkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/

SurveyMonkey is free, easy to use, and compiles survey results for you. If you prefer, you can use paper surveys.

Use what you learned from your patrons' feedback to make your next program even better. Good luck and here's to a fun and exciting year of great programs in 2010!

A student approaches the reference desk needing to research a specific country. What are some good resources I can use to help them?

Let’s make sure we get off on the right track by using our model reference behaviors to determine the specific type of information our customer wants. Is our customer a young student looking for basic geographic and political information including a picture of the country’s flag? Is it an older student trying to find out about a country’s history, culture, and customs? Or is our customer someone planning a visit to a particular country?

The World Book Encyclopedia is a great place to start our research whether we’re using the print or electronic version. The articles are well-organized, clearly written, and offer maps and illustrations. The following websites are particularly useful for general information about specific countries:

• CIA World Factbook
• Country Studies – Federal Research Division, Library of Congress
• InfoPlease – Countries of the World
• Portals to the World from the Library of Congress
• U.S. Department of State Background Notes

Have you ever had a request from a student for an outline map of some area? Try Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Education Place: Outline Maps resource.

Sometimes students will come to the library searching for information on culture and customs. Greenwood Press publishes several series of books that are perfect for this type of question. Some examples of these series with titles on individual countries are Culture and Customs of Africa, Culture and Customs of Asia, Culture and Customs of Europe, and Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Another useful source for this type of information is a set entitled Culturgrams: the Nations around Us. Some libraries may have access to the electronic version of this wonderful resource.

Interested in a Web source that explores the culture and etiquette of a specific country? Try Kwintessential’s Global Guide to Culture, Customs and Etiquette.

Older students may be searching for in-depth sources of statistics. Here are some Web possibilities:

• NationMaster
• University of Michigan Statistical Resources on the Web: Foreign Government Data Sources

Is your customer looking for material on foreign aid? Try our How to Find Information on Foreign Aid How-to Guide.

Customers interested in foreign travel will find a number of the above-named websites useful. They may also benefit from the following:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Travelers’ Health
• Travel.State.Gov – International Travel for U.S. Citizens

Tips for Excellent Customer Service to Teens

Smile and say hello to every teen that enters your department – even if they’re listening to headphones or walking with their heads down. Noticing teens in a positive way makes them feel more comfortable, and it also makes them more aware of their surroundings.

Ask repeat teen customers their names and remember them. Teens spend much of their time feeling alienated. If you call them by name they will feel like they belong. This will make them more comfortable approaching you with questions and will positively affect their behavior.

Be sure you understand the question. Teens often mumble and may use hip slang that you might not get. Instead of guessing, always apologize for not understanding them and ask them to restate their question more slowly and clearly.

Learn at least the basics of whichever social networking site is the most popular at your library. If you can’t answer a simple question about MySpace, some teens will lose faith in your ability to answer questions about anything at all. The best way to learn is to create your own profile. You can make a fake one if you aren’t actually interested in social networking. Don’t know where to begin? Ask a coworker or a teen with whom you have good rapport. Most sites also include tutorials.

Read outside your favorite genres. Teens will appreciate it when you’re able to recommend and discuss the kinds of books that appeal to them. A good goal is to read at least the first book in most of the popular teen series that your library owns.

Be respectful at all times. When asking teens to follow rules approach them with the same level of professionalism that you would an adult. Teens can be naturally aggravating, but if you let them know that they get to you they will often become intentionally annoying.

The best approach to improving the behavior of a teen breaking the rules:

• Walk over to where the offender is located. NEVER scold a patron from behind the desk.
  
  
• Calmly and politely ask him to alter his behavior.
  
  
• If the behavior persists, explain to her that this has been her first warning. She will receive one more warning. The third time she breaks the rules she will be asked to leave. Wait for an acknowledgement that she has understood this information.
  
  
• Thank him for calming down.
  
  
• If a teen persists in misbehaving stick to your own policy. Don’t let her sweet talk you into letting it go one more time. You want to be kind and professional, but not a pushover.
  
  
• If you do need to ask a teen to leave or if you call a security guard, continue to act in a calm and professional manner.
  
  
• Don’t hold grudges. Teens can be moody and unpredictable. A teen that gets kicked out one day may stay and help you push in chairs the next – especially if you smile and greet him like yesterday didn’t happen.

Where can I find answers to math questions?

Many of us can find math questions challenging, difficult, or down-right scary. Never fear: math help is here. There are now many good Web sites available that will help you and your customers figure out the answers from all kinds of math questions, from arithmetic to calculus.

Some will give you answers and tell you how they calculated them, some will explain how to look at a problem, like a word problem, and figure out what they’re really asking, and many have games and exercises to help you work out your math muscles.

If you are interested in learning more about answering math questions, you can take SLRC’s Math for Librarians online class.

Math Web Sites to Use

Google
 You can use Google to convert measurements, such as "16 ft. to yards."

Lowe’s Using and Maintaining a Tape Measure
This is a great site to help you learn to use a ruler. The measurement markings are explained clearly, and there is a quiz to see how well you’ve learned.

mathFiles.com
This site offers hundreds of sample word problems with solutions. Although they try to get you to purchase their services, about half the problems they show give the solutions for free.

The Math Forum @ Drexel
An authoritative resource for math students, educators, and parents. You can search through the archive of frequently asked questions posed to Dr. Math, submit your own questions, play games, join math discussion groups, and more.

Maths Is Fun
A British site for children that gives tables and explanations on how to solve different types of math problems. It also has games, puzzles, and worksheets to help you practice the concepts.

PurpleMath.com
A site started by a former math teacher. It explains how to answer word problems, first by showing how to translate English into math, then breaking down the different types of problems (e.g., distance or money problems) and illustrating how to solve them.

Webmath.com
If you are stumped by problems involving percents, fractions, algebra, or calculus (just to name a few), this site can help. Simply select the type of problem you need, fill in the blanks, and then click "Solve."

Math Games for Kids

Cool Math 4 Kids
This site has math definitions for K-6 Algebra, math games, practice math problems, and math lessons (for help). Some fun activities include: Crop Circle Geometry, jigsaw puzzles, brain bender puzzles, and number monster.

Free Math Worksheets
Includes printable worksheets and answer sheets. Worksheets on different math topics and holiday themes are available for teachers, parents, or students.

Math Arcade on Funbrain
Flash enabled online games that help children learn math. Game is customized by gender and grade level up to 8th grade.

What are some suggestions for putting together a great teen program?

• Assess the interests and needs of the audience that you are attempting to reach, and determine who the audience is that you’d like to attend the program. (Are you targeting tweens or older young adults, for example. Are they interested in gaming? Arts and crafts? Anime and manga?)
  
  
• Poll the young adults that you’re attempting to reach. If you have a teen advisory council or teen volunteers, use them.
  
  
• Determine the time of day and the day of the week that will work best for increasing the number of participants, as well as the length of the program. What location will work best for the program you’re planning?
  
  
• Will you need to limit the number of participants by number and/or age? Will they have to register in advance?
  
  
• Young adult programs are of two types: informational (a program on helping teenagers find summer jobs, for example) and recreational (a gaming program). Are you attempting to inform or to entertain?
  
  
• Compose a checklist of activities that you’ll need to complete in order to successfully deliver the program. Save the checklist and use it as a template for future program planning.
  
  
• Is there a budget/funding? What supplies will you need?
  
  
• Will you use a staff presenter or bring in an outside presenter? In-house presenters are inexpensive; outside presenters bring expertise in a particular area.
  
  
• Is the program you’re planning a stand alone, one-time event, or can it be packaged and used again at another time or in another location?
  
  
• Provide effective publicity to your target audience, using both internal publicity (e.g., library newsletter or Web site) and well as external publicity (e.g., local newspaper).
  
  
• Food is a draw, so be sure to provide it if you can. Giveaways are also crowd pleasers.
  
  
• Incorporate library materials into the program to promote the use of the collection.
  
  
• Use teens as presenters, program aides, or promoters. The more teen involvement in planning and implementation, the better.
  
  
• Use evaluations, even if they’re informal, to get feedback from program participants about their reactions to the program.