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Community Corner

Pearl River Library Revives Teen Council

New Young Adult Librarian Christina Ryan-Linder brought back the Teen Library Council in February.

The Pearl River Public Library brought back a group to help target the teen audience earlier this year.

Young Adult Librarian Christina Ryan-Linder revived the Teen Library Council (TLC) was revived in February. The TLC is a volunteer program to better the young adult library services. Their goal is to work together with others to help the library grow through advocacy and special projects.

“It is important for libraries to have someone focused on this age group," Linder said. "Teens can be a difficult group to reach. Most libraries in this area have the advantage of a Teen Services Librarian to make this happen."

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The TLC has elected officials that hold office for one year. Officer roles consist of President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and two Public Relations positions. In order to be in the running TLC members must be in grades eight through 12 and have completed at least five hours of community service.

One of the projects the TLC has completed was creation of the Teen Zone. The Teen Zone was installed in 2009 by the original members of the TLC. It was crafted as a joint venture between Friends of the Library, who provided funding for the furnishings, and members of the TLC, who worked together to pick the decor.

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Linder hopes that the TLC will be like the Friends Groups, volunteers who are library advocates. They also help raise money for special projects. She considers the TLC to be like a Jr. Friends Group, teens that are helping the library grow by coming up with programs that will benefit the public through library services.

The most recent idea the TLC has brought up is to start circulating X-Box, PlaySation, and Wii video games. The teens and Linder composed a letter to the library director and the board asking for the addition of video games, which has been approved. They are in the process of coming up with ideas to raise money for the video game collection.

“Hopefully we will be part of Pearl River Day and other events of that kind to show the community what teens can offer and how they, too, can become more involved citizens,” Linder said. 

Currently the TLC is made up of 40 teens. The new council is in the early stages. They are setting up officers and understanding their role as advocates for the library. In addition to working on ideas to raise money for the video game collection they are helping to spread a positive message about the library to their friends and peers.

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