Hold Them in Your Heart: Successful Strategies for Library Services to At-Risk Teens (Teens @ the Library Series)

This groundbreaking series is designed to ensure that public and school librarians have the tools they need to develop and adapt their collections, services, and programs to meet the diverse -- and ever-changing -- needs of young adults.

Using the ambitious San Francisco Bay Area Youth-at-Risk Project as a basis, this practical volume covers what librarians need to know about adolescent development and the special challenges facing today's at-risk youth. Here are proven programs and strategies for library services aimed at dealing with pregnancy, drugs, school failure, delinquency, and other teen problems. Strategies discussed include: approaching funders, gaining support, planning programs and activities, and measuring success. Outreach services, tutoring, homework centers, housing, and other library programs that actually work are fully examined for ways their success can be replicated in other libraries for reasonable cost. An extensive list of national organizations that provide the opportunity for support and partnerships with library at-risk projects is included.