Teen Coffeehouse Programs at Tredyffrin Public Library

Teen Coffeehouse Programs at Tredyffrin Public Library

Christy Curro, Teen Librarian

INFO 520: Grant Proposal

May 31, 2011

Executive Summary

The Tredyffrin Public Library seeks a grant in the amount of $1,370 in order to purchase a portable lighting system, a portable microphone system, and a set of drums. With this new performance-oriented equipment, the Library seeks to establish a recurring program known as the Teen CoffeeHouse, so that local teenagers may have a safe, creative place to gather. This will have the side benefit of familiarizing teenagers with the library, its location, and resources. Additionally, the performance equipment will be utilized by the local community and non-profit groups who rent the library’s meeting rooms. This will have the dual advantages of allowing the facility users to present more effective, professional performances, as well as increasing the library’s reputation in the community.

Setting

About Tredyffrin Township

The Tredyffrin Public Library serves the community of Tredyffrin Township, a community on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the most recent Census figures, the population of the township is 29,332 and 13.4 percent of this population is between the ages of ten and nineteen. (US Census Bureau, 2010). To give an idea of how many adolescents reside in the area, the local school district, Tredyffrin/Easttown School District, operates one high school and two middle schools, serving 1,980 middleschool students and 2,017 highschool students, for a total of approximately four thousand students in grades 5-12. (Tredyffrin/Easttown School District).

About Tredyffrin Public Library

Tredyffrin Public Library, a division of the Chester County Library System, got its start in 1966 in a spare room in the Valley Forge Junior High School building. In the intervening years, the library has grown by leaps and bounds, undergoing several different phases of renovation and growth. Most recently, the library moved into a new building in 2009. An overview of the library’s history, as well as photographs of the most recent construction projects, can be found on the library’s website (cf. Tredyffrin Public Library- About the Libraries). The library's mission statement is as follows:

The Tredyffrin Township Libraries are committed to providing access to information, materials in every current and evolving format, programs and expertise to meet the intellectual, cultural and professional objectives of the community. (Tredyffrin Public Libraries- Library Information).

The library is the largest in Chester County, housing over 100,000 books, in addition to a sizable collection of periodicals and audiovisual media for all ages. (Tredyffrin Public Library – Library Services).

The library is staffed by paid staff, for a total of 11 full-time equivalents (2010 Budget), who are assisted by many volunteers. The library is funded by an annual investment from Tredyffrin Township, in the amount of $1.4 million dollars (2011 Preliminary Budget), as well as by assistance from the Friends of Tredyffrin Library and gifts from outside donors.

Statement of Need

Rationale and Desired Outcomes

While the crime rates in Tredyffrin Township and Chester County as a whole are quite low(FOCUS report, 2011)and adolescent arrests have decreased nationwide in recent years (Juvenile Arrest Rate Trends, 2009), there is still a pressing need for relevant, engaging activities for youth in the community. Providing positive, safe activities for youth helps encourage this downward trend in teen crime to continue, as well as discouraging everyday boredom. Having the proper resources to hold a coffeehouse series for teenagers, including a portable lighting system, a set of drums, and a microphone system, would help the Tredyffrin Public Library meet this programming need. Additionally, these resources would make the library a more enticing, comprehensive venue for community meetings and other facility rentals.

The proposed coffeehouse programming has several desired outcomes. Most importantly, it will provide a positive, safe activity for teenagers to enjoy. Teenagers often complain of boredom, and this program would give them a chance to get out of their houses, in their neighborhood, and do something thought provoking. Coffeehouse activities, including making music and enjoying poetry,promote creativity and literacy as a side benefit of teens getting together and having fun. These programs also meet the socio-emotional needs of teenage participants, both by letting them get in touch with their feelings through music and creative writing, and by allowing them to meet and network with students with similar artistic interests from around the area, in a relaxed, non-academic setting. The proposed coffeehouse programs also have side benefits to the library: these programs will acquaint young people with the library, its location, resources, and services, all while increasing the library’s reputation as a place that is welcoming to teenagers and aware of teens’ concerns.

In addition to teen programs, these new library resources will be used by groups from within the community who make use of the library’s meeting spaces. As with teen users, these uses of meeting facilities will bring new people to the library and make them aware of its location and facilities. Having quality resources for community groups to meet at the Tredyffrin Library will strengthen the library’s reputation, as well as encourage the growth of the (community, social, and entrepreneurial) groups that make use of the facilities.

Loosely-structured, yet adult-chaperoned, programs such as the Teen CoffeeHouse are teen-approved. Teens are interested in extracurricular programs that are “flexible, less structured, more leisure-based, and where they could spend more time with their close friends.”(Marczak, Dworkin, Skuza, and Beyer, 2006). Parents also support structured social programs, as they are confident that they are places where their teens can socialize in a healthy environment and avoid “getting into trouble.” (ibid.).

Tredyffrin Public Library has a rich history of relevant, engaging programs for teenagers. We currently host a monthly “Book Share” event, where book-loving youth can discuss books and recommend books to each other, as well as college-essay assistance presentations (cf. AdLib Online) and monthly meetings of an Anime Club. Our upcoming events include Game Nights and a bracelet-making event (cf. June 2011 programs). The library also has a Teen Advisory Board, known as “TAB”, which meets monthly at the library. TAB members plan and give input regarding teen programming and resources. (Tredyffrin Public Library- For Teens).

Proposed Programs and Services

Timing

The Tredyffrin Library would like the beginning of Teen CoffeeHouse to coincide with the American Library Association’s Teen Read Week 2011, which is from October 16-22. (cf. ALA Teen Read Week) This timing would allow teens to become familiar with Teen Read Week, as well as the library itself, including our young adult collections and our other teen programming events. Since we would like to hold the CoffeeHouse programs on Friday evenings, the inaugural event would be held on October 21, 2011. Future programs would then be held on the third Friday of each month, likely from 6 until 9 PM each night.

When the performance equipment is not being used by either a CoffeeHouse program or another community group, it will be stored in a locked storage closet on premises. Only the teen librarian and the library directors will have access to the keys. Community members who are accessing the meeting rooms will simply have to ask library staff in order to use the equipment. This security measure will keep the equipment in better condition for a longer period of time, thereby protecting our investment.

Publicity

Prior to the inaugural program during the third week of October, the library would need to participate in promotional activities for the new program. In order to reach as many people as possible, we would like to publicize this event in several ways. In addition to placing flyers and posters in the library, we plan to publicize the inaugural event via our Facebook page, our website, and postcards mailed to the homes of Tredyffrin youth card-holders in the 10-19 age group.

According to the research done by Cook, Parker, & Pettijohn (2005), the vast majority of young teens enjoy getting mail addressed to them, at their home. For this reason, we believe that promotional postcards would be a cost-effective, yet fun, method of promoting the library’s new programs and resources. These postcards will be sent to active teen card holders. According to that same research by Cook, Parker, and Pettijohn, approximately one-third of teens would be likely to attend a library event for young people if they knew about it, but over 60 percent of young teens said that they'd be likely to attend an event if a friend invited them to go. We believe that teens who receive these “invitation” postcards are likely to invite their non-library-patron friends to attend the event with them.

These postcards could be sent out about two months in advance of the event in order to allow both spectators and potential open-microphone performers a chance to plan ahead for the event and fit it into their busy schedules. In order to have the postcards in hand by the end of August, they should be ordered around the beginning of August. Similarly, Facebook and library website posts about the event could start a few weeks before the event, in order to get the word out to as many potential attendees as possible. In addition to teen-focused website postings, we will also mention the new equipment on our web site in conjunction with information about renting meeting-room facilities.

Program evaluation

The success of the CoffeeHouse program and the desirability of the new resources will be evaluated using a three-pronged survey program after the inaugural CoffeeHouse program. First, teens attending the program will be asked for their opinions via a short pencil-and-paper survey at the end of the program. (To entice young people to give us their opinions, two Target gift cards, donated in-kind by Target Corporation, will be given away to lucky survey respondents at the end of the evening.) The survey will ask teens’ opinions about the new equipment, the CoffeeHouse program itself, and what types of programs they’d be interested in participating in at the library in the future.

Secondly, a survey link will be e-mailed to group leaders shortly after groups rent the meeting facilities and make use of the new resources. The survey will ask for general information about their experiences with using library facilities, including the new performance resources, as well as any suggestions they may have for the library. From anonymous, aggregate survey results over several months, we will have a clear picture of how well the new resources meet the needs of the larger community. This follow-up survey will also show community members that Tredyffrin Public Library is concerned about the quality of their experiences at the library and would like them to return. Finally, a similar electronic survey link will be e-mailed to the Tredyffrin Public Library staff who have been involved with this project, in order to get insiders’ opinions about the new resources and programming.

Proposed Budget

The proposed Teen CoffeeHouse program requires the following items:

Desired Item / Projected Cost / Notes
Portable lighting system / $160 / MBT Lighting Par Pack DJ/Stage Light Package or similar
Microphone system / $160
$40 /

VocoPro VHF-3300 or similar wireless microphone system

Two microphone stands at $20 each: On-Stage Stands MS7201B or similar

Drum set / $600 / Tama IS52C Imperialstar or similar
Promotional postcards / $150
$260 / Vistaprint.com, $119.95 for 1000 postcards; $25.83 shipping
Nonprofit rate postage for 1000postcards at $0.26 each
Refreshments for inaugural event / $0 / Gift-in-kind from local grocery
TOTAL / $1,370.00 / (Prices current as of May 2011.)

Conclusion

The International Federation of Library Associations states that “young adults need and deserve services that address their educational, informational, cultural, and leisure time needs.” (Muller and Chew, 2008). Indeed, in order to ensure that teens will be library patrons as adults, it is important to keep them involved at the library as young people. This program will continue Tredyffrin Library's tradition of quality, relevant teen programs, as well as allowing community groups to have a well-furnished meeting place. Funding for this program will make Tredyffrin Public Library an even better gathering place for community members of all ages.

References

2010 Budget. Retrieved from

2011 Preliminary Budget. Retrieved from

2011%20Preliminary%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf

AdLib Online. Retrieved from

ALA Teen Read Week. Retrieved from

teenreading/trw/trw2011/home.cfm

Cook, S.J., Parker, R.S., & Pettijohn, C.E. (2005). The public library: an early teen's

perspective. Public Libraries, 44(3), 157-61.

FOCUS Report. (2011). Retrieved from

RUREP01&MAPAREA=15

June 2011 Programs. Retrieved from

Juvenile Arrest Rate Trends. (2009, October 31). Retrieved from

Marczak, M.S., Dworkin, J, Skuza, J, & Beyer, J. (2006). What’s up?: What young teens

and parents want from youth programs. New Directions for Youth Development, (112), 45-56.

Muller, P., Chew, I. (2008). IFLA Professional Reports: Guidelines for Library Services for Young Adults. Retrieved from

Tredyffrin/Easttown School District: About TESD. Retrieved from

?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=55927&212710111810464143Nav=| &NodeID=1307

Tredyffrin Public Library- About the Libraries. Retrieved from

Tredyffrin Public Library- For Teens. Retrieved from

Tredyffrin Public Libraries- Library Information. Retrieved from

Tredyffrin Public Library – Library Services. Retrieved from

US Census Bureau, (2010). American FactFinder. Retrieved from

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Signature_____Christy Curro______