Success

Use surveys over the course of the two-year grant have confirmed that the number of young adults coming into the Garfield Park Branch has doubled, and then tripled over the number that used the branch before 1995. In Spring of 1996, there were 145 non-staff user accounts; in Spring of 1997, there were 267.

The use teens make of A PLACE OF OUR OWN depends on the season, where we are in the school marking period, and how close we are to a newsletter deadline. Summer is characterized by web surfing and CD-ROM use. A flurry of documents composed in Word, and a printer always running out of paper is a sure sign that a marking period is coming to a close. And newsletter deadlines are great inspiration for creative web design.

Youth participation in the branch has been satisfying and successful. We already had a strong Young Friends group of six volunteers when we started. Over the course of the first year, 16 teens volunteered 647.5 hours after school and during breaks, including several full days of packing books, knocking down shelves, unpacking books, and reshelving them. During the second year, the same number of teens volunteered 592.75 hours supporting routine (imagine!) operations.

From the Young Friends, came the Teen Advisory Council (TAC). Fueled by pizza, the TAC has advised the staff on branch problems, rules and regulations, resources that would be useful, and development of the electronic newsletter. Members of the TAC have been most amazed that we listened to their suggestions and opinions and acted on them.

And it happened that from our Young Friends came young employees. All the pages hired during both years of the grant came from the Young Friends.

The electronic homework center, and YA influence on its development, has been the heart of our success. Students responded enthusiastically to state-of-the-art equipment and the challenges it presented. The branch's website became a model for their home page constructions, and the newsletter has given them opportunities to contribute individually to a project they were all responsible for. Having the YA's, pages and clerks involved in testing out new software, and in formulating the rules for the PC network was essential. The kids help to re-enforce the system, largely because they've had input into it.