Teen Services Development Day at #alsc26 had an amazing slate of breakout sessions, and choosing which ones to attend was a tough decision to make! I started the morning off by attending Don’t Leave Tweens Stuck in Between, led by Dania Souid, which focused on collection development and programming for tweens. Throughout my career, I have always worked with teens in grades 7-12, and I wanted to learn more about the tweens and how I can work to help serve that population at my library.
Our breakout session started by defining tweens: they “are not older kids or young teens,” which is a key distinction. They are their own group, usually ages 8/9-12, and as librarians or library staff, you can end up becoming another trusted adult for them. They are figuring out their place in the world around them, and learning about how their actions connect with their environment and with other people.
The first step to serving tweens in your library is to…find them! It might seem obvious, but it was something that I had never considered. You have to carve out a space in the library where they can see themselves. One way to do this is by creating multiple displays for tweens – put one in your children’s section, one in your teen area, one by the front door, and wherever you can find a high traffic area, put it there, too! And make it fun. Make it interactive. Throw a familiar character up there or tie it to an event coming up (Like Fortnite, Halloween, or…Fortnitemares!) Try to visit the schools, if you can, and have a fun, short presentation – maybe try a game show or trivia format to get tweens excited about visiting the library.
Once they are in, the next step is to make sure they can find what is available to them: books, programming, and more. You can do this by:
- Building out your collection
- Running consistent programming opportunities for them.
Interactive scratch off booklists or flowchart reading suggestions are a great way to promote your collection! Running consistent, weekly programming for this age group is key, and so is enforcing the age range. You can’t be afraid to tell someone who is too young or old that they can’t attend, and you may need to redirect them to appropriate programming for their grade. Most importantly, remember that tweens need a space where they can just be tweens. If they don’t want to work on the craft you have on hand, that’s okay! Tweens just want to be tweens.
Today’s Conference Contributor is Amy D’Arco (she/her/hers). Amy is the Teen Librarian at the The Manhasset Public Library in Manhasset, NY and is the 2026 president of the Young Adult Services Division of the Nassau County Library Association. She has been a young adult and teen services librarian for the last five years after making a career shift from working in publishing. She is looking forward to meeting fellow teen librarians and hearing Delali Adjoa discuss The Free Verse Society, especially now that it has been longlisted for the National Book Award! When not at the library, Amy can most likely be found drinking entirely too much coffee, watching Survivor with her husband, quoting Gilmore Girls, or cuddling with her cats, Stella and Luna (yes, like the picture book!).
Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.
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