The people shaping the future of youth services are creating the future of libraries. This online youth services course brings together experts to discuss the most pressing issues for school and youth services librarians today.

Course Overview

Learning Outcomes

After you attend this course, you’ll be able to:

• Identify and work through age-based biases

• Understand adolescent brain development

• Advocate for teens in your library 

• Manage teen behavior challenges in a trauma-informed way

• Try new methods and techniques to engage youth in library programs

• Create and maintain a youth advisory board

• Partner with local schools/public libraries and create complementary services 

Who should take this course

This course is for public youth services librarians, school librarians (grades 8-12), and other stakeholders in youth library programs and management. 

Course Features 

This will be a 3-week online course and will include:

• Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All sessions are recorded for on-demand access for six months after the course ends.) 

• Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.

• Asynchronous workshop: Project-based weekly assignments to connect what you’re learning to your professional life. Includes written feedback from an expert in the field who functions as the workshop facilitator, as well as peer conversation via discussion forums. Workshop available for all multi-week courses plus half-day courses where indicated. 

• Early access on-demand resources: Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace. 

• Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends. 

Expected time commitment

If you watch the recordings of all sessions and participate in the asynchronous workshop, you'll spend approximately 2-4 hours per week on this course. You'll earn 15 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion. 

On-demand access

All guest speaker session recordings are available on demand for six months as a part of your purchase.

Certificate of completion 

Complete the course and earn 15 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you. 

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature live captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email libraryjournal@edmaker.co upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Support

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Group Rates

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. When you register your team for our online courses, they will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

Send us a request for a quote.

If your group prefers to work separately, just let us know.

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Week 1: Understanding, Advocating for, and Managing Youth
Thursday, May 8, 2025    

Course & Workshop Introduction | 2:00-2:20 pm ET
An introduction to the weekly assignments, an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course, and a chance to complete the course pre-assessment.

Session 1 | 2:20-3:20 pm ET
Managing Teen Behavioral Challenges, Pt. 1: Understanding and Advocating for Teens
What should youth services librarians know about adolescent brain development to improve teen advocacy and to help proactively prevent behavior challenges? How do you advocate for youth inside and outside of your library? And how can you establish clear boundaries and expectations to help set everyone up for success? This session will discuss tangible ways to better understand, advocate for, and mitigate challenges with youth. 

Break | 3:20-3:30 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:30-4:15 pm ET
Managing Teen Behavioral Challenges, Pt. 2: Restorative Practices 
How can you respond to teen behavior challenges in a trauma-informed way? And how can you use restorative justice practices to encourage accountability and relationship building when harm is caused? This session will discuss ways to handle behavior issues with youth, both during and after an incident. We will also discuss proactive strategies such as how to be an effective mentor and how to build meaningful relationships with young people.

Session 3 | 4:15-4:45 pm ET
Perceptions of Youth: Recognizing and Removing Biases
What perceptions do we have of adolescence, and how do those perceptions impact how we treat young people? This session will discuss how to recognize and work through age-based biases to improve your services with and for youth.
 

Week 2: Engaging Youth in Library Programs
Thursday, May 15, 2025

Workshop Explanation | 2:00-2:15 pm ET
An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course.

Session 1 | 2:15-3:30 pm ET
Engaging Teens in Library Programs: A Roundtable
How do you get young people involved in library programs and services? What are the best outreach strategies to make sure they know about what the library offers? This session will discuss practical outreach and engagement strategies to reach teens where they are and encourage them to participate in the library. 

Break | 3:30-3:45 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:45-4:45 pm ET
Including Youth Voices: Partnering with Students for Youth Programs
The best way to know what young people want and need is to ask them directly. Many librarians are struggling to engage youth in programs, but this session will help you solve this problem by teaching you how to create meaningful youth partnerships. You will learn tangible ways to involve youth directly in the conception and development of youth programs, from focus groups to youth advisory boards and more. Join this session and hear from experts about innovative ways that they’ve involved youth to co-create successful, sustainable programs. 
 

Week 3: Enhancing Youth Services through Partnerships
Thursday, May 22, 2025    

Workshop Explanation | 2:00-2:15 pm ET
An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course.

Session 1 | 2:15-3:30 pm ET
Innovative Youth Programs: A Roundtable
Do you want new ideas for programs to develop in your library? Hear from a panel of librarians about programs they've run that have successful engaged teens.  

Break | 3:30-3:45 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:45-4:45 pm ET
Teaching Information Literacy: Helping Students Identify Mis- and Disinformation
How can you help students identify mis- and disinformation in a time when AI and deep fakes are becoming more and more convincing? What is the library's role in vetting material and helping young people understand factual information? This session will help you understand how to vet information for yourself and give you tools to help students and youth with information literacy.
 

Online Course Preview

A preview of how we build your library skills and bring inspiration to your projects with our online learning experience.

Course Format

One-Week Timeline (Course Runs 3+ Weeks)

DAYS 1-2 On Demand	DAY 3 2.5 hours	DAYS 4-7 1-2 hours (optional)
PRE-LIVE SESSION - Resources - Discussions - Bonus Content	LIVE SESSIONS - Guest speakers via webcast - Q&A via chat - Recordings available on demand	ASYNCHRONOUS WORKSHOP - Project-based homework, applied to your job - Personalized feedback from a facilitator - Group discussion in an asynchronous workshop setting via discussion forum

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers + Facilitated Group Workshop for Project-Based Learning

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Each Week Expert speaker presentations with audience Q&A (session recordings available on demand for six months if you can’t join live) Project-based, asynchronous workshop assignments to practice and apply new skills for 3 weeks after the live sessions Expert, individualized feedback on asynchronous work for 3 weeks

Online Course Features

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available After The Live Session Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live video stream (with recordings available afterward) Instructor-led online course features personalized interaction over 3+ weeks

Facilitator-led workshop

Online Classroom Organizes All Materials Workshop assignments to help you make progress on your goals Individualized attention from course facilitators who work with you in a coaching environment in the workshop to help sort out challenges Ongoing group conversation via discussion forums

Early Access On Demand Resources

Early Access and Ongoing Resources To Support Learning Supporting resources (articles, videos, worksheets) in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work Access all course content for six months after the course ends Bonus: Register early and get immediate access to archival video recordings from related courses and other bonus content