2018 School Spending Survey Report
Erik Berman | Movers & Shakers 2017 – Change Agents
Erik Berman subscribes to a “teen run, teen led” mentality, according to senior librarian Sharon Fung at San José Public Library (SJPL). “He works tirelessly to get to know his teens, build their confidence, and guide them into taking an active role in the library.” Hand in hand with local teens and professional designers, Berman is responsible for the creation of the new teen center, TeenHQ, in San José’s central Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library.
CURRENT POSITION
Youth Services Librarian, San José Public Library, CA
DEGREE
MLIS, San José State University, 2010
FOLLOW
Photo by Adam Padilla
In the Teen Zone
Erik Berman subscribes to a “teen run, teen led” mentality, according to senior librarian Sharon Fung at San José Public Library (SJPL). “He works tirelessly to get to know his teens, build their confidence, and guide them into taking an active role in the library.” Hand in hand with local teens and professional designers, Berman is responsible for the creation of the new teen center, TeenHQ, in San José’s central Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. He recruited teen volunteers from around the city, originally to fill the role of advisors. The teens, who dedicated “a year and a half and over 1,000 hours” to the project, says Berman, evolved into full-fledged designers and builders, even constructing scale models to test their ideas. The resulting space includes a state-of-the art Maker space, recording studio, and print collection.
Berman also facilitates the library system’s teensReach program, teen advisory boards run at several branches. At the Educational Park library, location of the first teensReach group, “[I] slowly, almost sneakily transformed the group from one that merely advised to one that actively championed the library, ran their own meetings, and planned events,” he says. Berman is currently engaged in bringing a variety of life skills programming to teens in order to prepare them for the world after graduation.
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Wonderful wonderful book- so many heroes of the war still to be uncovered- thanks to Ms. Charles for bringing these heroes to light
undefined says
Loved this audio book! Love the backdrop of facts during WW II. I had no idea there was such a library in Paris. The book has spurred me to look more into the library and it's characters. I almost abandoned this book as it was slow to develop characters and I found the audiobook accents hard to follow sometimes. Hang with this book! Really liked the author's notes at the end giving more info about the library and the real librarians from WW II. Thank you for featuring these unsung heros!!!
undefined says
Loved this story. Thanks Janet for a captivating, unheard of before, this book tells this wonderful story. I am reading "Moonlight in Odessa". Loving it too. Another awesome read! Keep on writing such wonderful adventures of interesting women!! Sheila
undefined says
Loved this story. It was finished in a few days and I was sad it was over. I always thought what I would of done, living in occupied France. More important, what am I doing today with life events. Touched home for me because I lived in Montana and visited Paris. Disappointed though that I did not know about the American Library, now I need to go back.
undefined says
Hi, I am curious to know who wrote the letters betraying the library in the book The Paris Library?
Regards
Anne Brien
undefined says
Fantastic read, but who wrote the betrayal letters? Margaret Saint James?
undefined says
Thank you for a wonderful book. As a teacher at the International School of Paris in the 1990's, I loved the ALP. I could do research there that I used in my history classes.
Thank you, Janet Charles, for a great book.
undefined says
Hi,
Is Froid, MT the historical town of residence for Odile? If not, how did you come to choose that small town in Montana?
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