Teens Raise $1,000 for CT Library
RSSBy SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 12/03/2008
Who says teens aren’t big on libraries? Kids at the Ridgefield Library in Connecticut are such huge fans of their library that they recently raised more than $1,000 for teen programming.
Members of the library's teen advisory group raised more than $1,000 for teen programming through a read-a-thon.
About a dozen members of the library’s teen advisory group took part in a read-a-thon and sought sponsors, who donated either fixed dollar amounts or pledged based on the number of hours read.
On November 15, the teens, who ranged from sixth through eleventh grade, read books ranging from Holes (Farrar, 1998)by Louis Sachar and You Only Live Twice (New American, 1964) by Ian Fleming to Choke (Doubleday, 2001) by Chuck Palahniuk and Pretty Monsters (Viking, 2008) by Kelly Link.
The Ridgefield Library serves a suburban town of 24,000 in Western Connecticut, with a population of nearly 3,000 middle and high schoolers. There are more than 500 active teen cardholders who regularly use the library, says Geri Diorio, the library’s head of children's services and teen services librarian
The Teen Advisory Group was formed in 2006 by “some of our most enthusiastic summer reading program volunteers” and members of the teen book discussion clubs, Diorio says.
“In the past two years, it has grown via word of mouth as well as by invitation,” she adds, with its current membership standing at 16 students, who meet monthly to tell the library staff “what we are doing right, what we could be doing better, and what else we can do for teens.”
