Webster Public Library Teen Advisory Board
Annual Report 2004

What’s a TAB?

Webster Public Library believes teens should have a say in issues that concern them at the library.  An advisory board was initiated to help the Teen Service Department in planning services, programs, and collections.  The Webster Public Library Teen Advisory Board (fondly know as "The TAB") started in February 2003 after a survey was conducted in the middle and high schools.  We decided to meet once a month (except July) and talk about what we’re reading, watching, and listening to, make suggestions on improving the library’s collections and Teen Lounge for teens, and eat!

 So, what did the TAB do last year?

In their second year, the TAB accomplished a lot and had fun while they did all this:

• spent nearly $1300 on 72 books and 33 CD’s we selected on a shopping trip to Barnes and Noble on August 9.  Look for the labels on those items, telling you they were "Selected by the 2004 Advisory Board."

• enjoyed the new furniture and accessories for the Teen Lounge including the two-seat booth and neon sign

• had great refreshments at every meeting!  (Do you like any of these?—veggie chips, raw vegetables and dips, bagels and cream cheese, pizza, muffins, donut holes, Krispy Kremes, fruit and dip, ice cream.)

• mourned poor "Alice, the Talking Head" when we wore her out when claiming the "Seat of Power" to chair each meeting and learned the value of orderly meetings when Alice recognized the person speaking! (Don't worry-Olivia found a replacement: "As if!")

• selected the prizes for the 2004 teen summer reading program.  The  “fuzzy pencils” and  crazy noisemakers were extremely popular!

• got T-shirts with our logo, designed by TAB member Erin Mulvehill.  Thank you, Friends of the Webster Public Library for helping to underwrite the production costs for the shirts.!

• helped publicize teen programs by posting fliers at school and telling our friends.

• wrote book reviews and other articles for the TeenNews newsletter and tried to establish penpals with teens at two libraries in Australia.  Pity they didn't write us back...

• chose programs for teens:  juggling (is that Olivia heading for Clown School in Sarasota??!!), movie matinees (long live Monty Python!), hemp jewelry making, a scary storytelling contest, and rubber stamping.

• planned and held our second library “lock-in” where TAB members   spent the night in the library!  We worked as teams to set up a 10-hole miniature golf course throughout the library (watch out for the brook "water hazard" in the Children's Room!), traveled to Empire Lanes for "cosmic bowling," watched movies all night long, ate snacks and pizza, had a scavenger hunt that really kept us looking for our "talking head," played "Human Scrabble," created a new suggestion box for the Teen Lounge, and had fun with the friends we invited to attend.

Hey—I’d like to do some of these things, too!  How do I join?

Ask at the Reference Desk or check the teen web page at www.websterlibrary.org for an application to become a member of the TAB.  For further information, call our Teen Services Librarians, Olivia Durant or Lisa Wemett at 872-7075 (ext. 113 or 111, respectively).

Several of our "founding members" of the TAB graduated this year.   Congratulations to Colleen Crispino, Keleigh Provost, Meaghan Provost and Elizabeth Kwiatkowski.  We had a "graduation ceremony" for them in June, presenting them with certificates for their service to the TAB and the library.  "Pomp and Circumstance" played in the background!

Many thanks to the TAB members of 2004:

Webster Thomas High School : Christa Badaracco (gr. 9), Colleen Crispino (gr. 12), Lisa Cushman (gr. 9), Kourtney DeVries (gr. 10), Ashley Fedunyszyn (gr. 11), Christina Garman (gr. 10), Beth Lape (gr. 9), Jessica Lot (gr. 9), Carly Maldonado (gr. 9), Erin Mulvehill (gr. 11), Keleigh Provost (gr. 12), Meaghan Provost (gr. 12), Catherine Sutera (gr. 9)

Webster Schroeder High School: John Demko (gr. 10), Mindy Messing (gr. 10)

Willink Middle School & Spry Middle School: no members at this time  

Mercy High School: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski (gr. 12)

Homeschooled: Clara Weinert (gr. 10), Margaret Weinert (gr. 11)

Webster Public Library  
Webster Plaza, 980 Ridge Road
Webster, NY 14580
(585) 872-7075

www.websterlibrary.org