I felt inspired to join the blogosphere write about my own experiences after I read "Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library." I thought to myself: "well this happens in MY library, why is someone not writing this down? I work in a disadvantaged neighborhood right next to a junior high. We're a very busy library and every afternoon we are flooded with teenagers. High school kids visit too but 7th, 8th, and 9th graders come at three and often don't leave until we close at nine. We kick some of them out every day and we often start off preemptively which I would recommend. We give the ones we know cause trouble an hour to clear out and they usually head out on their own. These kids need borders and rules although they would never admit it. We have a good system going with the kids and offer as many activities as we can. Thursday on Valentine's day we hid hearts in the library and had the kids find them for treats. I only suggest this if you can withstand sustained chaos for about twenty minutes. (You'll need to have a very understand manager.) You can do this activity for every holiday: four leaf clovers for St. Patrick's day, little flags for 4th of July. The kids love it but they often bump around and run around like pinballs in a machine for a while.
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