In order to reach a population that may be missing out on all libraries have to offer, Orangeburg County Library has launched several programs geared at young adults.

“Between the ages of 12 and 18 is when libraries lose potential lifelong patrons,” said library intern Robin Stalvey, an Cordova native and graduate student in the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science.

“In Orangeburg County alone, 11.16 percent of the population is between the ages of 12 and 18. If we can keep teens coming into the library, they will eventually be the adults who will realize the importance of libraries. It will improve literacy, decrease poverty and keep kids in school,” she said.

Stalvey previously worked for the library for four years and said much of her time was spent on the children’s desk. She helped develop the first program for “tweens” (9 to 12-year-olds), called “Book Talks.”

“This is a follow-up from that program, sort of, because a lot of those tweens are now going to fall into the young adult program and come to some of those events,” she said.

Paula Paul, OCL director, said in her 33 years working at the library, this is the first time a program has been geared toward the seventh through 12-grade population.

“It was insightful for her (Stalvey) to see the wonderful opportunity for Orangeburg County teens to have a librarian for young adults,” she said. “It’s a big help to the reference staff, who are often inundated with requests for help in the afternoons, to be able to refer students.”

Paul said catering to teenagers is entirely different from serving the adult population.

“They might come in when they have a school project to work on,” she said. “One factor that helps the teens but hurts the library ... is the fact that they can access so many databases through their home and school computers. Through that remote access to the library, we don’t see their faces.

“You can play with the computer all you want to, but there’s nothing like a good book to read.”

Stalvey has planned several programs for the library during her internship, including one that currently takes place Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. and allows her to provide reference and readers’ advice for teens, whether it’s helping them find books they want to read or information for class projects.

Another program, Spring Break Boot Camp: “Read It, Learn It, Do It,” will take place April 11-13 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. each day and offer sessions on photography, creative writing and jewelry making. And Stalvey will begin traveling in February to local schools housing the teen population to promote the library and upcoming events.

“A lot of the preteens that I worked with while I was here are now young adults,” Stalvey said. “Because of the budget issues that all libraries face, there’s not a lot of extra staff for programs, especially for teenagers.”

Paul agreed. She said, according to South Carolina Public Library Standards 2005, based on Orangeburg County’s population, Orangeburg’s library should have at least 9.15 full-time employees; OCL currently employs six staff members, falling 33 percent short of the basic level and at least 10 employees short of the full level. That is one of the main reasons, Paul said, that the young adult librarian position will cease with the completion of Stalvey’s internship.

But Stalvey said part of her work this semester will include finding a way to keep the young adult position intact by performing an in-depth community analysis of the needs of Orangeburg County’s teen population and locating funding.

“One of the things I am working on in my internship is trying to locate grant funding for this for a permanent, paid internship for USC library science students,” she said. “We want to make the teenagers who may have used the library when they were younger realize that it’s still a place for them.”

-- T&D Staff Writer Wendy Jeffcoat can be reached by e-mail at wjeffcoat@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060.

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