My Volunteer Experience at the Youth Services Center Library

I was interested in working with the kids at the YSCL because I had never had any experience with at-risk youth in the past and wanted to broaden my experience level by working with a demographic group that was new to me. I also like the fact that King County believes that having a library in its juvenile detention facility is important. This fact is illustrated by the library facility itself and the dedicated people who staff the library.

The teens visit the library twice a week with their living hall. There are up to 14 kids per hall and their living hall staff person accompanies them to the library. Many of the kids at detention are avid readers and love this one-of-kind library.

My experience at the library included assisting kids during their library visit in a number of ways—reader’s advisory, working with the kids during library skills sessions, and checking out books. Of all of these experiences, working through problems with the kids during library skills sessions was most rewarding. Some of the library skills sessions were on the computer and others were using print sources like newspapers and encyclopedias. The kids were required to use these resources to answer questions on a worksheet.

Reader’s advisory for the kids was also rewarding. Through the recommendations of Jill Morrison, the YSCL’s head librarian, and also talking with the kids themselves, I read quite a few young adult titles. Doing this reading and also reading other reviews of juvenile literature enabled me to give the kids recommendations for books they might enjoy.

One afternoon a high school-aged girl approached me asking for books about college. She wanted to get all of the information that she could on college admission processes. Together using the library’s webcat, we found some useful books for her. We also found some relevant websites. At the beginning of my experience at the YSCL, I felt that if I came away making a difference for only one person, I had succeeded. This young woman was so appreciative and enthusiastic about the information we found together that I think I met my goal.

“At the beginning of my experience at the YSCL, I felt that if I came away making a difference for only one person, I had succeeded. This young woman was so appreciative and enthusiastic about the information we found together that I think I met my goal."