Seattle Public LIbrary

The Seattle Public Library home page has a lot going on, but it's clean and neatly organized. I decided to focus on their offerings for teens.

It has the same style layout, but slightly brighter colors. They include a recommended reading list for a teen librarian, and announcements about upcoming events -- the all ages art show (also advertised on the library's home page) and a series of writing workshops for teens.

They also have a teen podcast, created by teens; the SPL has a Teen Center Advisory Board comprised of actual teenagers, who create the podcasts. They have links to subscribe to the podcasts via RSS or through iTunes (or to download them straight from the site), which shows a pretty good grasp of technology.

Through tutor.com, the library offers homework help (just need your library card to use it), as well as offering a list of recommended databases.

They do offer a review form for teens, where they can write reviews of books of up to 750 words and submit them to the site. However, I couldn't find any place to read the reviews submitted. The catalog links to reviews of the book (including Amazon and LibraryThing reviews), which is a really neat resource, but what about reviews by SPL teen users?

The SPL offers extensive reading lists divided into lots of categories (including vampires!), but the divide between "realistic fiction for girls" and "realistic fiction for guys" irritated me. I know that statistically, guys are more interested in reading about other guys, but labeling a book "for girls" isn't going to encourage them to try something new, I don't think. There's no overlap between the lists, but the guy's list does include several female authors (and both lists include some books I really love).

Overall, I think the Seattle Public Library has created a really great teen section, with a lot of relevant and interesting information that would make the library seem like a useful, fun place for teens to go.