"Bibliophiles Not Baby Sitters," the op-ed piece in the New York Times, brings up the valid concern of adolescent behavior in libraries. However to assume you can work in a public space that welcomes children and have no training on how to manage them is absurd. The title alone offends my educator ears. No, librarians are not baby sitters. But neither are teachers. Teachers often feel like baby sitters when they are unable to accomplish the learning they want in the classroom. Those teachers are being ineffective and require more professional development to help them get their classes under control. Still, Don Borchert describes that the children "been good and relatively quiet" while in school. If he expects librarians to recreate the feel of a well-managed classroom, then librarians must be trained in management techniques just like teachers. Perhaps the best example of this was mentioned in the article. One library in Norwalk, Connecticut trains their staff to work with teens and revokes computer privileges if teens do not comply with the library's expectations. Kids appreciate boundaries. They learn best from immediate and clear consequences. They feel safer when they know what to expect.

These structures are lacking in Logan's life in This is What I Did. Logan is loved, yes. His parents are well-intentioned, yes. He has a comfortable home and enough to eat. But he does not trust the adults in his life- he does not believe they have authority. Of course, he has learned by watching his friends' parents that some adults are not trust-worthy. That, in fact, some adults are to be feared. But what of his parents and teachers? Maybe it was purely out of loyalty to Zyler that he never spoke up, but I doubt it. I think that if his parents had been better equipped to talk to him about abuse then he would have felt more comfortable broaching the subject. Parents, like librarians and too many teachers, often don't receive training about how to communicate with adolescents.

In his suggestions for how to cope with unruly teens, Borchert suggests programs where teachers and principals chaperone after school hours. I am appalled by this suggestion. I appreciate that he considers teachers to be competent at managing children, but feel that we are already an over-worked bunch within the confines of our buildings and don't need to extend our work hours any more. That kind of short term solution draws attention away from a more lasting solution like demanding increased funding to hire more staff. What would be a beneficial teacher/librarian collaboration, however, are educator-led training sessions on management techniques.

Despite everything I've written I don't mean to imply that teachers have all the answers that librarians are lacking. In fact, many teachers don't get enough management training either. However if want to support the Logans and Zylers of the world, we cannot hope it will fall into place on its own.

Below are great books on classroom management that could apply to a library setting: