Cole, the youth services librarian in St. Croix Falls, has been working with a teen who is passionate about anime and manga to create an Otaku Club.  What a cool way to support a teen!  Here’s what she says about it:

The key to our Otaku/Anime Club has really been our youth leader. She’s a home-schooled kid, so it makes the “free time after school” thing a little easier for her, and Manga is totally her passion. We’re taking a break for November and December, but in January we’ll work more on publicity (she’d really like to get a bigger group although she’s had 3-7 kids show up most weeks). I really do think the first round was a success!

We plan to kick off the next session with a costume/dance party, and I’m encouraging a little more publicizing of the scheduled activities so that kids will know exactly what to expect when they come, especially if they want to pick and choose which weeks they show up. Liz, my volunteer, is very regimented/full of good ideas and gets a little frustrated some times when kids just want to hang out and not stick to the schedule, but we have talked about the kinds of adult leadership she is looking for too.   

I feel like it’s really been a good experience for both of us; for me, having a young teen using the library and taking great initiative, and for her, learning about the steps and work it takes to set up a club like this and she’s learning so much about getting exactly what she needs from the right people (and she’s a quiet “bookish” kid– that’s hard) — these are great life skills for kids to learn!!!

Photo credit: Allen County Public Library (Otaku Anon Cosplayers)