Serving Latino Teens

Book excerpt: This book discusses library services to Hispanic/Latino teens, highlighting best practices, examining relevant and responsive services and programs, and reframing existing approaches to serving this segment of the population. Latino teens within Generation Y or Generation Z are bilingual and bicultural. As such, these teenagers have varied characteristics that present unique conditions and challenges for librarians. Serving Latino Teens not only explains why providing targeted services to Latino teens is so critical, but it also shows librarians and teen providers exactly how to best reach this demographic. Author Salvador Avila, a noted expert and popular lecturer on providing library services to Latino and Spanish speaking-communities, offers ideas and strategies that can be easily duplicated. Grounded in empirical evidence, this book presents what research has indicated is important to teens, Latinos in particular; demonstrates how to incorporate relevant literature into your services; and describes the cultural, social, economic, psychological, technological, and sexual characteristics of this emerging population. This title will be immensely helpful to public and school librarians as well as social services providers who work with Latino teens and soon-to-be teens ages 11 through 18.