New York State Library

Transforming Teen Services

Overview

Transforming Teen Services (T3) is a training initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) and was originally funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). It focuses on supporting library staff working with and for teens to better understand their emotional and social development and understand how connected learning and computational thinking can work together to build equity based services for and with teens.

Resources from the NYS Library

T3 Training

The NYS Library brought this initiative to New York in 2020 by offering the certified YALSA Transforming Teen Services training session to a number of Youth Services staff from New York Public Library and Nassau Library System. Since then, the NYS Library has worked to sustain the initiative by engaging Youth Services Librarians from around the state. New York state is now home to an experienced and engaged group of certified T3 trainers! Our trainers have a background in Youth and Teen Services, and have delivered many training sessions as part of this initiative. The NYS Library is ready to help coordinate opportunities for library staff to learn more about enhancing services to teens.

Recent Events:

  • Kenneth Roman led a T3 training at the fall 2024 Four County Library System Day of Learning. The session focused on understanding the developmental needs of teens aged 11 to 18, and offering strategies to better support this age group in library spaces and programming. The session attracted dozens of library staff from rural and small libraries, who were eager to learn practical approaches for creating teen-friendly environments and engaging programs that cater to young patrons.
  • A T3 workshop was offered in spring 2024 by Renee McGrath, Youth Services Manager (Nassau Library System) and Lori Gerbasi, Young Adult Librarian (Port Washington Public Library.) This workshop explored the value of teen services to help attendees learn how Connected Learning can support teens in the community. 29 library staff attended to learn about Ages & Stages of teen development and Connected Learning: What it is and how to implement it with your teens. This workshop was offered in April 2024 at the Nassau Library System.
  • Stephanie Markham offered “Reboot Teen Services at Your Library with T3” at the annual NYLA conference in Syracuse in November 2024. Over 50 people attended this session to learn more about what T3 is, what training is available for library staff, and why it’s important for libraries to reach out and connect with the teens in their communities, especially among those groups that may be underserved or not aware of the variety of teen resources at the library.

Get Involved

Is your library system holding a staff development day or day of learning this coming year? Consider adding a T3 training session to help your staff gain valuable knowledge for working with and involving more teens.

You can submit your information and dates along with any specific teen training requests to the Youth Services team at the NYS Library. Contact us!

T3 Program Downloads

Visit the T3 Resources page for promotional and advocacy materials, logos, and an FAQ to help explain the importance of providing Teen Services training to library staff. The resources found here will be especially helpful to anyone involved with T3 program delivery, anyone looking for research or project evaluation, or anyone who wants to make a case for T3 training to staff, administration, or stakeholders in their community.

Additional T3 Resources

Are you looking for more information about Transforming Teen Services? Visit the updated T3: Transforming Teen Services website from YALSA to learn more and explore the T3 initiative and its potential impact on teen services.

Meet the Trainers

Lori Gerbasi

Lori Gerbasi is the Head of Teen Services at the Port Washington Public Library. She has been dedicated to working with teens for 19 years and advocates for their needs on a daily basis. She served on multiple committees for the Nassau County Library Association's Young Adult Services Division (YASD) and currently holds a position on the board of the Port Washington Teen Center. As part of a pilot program in partnership with the Nassau Library System, Lori successfully established a teen calming corner at the Port Washington Public Library. She has been a presenter at both local and state events, covering topics such as collaborations between school and public libraries, effective summer reading programs, and the implementation of a teen calming corner. She is also a New York State trainer with the IMLS/YALSA's Transforming Teen Services, which focuses on providing continued education to library staff connected with teen services. Lori earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh and completed her MLIS at Long Island University at C.W. Post.

Stephanie Markham

Stephanie Markham (she/her) is the Teen Services Librarian at Jervis Public Library in Rome, NY. A Central New York native, Stephanie has been working in the Mid York Library System (MYLS) since 2011. She earned her MLIS from Syracuse University. During her time as a librarian, Stephanie has lead workshops, classes, and discussions for MYLS and the Central NY Library Resources Council (CLRC) regarding teen services, welcoming LGBTQIA+ patrons, and technology know-how. She was trained as a T3 trainer in February 2023.

Renee McGrath

Renee McGrath is the Manager of Youth Services for the Nassau Library System. In her position for 19 years, she is responsible for consulting, advising, and supporting the youth services librarians and staff that work in the 54 member libraries of Nassau Library System. She has served on local, state, and national library boards, is a member of ALA, YALSA, ALSC, NYLA, and NCLA. She has presented numerous times at local, state, and national library conferences on many topics related to serving children, teens, and their families in a public library. She is currently a training cohort for the IMLS/YALSA’s Transforming Teen Services through CE, a multi-year project that focuses on the continuing education of library staff related to teen services.

Kenneth Roman

Kenneth Roman is Head of Adult Services at the George F. Johnson Memorial Library in Endicott, NY. Before this position he was the Young Adult Librarian at GFJ Library for six years. Ken has been working in the library field for almost 20 years after starting as a page in high school and as an undergrad at Binghamton University. He continued working in libraries as an intern while he got his Masters in Library Science/ School Media Specialist at Syracuse University, before becoming the Young Adult Librarian/Tech Center Manager upon graduation. This job required Ken to manage the Young Adult Department through collection development and teen programs. As Tech Center Manager, he gave one-on-one tech help and taught computer classes. Ken has also worked as a data manager for the website Project Enable (2015-2018), a project then led by Dr. Ruth Small of Syracuse University to help train librarians to better assist patrons with disabilities, and worked as an academic librarian assistant at SUNY Broome (2017-2020) where he taught information literacy classes and assisted students with research.

Last Updated: January 30, 2025