Step 1 of....?

It has begun. I started the huge process of advocating for more support for teen services at the library. The library I work at is so incredible, I know we could be providing such amazing services for teens in our communities. Already we have several branches that provide high quality programming for teens, why don't we all? Why are there so few teen spaces?

These and many other questions have been occupying my mind on a day-to-day basis both in and outside of work. In no particular order, these are the questions I am currently researching:
How many teens (age 12-18) reside in this county?

• How many are library cardholders?
• How many of our library staff specialize in teen services?
• What is the graduation rate for our county?
• What is the drop-out rate?
• How many organizations serve teens in our county?

Another question that is just as important is how do other libraries our size work with teens? I am contacting around 10 libraries across the country and asking them questions about budget, programming, staffing models, etc. to use for this research.
This is something I am going to propose the Teen Services Committee when we have our next as something that we should potentially work on this year. In addition to the previous questions, the final and probably most important question is, what do we want? What specifically is it we are asking the library to provide? Is it just a matter of money? Is it to create positions? Is it having a strong voice in decision making? These are things we must be considering when embarking on this journey. It's going to be a very, very, very long one.
But I can say this, I have never felt more energized as a librarian and library advocate than I do right now.