I decided to pursue this graduate certificate because I am incredibly passionate about working in youth services and I wanted to learn as much as I can in order to serve my patrons in the most effective ways possible. Youth services are a vital part of any public library. Libraries provide an essential service to younger patrons at every developmental level; storytimes for younger patrons encourages early literacy intervention skills, children can depend on librarians for book recommendations, and teen departments provide an essential third space where teens can work and study in a safe environment. 

Earning this certificate has prepared me incredibly well for a career in youth library services. Because I currently work in both the teens and children’s departments of my library, the coursework was directly applicable to my day-to-day responsibilities and the projects that I created for these classes mirrored the projects that I was working on in my professional role. 

The Association for Library Service to Children has a list of seven core competencies that they recommend to all children’s library staff to serve their patrons effectively: commitment to client group, reference and user services, programming skills, collection knowledge and management, outreach and advocacy, administrative and management skills, and professionalism and professional development. The classes that I have taken in order to earn this graduate certificate have helped me tremendously to learn about and adopt these skills in my professional career.