About April Layne Pavis

April Layne Pavis is a Teen Services Librarian in a Northern Virginia public library system, and loves it! One of her favorite job duties is reading/being knowledgeable about YA literature, and discussing/recommending it to young people (and open-minded adults).

Fresh Paint: A New Building, a New Team, a New Me

By April Layne Pavis on January 15, 2013 Leave a Comment

My father is a Marine, so by the time I was eight I was quite adept at packing up my things. I vividly remember when we moved to Beaufort, SC. It was 1996, and it was the ﬁrst time I ever took advantage of a move. Instead of trashing my old clothes and childish toys, I ﬁxed up parts of my personality that needed improvement and tried out some new traits. I asked people to call me “Al”, giving the role of tomboy a spin. I also spoke up a little more and put myself in more social situations. I used this experience to invent a whole new me.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Librarians & Media Specialists, Professional Reading, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With: SLJTeen

Fresh Paint: Teen Volunteers—Priceless

By April Layne Pavis on December 18, 2012 1 Comment

Volunteers are a critical component of the public library organization. At my branch, nearly 20 percent of the shelving is completed by adult and teen volunteers. Each month teens log an average of 125 volunteer hours, which is comparable to having an additional staff member. We have volunteers at work nearly every open hour during the summer, and on evenings and weekends during the school year. Their dedication is tireless. Their value? Priceless.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With: SLJTeen

Fresh Paint: Planning Programs in the Dark

By April Layne Pavis on November 19, 2012 1 Comment

How do you plan a party for someone you have never met? It’s stressful enough planning a party for someone you know very well—you already know what foods to cook, what music to play, and who to invite. But planning a party for a complete stranger—or a whole group of them —with no inkling of their interests? That is downright terrifying. Nevertheless, it is what I have spent the past couple months doing.

Filed Under: Programs & Programming, Teens & YA Tagged With: SLJTeen

Fresh Paint: The Trouble with Being the New Kid in Town

By April Layne Pavis on October 15, 2012 Leave a Comment

Part of the fun of opening a new library is getting to tell people about it, and seeing their reactions. Myself and some coworkers have recently attended farmer’s markets and back-to-school nights in the Gum Sping area, talking to residents about the new library and answering their questions about resources and programs. We have encountered excited citizens whose enthusiasm is palpable. But we have also met hesitant residents who have never experienced a public library who are unsure of its purpose, and fearful of its unfamiliarity. While we appreciate the former group, the latter group is what drives me to outreach events, in hopes of educating them on the benefits of the library so that when we open they are educated as to our mission and seek to learn more about us.

Filed Under: Librarians & Media Specialists, Programs & Programming, Students, Teens & YA Tagged With: SLJTeen

Fresh Paint: Works Well with Others

By April Layne Pavis on September 19, 2012 Leave a Comment

The public library is an information center providing resources that the community needs and wants. To know exactly what the community needs and wants the library relies on comment cards, conducts online surveys, and closely follows local issues and trends. But what if there are no customers to poll, no users for librarians to have a discussion with? This is exactly the situation that my library system is currently facing, because we are building a library where there has never been one (for many, many miles) and therefore there are no statistics, surveys, or discussions to base our collection, preliminary programming, or resource needs.

Filed Under: Budgets & Funding, Buildings & Design, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With: SLJTeen

Coming Soon: Fresh Paint!

By April Layne Pavis, Loudon County (VA) Public Library on September 5, 2012 Leave a Comment

There’s a new column coming to SLJTeen – Fresh Paint: Notes from a Public Library. We’ll hear from April Pavis, teen services librarian, as she prepares to move into the eighth library branch in Loudoun County, Virginia, the Gum Spring Library which will deliver 40,000 square feet of space for materials, programs, education, and entertainment to an area of the county that has never had a library.

Filed Under: Buildings & Design, Industry News, Programs & Programming, Public Libraries, Teens & YA Tagged With: SLJTeen