Abington Community Library to launch podcast with state grant – Scranton Times-Tribune

Teenagers at Abington Community Library will discuss the books they read each month in a new podcast launching in the new year.

Clarks Summit library staff will use $5,000 of a $10,000 Youth Led Humanities grant the library received in the fall to launch the podcast. It will be created and run by teenagers in the library every month, who will choose books and talk about them in the program. The grant covers the cost of equipment and books.

Mary Graham, Abington Community Library’s youth services coordinator, said the podcast provides a variety of opportunities for teens, including hosting, writing, editing and social media.

“We try to have a variety of jobs so kids who maybe want to read but aren’t comfortable speaking in public can still participate and have something they’re responsible for,” she said.

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Mary Graham, youth services coordinator at the Abington Community Library, stands with equipment that will be used by teenagers at the library to create a podcast starting in January, Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)

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Graham was inspired to create the podcast after seeing it done in other libraries, including the Scranton Public Library, whose staff produces The Albright Stories. She felt that teenagers would like it.

“They’re always talking about the different podcasts they listen to, so I thought it would be something unique to be able to give them the skills to create their own podcast,” Graham said.

According to her, the teenage patrons suggested doing something with the grant related to reading.

While this isn’t the first library in the Lackawanna County library system to launch a podcast, Graham said the teen-created podcast is the first created by library patrons, and any teen in the community can participate.

She expects the first episode to be recorded in late January or early February, with Liz Keptner, a communications professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley who teaches classes on podcasts, assisting the group. The first book they’ll discuss is The Creepy Stories of Vivian Vance, Josh Ulrich’s graphic novel about a teenage amateur detective who uncovers the monsters beneath his town.

Graham said the novel was a good first choice for the podcast because graphic novels aren’t often chosen for book clubs, and with so many characters, teenagers have a lot to talk about.

Awarded by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the grant supports teenage reading or humanities-based youth programs. The library was among 22 recipients.

This is not the first time the Abington Public Library has received a grant that they have used the funds from create a sensory garden and a series of adolescent meditations. Graham is open to suggestions on how to use the remaining $5,000, especially from teenagers at the library. This could be an extension of the podcast, which she hopes to attract authors to.

“If it’s something they’re really interested in, then we can use the funds to continue to expand their podcast presence,” she said.

Graham likes to raise funds to support programs aimed at teenagers, which can be hard to find. In addition to the podcast, the library offers numerous programs for teenagers and has received a grant to educate them about careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Executive Director Allison Wind is happy that the library has received another grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council because they have shown that the funds can be used to benefit teenagers.

“It’s great that we can continue to use this money to help teenagers,” she said.

Wind also likes the idea of library podcasts because they are entertaining and informative, just like a library podcast will be.

“It’s something really interesting for teenagers,” she said. “It’s going to be really cool for them to be able to do it themselves.”