If one of the keys to professional development in the 21st century is the Internet, then Tracey Firestone is the primary locksmith working for all YA librarians. In addition to her duties as the Young Adult Specialist for the Suffolk Cooperative Library System in New York, Tracey is the force behind Virtual YA Index: a directory of public library young adult pages, The Young Adult Librarians' Homepage, and Teen Hoopla: an Internet guide for teens. A self-taught web designer who used HTML for Dummies as her guide (although she now swears by Front Page 2000), Tracey is the human portal for young adult librarians developing web pages for teens.

For young adult librarians in Suffolk County, Tracey is a professional development center unto herself, providing them with a wide variety of services to help them improve their skills and thus, their services to teens. From site visits to one-on-one consulting to organizing workshops, Tracey acts as an internal expert. In addition to organizing workshops on "hot topics" such as services to gay/lesbian/bi teens, Tracey also trains adult reference librarians who work with teens in her workshop, "Getting Beyond the Nose Ring: Working with Teens at the Reference Desk." In her role as system-wide Young Adult Specialist, Tracey believes she has the "opportunity to effect more change than I ever could in one library." She adds, "Everyone knows the ideal is out there but most of us get stuck in reality. My task is to help people figure out what their best reality can be in order to meet the needs of teens."

Tracey meets regularly with the Suffolk County Library Association's Young Adult Services Division, which provides programs and discussions for YA librarians. She also publishes the monthly professional information bulletin "YA Communiqué," highlighting important developments, upcoming professional events, and special library programs. In all these activities, Tracey demonstrates the important role that experts from cooperative library systems can play in developing librarians, libraries, and library programs.

One program that Tracey coordinates to meet the needs of teens during the summer is the Battle of the Books project. Aimed at students in grades 6-9, Battle of the Books involves local libraries forming teen teams to answer questions about a selected group of books. Teams compete against each other leading to the final Battle of the Books Awards night. Last year this program had a record attendance of over 900 people. Tracey also coordinates Suffolk County's participation in the New York State teen summer reading program.

Tracey has been very involved with the Youth Services Section of the New York Library Association over the past few years. She has spoken on topics such as teen advisory boards, creating and maintaining YA web pages for teens and trends in collection development for young adults, as well as maintaining the Section's web page.

On the national level, Tracey is the chair of YALSA's Teen Web Advisory Committee, which is primarily responsible for updating Teen Hoopla. While loaded with web sites for homework, fun work, and life work, Teen Hoopla is also highly interactive. The "Say What" section allows teens a forum to express their opinions on a variety of topics. In February 2002, the topic up for discussion was romance, while past topics have included homeschooling, dress codes, and Internet filters. At the 2002 ALA conference, Tracey will moderate a panel on teen web pages involving teens and representatives from five libraries that were named, by Teen Hoopla users, as the best YA web pages.

"The things I like best in teen web pages are interactivity and local content, " Tracey says. Allowing teens to email staff, to submit book reviews, or to interact with library staff electronically through chat, Tracey believes interactivity is vital as it "allows online teens to become part of the library community." By adding local content, from lists of radio stations to updates on community events of interest to teens, library web pages provide teens with information they may not find easily anywhere else. While teen web pages need to look graphically appealing, Tracey notes that many YA web pages are loaded down with too many graphics, which can take large amounts of time to load, especially for teens without newer computers or high speed connections.

All of this web work was not exactly what Tracey had in mind entering into the profession. "I never thought I would be a techie, I always thought I would be book person." Tracey says in amazement over the path her career has taken. It was young adult books, and a young adult librarian, that attracted Tracey to the field. Growing up on Long Island, Tracey frequented the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library. She came to know the young adult librarian Teri Germano and went to work as a page. Graduating from SUNY-Stony Brook with a major in humanities and a minor in English, Tracey attended library school at Queens College. Upon graduation, Tracey worked as a young adult librarian in Smithtown and then in Brentwood before taking the position with Suffolk Cooperative Library System. "Teens are so much fun to work with in libraries," Tracey says, "they are so excited about life."

Tracey recently returned to her alma matter as a guest of Dr. Mary K. Chelton to speak with students on the topic of professional development. "Just do it," Tracey says borrowing the Nike slogan, "maybe it is just handing out the evaluations at the back of room, but do something to become more involved in the profession." Tracey notes that it is by doing professional development, such as maintaining The Virtual YA Index, that she herself has grown professionally.

Tracey says that just like a teenager, she is "a work in progress." While she is looking forward to annual conference for professional reasons, attending the Indigo Girls concert at the ALA Scholarship program is high on her to do list, as is reading Anne Rice novels immediately upon publication. Tracey lives on Long Island although she plans to retire near the isles of Greece, once Battle of the Books becomes international in scope.

Tracey can be reached at tfiresto@suffolk.lib.ny.us.

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