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

Young patrons at the Abington Community Library will discuss their monthly reads in a new podcast to be released in the new year.

Library staff at Clarks Summit will use $5,000 of the $10,000 Youth-Led Humanities grant the library received in the fall to launch the podcast. It will be produced and run by young people who will select books from the library every month and talk about them in the program. The grant covers the cost of equipment and books.

Mary Graham, Abington Community Library youth services coordinator, said the podcast offers different opportunities for teens, including hosting, writing, editing and social media.

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

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

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Graham was inspired to start the podcast after seeing it being done at other libraries; staff including the Scranton Public Library, which produced “Tales from Albright.” He felt it would appeal to young people.

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

He said young customers suggested doing something with the grant regarding reading.

While it’s not the first library in the Lackawanna County Library System to launch a podcast, Graham said the teen-produced podcast is the first made by library patrons and any teen in the community would be welcomed to participate.

He expects the first episode to be recorded in late January or early February with Liz Keptner, a communications instructor at Penn State Lehigh Valley who teaches a course on podcasts and is helping with the group. The first book they will discuss will be “The Spooky Tales of Vivian Vance,” Josh Ulrich’s graphic novel about an amateur teenage detective who uncovers monsters beneath his town.

Graham said the novel was a good first choice for the podcast because comics aren’t often used for book clubs, and with so many characters there’s plenty for teens to talk about.

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

This isn’t the first time Abington Community Library has received this donation, as they used the funds to: create a sensory garden and youth meditation series. Graham is open to suggestions, especially from young people at the library, on how to use the remaining $5,000. This could be an expansion of the podcast where he hopes to include writers.

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

Graham likes to receive funding to support programs for youth, which can be hard to find. In addition to the podcast, the library offers multiple programs for teens and received a grant to educate them about careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Executive Director Allyson Wind is happy the library has received another grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, showing that these funds can be used to benefit adolescents.

“It’s great that we can continue to use this money to help young people,” he said.

Wind also likes the idea of doing a podcast in the library because it’s fun and informative, and so will the library’s podcast.

“It’s a really interesting thing for young people to do right now,” he said. “It will be really great for them to have the opportunity to make these things themselves.”