Adulting 101

When Teresa Lucas decided to teach basic life skills to young adults via an “Adulting 101” library program series last year, she was not expecting a media onslaught. But that’s what she got.

“We had tens of thousands of Facebook hits, of calls, of emails. It was crazy,” says Lucas, who is assistant director of library services at North Bend (Oreg.) Public Library (NBPL). “Other libraries were saying: ‘Oh, tell me more, tell me more!’ At one point, I could barely keep up.”

The frenzy reached its zenith on March 29, when Kelly Ripa, cohost of the nationally syndicated morning talk show Live with Kelly (now Live with Kelly and Ryan), said to much applause from the live audience, “They should offer this everywhere, not just at the North Bend Public Library.”

The good news for Ripa and those who agree with her: NBPL is just one of many that have launched classes aimed at teaching young adults how to balance a checkbook, cook a meal, sew on a button, shop for auto insurance, and perform other necessities of life. Libraries in Birmingham, Alabama; Bozeman, Montana; Los Angeles; New York City; Pittsburgh; Tucson, Arizona, and many other locations are offering these classes, which vary in their content but which are almost always marketed as Adulting 101 or a variant thereof.

Interested in hosting an Adulting 101 program series at your library? Read the full article HERE.