In my long and illustrious career as a children's librarian (i.e. all of three years) I've worked in a variety of different library branches through the New York Public Library system (i.e. two). In my first branch I was housed at a lovely location, taking up one full city block. It was heavenly. The sole problem with the job, as I saw it, was that our late 19th century jewel of a building was falling apart at the seams. In the course of discussing various types of renovations, the good people of the NYPL system decided to turn the lowest level (at that time a Reference Room) into a teen center. There'd be computers and comfortable chairs, and a place to put all the Young Adult (YA) books and novels like there had never been before.
Looking at the public response to the plan, however, you would have thought the proposal was to gut the library and fill it with jello. Local residents were not pleased for a variety of reasons. Some of these I sympathized with. Others I did not. Perhaps the most telling objection would come from some of our oldest residents. I remember quite clearly filling in at the Adult Reference Desk and finding myself facing a livid member of "the greatest generation." In no uncertain terms she looked me straight in the eye and said, "teenagers have no place in the library."
Teenagers have no place in the library. A hard statement to argue with since it works on the premise that teens are somehow less than human. Dogs have no place in the library. Rats have no place in the library (though they often seem to forget the fact). Pigeons and monkeys and small wide-eyed bush babies have no place in the library, but teens? With all the respect due my elders that I can muster, I say that teens most certainly do have a place in the library, if the library is willing to accommodate them.
Fast forward in time and I now I am working in the Donnell Branch of the NYPL system. This is a significant move in part because now I am in the Central Children's Room, the loveliest collection of children's books available free and to the public that I know of. And what is located just a floor below me on the Mezzanine of the same building? None other than Teen Central, a hotspot for teenagers right in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.
The idea behind Teen Central is simple. If you create a space for young adults, they will come. Particularly if you're able to offer them some incentives for their visit. So it is that Teen Central is the coolest place in the library, no question. More than 15 computers are attended at all times by a variety of different patrons. Music (teen choice) plays throughout the room and there are huge selections of DVDs, CDs, graphic novels, books, and more. A teen advisory board meets regularly to discuss additions to the collection and what the kids want to see more of. Tuesday and Thursday nights are game nights with Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution in constant rotation. And this being New York, authors will come in all the time to talk up their books and meet with the kids about one title or another.
The best part? It's for teens ONLY. Oh, adults can walk around and get a feel for the space, but no sitting down. Though grown-ups might want to relax and take a load off, this area is strictly adolescent based, and that goes double for little kids. Sure, they can rifle through the Manga literature if they want, but don't get comfortable. Give the teens their space.
Being that this is Midtown we're talking about, there are not a lot of local kids who come in. Instead, these young adults travel from various parts of Manhattan and the Bronx to hang out in the Donnell room. You might think this could lead to difficulties. Turf wars are bound to break out once in a while, but on the whole the Nathan Strauss Center is relatively calm. There is a downside. As of right now NYPL hasn't quite figured out what to do with the room during the day. Do you close your doors until noon, thereby denying access to the adults and homeschoolers who need your space? Do you intrude on your patrons’ privacy and call the truant officers of their respective schools if kids are there during school days? There are no easy answers.
In spite of these questions, Teen Central is a model for other library systems. All over the country libraries are creating infinitely cool rooms of their own. If you consider what the old patron at my former library said, it is true in a way. For a lot of teens there isn't a space for them in the library. Maybe it's about time we gave it to them. After all, if you lose them when they're adolescent, how on earth will you ever lure them back?
Posted by: Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library