She Lives! (and has thoughts about teen library services)

Yesterday afternoon, a group of QL's (fabulous) teen pages, under the guidance of Emmanuelle, our (also fabulous) Youth Workforce Development Coordinator, presented their findings from surveys and interviews they conducted with teens in the Central Library. While it's probably not a good idea to assume that what they found among 100 teens (already in one of our buildings & who actually agreed to be surveyed) is completely representative of the 292,153 teens in Queens (or even the 12,000+ who registered for Summer Reading last year), a couple of things came out I think bear examining.

1) The teens said they want a place in the library where they can:

• hang out for a couple of hours
• have something to eat (which they said they would clean up after themselves)
• talk to each other but not get up and walk around the whole time
• be supervised by a librarian or other staff member (even a security officer)
• have soft music playing in the background
• watch a movie once a week

Obviously, few of our libraries have a physical space or the staff to do this EVERY DAY, but isn't this something that could be done pretty easily once a week? If more formal teen programs aren't working, maybe this is the way to go at your library.

2) The teens said they use the library most for the computers and for reading (I got similar results when I talked to teens in the South Jamaica CL recently), that they would be interested in book clubs or another venue where they could talk to each other about the books they are reading, and that they want more new books, DVDs and video games.

What this tells me is that as much as we cry about teens not reading, they are--online and in print! They want to read, talk about what they've read, and have a wide variety of materials to choose from. And since we know we have new stuff, if the teens aren't seeing it, this means better display and merchandising, and WEEDING!! How will teens find the new good stuff when it's hidden with the old and cruddy-looking good stuff?

3) They don't like the postcards we use for advertising programs--they don't look at them. BUT, they'd like fliers and posters advertising programs. They'd like the postcards if they were displayed on the tables somehow, or in a place they could flip through them (like a Rolodex).

The pages didn't say this but I suspect the main reasons they don't like the postcards is that they are displayed near the reference desk usually and they want to be able to browse more freely. Be creative when advertising your programs and using the collateral material from MCD.

4) The teens asked for a quiet study room! I have heard this from many teens and librarians (who have heard from teens).

With limited space, this may be difficult but it's nice to know they want it! Maybe you can make a temporary Quiet Zone during Regents week (ah . . . brings back fond memories of 24 hour quiet hours in my college dorms during finals!).

5) Finally, all of this information was uncovered because library employees TALKED TO TEENS!!

Not to get into a potential research article (hmmm . . .) but I suspect the teens were more open to answering the questions because they were being asked by another teen.

There is the possibility this project will be expanded to the Community Libraries, but you can certainly do something similar on your own right now! Involve your pages in the process, ask Emmanuelle for advice (and me, too--I love survey research!).

Any thoughts on what this project discovered?