Reading “Library 2.0” (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007) felt inspiring, like when someone brings fresh ideas to you that tickles your mind and gets you to connect that perspective with your personal experience in order to push an idea further. It also felt right, like it made sense, almost common sense. I particularly clicked with the tenet of “reaching out to potential library users” (p.5). As a prospective teacher librarian who just did fieldwork, I noticed that I often saw the same students though we have a huge school and I was there only two afternoons a week. I would be curious to know the percentage of students who never come to our school library outside of a class. Just like Casey & Savastinuk ask “Why aren’t we reaching those not using our services, and what do we have to do to reach them?” (2007, p.16) , I’m wondering how to get these students in the school library.
The 2013 Pew Report reports about what people want to find in libraries, but it did not really address too precisely what teens would like to find there. After a bit of a search, I dug out a more recent Pew report (2024) about teens and video games: 85% of US teens play video games and as much as 40% of them identify as gamers. The picture displaying the Portland Public Library in Maine, I visited their website.
Teens compete in a video game tournament at the Portland Public Library in Maine in 2018. (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
It offers so many cool ideas of resources, programs and services directly targeted at teens such as the EBSCO Learning website to prepare for life after high school, driving tests, video game Thursdays & Fridays, the teen art table with professional-grade supplies., a nature photography program, and many more!
It is obvious that as public libraries are changing, schools are changing, and therefore school libraries need to change as well. If they don’t, they will not meet their students’ needs and interests. As a teacher librarian, having a diverse and relevant collection and providing media literacy as well as instruction that allows our students to be successful in their classes is a top priority. Another top priority is reading engagement. And I do not see how you will get reading engagement if they don’t even come to the library. I believe that if students start seeing the library as a space they enjoy going to (and that can be for ANY reason), they may start to also engage more with reading literacy. And here I do not mean to sound like I’m trying to lure teens into the library to set them up with a book asap! I genuinely want them to feel welcome and comfortable here. Regardless of the end goal. If they end up picking up an interest in reading, I’m not going to complain ! But if they come and end up honing their video edit skills or simply socializing with friends over shared interests, I will take that too. A bit like the HOMAGO concept (Hanging Out Messing Around Geeking Out) described in O’Brien article, “the youth will engage on a higher level eventually, but they have to get comfortable. And for some of them, their lives are really high pressure, so they appreciate that this is a chill space“ (2019).
Now comes one of the challenges. We talk about teens as a single entity but they are as different as any group. Some will devour four graphic novels in a single weekend, some will spend hours playing video games, some will knit, some make videos and post them on YouTube. The more heterogeneous the group, the more challenging it is to find out about their interests and try to meet them. But that is the job! And that is also the fun part. Kids love to tell you about what they love. And when you start to bring them in with something that interests them, they will start talking to you about other things they like, it is like unravelling a sweater.
Leferink’s article (2018) talks about the library as a third space. While they talk about the public library, I think the school library can and should be a third space too: not home and not quite work/school, or at least not all the time. As I can see at play in the HOMAGO view, the human side of the Hyperlinked Library is the aspect that really resonates with me. It is about people and our connections with people. This is how I envision my school library.
References
Casey, M. E., & Savastinuk, L. C. (2007). Library 2.0 : a guide to participatory library service. Information Today. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10502034
Gottfried J. & Sidoti O. (2024, May 9). Teens and video games today. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/05/09/teens-and-video-games-today/
Leferink S. (2018, January 24). To keep people happy… keep some books. Next. https://blog.oclc.org/next/to-keep-people-happy-keep-some-books/
O’Brien C. (2019, June 24). How San Francisco’s public libraries are embracing their changing role. Shareable. https://www.shareable.net/how-san-francisco-public-libraries-are-embracing-their-changing-role/
Portland Public Library. (n.d.). Teens.. Retrieved June 20, 2026, from https://www.portlandlibrary.org/teens/
The Mix at SFPL. (2024, August 1). Mix Tour Video 2024 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQk0pHp3lUw&t=10s
Zickuhr K., Rainie L. & Purcell K. (2013, January 22). Library services in the digital age. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/01/22/part-4-what-people-want-from-their-libraries/
