My thoughts on this topic are all over the place and I am praying I will be able to organize them in a way that makes sense.
The other day I was fuming about AI, as I often do these days, when I had the depressing thought about how much of a bummer it must be specifically for teens and young adults to encounter AI in online social spaces. It’s a bummer for me too, to be clear, but I already got to experience the internet as a tween and teen and young adult. It’s such a special time to be online – so many young people are likely to feel like outcasts in their own in-person social circles, and it’s an absolute marvel to find people who understand you on the internet, even if they might be on the other side of the world. Or to find a community of those who share your hyperfixations (to go on a slight tangent, I feel one of the biggest reasons Harry Potter continues to have such a strong hold on millennials is because it became a sensation right around when we were discovering these spaces. In addition to our connection with the books themselves, we also associate Harry Potter with that period of discovery and connection. I know I at least must have spent several thousand hours on Mugglenet between 2001 and 2003 especially. I still remember how much it blew my mind to discover a website like that actually existed.)
But now, everywhere teens turn in search of community on the internet, there’s some kind of “Try this cool AI feature!” prompt. And yes, there are still real humans with whom to interact, but it nevertheless must be demoralizing to be prodded to engage with a non-person over and over again.
And the reason I was thinking about this is because teens have been on my mind quite a bit, due to challenges we’ve had at both the library where I work now, and the one I worked in previously. It seems clear that the pandemic and subsequent loss of healthy socializing with peers during such a crucial developmental period has had detrimental effects on teens. And now libraries have such a challenge, because staff want to support this vulnerable group but also need to think about all patrons, and about ensuring that the library remains a safe space for everyone, not just teens. Following pretty severe incidents, my previous library banned teens from being anywhere but the Teen Room, and my current library *closed* the Teen Room which then caused an increase of incidents as the teens were interacting with adult patrons more frequently. Both of those decisions make me sad, as I think teens deserve better and should feel like the whole library is their space. But I also feel empathy for the teen staff and administrators who feel they are at their wit’s end and must turn to these last resorts.
I think it’s certainly in our best interests as public library workers to invest significant time into thinking creatively about how to reimagine services (and spaces!) for teens, even if we don’t have any answers right this second. Even if we are feeling pessimistic about *ever* having answers. It’s also worth looking at what’s worked in the past, and seeing how we can get back to that while continuing to look forward to new possibilities. One of the best programs for teens at my previous job was a Graffiti Camp, lasting several days in the Summer, during which youth learned about the history of graffiti, met prominent graffiti artists in the community, and got to work on their own pieces. This is such a great example of actually caring about and embracing what teens are interested in, and using that to draw them into the library and build trust. (The “Unquiet Library” in Georgia (Mathews, 2010) is another example of this!) In year two of the Graffiti Camp program, the library was forced to make it virtual due to the pandemic. Not ideal, but teens still had a wonderful time. Screenshot below of the social media post.
Much of the content we’ve read by this point in the class has touched on the importance of disrupting structures, and really challenging our preconceived notions about the importance and relevance of barriers we put up between library spaces, departments, etc. I know I’ve gone past the word count limit, so I will end this by briefly mentioning an article that greatly inspired me that touches on this subject of removing barriers. It’s about the initiatives to prioritize teen services in Hennepin County Library in Minnesota. But the first amazing thing about it was how they went *beyond* teen services, after recognizing that “emerging adults,” or young people who were no longer teens and thus were no longer allowed access to teen spaces, were left somewhat to fend for themselves in the library (Farrell, 2018). The library has a state-of-the art tech center dedicated solely to teens from Monday through Thursday, and began to reserve Fridays for emerging adult programs. They partnered with an organization that works with youth who have experienced homelessness, which greatly increased both their staffing capabilities, and the quality of the programs they’d be offering this group. Through this partnership, they also interviewed emerging adults who were participating in the program, and found out that most of them found the adult spaces of the library inaccessible, and the adult services staff intimidating, unapproachable, and too reserved. This led both to involving all adult services staff in teen engagement training, as well as ensuring the staff liaison to the emerging adults project worked shifts in both adult and teen services desks. This way, teens could see that person in both locations and feel more comfortable, and perhaps might even be introduced to other adult services staff by the liaison. So much to admire here, and I could go on and on about this topic, but I think I should stop there!
References
Farrell, B. (2018). Family and community engagement: Powerful partnerships bring out the best in everyone. Young Adult Library Services, 17(1). 18-24.
Mathews, B. (2010). Unquiet library has high schoolers geeked. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2010/06/21/unquiet-library-has-high-schoolers-geeked/