The Warner Library

WARNER LIBRARY MAKES ‘CONNECTIONS’ FOR ITS TEENS

A TALE OF COLLABORATION

            For years, the area of the Warner library reserved for young adult materials consisted of two long, but low shelves of circulating fiction, non-fiction and reference books, with the area on top of the shelving used to display a rather out of date array of videos and audio books and any new materials we wanted to highlight.  Young patrons had to sit on the floor to browse part of the collection.  Welcoming and accessible?  No, it wasn’t.  Teens, at our library, were still considered the somewhat ‘unknown’ and ‘unknowable’, with behavior that seemed intimidating because it did not always conform to typical library standards.  The young adult population of our community remained a much neglected segment of library patrons.  But, as in many libraries, the time had arrived to give much more attention to their needs and wants, and make sure they received the special considerations they deserved.  This is the story of how the Warner Library found a way to create a special place for the teens in the library that would cater to their unique needs and serve them as valued members of our library community.  

The creation of the Warner Library’s new Teen Area named ‘CONNECTIONS’ proved to be a true collaborative effort among teachers and students at Sleepy Hollow High/Middle School, and the staff and Teen Advisory Board of the Warner Library that took about four years to come to fruition.  When the notion of a special and more defined space for local teens was just a ‘glimmer in the eye’ of the library director and myself, the young adult librarian, the concept of involving local teens who would be the primary users of the area took root.  After all, who better to tap into the wants and needs of young adults than teens themselves.  And if the library professed to a  desire to renew  its commitment to developing a collection, services, and programs more relevant to a heretofore neglected population, then what better way to show its sincerity than to solicit the thoughts and opinions of that special group.

 At the inception of the project, the library didn’t realize that the process might be such a lengthy one.  But we soon realized that there would be many steps that would need to be taken to achieve the desired result, beginning with securing the necessary funding; then selecting an appropriate location; creating a workable physical layout; selecting furniture and equipment that would support the library’s vision and the teens’ goals and contribute to an aesthetic sensibility; getting feedback from prospective teen users to develop a collection of books, magazines, audio books, DVD’s and computer software that would adequately serve the informational, developmental and leisure needs of our young patrons.  And it goes without saying, that an endeavor such as this must gain the approval of the library director and board members, as well as enlist the aid and support of other library staff.   Sounds like a lot of stars have to be aligned?....well, yes, they do.  After all, who said it would be easy?....,    But if you’re a bit lucky, you commit to your goals, and you work hard, the dream, as evidenced by the completion of our lovely new Teen Area, ‘CONNECTIONS’ can actually become a reality.

The project actually had its beginnings four years ago in 2004 when I asked Angela Langston, a graphics design teacher at Sleepy Hollow High School if she would consider having her students design a model Teen Space at the Warner Library as part of their class assignment.  I was eager to have the students at the high school become aware of their importance to the library.   In addition, Warner Library has always endeavored to improve its working relationship with the schools and promote school/library collaborations.  I also felt that getting feedback and input from our young adults was the only way we could create a place that would be appealing enough to make the library a destination for them. 

Students and teacher visited one morning, listened to our goals for the new teen area, and then proceeded to begin work on a plan.  They toured the entire library and were unanimous about a location where the teen area would fit best.  After taking measurements and exchanging initial ideas, the teens left with enough information to create a workable design.  Three months later at the end of the school year, they made a PowerPoint presentation to the Warner’s director and me that revealed an attractive and workable Teen Area that any library would be proud to have.  They also made a graphic display that included the color scheme, examples of furnishings, and ideas for some original artwork and literary displays that were fun, creative and very appropriate for the teen space.

 The director and I were extremely pleased with the students’ finished product and had hoped that the plans would soon become a reality.  We knew that we had the support of the High School’s Superintendent and the encouragement of the school librarian.  But alas, the time was not right.  With personnel changes in our Board, other issues became more pressing.  I did receive encouragement, however, to develop a survey to be completed by students at the high school asking such questions as: ‘Would you like to have a room in the library with books and materials just for teens?’, ‘What would make you want to visit the library more often?’, ‘What (types of resources) would you like the library to have in the ‘Teen Room’?, and ‘List the specific titles of materials you would like the ‘Teen Room to have, i.e. magazines, books (fiction and non-fiction and foreign language), authors, manga, DVD’s, and CD’s.  Opinions about the types of events and programs that would be most appealing to teens and suggested names for the new teen space were also solicited.  I contacted a number of the school’s teachers who agreed to distribute the survey to their students.  Approximately 400 surveys were collected from the 7^th – 12^th grades and a statistical analysis was run by one of the math professors.  The data collected from these surveys gave us a wealth of positive feedback that encouraged me to continue to campaign for a special ‘Teen Area’.  The students’ responses indicated they definitely wanted ‘a place in the library all their own’ and that we could actually satisfy some unmet information, social, and leisure needs for our local teen population.

We were ready to take the next step.  I had been reading in recent library literature that libraries were beginning to develop ‘Teen Advisory Boards’ to get the word firsthand on the kinds of resources young people wanted in their library’s collection and the kind of programming that would be most appealing to them.  With the help of the Mary Hernnstadt, the librarian at Sleepy Hollow Middle/High School spreading the word and connecting me to some interested teens, and my own connections with young adult patrons who more regularly visited the library, our first ‘Teen Advisory Board’ came into being.  The eight members of the ‘board’ in 2006/2007 became invaluable for the support they provided in our initiative to focus on teen services, for their ideas for program development and assistance in coordinating the programs, and soon for the role they played in the creation of our new Teen Area.  Their enthusiasm and joyful anticipation of an attractive, comfortable, and well-defined teen space of their own, carried me and my cohorts on the project through any trials and tribulations that we encountered.  And when Warner Library added Jenifer Ross as ‘Communications Director’ for the library, it was another stroke of good fortune, as she also felt that it was time the teens had their own place, and campaigned for our cause. 

We had previously submitted a proposal that was ‘cost conscious’ to the ‘Friends of the Library’ to fund the project, and with some persistent follow-up, we finally got a definitive approval, and all systems were ‘go.  The official Teen Room development team became Jenifer Ross, the Teen Advisory Board, and myself, and we were given the go-ahead to execute all aspects of the project - from selecting the location, to designing the physical layout, selecting a color scheme, furniture and displays, and purchasing the computers and software.  As we eagerly embarked on this venture, we found the task sometimes pretty daunting.…. with so many factors to consider, e.g. What colors would be bright and cheerful, but not ‘jarring’, Were we ordering enough seating?, Would the furniture endure the test of time?, Was there enough room to accommodate our enhanced collection? How should we arrange the furniture in a small space to give a sense of roominess?, etc.  In fact, every decision seemed to carry a host of options and invite a chorus of varied and differing opinions.  It surely was a bit confusing and exasperating, at times, but what fun, too!  I’ll always remember the days as filled with excitement and eager anticipation.  And a time when everyone in the library pulled together to help us reach the goal.

I felt it was most important that we include the teens in the decision-making process.  They had the deciding voice in determining the Teen Area’s location in the library.  They got their wish, for example, to have it reside in a corner of the Reference Room.  They were also consulted on their ideas for style of furniture, new book collections, magazine titles, manga, movies, and other materials to be added to the collection as well as software for the computers.  I also consulted the results from the Teen Survey distributed to the school previously, for additional feedback on details such as this for what the teens wanted in terms of educational and entertainment resources.  Bimonthly meetings with the Teen Advisory Board became a combination of planning for our programs, and talking about the teen room.  When it came time to take the first step of selecting colors for the space so the area could be painted, I could see that consensus was not coming easily.  My partner, Jenifer, who has a background in design was able to provide a number of color swatches.  I created five color schemes that I thought might work and asked the teens to vote for their first, second, and third favorites for the teen room.  Among the three favorites, they were asked to vote again.  We finally found a color palette that was acceptable for everyone.  We also asked the advisory board to vote on a list of suggestions from various sources for a name for our teen room, with ‘Connections’ garnering the most votes. 

Before we knew it, it was time for our room to become a reality.  To save money, both adult and teen volunteers helped move books temporarily downstairs, and then paint the area.  And many others contributed their time and energy to get us up and running:  new wiring was put in place by an electrical team; the company that donated some of our ‘cool’ lighting did their installation; wall to wall carpeting, was laid, a donation from a local furniture store; furniture was assembled by our maintenance engineer as it arrived; and new display shelving was put up.  The entire Warner Library staff pulled together to make any accommodations necessary during the construction.  With all the support and assistance we had, the project was finished by the desired completion date, and the library could proudly promote its new area for teens called ‘Connections’.   At the official ribbon cutting and opening reception in October attended by our teen advisory board, the library board, village trustees, the Superintendent of Schools, the mayors of both Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, other local librarians, and our library patrons, everyone involved in the endeavor felt a real sense of accomplishment.

 I’m most grateful to the cooperative efforts of both the professional staff and students at Sleepy Hollow High/Middle School who provided such moral support, and who offered their talents, skills and creative ideas to help us reach our goal.  I feel that it was the collaboration between the school and the library that enabled our new ‘Teen Area’ to become the special place that it is: an inviting, appealing and relevant place for young adults.  We are also extremely proud that we will be honored this year on May 10th by the Foundation for the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns for our efforts on behalf of School/Library cooperation.  Our desire to forge a good working relationship with the schools and partner with them on relevant endeavors has always been prominent among our goals.  We hope that this spirit of collaboration will continue to thrive and grow in the years ahead.

Submitted by Elizabeth Siracusa

Young Adult Librarian

The Warner Library

121 N. Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591

Phone: 914-631-7734; Fax: 914-631-2324