Sunday, July 25, 2010
Flushing Library Teens - Prepare to be surprised
My tour of Queens Libraries continues to surprise me. Thursday was spent at Flushing Community Library which is located in Chinatown in Queens. As you can see from the first photo, it is a gorgeous shimmering building of glass and steel and is clearly the focus of this community. Flushing Library is an absolute hub of activity on all 4 floors. The teen room is a great new addition (open for 3 months), and is a huge success. On school days the teen space is open from 2.30pm until 9pm. The room has been designed and decorated to look a lot like an american diner with booth seats, and has a great feel. While gaming is available it is turned off at 5pm each day as believe it or not, this teen space is utilised almost entirely for study. On the day I visited, I began my obs
ervations in the te
en room at approximately 10.30am. At that time I observed 10 teens using the space. Apart from one, they were all studying or reading. Don't forget this is during summer school holidays. There are no computers in the teen space, all computers are available only in the bank of computers which are available for all users. I did think that this would limit the use of the space. Wrong again. After watching a teen event (which I will report on), I returned to the space and to my absolute surprise, the teen space was packed to it's absolute limits. I counted 41 teens in the space, and out of 41, 37 of them were studying. The teens who use the space at Flushing are an extremely studious group and many are high achievers. In complete comparison to most other teen spaces I visited, this one is used as a tradtional quiet study and reading space. While there are options for listening to music and the staff certainly don't expect a completely quiet space, the teens have made this space their own and have obviously developed their own informal agreements. I believe that when gaming is allowed, the space is very noisy (as you would expect), however as I have said, the space is used mostly for quiet study. The Young Adult library staff are very dedicated to their teen community and have a constant calendar of events. The event I observed was advertised as a teen graffiti event. This is a simple concept, had great results and while it was a little messy, the satisfaction and the finished product made this an absolute winner. I large sheet of canvas was pinned to a wall in a separate room from the main library. A YA librarian sketched some letters on the canvas, and then invited the teens to fill in the letters how they wanted. I watched a number of groups form and was impressed how the staff and accompanying teen volunteers allowed the teens to do what they pleased. One group were very keen to paint the canvas, a group of teen girls just stayed at one of the tables and freely painted on sheets of brown paper (which were actually laid out to protect the table tops) while they chatted. 
If nothing else, I have learned that it doesn't take much effort and certainly not an extreme amount of planning to ensure successful teen events. They are looking for something to interest them, they are creative, happy to join in with their friends, and again one of the secrets lies in the talents and skills of the staff.
ervations in the te
en room at approximately 10.30am. At that time I observed 10 teens using the space. Apart from one, they were all studying or reading. Don't forget this is during summer school holidays. There are no computers in the teen space, all computers are available only in the bank of computers which are available for all users. I did think that this would limit the use of the space. Wrong again. After watching a teen event (which I will report on), I returned to the space and to my absolute surprise, the teen space was packed to it's absolute limits. I counted 41 teens in the space, and out of 41, 37 of them were studying. The teens who use the space at Flushing are an extremely studious group and many are high achievers. In complete comparison to most other teen spaces I visited, this one is used as a tradtional quiet study and reading space. While there are options for listening to music and the staff certainly don't expect a completely quiet space, the teens have made this space their own and have obviously developed their own informal agreements. I believe that when gaming is allowed, the space is very noisy (as you would expect), however as I have said, the space is used mostly for quiet study. The Young Adult library staff are very dedicated to their teen community and have a constant calendar of events. The event I observed was advertised as a teen graffiti event. This is a simple concept, had great results and while it was a little messy, the satisfaction and the finished product made this an absolute winner. I large sheet of canvas was pinned to a wall in a separate room from the main library. A YA librarian sketched some letters on the canvas, and then invited the teens to fill in the letters how they wanted. I watched a number of groups form and was impressed how the staff and accompanying teen volunteers allowed the teens to do what they pleased. One group were very keen to paint the canvas, a group of teen girls just stayed at one of the tables and freely painted on sheets of brown paper (which were actually laid out to protect the table tops) while they chatted. 
If nothing else, I have learned that it doesn't take much effort and certainly not an extreme amount of planning to ensure successful teen events. They are looking for something to interest them, they are creative, happy to join in with their friends, and again one of the secrets lies in the talents and skills of the staff. My visit to Flushing Community Library ends my tour of teen spaces within Queens and New York Public Libraries. I am absolutely certain that any or all of the models I have seen are possible within Victorian Public Libraries. There are certainly differences in budgeting, demographics, population and staffing, however the general models are freely available for us to work towards and change to suit our environment. The Queens Library is certainly willing to share their knowledge and experiences, and I hope to be able to define how we can successfully move towards offering our teens more within the public library service. I will be returning with many ideas and concepts, and I am very keen to share what I have learnt in support of our young adults and the importance public libraries can make to their future lives.
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