From Grand Central to The Bronx

Today was a day full of questions, teens and the NY subway. My day began with a subway trip to Grand Central to look at the Grand Central branch of the NYPL. The branch is located in what is quite a busy business district so the opening hours reflect the usage. The branch is known as a commuter branch so opens at 8am to allow city workers to visit the branch on the way to work. It doesn't close until 7pm on weeknights (except Friday at 5pm), so allows before work, lunctime and after work visits. The branch also has a Teen Centre located on the first floor, called Teen Central. It is a separate room, separated by what seems to be a soundproof glass wall.

I walked into Teen Central and into a wall of music. There was a group of young men grouped around one of the circular computer desks, one listening to his own music on his IPOD, two were online social networking and there was one just relaxing and watching what was going on. The circular desks are perfect for use in the teen area. A group of 2-4 can all sit together using one computer encouraging them to socialise and interact. There's no problem with noise limits, and the teens choose the music they want to listen to. It's a great set up and by all accounts there are teens in everyday. Teen Central has a very large manga collection which has high borrowing statistics (no surprise there). The room has a coffee table stacked with teenage and music magazines and is generally a fantastic, vibrant and noisy space for young adults to enjoy.

Bronx

After my Grand Central visit, I took the D train down to the Bronx. With instructions from the lovely Verna Hodge (librarian), I arrived to find a very large, bright and lovely library branch. The Bronx Library was a great surprise and is actually an award winning building due to it's "green" design. Again the Teen Centre is a fantastic, noisy and vibrant space. The teen space is not separated by a wall as per the Grand Central branch, but is on the ground floor of a 5 floor building. Verna gave me a tour of this great facility which offers services to people of all ages, including english language classes, a large auditorium and a reading and writing centre.

The Teen Centre is very well set up, including the digital banner in the photo which lists programs, new book titles, gaming competitions etc. The desk in this space is staffed by young staff who the teens are clearly comfortable with and who are quite 'techie" as staff working with young adults should be. The staff are very clear with the library users about what is unacceptable behaviour, and the first curse heard means the young person is asked to leave. It seems the young adults have accepted this and the swearing is far less a problem. Again, music was playing, groups of young males were surrounding and sharing a computer and a group of the teens were about to get together and have a chat about what they would like to see in the collection. During the design of the building, a teen advisory group took part in some consultation sessions to ensure the space was appropriate and addressed what they wanted. Interestingly while the branch has a very large manga collection, it seems these titles are not actually borrowed. The teens use the books inhouse but wont take them out of the library. It is felt they are concerned about losing the book and then being issued with a fine, or not able to return to the library for some time. Further to this, the NYPL has initiated what must be one of the best ideas to invite teens back after possibly leaving due to fines, lost books etc. The Fresh Start program offers to waive any outstanding fines for teens on a one off basis. In this way, the teens are able to return to the library with no fear of being approached from staff asking for money or demanding the return of lost books. The Fresh Start program is available to secondary school students once, but has had great positive results.

The chairs chosen for this space are great. The teens relax back in the chairs, they can be easily moved for group chats and are very popular. The building houses a computer room which is utilised for gaming competitions on a bi-monthly basis and which is an extremely popular event. I was extremely impressed with both library branches, however found the Bronx branch an inspiration in dealing with the particular group of young adults who frequent the library. As I was leaving, Verna gave me a last word of advice. She said that in order to have teenagers relate to the library and to ensure they come back, pizza nights are absolutely imperative. Very simple she said, but very rewarding and a wonderful way to ensure an informal get together. Like me, Verna agrees that young people have a huge amount to offer the community and getting them into the library is the first step to positive outcomes.