Libraries tune in to teens

Modern benches accent the newly designed teen space at the Gleason Public Library in Carlisle. A teenage advisory group hopes to expand programming for youths as well. (Globe Staff Photo / David Kamerman)

To look at sixth-grader Connor Melvin, you might correctly guess that he's a Boy Scout and a downhill skier. But there's something else on the 12-year-old's resume that defies typecasting: He's a consultant to his local public library.

For Connor, it's a brand new role, sparked just last year when a staff member of the Gleason Public Library in Carlisle came to his school to report the creation of TOGA - Teens of Gleason Advisors. Connor was intrigued. "Before that, I hadn't spent much time at the library," he said. "But I thought it would be cool to help out."

Carlisle is not alone in turning its attention to the needs of its younger library-goers and in drawing upon grant money to make changes. The Reuben Hoar Library in Littleton and the J.V. Fletcher Library in Westford also have active teen advisory groups to help library staff make decisions about young adult programming.

Often by patching together funding from federal and state grants and their own endowments and donor gifts, these and other libraries in the region are devoting more resources than ever to beefing up offerings to teens.

The results, in some cases, are startling. Littleton's Hoar Library saw a three-fold increase in circulation of teen materials in the space of a year: from 2,836 items checked out in 2007 to 8,678 last year.

A big chunk of that increase, said library director Marnie Oakes, is Manga, a Japanese comic book form wildly popular with young Americans. But that a library would be hip to such a trend is just one example of the ways the once-fuddy-duddy institutions are retooling their young adult collections to please what librarians call the "teens and 'tweens" audience.

In Carlisle, Gleason Library director Angela Mollet says she had known for some time that the facility needed to find creative ways to meet the needs of its teenage patrons.

She could see that while some young people used the library regularly for studying or reading, a number of teens also gathered at the facility for skateboarding in the parking lot - officially not allowed for safety reasons - and at the computer bank to check their e-mail or play video games. There must be a better way of enticing them to sample the library's offerings, she suspected.

So Mollet and her staff found a handful of grant programs designed to attract young people to their local libraries. (On the federal level, there's the Equal Access Grant, while the state offers several grant programs administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.)

In November, the most tangible result of their efforts appeared with the opening of the Gleason Library's teen space, which has comfortable chairs perfect for slouching, contemporary fabrics, and magazines about skiing and skateboarding.

And the new space is only the beginning. Now that their interior decorating assignment is over, the TOGA group is turning its attention to expanding the library's teen programming.

Early efforts to plan events have proved successful: Earlier this year, the group held a gaming party at the library, turning over the facility on a Friday night to Wii, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and other computer games; and it hopes to hold a murder mystery evening next.

"Now, a lot of kids go to the library to hang out and do homework," said Connor Melvin, who is about to enter his teens. "I think that now, more kids will use the library than ever before."

In Littleton, Oakes, the library director, and program director Linda Schreiber used a survey to get ideas for teen programming, and then put together a group of teens to help effect some of the recommendations that emerged from the data.

As in Carlisle, a top priority turned out to be the redesign of the designated teen space within the library.

Oakes admitted a bit of apprehension to what the teenagers would come up with for their choices, but they surprised her by opting for a palette that Oakes said was "wonderful, a little '50s-ish, with avocado and gold, and orange, but really very pretty." A deep red rug complemented the design.

Programming is a focus of Littleton's efforts as well. Prior to implementation of the two-year grant, Oakes said that an average of three teens would attend each event intended for their age group; now the average is up to 16.

The teens in the advisory group not only help plan the events - Dance Dance Revolution parties and movie nights are popular - but are also responsible for setup, cleanup, and recruiting chaperones. Haverhill's public library used grant money to run a series of cooking classes; each one, according to teen services librarian Alissa Lauzon, reached capacity with 15 sign-ups.

In Westford, young adult librarian Kira McGann has overseen a group of about 20 middle schoolers, high schoolers, and home schoolers for the past several years.

"I rely on them for suggestions and input into what they would consider great services and programs. They provide suggestions for materials to include in our young adult collection," McGann said. Programs she is currently implementing at the teens' suggestion include origami workshops and gingerbread house making.

For Andover's teens and reference librarian, Kimberly Lynn, there was only one surprise in what her group of young advisers asked for as they worked their way through a two-year $20,000 Library Services and Technology Act grant earmarked for "teens and 'tweens" services.

Along with the video game nights and computer upgrades she expected, they wanted something unexpectedly traditional: more literary programming.

"We have a lot of big readers in our middle school and high school population, and they wanted chances to discuss books," Lynn said. "Circulation of materials for that age group is up 60 percent from where it was a few years ago. People who say teens don't read are simply wrong about that."

Nancy Shohet West can be reached at NancySWest@msn.com.