Student Maelynn likes hands-on activities
Maelynn: I just painted a canvas or made some bracelets, which was really cool for me. Then, they also have it like video games, which is cool because I love playing Mario Kart.
Ki Sung: Of course, 14-year-old Adam loves to make online content after finishing his homework.
Adam: Sometimes I just record the gameplay with my own voice, which is really fun because I’m very good at it, but the games I love playing just make me happy.
Maelynn: Like I’ve never heard no one say it, like oh, we’re going to hang out in the library. It’s like, oh, I’m going to hang out, but not many people know about this mix either.
Ki Sung: The mixture has its own entrance on the second floor of the library. There are everything you can imagine inside to promote creativity. There is a room with a 3-D printer, sewing machine, mannequin and cabinets with artwork.
There are two soundproof rooms with instruments where teenagers can make studio quality music recordings, podcasts or make green screen videos. There are some tables to play with, such as Dragons and Dragons, a “carpet garden” lounge that can be relaxed or rolled on the phone. Seats for groups of big and small; a row of computers for playing video games; and of course bookshelf filled with comics.
While I was there, I saw teenagers occupying every part of the mix for activities or hang out happily
In today’s episode of The Thinking Sample Podcast, you’ll hear about how three libraries change their services to create a third space that is neither home nor school, a third space that teenagers can thrive. Be with us.
Ki Sung: In order to get to know the San Francisco mix, you have to go back to Chicago in 2009 in time.
Ki Sung: At that time, the Chicago Public Library began its bold plan with a plan called Youmedia. It is part of a broader program called Digital Media and Learning. Youmedia aims to enable students to access technology and digital media in a secure environment with trusted adult mentors. Remember, this is an era when there were fewer computers with wifi, so it makes sense to use WiFi at home, so it makes sense to offer these services in the library.
The idea is to lean towards technology and build a bridge between letting teens do what they want to do and to ensure that teens are in a positive environment. It was a very new idea at the time.
To teach digital media skills, educators tried structured curriculum similar to schools, but found that this was not widespread among youth.
So, they launched workshop models where teenagers can explore at their own pace.
Eric Brown helped conduct research on Youmedia’s impact, explaining how employees can interact with teenagers at a 2013 workshop:
Eric Brown: They didn’t force it to hang down your throat. This is a great place to give you a choice. You can pursue it or relax. And, you pursue it when you are ready. This is the spirit of a teenager who goes to your media.
Ki Sung:The youmedia model is so successful that the Chicago Public Library system extends it to 29 branches.
Other library systems across the country quickly followed the example.
But teenagers always keep you on your toes. So be aware that what they need is something that librarians always pay attention to. In New York, they have seen one of these demands lately. This is Siva Ramakrishnan, director of young adult services at the New York Public Library.
Siva Ramakrishnan: The pandemic has really eased the need for space where teenagers can build communities again.
Siva Ramakrishnan: After all this isolation, you know, it’s a tough and weird thing, in many teenagers, like a traumatic period, right? So, at NYPL, we do a lot of things.
Siva Ramakrishnan: So we did invest in the space. You know, this is kind of a trend in libraries across the country, that there is usually no space that is actually reserved for teenagers, right? Historically, there might be a regular child area, which tends to be misrepresented, rather young and adorable, right? But that’s an adult area, right? It’s often quiet, like a deep point, right?
Siva Ramakrishnan: So, over the past few years, we have really worked on the job, thus providing space for teenagers’ libraries.
Ki Sung: It is important that the library is not only a space, but also provides programming. At the Youth Centers of the New York Public Library, all within several branches throughout the city, they focus on teaching civic engagement, college and career-ready programs, and such as how to run a 3D printer or promote a banned book club or how to organize a fashion design startup camp.
Siva Ramakrishnan: In fact, we see a lot of teenagers in the library. NYPL has more than 90 neighborhood libraries. Just like the last school year in the summer, we saw nearly 120,000 teenagers who chose the library to their local branch and took an after-school course after a long day at school.
Ki Sung: Critics of things other than literacy can cheer up because New York teenagers do have a fascinating benefit. According to Ramakrishnan, not only did they come to the library, but these teenagers actually read more.
Doreen: Well, there are many types of different media we consume now.
Ki Sung: That’s the job of Doreen, a student ambassador at the New York Public Library, is to coach children.
Doreen: I think people will only read books or physical books. I know a lot of people reading on their Kindles or myself and I have a heavy schoolbag. I picked up my iPad, downloaded a PDF of my book or textbook, and read it there.
music
Ki Sung: It turns out that even if your initial reason for appearing is completely irrelevant, it can help promote reading in the library.
Ki Sung: Back in San Francisco, Student Library Ambassador Shane Macias considers his current relationship with Reading.
Shane: Just like I checked the books and took the books there, they were available for free. I read at home.
Ki Sung: This combination does reinvent the impact of libraries on their communities. But when it began about a decade ago, the concept behind the teenage space was also contrary to the traditional understanding of libraries.
Eric Hannon: Some people are opposed to the project in the community and express concern, like this sounds like a recreation center and a youth daycare center.
Ki Sung: That’s Eric Hannon, a librarian who helped start the mixing.
Eric Hannon: And I’ve worked in the library for 35 years, which is not what the library should do, but usually you have the lake children we use to call Latchkey in the library, they have nowhere to go after school, they have nowhere to go, parents are working, they are all working, they are relaxing in the library. So they’ll be there anyway, so we can cater to that, too.
Ki Sung: To meet the needs of teenagers, the library gets input from them. A suggested Youth Council (Bay) centers around the San Francisco space in San Francisco (Ho-Mah-go) and designed the San Francisco space, a hangout, messy acrobatic. The board got final decisions on specific aspects of the space, such as furniture preferences, programming, and they even advocated dedicated bathrooms in the mix. For Shane, a teenager-designed space fits the bill.
Shane: I’m going to say that spaces are very important because for me, at school and other libraries I’ve been to, I’m either stuck with adults or kids, which isn’t uncomfortable, but it’s like, I’m not around my age, so it feels really awkward and I guess it’s really uncomfortable. It bothers me why teenagers don’t have many places to go. Like, obviously we can relax in the park or get home, but sometimes we want more.
Ki Sung: It turns out that as more libraries act as community centers for youth, they meet the needs that schools and other institutions cannot serve.
Eric Hannon: The library can play an important role in helping teenagers to be particularly adapted to stress, stressors in life, whether political or biological interconnected or mere development. They just went through a unique era, which was six to seven years of their life. And there are many libraries that can help relieve some of the pain.
Ki Sung: The Mindshift team includes me, Ki Sung, Nimah Gobir, Marlena Jackson-Retondo and Marnette Federis. Our editor is Chris Hambrick. Seth Samuel is our sound designer. Jen Chien is our podcast leader. Katie Sprenger is the podcast operations manager and Ethan Toven Lindsey is our editor. We received additional support from Maha Sanad.
Part of MindShift’s support is generous support from William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and KQED members. ”
Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Screen Actors Association. San Francisco Northern California local.
