Notes From The Library

Tweens, And The Art Of Being Less Boring

Today, a couple small stories from the library.

Teen Hang Out

Increasingly, our tiny library is becoming a - I want to say refuge, but that’s not quite the right word - place of comfort for the teens and tweens in our little community. To the greater library world, of course, this is a given, but for us we’ve only recently begun a series of out reach practices to entice that age group into the building.

Now, right about 2:30pm on Friday and on other days as well, I can hear them coming. They march right over from the school next door and basically take over.

They are often loud and sometimes messy and frequently in need of gentle reminders to not destroy the place, but they feel comfortable here. This is a place where they can be themselves - all the awkward weirdness that comes with that age is welcome here and encouraged here.

Today, a gaggle of them worked on building family trees. They are planning on forming a help-team to assist our Friends Group with the upcoming Santa Breakfast Fundraiser.

And yes, they spend too much time playing video games and not enough time doing their homework, but that comes with the territory. Sometimes, finding a place with your friends to eat snacks and play Roblox is fine.

A Boring Office

This week, I had a little patron stop by my office to say hello. My office door opens straight out onto the passage to our circulation desk so if the door is open, anyone can pop their head in. And I particularly like when the little one’s do.

But today, he had a very specific message for me.

“Mr. Dan,” he began, “do you spend all day in this boring room?”

“Oh no! Do you think it’s boring?”

He shrugged.

“What can I do to not make it boring?”

He thought for a second. Then, “Candy?”

I nodded. “You’re right, that would make it less boring. Next time you stop by, I promise to have some candy here.”

He seemed pleased. Note to self: Candy makes the office less boring.