Giving Libraries an Edge
The Brooklyn Public Library targets troubled teens by offering innovative programs
By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2005
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) in New York City is offering high-risk teens a new reason to check out their local branches. Launched in the Brownsville, Flatbush, and DeKalb branches last fall, “Teen Edge” hopes to lure 13- to 18-year-olds with hip-hop dance classes, Web site design instruction, and even “open mic” poetry readings.
“Some of these branches had teens who were attending the library but just hanging out and not fully participating,” says Sheila Schofer, BPL’s coordinator for young adult services. “We wanted to preempt them from taking a wrong path.”
With the help of a $395,000 grant sponsored by the Justice Department, each branch received six laptops that were loaded with software, including Photoshop and Dreamweaver, and equipped with wireless capabilities. Teens are now using the software to create a Web site for the program.
Along with its innovative daily programming, BPL also hired two peer mentors and two college students for each branch to oversee after-school discussion groups, where students can chat about everything from dating to problems at school.
Registration isn’t required, and kids can drop in for homework help, screenwriting classes, or just to talk about what’s going on in their lives.
The library is already planning to reapply for another grant next year. But teens love the mentoring element so much that BPL wants to keep it in place even if funds designated for Teen Edge run out next spring.
