Our vision is to design libraries as critical community-based infrastructure – with young people at the helm.
Youth envision libraries as a space for collective education, social connection, and liberation – a place to feel free. But libraries in NYC fall short of this vision and are in a state of disrepair, disinvestment and decay – leading to fragmented teen engagement across branches. Teen spaces often aren’t created with teens at the helm. They frequently include spatial and social limitations that may come across as surveilling, disengaging or at times hostile to young people.
To build teens’ civic capacity to co-create their libraries of the future, we produced and piloted three solutions:
→ An open-source arts-based curriculum
Experimenting with art-making as a research modality, our open-source curriculum instigates a creative dialogue with teens about their experiences and dreams for a future library. The curriculum will be piloted at BPL locations in Summer 2024.
→ An open-source zine archive
A public collection of zines and themes for a teen-centered library, which can be used as a tool for library design and advocacy.
→ Youth-led design guidelines
We developed nine youth-led recommendations for creating “Teens’ Library of the Future” based on key themes identified in our workshops. These include:
- Let the outside in: Stimulate the senses with biophilic design and sounds for the soul.
- Let the inside out: Expand knowledge beyond walls and bring the library outdoors.
- Make it cozy: Create cozy, welcoming spaces for teens to feel at home.
- Make it accessible: Expand dimensions around accessibility for all library users.
- Let them be loud: Support solo and group activities to let teens’ voices be heard.
- Let them eat: Serve study snacks with affordable, healthy food and beverage options.
- Modernize resources: Promote learning beyond the classroom with up-to-date literary collections and resources.
- Provide relevant programming: Activate library spaces with paid work and learning opportunities and teen-led programming.
- Build a coalition: Build a coalition among indie, mobile, and public library systems in your neighborhood.
Call to Action
→ Public libraries need our help. Support your local branch with Libraries for the People.
Meet the Project Team
Nichole Aquino
UX Designer and Researcher
Nichole Aquinois an UX Designer and Researcher with a decade of experience working at the intersection of design, technology, and social impact. She has shaped design and strategy for EdTech and CivicTech products, previously working at Newsela, The Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, and Blue Ridge Labs. She loves solving complex problems creatively and collaboratively, creating meaningful user experiences both on- and offline.
Claudia Dishon
School and Family Programs Manager, The Friends of the High Line
Claudia is an arts administrator, cultural worker, and visual artist deeply committed to public schools. She has sustained partnerships with NYC schools, bringing student-driven art-making and STEAAM learning opportunities into classrooms. She strives to create extraordinary programs that foster self-actualization for people of all ages. She is from Kentucky.
Rajesh Sankat
Program Strategist, 3×3
With roots in Toronto, Canada, Rajesh is a writer, facilitator, and community-centered design practitioner at 3×3 Design. His work sits at the nexus of inclusive design and urban placemaking to translate community insights and aspirations into strategy development, the built environment, and narrative change. Rajesh has had his work and writing featured in AZURE and Afternoon Magazine, and holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto.
Ayana Smith
MAP Engagement Coordinator at the Center for Justice Innovation
Ayana Smith is a native New Yorker and experienced youth organizer whose current practice focuses on implementing participatory creative placekeeping projects as a tool to increase public safety in and around public housing developments. Prior to her current position, she held leadership positions at Teens Take Charge and Student Voice and has served as a youth advisor for several organizations such as Race Forward. Her work has been featured in publications such as the New York Daily News and presented at conferences such as Grantmakers for Education through the National Public Education Support Fund.
Donelle Wedderburn
Audio Producer and Writer
Donelle is a Jamaican-American writer and audio producer. Her work sits at the intersection of Black history, oral storytelling, and the built environment. She has contributed to developing and producing a range of broadcasts and audio documentaries for NPR, ABC News, Food Culture Collective x Heal Food Alliance, and Ten Percent Happier. In her free time, she loves to write poetry and draw connections between literature and landscape. Black women writers like Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, and June Jordan moved through the worlds of storytelling, urban planning, and design and showed me it was possible to do the same.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to our collaborators/comrades
- Youth
- High Line Teen Civic Engagement Staff
- Ren Valeriani-Takeda – Teen Consultant
- Local Youth from Bed-Stuy
- Librarians/Archivists
- Ola Akinmowo & Team – The Free Black Women’s Library (Indie Library)
- Liwen Hu – Librarian & Archivist
- Lanisha LeBlanc-Wright – Young Adult Librarian, Saratoga Avenue (BPL)
- Ricci Yuhico – Managing Librarian for Young Adult Services, SNFL (NYPL)
- Paquita Campoverde & Jessica Cox – Central Branch (BPL)
- Kira Cohen & Olisha James – Teen Civic Ambassadors (NYPL)
- Chris Reynoso – Teen Librarian, Harold Washington Library (CPL)
- Educators/Cultural Collaborators
- Mariame Kaba – Author, Archivist and Activist
- Tierra Mack – Executive Director, Pitkin Avenue BID
- Ayo Mayala – Principal, Ember Charter School for Mindful Education
- Seth Rader – School Librarian, PS 152 & The James Baldwin School
- Justin Wong – Teaching Artist, Friends of the High Line
- Ping Zhu – Illustrator/Artist