Teens Get Real-World Learning Experiences at the Library

Teen Services Coordinating Librarian Kelsey Bates started her career at the Library as teen librarian at the Plaza Branch and says she’s learned that, across the board, teens are an overlooked population. 

“It's a great disservice,” Bates says. “Teens, in general, need a safe space, which the Library most definitely is. It’s one of the very few third spaces we still have.”   

For the past nine years, she's led the Plaza's Teen Leaders of Today (TLoT), the teen advisory board which helps shape teen programming at that location. 

Teens generate ideas, create displays and signs, and staff teen programs, ranging from board games and paint-and-sips to murder mysteries and snacks around the world (tied to the World Cup).  

Bates says that much of what the program aims to do is to prepare students for college or the workforce by giving them opportunities to gain real-world experience and skills. 

Applications open in September for a variety of teen volunteer opportunities. 

Part of that effort includes participation in various volunteer activities and even serving on an advisory board. To join the Plaza Branch’s TLoT, teens must complete an application, and current board members conduct interviews. After being accepted, members meet regularly during the school year. 

“I’m always very open to hearing what they want to do and then trying to figure out a way to make that work,” Bates says, “which has led us down some very fun and different paths.”  

Youth Librarian Helen Li works at the Central Library and has spent the past five years focusing on teens. She describes this age group as "self-directed," so she looks for ways to give them more agency.  

She’s just wrapped up summer programming, which included popular programs like Internet for Dinosaurs, which explored ancient social media trends from 2016 and earlier, and a Musical Murder Mystery, which challenged detectives to find out who killed the wicked witch (portrayed by a cardboard cutout of actor Ryan Gosling). 

This fall, she’s recruiting teen volunteers to help with “semi-dynamic shelving,” a system that showcases more than the spines of the books.  

“It’s kind of inspired by bookstores,” Li says. “We really like to show covers and merchandise our stuff.”  

On the first Monday of the month at 3 p.m., starting in October, teens can drop in to Central for a casual Monday Refresh to chat with peers, create displays, help with shelving, and eat snacks. The Adopt-a-Shelf program asks volunteers to show up at least once a month to decorate their own shelf, provide reading recommendations, write book reviews, and more.  

"I know that teens get busy during the school year between classes and extracurriculars," says Li. "Hopefully Adopt-A-Shelf can offer more flexibility when it comes to scheduling." 

Bonus: Teens will gain a behind-the-scenes understanding of how a Library works and develop skills such as deciphering book labels and learning how materials are added to the collection.    

“It’s about learning those job skills,” she says. “It’s also about a sense of ownership.”  

Li plans to cap Adopt-a-Shelf at about 20 volunteers, and those interested are invited to reach out to set up an onboarding interview, followed by a training period. The Monday Refresh sessions won’t have a participation limit.  

Volunteer opportunities at the Library, she says, also provide service hours for Kansas City-area students to meet high school graduation requirements.    

Bates suggests teens and parents keep an eye on the Library’s website for new teen activities each month at most of the branches; many are already on the calendar, including Saturday anime clubs, Sunday board game sessions, Monday Mid-day Meetups, and more.  

She says, “The Library is a great place for a teen to be.”   

For more information on teen volunteer opportunities, check the Library website.