Speaking on two panels at PLA 2026 meant missing sessions I genuinely wanted to attend. Making Space for Teens at the Library was one of them. Fortunately, Jade Parks of Downers Grove Public Library and Athens Moreno of Carol Stream Public Library uploaded their slides and resource packet to the conference portal, where attendees could access them through the mobile app. The materials reward close study. Parks and Moreno identify three recurring problems in teen librarianship: teens are underserved, library space and resources are limited, and behavioral incidents involving teens receive disproportionate attention. Their answer is a service design plan libraries can use now, even without a renovation.
Parks and Moreno define space more broadly than furniture. In their model, space includes staffing, signage, scheduling, collections, passive programming, volunteer structures, and digital community. The broader definition shifts the whole conversation. It moves attention from square footage alone to the decisions libraries control every day.
Staff Culture First
The presenters’ resource packet opens with staff buy-in. Before the materials turn to furniture, signage, or collections, Parks and Moreno outline staff-development topics such as brain development, talking to teens, respect and authority, consistency in rule enforcement, interrupting problematic behavior, and mental health awareness. The sequence deserves attention. A teen area can have the right chairs, the right games, and the right branding and still fail if adults in the building read every question as defiance.
One line from the packet gets at the core issue: requesting an explanation for a rule is not disrespectful. Teens are learning how the world works. Libraries that want stronger teen spaces have to train staff to take adolescent development seriously. Adult tone and adult assumptions shape the room before any teen sits down.
Volunteer Kits, Flexible Service
The idea that stayed with me most was the volunteer kit. The resource packet defines volunteer kits simply: a teen takes materials home, completes a service project on their own time, and returns them to be donated. The examples are immediately usable: Meals on Wheels bag decorating, cards for older adults or children, welcome notes for new refugees and immigrant families, notes of encouragement for hospital staff, dog and cat toys for shelters, pet bandanas, bookmarks, and mini affirmation cards.
Volunteer kits solve several problems at once. They give teens a flexible way to earn service hours and lower the barrier for teens who are shy, overscheduled, or unable to attend a live program. The kits also connect the library to real community partners and real recipients without requiring a major event every time. In the process, they expand the definition of teen space. A teen does not need to sit in a designated room to participate in a library-designed act of service.
The slide deck presents volunteer kits inside a broader volunteering structure that includes scheduled events and self-scheduled shifts. In systems where service hours must be completed onsite, the same principle can become a drop-in service lab: advertised blocks of room time when teens complete prepared service projects for community partners and leave with documented hours. The format changes, but the design principle remains the same.
Multiple Entry Points
The rest of the presenters’ materials reinforce the same service philosophy. Passive programming, maker kits, grab-and-go crafts, self-directed tasks, drop-ins, open houses, teen councils, focus groups, study space, and a staff-supported teen Discord server all offer different ways in. Parks and Moreno return repeatedly to low-pressure participation, repeat engagement, and clear purpose. One slide states the goal plainly: teens need to feel expected, valued, and planned for within the space.
One line pulls the whole presentation together. Teen services often get judged by noise, numbers, or behavior before they get judged by design. Parks and Moreno instead frame teen engagement through access. Teens may want to volunteer, study, make art, play games, answer a question of the week, or give feedback without joining a formal council. A strong teen library creates more than one route into belonging.
The Discord example follows the same logic. The server is not generic social media. It is a staff-supported digital teen space with limited access, a few core channels, moderation tools, and clear open hours. Starting small and treating the server as a library program rather than a free-floating platform is an especially smart choice.
Space, Signs, Collections
The slides on physical space make another useful correction. Teen space is not only a dedicated room but also shelving, seating, staff presence, signage, branding, collections, displays, and layout. Parks and Moreno argue that physical design should communicate who the space is for, reduce friction with staff and other patrons, support multiple uses, and guide behavior clearly.
The approach gives libraries something to act on now. Limited square footage is real. Parks and Moreno acknowledge this reality directly. Their answer is to make every signal count. A shelf labeled for teens, a sign that says the space is for grades 7–12, a question-of-the-week board, a collaborative craft, a study table, or a themed media box can all help define teen presence. So can a schedule that gives teens dedicated time in a room, even without capital funding.
The materials also tie space to collections in a way I appreciated. Award winners, summer reading, graphic novels, hi-lo books, study guides, textbooks, board games, and a teen library of things all appear as part of the spatial argument. The collection tells teens whether the library sees them as readers, students, browsers, creators, or afterthoughts.
I wish I had been in the room for this session. Even from the materials, the central argument comes through clearly. Libraries make space for teens when they train staff to understand them, build multiple ways to participate, and create visible entry points into library life. A volunteer kit on a table can look small. It can also show teens that the library planned for their contribution.
Witt Salley (he/him/his) is the Teen Services Librarian at Quince Orchard Library in Montgomery County Public Libraries. At PLA 2026, he is most looking forward to meeting colleagues whose work he has been learning from online, making new connections, and serving on the Aging Together and DigitalLearn panels. He grew up surrounded by children’s and young adult books and spent so many hours in the public library that working with teens and youth literature felt almost inevitable. If he could read one book again for the first time, he would choose Weetzie Bat for its originality and the joy of first reading it.
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