Two teens want to attract more young people to the Parksville library, so they’ve joined a group dedicated to brainstorming ideas to make it happen.
Janel van Dongen and Dekaiah Haupt, both 12 years old, have been going to the library for years. They agree it is a great place to hang out, and think if more teens gave it a try, they’d think so as well.
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The group is still in the beginning stages, but van Dongen said she hopes to work with the other 11 members to find ways to attract more young people to the library with new programs and books.
“There are many things that I’d like to see happening, but I’d especially like to see more people coming to the library,” said van Dongen.
Haupt echoed van Dongen, who he’s known since he was a toddler, and added that he thinks there’s plenty of programming that the library has put on that people would enjoy.
“Everyone is so attached to their devices and stuff,” he said. “There’s tons of events and it would just kind of be fun to help organize those events and be part of the community.”
The Teen Advisory Group has just started up at the Parksville library. Other libraries have the program, which gives young people an opportunity to share ideas about programs, book selections are more. Librarian Susan Pierce said it’s more valuable to have a teen council to directly tell the library what they’re interested, rather than guessing.
If you want to get involved, email Pierce at SPierce@virl.bc.ca.