Teens are a notoriously hard population to engage in the library. The library has to compete with school, jobs, friends, and extra-curricular activities for a teen’s attention. However, teens are also facing challenges and barriers; they are dropping out of high school, finding themselves lacking job readiness and skills, lacking the ability to attend or afford higher level education. Salt Lake County Library Services wanted to bring teens into the library, but wanted to do it in a way that addressed these issues and inspired curiosity. The result was a series of teen driven, directed, and designed programs, a model that continues to grow and be replicated in our branch libraries.

These events were designed to target teens across our service area, and were teen driven. ToshoCON: free anime convention for teens. The 2nd annual event was held over 2 days; 1600 teens attended. The teens organized and ran panels, promoted the event through Facebook and social media, and ran their own vendor booths.

• 6 Word Memoir Scholarship Contest: Partnering with Dr. Pepper, the Utah Educational Savings Plan, and Barbacoa, the Library offered two $2500 college scholarships. 400 teens submitted 6 word memoirs.
• Teen Internships: Working with the local WIA program of DWS, the library created 9 teen summer internship opportunities.

Teens were excited by ToshoCON and claimed ownership of the event, with a resulting high participation and attendance. One of our 6 Word Memoir winners was a refugee youth currently living in special housing. The scholarship will be held until he graduates high school, and will be granted to the college of his choice. Two teen interns continued employment with the library as substitute shelvers. All of the teens left with job experience, interview feedback, and resume training. Teen designed and driven programs are still being used as a model. We have met our goals and continue to expand. This year we are planning a Hackathon, a summer Teen Volunteer program, programs proposed and taught by teens, a Peer Court System, and more.