Calling all teens

In an effort to engage more of Chestermere’s youth, the library has started a teen advisory group to find out what local teens would like to see in their library.
“We’ve tried top down and this is very much grassroots where they have to tell us what they want,” said Library Deputy Director Cathy Burness of the new group.
The group came about after several teens approached the library with an interest to be more involved with and make a difference at the library.
Out of this interest, the Teen Advisory Group was born. Currently they have three teen members with the hope it will grow to between five and seven members.
While use of the library as a study space is pretty good amongst local teens, Burness said that the library hasn’t had a lot of success engaging teens in other ways.
“The 13 to 19-year-olds, they’re really hard to engage,” said Burness, “that’s why we’re asking them what do you want.”
Some of the ideas that the group has come up with in the first two meetings include writing book reviews for teens, resume writing workshops, and life skills workshops.
Librarian Jody Graham is the staff representative with the advisory group.
“It’s pretty much as involved as they want to be,” she said of the commitment being asked of the teens in the advisory group.
Anyone interested in joining the group can either drop into the next meeting on Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. or call the Library at (403) 272-9025 for more information.