Teen Advisory Board

Created to provide specialized public library services to students in grades 6 through 12, the Teen Services Department at Scarsdale Public Library was established in December 2020 when the Library reopened to the public following its renovation and pandemic closures.

Shortly afterward, the Teen Advisory Board (TAB) was established as the volunteer arm of the Teen Services Department. Participation in TAB allows Scarsdale's teens in grades 6 through 12 to earn community service credit during the school year by communicating what they need and want from the Teen Services Department at their community public library and working toward actualizing their ideas. Our TAB is really whatever Scarsdale #TeensVolunteer to make it. The Teen Services Department asks TAB members for: 

• Input into what programs teens want the Library to offer and when; 
• Ideas for programs/classes teens want to lead/teach for other teens;
• Using word-of-mouth to promote library programs to peers and other community members;
• Creative suggestions for what to post to our blog and/or Instagram; 
• Thoughts on how to decorate and equip the Teen Room to accommodate teens' needs; 
• Requests for books they think we should provide and in what formats; and
• Recommendations for partnerships with classroom teachers and community organizations where overlap exists between their purposes and those of Scarsdale Public Library, whose mission is to encourage the joy of reading, the exploration of ideas, and the pursuit of lifelong learning for all residents of our community.

Once you are a part of TAB, keep track of the time you spend attending meetings, reading over meeting notes and the TAB Info Docs, and working on special projects/events/subcommittees: these are your earned community service hours!

Meetings typically convene once per month on a Tuesday evening during the school year at 7 PM. If it is not possible to attend the meeting in real time, every TAB member has access to current and archived meeting notes and Info Docs via Google Drive so they can read through them on their own and engage with the meeting content/topics when it's convenient for them to do so.

Our upcoming TAB meetings will be (click to see list on our calendar and register): 

• 9/10/24
• 10/8/24
• 11/12/24
• 12/10/24
• 1/14/25
• 2/11/25
• 3/11/25
• 4/8/25
• 5/13/25
• 6/10/25

Examples of TAB members' library programs/community service projects:

• AAPI Heritage celebrations
• Becoming podcast
• BEL Movement
• "Big Picture" Book Club
• BookTok Book Club
• #BrainBreak Teen Meditation
• Button-Making for Ages 8 to 128
• Classified Musicians concerts
• Crochet Club
• DAY Westchester X For Future Lungs Stress Balls For No Smoking
• Diverse Books Teach Tolerance, Action Book Club, and related author talks/presentations
• Exonerated: John Bunn
• Get Ready to Vote!
• Historical Research Conference
• Jewelry Making: Bracelets and Anklets
• Library Chess Club
• Lunar New Year Storytime
• Magic: The Gathering
• Meet Law Professor Kermit Roosevelt III
• Must Read Books blog
• Path to Empowerment
• Photography 101
• Post-It Prompts
• Pride Cookie Decorating
• Pride Necklace Making
• Scarsdale Through the Ages photography exhibition
• Scarsdale Youth Art Show
• SHS Creative Photo Club Gallery Show
• Social Issues Book Club
• Stoica Duo recitals
• Teen Tie-Dye
• Teen Typing Club
• Teens 4 Sustainable Fashion Workshop
• Youth Environmental Opportunities Panel

Contact me with your request to join TAB and/or any questions or comments you have. Please note that you will be automatically subscribed to our Teen newsletter upon your request to join TAB.

Jane Hennessy (She/Her) ~ (914) 358-6079 ~ jhennessy@scarsdalelibrary.org ~ www.scarsdalelibrary.org/discover/teens