Exploring the Library: TAB and the Library

by Beth Lokken, Youth Services Librarian, Door County Library

The Door County Library has started a Teen Advisory Board (TAB) in partnership with Sturgeon Bay High School. Once a month during lunch time, a small group of high school students meets in the high school library, eats lunch and talks with the school librarian, Mrs. Selle; and Door County Library’s youth services librarian, Beth Lokken. 

TABs are nothing new. Gathering teenagers, feeding them (cookies are a popular choice) and asking their opinions about library matters has been common practice in other places for decades. TABs often function as a younger Friends of the Library group that offers opinions about programs and services, provides volunteers and advocates for the library in the wider community. Having a TAB in Door County brings new voices to the table.

Obviously, there are teenagers in Door County who don’t live in the Sturgeon Bay area. Communities from Forestville to Washington Island are home to teen library users who have ideas to share. Just as the Friends of the Library group has chosen to meet virtually during the past two years, technology will bridge the distance here, too. The future of the TAB is virtual, so teens up and down the county will be able to have their voices heard without needing to travel. The TAB at Sturgeon Bay High School is just the beginning.