Why does the door have to stay open?

Some of you may be wondering about the "open door policy" in the Teen Room. Does the library not trust teens? Does the library want to spy on you? Is the library just plain stupid--because if they want less noise wouldn't it make sense to close that door???

The answer is none of the above. There is a very good reason why the door needs to stay open. And that reason is simply because the Young Adult (YA) fiction collection is housed in the room and needs to be ACCESSIBLE TO ALL.

Accessibility is a word that we hear a lot. It is a big deal to libraries and to the American Library Association. But what does that have to do with the door?

When a small group of people are in the Teen Room with the door closed it can appear INACCESSIBLE to other people. They may think there is something special going on and hesitate to enter. Or younger teens may feel intimidated about opening the door when older teens are in there. They lose out on their chance to browse and borrow reading material.

So this is why the door must stay open. Not because the library distrusts you or because the librarian is dying to spy on you, but because the library is VERY BIG on making sure that EVERYONE is able to get what they want to read!

And that's a GOOD thing!!