Come and learn how Burlington Public Library’s community-led focus is transforming how teens interact with the library. Moving away from a top down model, we have embraced a teen-led philosophy which places teens into positions of power, enabling them to co-create programs and initiatives that enrich their lives. Focused on providing leadership and growth opportunities, centred around key community needs of play, make, create, innovate, and iterate, we work with teens to create STEAM based initiatives. These include: co-planned programs, teen-run Instagram and Tumblr accounts, and a youth designer in residence program. Based on a human-centered design model, and principles of design thinking this talk will take you from our initial exploration through to iteration.
Learning Outcomes
1) Understanding human-centered design and design thinking;
2) Learning how to engage and listen to teens using a design thinking framework to initiate teen-led opportunities,
3) Learning how to allow teens to develop a sense of ownership over library space and feel valued and included in their library
