Grand Glaize Library Getting Teen Center

Residents may have already noticed remodeling at Manchester's at 1010 Meramec Station Rd. A new teen center is being built inside the library.

Construction has been underway for a few weeks as the library is renovated to include the space just for teens.

St. Louis County Library Communications Manager Jennifer McBride told Town and Country-Manchester Patch that Grand Glaize will have the ninth teen center opened within St. Louis County's 20 branches.

"The purpose behind the teen center is to have a designated space for teens to call their own," McBride said.

She said each library has a teen advisory group, and that group was involved with creating each of the teen centers so far.

"Whenever we build a teen center, we go to each teen group and see what they want included. We ask them what they would like to see—what furniture, what wall colors. They help with the design elements of the space," McBride said.

"A lot of people come into the library as a child and then they kind of grow up and drift away and then come back as an adult. Teens are a population that doesn't spend as much time in the library. With the teen advisory group, we're trying to get them more involved, give them more of a voice so the library is a place they want to hang out," she said.

The spaces not only include computers and unique furniture picked out by the teens, but also gaming equipment, so the teens can play video games. 

"They help detrmine programming for our teens. They help determine what kinds of materials, movies or books to add to our collection. They tell us what they'd like to see," McBride said of the teen advisory group.

Any local teen can join the group.

As far as Grand Glaize's Teen Center, McBride said construction is expected to be complete by late December, with a formal opening in 2012.