“I’ve always loved books, and I’ve always loved libraries,” says Young Adult Librarian Cathy Paulsen. She smiles fondly, reminiscing about the weekly reading competitions she’d have with her friends. Since her own town didn’t have a library, she’d check out a dozen books each week from libraries in neighboring towns, hoping to win the next week’s friendly reading contest.

Ironically, now that she’s the head of Young Adult Programs and the Teen Librarian of the Chappaqua Library, Ms. Paulsen often tries not to impose competition among young readers in hopes of encouraging reading at one’s own pace. Instead she runs collaborative summer reading programs for teens, as well as provides genre-themed reading lists to encourage reading for adolescents with all kinds of interests.

She partly attributes the library’s high circulation of books to the reading programs and book lists that the Teen Room offers, which foster interest in reading during all seasons. She also cites the values of the community, as she considers Chappaqua “a very well-read community…Parents and families encourage kids to read.” Ms. Paulsen also takes book suggestions from teens to buy for the library, which keeps the Teen Room up-to-date — “We try to get a very diverse collection of all different genres.”

Besides its patrons, the Teen Room is also significantly influenced by its current population of teen volunteers and student pages who often help develop the book collection, decorate the space for various occasions, and oversee programs for their peers. Most recently, the teens have hosted an umbrella painting session, a Valentine’s Day cupcake-decorating program, and a weekly introductory Python coding series. In the coming months, they will be holding a soap-making class, a tote bag-painting program, and more. Teens also run the Young Adult Room’s social media pages, posting daily on Instagram and weekly on Tiktok. Additionally, Ms. Paulsen credits the room’s current layout to teen contributors: “The garden wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have our student pages, Ben and Dylan.” Even the current design of the Teen Room, which was remodeled in 2021, including the rugs, furniture, and general arrangement, “was [picked out] by student pages who worked here years ago.”

The working experience at the library also helps teens develop themselves. For example, Ms. Paulsen recounts, “I had a kid here that liked to draw manga [and host drawing programs], and now she’s an artist who draws for a living.” Working at the library also encourages kids to meet others who may be different from them, expanding their world views. Even just being at the library and talking to people “introduces you to a different community. [It] opens up your mind for thoughts that you didn’t know before.” Indeed, library users come from all walks of life, and exposure to the community is the pathway to growth and coming of age.

While working with students, Ms. Paulsen appreciates their liveliness and creativity. “[The teens] make me aware of things and give me ideas,” she comments. “Some of you are artistic in different ways, or you have different interests that you can share with the greater community.”

Even though her afternoons are filled with hours working with students, Ms. Paulsen has mornings to herself, where she works on the YA program calendar, reads book reviews, and communicates with library staff or various other social groups in Chappaqua, such as the Facebook group Chappaqua Moms, to send out program flyers or spread news.

As for why she wanted to be a teen librarian, Ms. Paulsen remembers always taking younger kids under her wings since she was young. As the oldest of five, and because she babysat a lot during her childhood, Ms. Paulsen recalls she had a lot of experience working with younger kids. After a Bachelor’s degree in American History and Secondary Education, she started a career as a history teacher in the Bronx, and later on took a part-time job at the Chappaqua Library. She decided to go to school for Library and Information Sciences, and after taking some time off to raise her own kids, a full-time job at the library opened. Ms. Paulsen stepped into the role. Originally, she didn’t choose to work in the Teen Zone, but instead took the job once the old YA Director retired. Since then, she has acquired nearly twenty years of experience as the Chappaqua Public Library’s Head YA Librarian.

Much change has occurred in her time working in Chappaqua. For instance, “The community has become more diverse. Our [media] collection has become more diverse. And the schools have become more academically competitive.” It is partly because of this that Ms. Paulsen plans for the programs that occur in the Teen Room: she wants teens to be able to feel like the library is a safe haven from academic stress.

Additionally, multiple social happenings in Chappaqua have changed the fabric of the town over the last twenty years. When the Kindle came out, “some people thought it was the death of a book,” Ms. Paulsen says. “But it wasn’t. It was just a kind of novelty. People still like books, and books still circulate.” In fact, Ms. Paulsen liked the Kindle because it made reading more popular.

Moreover, the impacts of the pandemic on Chappaqua and its library cannot be ignored—for nearly a year, the library was visited so sparsely that it seemed empty more often than not. But, although people were more physically distanced, “the pandemic brought us closer. It made kids appreciate more of what they have here,” according to Ms. Paulsen.

Fortunately, the effects of the pandemic on patron numbers have slowly been fading away. Just in the past weeks, Ms. Paulsen has noticed more teens coming in on weekdays after school, approaching the pre-Covid numbers that the room once had.

Ultimately, Ms. Paulsen really loves the library, and shares that students’ honesty and joy really stand out to her. “I like the fact that you all feel comfortable enough to share things with me, and I like to see you have fun,” she says.