Youth Services Librarian Alyssa Troquille invites teens to help shape teen programming at the library to their needs and tastes. She’s also trying new thing beginning with a Taylor Swift listening party and the establishment of a teen advisory group and literary magazine. (Photo by Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
Yellow Springs Community Library aims for more teen engagement
- Published: September 16, 2025
*Ed. note: The online version of this story contains a corrected date and time for the first meeting of TAG-MAG, the YS Community Library’s new teen advisory group.
In the seven months since she began working at the YS Community Library in circulation, local resident Alyssa Troquille said the importance of libraries has become solidified for her.
“I feel like libraries are just one of the best places; they can be such a good community hub,” she told the News this week.
With that in mind, when Troquille took over as youth services librarian just shy of two months ago, she said she felt emboldened to get a message out to village teenagers: That this is their library, too, and she wants to give them a chance to shape how it works for them.
“I’m essentially starting from scratch,” she said. “Our teen engagement is really low. So I’m trying to remind people that the library is here for teens, not just kids and story time. I’m trying to generate a new vision for what our teen programming can be.”
Part of that vision begins with engaging the ears: On Wednesday, Oct. 8, 5–7 p.m., Troquille will host a listening party for Taylor Swift’s forthcoming album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” The event, open to ages 10 and up, will feature food, a vinyl-decorating activity and a raffle for the new record. (Registration is required and may be completed at greenelibrary.info or by calling 937-352-4003.)
The initial spark for the event, Troquille said, was lit by her own musical proclivities.
“Well, I’m a big Swiftie,” she said. “My daughter is, too. And I thought, ‘You know, tons of people love Taylor Swift — so let’s do something fun with that.’”
Reintroducing teens to the library and its many uses — books, movies, music, archives, genealogical records, meeting space, a quiet place to complete school work, a chance to connect over common interests, and many, many other things — will come with its challenges, Troquille acknowledged. With teenagers often busy with extracurricular activities, after-school jobs and other uses of free time, she said she hopes to center the library as a kind of third place for young people.
“With teens especially, there’s so much competing for their time,” she said. “My strategy first is to get the word out about programming and try to build relationships so that we can get the ball rolling in a more customized direction for what teens actually are telling me they need and want.”
Troquille has lived in Yellow Springs for about three years with her husband and two children. A Wright State graduate, she studied writing and is herself a burgeoning author of young adult fiction.
“So the teen librarian job really was perfect for me, because I have a personal interest in books for a teen audience,” she said. “You really want to be able to help people find the right book and what they’re interested in; I probably read more YA literature than most, and I’ve been trying to read more manga. That’s really popular with teens, and I’m not super familiar with it, so I’ve been trying to get into that more so I can talk about that if anyone’s interested.”
Troquille said her position at the library affords her a certain amount of freedom — not only around creating programming, but also decorating the teen area and putting up displays based on feedback from young patrons.
“I feel like everyone here works really well as a team and is really supportive of each other and each other’s creative ideas,” she said.
That freedom led to an ambitious idea: TAG-MAG, a combination teen advisory group and literary magazine. The first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 4–5 p.m. at the library. The group, open to ages 12 to 18, will meet monthly, with snacks and a chance for members to have a say in what happens at their library. Application forms for those interested in TAG-Mag. are available at the library’s reference desk.
Importantly, students can also use their time in TAG-MAG to fulfill community service hours; YS High School students must complete a total of 45 hours of community service — 15 per year — in their freshman, sophomore and junior years to graduate; seniors complete a capstone project.
“Being able to fulfill their community service hours is a great perk,” Troquille said. “Then I thought, ‘Let’s make it more fun and ambitious. Why not start a literary magazine?’”
She reached out to local author and educator Scott Geisel, who had been one of her instructors at Wright State, for guidance and aid with the literary magazine portion of the effort — and she’s glad for the extra help, as she has big plans. Troquille said she envisions the group producing a teen-led magazine that might start locally but eventually grow to publish submissions countywide.
“I’ve looked at a lot of online literary magazines that are run by teens or that print mostly teen work, and there are some really good ones out there,” she said. “Teens are really creating a lot of really cool stuff.”
Along the way, TAG-MAG participants will learn about writing, editing, design — and even the practical realities of running a library, including cataloging, shelving and filling interlibrary loan requests.
“I’m going to teach them about the Dewey Decimal System,” she said. “It’s actually really interesting how inherently biased the system is; if you look at the cataloging numbers for religion, from 200s to 290s is all Christian religions — and then the last little bit of items is every other religion. So it’s really interesting to me to see how even a cataloging system can be really biased.”
She added that TAG-MAG will also provide a good opportunity for teens to learn about and discuss topics like censorship and the Library Bill of Rights, which, in brief, affirms that libraries must provide free, uncensored access to information for all.
“We’ll talk about how to uphold these library standards with our decision-making,” she said.
In an effort to cast as wide a net as possible to find interested teens, Troquille said she has begun reaching out to the Yellow Springs Schools and the John Bryan Youth Center for potential collaboration opportunities. It’s still early days, she noted, but she’s already received some positive feedback about providing transportation from the Youth Center to the library for programming, and the possibility of bringing some programming to the center itself.
Troquille said she encourages all interested teens to stop by the library and give their ideas about what they want to see there, even outside of TAG-MAG. She also noted that she and the YS Community Library’s other librarians can themselves be resources for young patrons.
“Maybe you need somebody to be a job reference, and you haven’t connected with many adults yet, or you need someone to write you a letter of recommendation, and you just need one more,” she said. “Making those connections with adults who can help guide you — this is one place to do that.”
She added that, as a former teen, she understands that the adolescent years are fleeting, but formative. That recognition is reflected in the planned title of the forthcoming teen literary magazine: Ephemera. She said the title — evoking the transient traces of life — was inspired by the library’s collection of bookmarks, receipts, hand-scribbled shopping lists and other bits and bobs left behind in books.
“For a teenager, there are so many firsts — like first loves — and so many life choices and life events still ahead of you that you can dream about and wonder about,” she said. “That idea of being ephemeral — of being a brief thing in this ever-changing world —- reminds me a lot of being a teenager, too.”
To keep up with ongoing YS Community Library programming for all ages, see the “At the Library” column, and register for events at http://www.greenelibrary.info.
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