Bourke, C. (2010). LIBRARY YOUTH SPACES VS YOUTH FRIENDLY LIBRARIES: HOW  TO MAKE THE MOST OF WHAT YOU HAVE. APLIS, 23(3), 98-102. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

This article talks about the way that libraries tend to design youth space away from the other physical space of the library. Libraries have had a tendency to marginalize youth, but the ideal situation would be to provide a space where teens can gather, but also where they can be both safe and unsupervised; the most important aspect of this is that it should be a dedicated youth space if at all possible. Most libraries that do have dedicated space for teens and young adults only dedicated about 2.2% of the library space to it, even in larger facilities.

According to Bourke, one of the most important aspects of making young adults feel comfortable in the library can be the attitude of the staff. However, there isn't much in the way of professional development for librarians who wish to make youth feel welcome, and this should include more than just the youth services team. Librarians need to be aware that their attitude can make or break the experience for young adults, an idea that seems especially important to me as we go forward hoping to maintain libraries in our communities. young adults grow up to be the adults who continue using the library, and the parents who will bring their kids to the library.  

Bourke suggests that formal surveys and less formal fly-on-the-wall behavior can give us insight into how we're doing with the youth. We need to look at the services we're providing and see whether our collections meet the needs of our younger patrons - which includes our databases, our music, our movies, and other kinds of materials. If we can create more space for the YA patrons and then make sure we're marketing to them as well, we can let the young adults know they're welcome in the library and we're trying to meet their needs.