The Boston Public Library’s Teen Services Department is committed to serving all teens, and this includes partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, the state agency that serves teens who are incarcerated.
Since 2008, the BPL has partnered with DYS Metro Boston and now — thanks to a generous grant from the Alden Trust — the program will extend to facilities across the state, and acquire books for the DYS collection.
Once a month, teen librarians visit DYS locations with a selection of paperback books to discuss and share new reading suggestions. They take requests from the young people in DYS custody and develop programming to engage incarcerated youth.
“This whole project is about extending Library service into spaces where access to books and Library staff may be limited,” said Maty Cropley, the BPL’s Teen Outreach Librarian, “with a goal of fostering a lifelong habit of reading and to demonstrate to young people that the Library is a community resource, with dedicated staff, that is theirs to use.”