'Where are you going? What are you doing?'

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I am far enough away from my teenage years, and smart enough, I hope, to realize that I have no clue what interests and entertains teenagers today.

I know what you know, that adolescence is a fraught transition between childhood and adulthood, often distinguished by moodiness, physical awkwardness and communication blackouts; also idealism, energy and unconventional thinking. Teenagers scare me a bit; they do deadpan so well that I can’t always parse their reactions. Earth to teenager: Am I making a fool out of myself? Are you collapsing from boredom? Hard to tell.

Because the passage from 13 to 19 is so rocky, communities have always struggled with how to keep their teenagers safe while allowing them sufficient independence. How to let them “do their own thing” while making sure those things don’t end in house fires, teen pregnancies or car crashes.

Therefore, I applaud the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library, which opened a new “teen space” on Jan. 29. The dedicated area, on the first floor of the library, was funded with $20,000 from New York state, through the efforts of State Sen. Dean Skelos. It’s a big step in the right direction. It’s also way overdue.

According to a story in the Nassau Herald, the area of couches, workstations and tables has been 10 years in the making. The good news is that real, live teenagers were brought into the process so that the end result would be consistent with their needs. Of course, the 16-year-olds who initially consulted on the project are now well past their teens and have children and jobs and mortgages, but no matter, it got done.

The concept of a specially designated space for teenagers works on many levels. First, libraries need to run, not walk to keep pace with technological advances and digitalized media. Too many libraries across the country have been forced to close because they simply have become irrelevant. A library can no longer afford to be a place where people go to borrow books . . . unless there are also computers and e-books and attractive meeting areas and comfortable venues for performances and exhibitions and meetings.

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