The Madison Public Library is dedicated to serving all teens in Madison with access to diverse collections, community spaces, and technology. Our programmatic efforts for teenagers are focused on building relationships with teens and teen-serving professionals, that work toward bridging the opportunity gap in Dane County through targeted, skill-based programs designed for traditionally underserved teens.
Quick Resources
Teen's Choice Awards
Teen Bubbler
Great Reads
Media Lab @ Central
The Media Lab at Central Library is a free space to learn and use the following:
- Stop motion animation with iPad stations
- 3D game design with Maya & Unreal
- Film editing with Premiere Pro
- Green screen video with iMovie
- Audio design with Pro Tools
- Graphic design with Photoshop
See the open hours and a full listing of hardware and software on the Media Lab webpage.
Teen Book Finder
The Teen Book Finder from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is a free app to help teens, parents, librarians and library staff, educators, and anyone who loves YA literature access the past three years' of YALSA's awards and lists.
It is currently only available for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.
Visit YALSA's site to try it out.
Teen Features
We Read Spring Break
Spend Spring Break at Madison Public Library with We Read activities, interactive programs and more!
Woodworking with Sylvie Rosenthal
Learn woodworking techniques with local artist and woodworker Sylvie Rosenthal in this 3-part series at Meadowridge Library.
Dream Book Workshops
Lydia Diemer will lead patrons on a journey to creating a Dream Book for Lakeview Library during Spring 2023
Teen Services Librarians
Jesse Vieau is a Teen Services Librarian at Central Library who focuses on connecting teenagers and teen-serving professionals to a wide range of people, resources and meaningful experiences around the community. As the project manager for the Bubbler’s Making Justice and Media Academy initiatives, his larger goal is to work with library staff, teachers, artists and other community stakeholders to continue building platforms for teenagers to engage in hands-on learning and to share their creativity and voices.
Mr. Will Glenn Sr. is a Teen Services Librarian at Goodman South Library. He hails from the inner city of Milwaukee, WI “53206” zip code and has lived in Madison since 2008-09. “Mr. Will” uses an intentional approach toward incorporating youth voice into the spaces they populate throughout south Madison. As a student at UW-Whitewater and a distinguished member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., he has always been involved with the uplifting his community, youth development and serving the community. He understands this is a different path than some may have thought for him, but he has learned we have to experience different things to gain different outcomes.
Rachel Lavender is a Teen Services Librarian at Meadowridge Library. She places emphasis on meaningful teen interest-based programming and approaches her work with a trauma informed lens. Her overarching goals include connecting teens to community resources, providing teens with a safe space to explore interests, and fostering an environment that encourages creativity. Rachel believes that every teen has their own unique strengths and talents that the library can support. She is a hands-on librarian and you can often find her doing pop-up programming with a group of teens somewhere in the library!