During my final year of graduate school, I worked as a Connected Youth intern with the Austin Public Library, facilitating technology and craft programs for users aged 8-18 in libraries across the city. This year granted me an appreciation of the real-world experience of being a public youth librarian as I helped kids with homework and Minecraft, made friendship bracelets and perler beads and shrinky dinks, ran Lego labs and video game freeplay events, performed readers’ advisory, and more.

Throughout, I gained an enormous appreciation for the APL Youth Services team as a whole: this diverse and passionate group of people operate as a team to bring services to Austin’s youth all over the city.

For more information on youth services in the Austin Public Library, click here.