Elkridge Teen Internship

Compassion-Centered Library Design for Teens by Teens

In July 2025, Howard County Library System started the Elkridge Teen Internship for our young people to co-design a compassion-centered 9000 square foot library expansion at the Elkridge Branch as a teen library space. More than 190 middle and high school students met monthly for the past year to learn about leadership, librarianship, and human-centered design.

Teens are increasingly reporting increasing social isolation and mental health concerns and in need of safe third spaces to access cost-free resources for connection and intellectual growth. The Elkridge Teen Internship has prioritized meaningful youth engagement to shape the library’s expansion into a space where they feel comfortable learning and socializing. Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Teen Interns have been empowered with the skills and knowledge to design the library expansion as a teen-centered space.

The role of HCLS staff has been to listen to, learn from, and lead with the young people to design the space that reflects what the teens identified as their priorities for learning, growth, well-being, and connection. In September 2026, the Teen Interns will present their recommendations to state, county, and library leaders, driving the design of the library expansion scheduled to open in 2028-2029.

HCLS created a robust evaluation process for the Teen Internship, and the results show:

• 89.7% of teen interns agree “At this library, I feel able to be myself.”
• 83.5% of teen interns affirm “Participating in this internship has helped me connect to other teens.”
• 80.6% of teen interns believe “My ideas and suggestions in this internship are taken seriously.”

You can follow the Teen Interns’ progress throughout the internship on our YouTube channel in a series of videos:

• August 2026: https://youtu.be/y280XBk6zLI
• May 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZxH571J2nQ
• March 2026: https://youtu.be/zaGqoGVGumw
• November 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE2qwEIc1y0
• September 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdnllN9ibM0

We are so proud of our Elkridge Teen Interns and are excited to continue to engage with Howard County’s middle and high school students in all our library branches in the future. Contact the Teen Instructors at your local branch to learn more about our Teen Action Boards, Teen Live events, and Teens Teach opportunities!