There are several advantages to cleaning out your desk periodically (or, in my case, every few years). First, there’s the immediate benefit of … Hey! Clean desk! But then there’s also the benefit of finding lots of cool old stuff you didn’t realize you still had.

Some of the stuff I discovered was stuff that I expected to find (program materials, flyers, bookmarks, etc.)  But what caught me by surprise was a survey I’d given to a group of teens and older kids just over a decade ago, specifically a Fall 2005 - Winter 2006 Teen/Tween Survey.  Would the teens of yesteryear like the same kinds of things as teens today?  And what would today’s teens think of the answers their predecessors gave?  I looked over the surveys myself, and then I brought them to our last Teen Summer Reading Club meeting to share with my kids.

The survey asked a lot of questions about what kinds of things our teens liked in general, what they liked about teen services at our library, what kinds of programs they’d attended, and their suggestions about how to improve the library in the future.  

What struck me right away is what kinds of things that teens enjoyed then that they still enjoy now. Today’s teens are still fans of authors like J.K. Rowling, R.L. Stine, Judy Blume, and Stephen King. They’re still into scary movies, they still like to read about sports and they still listen to rock and hip hop music.

Then there are the things that have either changed entirely or which most teens would answer differently, and most of those were in the “favorite websites” section.  My summer reading club teens asked me, “Was the internet NEW when they filled out this survey?  Why would they list search engines like Google and Yahoo! as their favorite websites?”  They were entertained by answers like wwe.com and cartoonnetwork.com (okay, those kids were definitely in the "tween" category), and they were bewildered by myspace.com.  Nowadays, most of my teens wouldn’t even list Facebook as one of their favorite sites because they’ve moved on to “cooler” social media options like Snapchat, Instagram, and Tumblr.  

Some of my favorite answers were the ones that were unique and unexpected...

Gone With the Wind as a favorite book AND favorite movie?  I didn’t see that one coming!  

Favorite author is “David A”?  Um … I have no idea who that could be!  

Favorite thing about the library is “It’s fun”?  Great answer!  

How often do you come to the library?  Every day!  This answer is even more impressive because it wasn’t one of the multiple-choice answers, so it was a write-in vote!

But my favorite answer of all was in response to the question about describing your “dream library”:

Wouldn't it be great if City Hall would agree to finally begin construction on the lot across the street?

Back in 2005, the Kingsbridge Library was still located on the other side of 231st Street.  We spent a lot of time looking longingly at the vacant lot across from us and wondering when, if ever, the new Kingsbridge Library was going to be built.  A few more years still had to pass after my teens took this survey, but the new library finally rose up out of that vacant lot, and we’ve been in our new-and-improved building ever since.  Even though the teens who filled out this survey aren't teens any more, they finally got the library they deserve!