After Hours at the Library

It's Wednesday afternoon and 14 local teenagers are gathered at the of Ferguson Library. These are the members of , who meet regularly to provide feedback, discuss their shared love of reading, and help plan events for the library.

As the meeting begins, teen librarian Steve Zampino, the group's adviser, announces March birthdays. The members share their own announcements — roles in school plays, upcoming travel plans and recent achievements. As they get down to business, the subject turns to the upcoming After-Hours Teen Read-In. 

"It's wonderful to think about a group of teens raising money for their library," Zampino told Patch. "They're nice, bright kids.... they really maintain or restore your faith in teenagers."

T-MAD is inviting area teens to sign up to spend the evening of March 25, from 6-9 p.m., 9 p.m.-midnight, or all six hours, at the Harry Bennett Branch Library.

Participants will collect contributions from family and friends and the teen who raises the most money will win a $50 gift card to . While teens are encouraged to raise as much as possible, there is no minimum requirement.

"You'll be amazed how many people will donate if you ask," Amy Lilien-Harper,  youth services librarian, told the group. "We don't make a requirement, even if you can only raise $20-30, that's okay."

Megan Kraus, a sophomore at serves as president of T-MAD and Samantha Lyons, a junior at serves as vice-president.

"We got talking about how there was already an event going on for adults and we wanted to plan one for teens," Kraus said. "At the end of each year, we have a lock-in, we'll have the library to ourselves and play games and read."

Laura Gersen, an eighth grader at joined T-MAD because she enjoyed reading and spending time at the library.

"We know the library is in trouble and we're sad," Gersen said. "It's a home away from home — my friends and I come here after school, my mom, brother and I read books, we do homework. It's a good place to get away from society and just be like, 'Okay, I'm here.'"

Katharina Focke, an eighth grader at is another frequent visitor to the library. She usually comes in once a week for books and loves that she gets to share book recommendations with her friends at T-MAD.

"Most people in my class read, but not as much as I do," Focke said. "They may have read about library's problems in the newspaper, but they're not as involved."

Jonathan Welborn, an eighth grade homeschooler, was also brought to T-MAD by a love of reading and connection to the Ferguson Library — his older sister was a member of T-MAD too.

"I'm really proud of this, I don't do it for school or because I need community service hours — I do it because I enjoy it, everyone's so friendly," Gersen said.

For the members of T-MAD, concern for their library is as natural as stopping by for a book. They hope to encourage other teenagers to spend one Friday night helping out.

"A lot of kids don't think about the library's budget cuts as much, but since we come here, we want to help... you're coming [to the read-in] with your friends, you're reading, and you're helping out. It's win-win," Lyons said.

Registration forms for the After-Hours Teen Read-In are available at every library and also online.