#123: Age-restricted zones are cool and all...

Many libraries have policies designating certain areas of the building as exclusively for children and caregivers or exclusively for teens. These policies can be useful in making the targeted groups feel welcome and safe in ‘their’ part of the library, but make sure staff handle other visitors sensibly and kindly. The 20-year-old autistic young man should be able to come look at junior nonfiction about trains without being chased off by overzealous staff, and the elderly English-as-a-second-language reader who isn’t quite proficient enough to read adult books in English should be able to browse the teen section for a book at her reading level without being interrogated about whether or not she has a teenage child at home.