NORWAY — Plans are under way to create a teen room at the Norway Memorial Library, director Ann Siekman said Monday.

“We’re trying to revamp the downstairs room and also make it into a teen room,” Siekman said of the plan to open the multipurpose room to teenagers Monday through Thursday in the afternoon. The goal is to provide a place for them to read, use the wireless Internet and socialize with peers. The multipurpose room will continue to be used for other functions outside the times it is designated for teen use.

Siekman said the idea came to them in part after seeing so many young people using the study rooms on the first floor. The teen room is an attempt to keep those rooms open for other patrons who also hope to use them.

With a grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, work begin shortly to transform the room. Library bookmobile program materials that currently occupy the room will be moved to another storage area and the room will be painted sometime in February. At the same time, the children’s room — which is also located downstairs — will receive a much-needed revamping to accommodate all the children’s activities, Siekman said.

The new teen room will open in early March.

Siekman said the library has seen a surge in patronage in the past months — something that Norway Memorial Library Trustee President Hilary Ware attributes in part to the economic downturn.

“During the recession we’ve seen a big increase (in patronage),” Ware said.

Ware reported to selectmen at their Thursday night meeting that, since the downturn, the library staff has welcomed 2,711 people on average each month, and seen an increase in the use of library space for community meetings

The library trustees reported that in 2009 the library was host to 27 community meetings and 16 adult education classes on average each month. Additionally, each month the library staff held 23 children’s programs and eight library adult programs and meetings on average.

The library will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its children room in 2010.

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