Detroit Library Opening High-Tech Haven For Teens

The new HYPE Center -- the name stands for Helping Young People Excel -- is 3,884 square feet of video game consoles, big-screen TVs, performance spaces, quiet study areas, CDs, DVDs, free Wi-Fi -- and oh yes, books. Lots and lots of books.

Use of the center is restricted to those with a Detroit Public Library card who are between the ages of 13 and 18. The room has a crowd limit of 190 at any one time.

View more photos at this link.

According to Steven Teeri, the Detroit Public Library customer support representative who will run the center, its design, game collection, music collection, video collection and book collection were selected with input from the library's teen advisory board.

The room has Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles and a wide variety of games rated "E for Everyone" and "T for Teen." Teeri said there are plans for video game competitions with other libraries around the country.

There are comfy listening and viewing stations for CDs and DVDs, three 42-inch big-screen TVs, a big projection TV, and 10 PCs -- a selection of Windows, Apple and Linux, four of which are high-powered XPS gaming systems from Dell. There's a raised stage for theatrical and artistic performance, three quiet study rooms, thousands of teen-specific books, and free Internet access for those bringing in laptops.

The room itself has comfortable modern furniture throughout, but preserves the original 1923 room's bookshelves, other woodwork, and an amazing Pewabic tile fireplace with representations of Aesop's fables.

The HYPE Center will be dedicated in an invitation-only preview next Monday, May 12, with a formal opening to the public Thursday, May 15.

Teeri said more members are always welcome on the library's teen advisory board, which holds open meetings the first Thursday of the month at the library from 4 to 5 p.m. The library also offers a teen library blog at http://dplteens.blogspot.com.