On Friday, May 4, 60 teens celebrated National Youth Week with a Bands Night at the downtown library, aptly titled “May the Fourth be with You!” 6 local bands performed a variety of music in the Young Adult area of the library until 11pm!

On Friday, March 2, just under 200 teens celebrated the popular novel by Suzanne Collins and upcoming movie “Hunger Games” ,at the Barrie Public Library!  Teens visited 7 stations and practiced some great survival skills, including shooting marshmallows with a bow and arrow! The evening ended with a parachute being lowered to provide teens with items to create the best Tribute costume and all teens went home with a “Hunger Games” poster!

On Saturday, February 25, the library hosted a Creative critique for teens to help them prepare their creative work for the library’s new upcoming online magazine. Professionals in the community were present, from 1-4pm, to help mentor teens and give helpful tips and advice regarding their work. The areas of focus were: Artwork; photography; and writing. 23 teens attended and got great advice

On Wednesday, August 24, 13 teens enjoyed cake and games at the Wrap party for the teen summer online reading programme at the library!

Thanks to all 28 teens who participated in the online book review programme and congratulations to Gabriel who won the Ipod Touch! Many thanks to Pizza Hut Barrie for the donation of pizza coupons for the weekly draws.

On Friday, April 15, over 40 teens attended a creative Coffee House night for teens at the library!

Teens read poetry, monologues, sang, played guitar and performed hip hop and enjoyed coffee and donuts at this creative evening!  The winner of the “Name the Online Creative Magazine for teens” was announced (Samantha!) with the winning name being “Speak Out”.  Teens can look forward to submitting their creative writing, art and photography to this online magazine in the near future!

To celebrate Teen Tech Week, a Teen Tech Challenge Contest was held from March 6th until March 31st. Teens completed three tech-related activities and filled out an online entry form for the chance to win a Cineplex gift card. This contest was open to Barrie and Oro-Medonte teens between 13 and 19 years of age with a Barrie Public Library card.

The winner of a Cineplex gift card is: Darren (16)

Thank you to all who participated.

On February 5, teens participated in a hands on photography workshop led by Lucy Ricardo, local photo/journalist, at the library! Teens enjoyed in-class experimentation with their cameras and went on some nearby outdoor excursions, resulting in a great display of photography in the Young Adult area of the library. Group photo taken by Cameron. Many thanks to Georgian Copy and Printers for the printing of the finished photography.

Lesley Livingston, author and actress, visited the Barrie Public Library on Thursday, November 18, to speak about her young adult novels. The Teen Book Club had read Lesley’s novel "Wondrous Strange" and 11 members of the club attended the author talk. In total, 27 people attended the evening which was held in the young adult area. This visit was arranged with financial assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts through the Writer's Union of Canada. Everyone enjoyed Lesley’s dynamic presentation and the evening was a great success!