Co-creating activities of reading animation with young people on the example of the Literary Escape Room in the Komorów’s Communal Public Library named after Maria Dąbrowska

Abstract

The teenage period is the time to search for oneself and shaping one’s own life path, often associated with rebellion and negation of what comes from adults. It is widely considered that teenagers are a group of students that is most difficult to reach with out-of-school educational activities. It is during this period that literature can help a lot in perceiving problems from a distance, finding solutions and forming one’s own personality. Trying to encourage contemporary netgeneration to relate with literary texts and to spend time in the library, librarians are increasingly expanding their offer associated with the latest technologies or multimedia workshops. The availability of such solutions depends on the financial and housing capabilities of the facility. Smaller public libraries need less costly solutions to increase the attendance of young people in cultural institutions. The article presents the opportunities to work with young people in a public library by inviting them to co-create activities on the example of the completed project of the Maria Dąbrowska’s Literary Room of Riddles in the Communal Public Library in Komorów. The successful inclusion of teenagers in activities has brought many benefits to volunteers, local students and the library itself. During the project, participants were encouraged to come to the library, as well as to get to know, with satisfaction, the works and biography of Maria Dąbrowska. Volunteers who create the described Escape Room also come to the library after the end of this project and plan their next activities.