There are so little places for teenagers (especially in cities) to actually spend time safely outside of their home without needing to pay some kind of money. Having a safe space for teens to drop not only keeps them safe, but also likely prevents them from committing nonviolent crimes. I’d be very interested in seeing potential statistics comparing cities with well funded teen library drop-in centers and those that don’t and their youth offender reporting statistics.
I have never heard of a teen library drop-in centre, but I love the idea. With the decline of indoor malls, and especially combined with the brutal winters we have here, there are barely any free indoor spaces for teens or unhoused folk to spend time. Some cities have built beautiful megalibraries (my city is building one now!), and when I’ve visited them it’s been remarkable how free you feel to just exist in the space.