Libraries often make people think of thick, dusty tomes, scholars hunched over tables, and silence so strong a visitor could hear their own heartbeat.

All that is changing at the Wareham Free Library. The high-school aged Teen Advisory Board has a new teen coordinator to help bring the teens' programming ideas to life.

"Part of the problem is that there is nothing here for them," said new "tween" and teen services coordinator Amy Cattabriga as she sat in the new teen section of the library. "They need to feel like this library is theirs."

Teens from Wareham Middle School and Wareham High School, both located across Marion Road from the library, have always visited the library after school, Cattabriga said.

Library staffers realized there was a need to provide an outlet for the teens' energy, leading them to apply for a $15,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to create a teen area and expand teen programming for youth in grades 5 through 12.

The grant was approved in early 2011, funding was received in the fall of 2011, and Cattabriga was hired in January of 2012 to help coordinate tween (pre-teen) and teen services.

The Teen Advisory Board, which involves teens in grades 9 though 12, are moving away from book clubs, writing contests, and study groups, which one might expect from such a board.

Though those activities are included, new programming includes cooking projects, a Japanese animation club, as well as video game days where Cattabriga brings in her own game console for the teens to use.

"We're trying to make it more open and friendly," Cattabriga said. "I want everybody to feel like they have a place here."

The month of April has turned into "Acoustic April." Teens, many of them members of the Wareham High School Marching Band, show up on Wednesdays to jam in the library's courtyard.

Jasinia Lee, a junior at Wareham High who plays the flute, and Alyxis Polisky, also a junior who has recently took up the saxophone, have recently joined the Teen Advisory Board and play in Wednesday's jam sessions.

"The activities are fun, and there are a bunch of different ones," said Lee. "The library has a lot to offer."

A section of the reference area, which is seeing declined use due to the internet, was carved out to create the teen area in the library. Teenage material, such as audio books, graphic novels, magazines and young-adult fiction, were collected and moved to that space.

Members of the Teen Advisory Board recently spent their first day of April vacation to spruce up their new "teen room," adding bright coats of purple and lime-green paint to the walls.

The teenagers also help out with activities held at the library for children, such as the recent Easter Egg Hunt and the library's mini-golf fundraiser held earlier this year.

"We want [the teens] to learn self-confidence and learn the skills needed in planning these events for the kids," said Cattabriga. "It gives them self-confidence to know they put this together and they coordinated it."