A young boy named Matt visits the public library in Cherokee, Iowa almost every day after school and on the weekend. With no father figure in his life and a mother who is often busy at work, there aren’t many other places Matt can go in a small town of only 5,200 people. In fact, Missi Rogge, the Youth Services Librarian who is better known as ‘Miss Missi,’ said that the library is the only place in Cherokee where kids can find a safe space and mentorship outside of their families.
The library is Matt’s refuge, Missi told us, explaining that “Matt needed adult figures in his life to teach him how to be. He had no ‘guy’ in his life.” Tyler Hahn, the Library Director, has stepped up to be that father figure, Missi told us, adding, “Tyler always says he has a cold black heart, but he feels for Matt.”
When he’s at the library, Matt talks to Missi and Tyler about his day (“Oh, Miss Missi, I had the hardest day!” he would say) and plays video games with Tyler and several other kids, often as a part of the e-sports league that Tyler has set up to get more older kids involved with the library.
“If we meet people where they are,” explained Tyler, “they will see the value of the library, as well as literature and books.” The library’s e-sports league is part of Tyler’s initiative to get older kids involved with the library – in this case, by meeting them in the digital commons. The league has become so popular that the library’s team has gone to the state competition, and plays against teams from all over the world, including Japan.
In Tyler’s view, the e-sports league helps get a demographic of students who might not otherwise be involved in groups to engage and collaborate with their peers. Many of the kids have become leaders (some even want to serve on the library’s board!) and have gained the confidence to look for more groups to join.
The Cherokee Public Library is equally committed to serving younger children, too. Missi’s background in childhood education gives her a keen insight into how to connect with young children and understand what they need. She is clearly a superstar in the youth department – Tyler even said that hiring her was his proudest achievement.
When we spoke with Missi about how she engages kids at the library, she said that the key was to focus on play. “I’m kind of an eternal child,” she said, “and Tyler likes to play too.” When Missi reads for StoryTime, she brings a ‘30-second Dance Party Button’ that kids can press anytime they want a dance break. Missi always has fun music playing when she’s in the office and tells the kids: “Miss Missi is made of magic!”
Missi takes her StoryTime program to the park and the daycare center, and she leads a book club at the local middle school. “We go directly to anywhere that has access to youth,” Tyler said, “which includes afterschool educators, daycare providers (in homes or brick and mortar), and the school itself.”
At a moment in American society when children’s literacy rates are falling across the country and an increasing number of young people are reporting feeling lonely and isolated, getting children engaged in their local library might be an important part of the solution.1 By getting involved with the library, young people have more contact with books and can find spaces where they can join community groups. Tyler and Missi’s work to reach out to kids and connect them with the library is perhaps a model for one way that we might begin to improve childhood wellbeing across the country.
~
Carmen Vintro
To read more stories from America’s public libraries, subscribe to our Substack below, visit our website, and follow us on social media.
See: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ for information about childhood literacy rates, and https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/27/child-psychiatrist-kids-are-increasingly-lonelyhow-parents-can-help.html for information on children’s loneliness.