Students going back to school means after the final bell rings our stacks get full. For some, they've been coming for years but others this is their first time in the library. Dumped off by parents, waiting for rides, or just have no other place to go. We try to give them things to do other than dry hump in the copier room, but we are only librarians.
The frequent flyers know the drill. They showed up for summer reading. They went to all the game nights. Some of them hunker down and get their homework done while others find their way to the manga section or art books and get lost. A lot get on the library computers to use Roblox accounts their parents definitely know about.
Another group are the wild children. Like Lord of the Flies they roam the streets in packs. We are one of their grazing areas. They dress similar, not a gang but like minded cliques who go wherever they feel they will stand out. Maybe one of them has a crush on a frequent flyer, maybe the library has snacks that day. They stand off to themselves, go to the bathroom together, and leave as one under some call of the wild to parking lots, shopping malls, or other places these children of the land roam.
The last group wandered into the library by happenstance. They knew a building was here and it smelled like school and shelter. Maybe they came to a story time or summer reading program when they were little. They find a group or kinda look dazed on their own, not sure where to sit among the space between, a community area full of people from all over. Some have been sheltered, not asking any questions about anything, afraid to touch. For these children, we sick the children's librarian upon them. Depending on their disposition the children's librarian can be friend or foe. The introverts among them shy away. The extroverts are welcome to the conversation. All will meet and be met.
At the end of the day, stragglers will be left. Even a frequent flyer mom gets stuck in traffic now and then. At this point, a librarian hangs out. We learn about their family then, asking who is picking them up. We learn about them, what they did at the library today. We learn which will wait in silence and which will engage. Hopefully everyone learns this is a safe space.