Thursday, May 24, 2007
Teen 'n Tech
Found this article about the first annual Teens Tech Week held March 4-10 by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) in Charlotte, North Carolina. It describes the highlights and activities of the week. It is an article in the School Library Journal. To see the article please check out this site :www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/ca6www430163.
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3 comments:
I thought that this was a cool part of the article...
“Libraries can be innovative and cutting edge [places] where teens want to hang out,” says Michele Gorman, teen services manager at ImaginOn, in Charlotte, NC, a facility for families jointly sponsored by the Children's Theatre of Charlotte & the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County (PLCMC). “And technology is a major part of working with this generation.”
I definitely agree that we, librarians, must... MUST... have knowledge about computers, technology, media, etc. We need to be prepared to guide teens and children and adults through the steps of using a computer whether it is for the purpose of writing a paper or playing a game. Using technology and gaming is a great way to get teens through the doors of a library.
On the other hand, I am constantly disappointed when my teenage students tell me that they have never read an entire book all the way through. Obviously, this is a personal choice and many of my students are avid readers. I still can't get past the idea that libraries should be about learning as well as gaming. (This is the educator/learner part of me that is coming out...) How do we get those kids to come into the library to play a game, but then leave the library with a book in their hands??? That's what I want to know. Clearly, the first step in that process is to GET THEM INTO THE LIBRARY. I have no problem with technology enticing students/teens into the library. Learn about technology, love it, spread the word, use it on a daily/hourly/minutely basis. All of that is good. But... and this is coming from an English teacher so it may be somewhat biased... I still have this burning thought that teens should also use/read/love books. How do we bridge that gap? I wish I knew...
I too am somewhat dismayed by the attention gaming is getting. Another English teacher perspective here, but what about books?! Perhaps libraries are hoping to hook kids on using their space and resources, and then as their tastes change they will be comfortable and will continue to visit. [If you're a gamer, please comment on this.]
How does this gaming issue fit into school libraries? I already was questioned about building my school's fiction holdings when "our primary purpose is reference" (if I wasn't in such a state of shock, I would have questioned why our library only has one computer younger than 10 years!).
i feel that perhaps i’ve been out of the library world too long for this to resonate much with me. However, teen library service is my focus and i feel compelled to comment on this issue.
The schoollibraryjournal.com post states that among it’s YALSA Teen n’ Tech week activities, “In one unique session, ImaginOn staffers helped teens build their own Web sites, and in another had youngsters conceiving and shooting their own 3-D animated cartoons. Kelly Czarnecki, a technology education librarian at ImaginOn, helped create many of these sessions at the county library branches. She also took a laptop to the local jail, so 16- and 17-year-olds there could participate in the event and play a fingertip version of the online game Dance Dance Revolution.”
In this case, it seems that technology instruction is juxtaposed next to playing DDR (or StepMania, or whatever it was they were using). As has been pointed to me, in Library 2.0 staff cannot know which programs will attract attention, and which won’t, but the fact that effort is being made is key.
They also pointed out that their computer repair class flopped, which comes as no surprise to me: it’s too much like the classroom. Teen Librarians should be innovative and dynamic, fun, engaging, pretty much everything that they don’t get in the classroom (no offense English teachers but those adjectives rarely apply to AP Lit). So what if kids are being encouraged to play games instead of read? There’s only so much you can do to encourage teens to read: many simply aren’t interested. This does not negate the fact that we should be reaching out to them and gravitating to their interests. They still need to learn how to use the library, if only to logon to their chat programs.
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