The Young and the Wireless

We all want to turn teens into regular library users, and a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project is chock-full of information that can help. If librarians better understand kids' online needs, and create libraries and services that respond to these needs, then teens will be much more likely to visit our libraries—either in person or by way of cyberspace.

For starters, it's important to know that 87 percent of kids between the ages of 12 and 17 use the Internet and slightly more than half of them log on daily, according to “Teens and Technology: Youth Are Leading the Transition to a Fully Wired and Mobile Nation.” That's up 14 percent from a little over four years ago. What are these kids up to? In telephone interviews with more than 1,000 teens, the study found that 81 percent play games, 76 percent get news, 43 percent make purchases, and 31 percent search for health information.

Research for “Teens and Technology” was conducted in late 2004 for the Pew Charitable Trusts, a highly respected nonprofit foundation dedicated to keeping the public informed about issues and trends that shape their lives. Here are some other key findings that can turn your library into a hot destination for today's teens.

The Web, broadband, and instant messaging (IM) have been around for as long as most teens can remember. So it's no surprise that researchers found that nearly nine out of 10 teens are wired—which isn't to say that many adolescents aren't in serious need of instruction when it comes to using the Internet.

The good news about cyberspace is that kids can take advantage of what libraries have to offer without actually being there. But for that to happen, we need to offer our resources in a way that's convenient for teens. Librarians can start by providing students with remote, password-protected access to their databases. It's a great way to extend your library's reach and save kids valuable time. You'll also want to make sure that your library's Web page and catalog can be easily displayed on handheld devices.

It turns out that half of households with teens have broadband—Internet access via DSL or cable modem. We can't deduce from this finding that high schoolers are the reason their parents are footing the bill for high-speed connections. But this phenomenon means that many young people think broadband is the norm. Not only does broadband speed up Internet connections, but it also changes the quality of teens' experiences. If you doubt that, just watch the expressions on kids' faces while they're waiting for a poky dial-up connection.

Since speedy connections let kids download more content faster, they can simultaneously chat with friends, listen to streaming music, check out various sites, play games, and maybe even do their homework. Broadband also has given advertisers a powerful new way to reach kids, and teenagers are constantly being barraged with exciting graphic and media-laden ads. No wonder their eyes glaze over when they're presented with large chunks of text on a library Web site. If libraries want to attract teens, we need to present our information in a short, snappy format and our computers need to be faster than or at least as fast as the ones kids use at home.

If e-mail is the only electronic format you use to communicate with adolescents, your library is at risk of being seen as antiquated. Although e-mail is still a fixture with teens, the study says teens see it as a means of communicating with “old people.” Nowadays, many kids prefer IMing—and they use it to share more than words. Fifty percent IM their peers links to Web sites and humorous or interesting articles. Nearly that large a percentage IM photos and documents, and almost one in three send music and video files. Approximately one-third of teens “who use IM or text messaging will use it to communicate with their parents,” the study adds. More than 12 million teenagers use IM to discuss homework, tests, or schoolwork, according to another recent Pew report called “The Internet at School.”

Setting up an IM account is easy. Simply visit any of the three major IM providers—Yahoo, MSN, or America Online (teens are enamored by AOL's Instant Messenger)—and register for a free account. After you've practiced sending some messages, share your screen name with kids. They'll be impressed that your library uses IM.

Of course, not everyone agrees that IM is a good thing. Some schools are convinced that instant messaging will compromise their students' security and lead to online gossiping and bullying, pornographic spam, and computer viruses. That's why they've set up firewalls, which make it difficult to IM articles. Still, for many teens, not having IM is like not having access to e-mail or a phone. And IM's benefits—such as its ability to extend discussions beyond the classroom, promote collaboration, and build friendships—far outweigh the risks.

Cellphones aren't just for talking. Teens use them to gather information and to send text messages—short messages sent to a cellphone, pager, PDA, or another handheld device. According to Pew, 45 percent of young adults have cellphones and 33 percent use them to send text messages—which, I've noticed, include everything from movie times to math problems to cool Web links. As a result, the boundaries between information, learning, and play have become blurred for many teens. What does this mean for libraries? If we want to reach young adults, we can't afford to merely transmit information to them. Instead, we need to offer teens various options, such as IM and blogs or online journals, which let them take part in a two-way, interactive conversation.

Of course, the Web also plays a huge role in the way teens socialize. Two of the most popular teen sites, Facebook and MySpace, encourage visitors to connect with their peers, create groups of friends, and develop real-life friendships. Take a look at your library's Web site. Is it friendly and personal or is it cluttered with text (most of which will never be read)?

For a great example of a popular online social space created by a library, visit the Ann Arbor (MI) District Library's Axis blog. You'll see hundreds of comments by teens on scores of topics—everything from quotes from Harry Potter to the results of the latest round of the video game Madden NFL 2005. The sheer number of messages indicates that blogs are a powerful way for libraries to participate in the conversations that teens crave.

Keep in mind, teens aren't physically isolated from each other despite all this technology in their lives. According to the study, the average teen spends more time hanging out with friends after school than interacting with them through chat rooms, IM, or cellphones. This suggests that it makes sense for librarians to provide young patrons with some quality face-to-face time. One way of doing that is by taking on the role of an information consultant. Librarians can encourage teens to “Book a Librarian”—a program that enables students to schedule a librarian for a specific amount of time (say, 30 minutes) to help them on reports, college or career information, and other research needs. It may be difficult to have a staff member available for individual instruction, but it's worth the effort if it leads to more students coming to the library.

There is a lot more to be learned from the Pew study, including some fascinating observations relating to gender. “We particularly liked the finding about older teen girls as 'power users,'” says Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist at Pew and one of the report's authors, adding that 15- to 17-year-old girls use technology more intensively than any other group of teens, and that they lead the pack in searching for new information on spirituality, health issues, and colleges. “This finding in particular counteracts the myth of the tech-savvy boy,” she says. Clearly, older girls are as savvy—and some are savvier—about the Web than their male counterparts.

The study also indirectly debunks another popular misconception: the notion that technology is a threat to libraries. It's true that traditional library services will never again be the same. But thanks to technology, librarians now have an opportunity to make a difference in young peoples' lives 24/7—and still get a good night's sleep. Now how great is that?