Teens 'n Tech

Veejay classes, a mobile animation studio, and video game tournaments were just a few highlights of the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) first annual Teen Tech Week (TTW) held March 4–10. The goal? To let teens know that libraries are more than just reference tomes and free bookmarks.

“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.”

In seeking ways to connect to middle and high school students, libraries have upped Internet access at local branches. However, today's teens aren't just users of technology—they're creators.

So with the theme “Get Connected,” TTW had libraries engaging kids in the more dynamic use of technology. 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.

“But everything wasn't a success,” Gorman says, laughing. “We celebrated this on a huge scale since it was the first time. But it's important for everyone to know, it doesn't always work.” So what was ImaginOn's dud? The “Computer Guts” class—in which teens took apart a PC—failed to inspire many of the 500 teens that participated. It probably won't make it back on the roster next time, Gorman says.

YALSA spent nearly a year putting the plans together for the inaugural event, moved, in part, by the growing number of kids under 18 that use libraries—up from 33 million in 1993 to 54 million in 2004, according to the group. YALSA supported local library branches nationwide with downloadable logos for flyers, activity ideas, and even contests for the best displays and events. They did not, however, dictate how the libraries had to celebrate. “It was a little bit of an organic program because of the technology,” says Paula Brehm-Heeger, president-elect of YALSA. “Still, we were amazed by some of the things people did.” One, says Brehm-Heeger, was a session on social networking. Sponsored by the Teen Advisory Council at the Kitsap Regional Library in Washington state, “[The program] was for the parents, run by the teens, and they called it, 'Who's Space Is It Anyway,'” she says.

Librarians also held a session at Second Life Library, inside the 3-D online environment, where patrons—represented by their avatars—can participate in events, such as the one offered in Teen Second Life, a virtual space dedicated to 13- to 17-year-olds.

Enticing teens into the library—virtual or RL (real life)—is critical to YALSA's mission. And luring youth with fun tools and technology is a great way to get them in the door, where they become engaged, and hopefully stay. “It's always great to have teens come into the library who are tech savvy but maybe not media literate,” says Brehm-Heeger. “At a library they can use technology but also have staff to lead them through emerging technology in ways they may not have imagined.”