Chicago Public Library Unveils 21st-Century YOUmedia Learning Space for Teens
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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 10/21/2009 2:05:00 PM
The Windy City just landed one of the hottest spots for teens—and it’s at the public library.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley recently visited YOUmedia, an innovative 21st-century learning space for high school students located at the Chicago Public Library’s Harold Washington Library Center that connects teens, books, technology, and institutions throughout the city in one dynamic space. All students need is a valid library card to take advantage of it.
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YOUmedia's 'Messing Around' area. |
There are thousands of books, more than 100 laptop and desktop computers, and a variety of media tools and software that let teens take advantage of various social networking sites, online chats, and discussion boards.
Teens can also attend book discussions, author events, and performances. Chicago high school teachers are encouraged to reserve the space for their classes to attend skill-building workshops during the school day.
YOUmedia, which is on Facebook, also offers an online community, YouMediaChicago.org, where students can create, display, and exchange ideas about their work with other teens, adult mentors, and institutions.
"We wanted this teen center to be different," says Bernadette Nowakwski, the library's director of children and young adult services. "So we're bringing old media and new media together, connecting books into projects that are based on digial experiences or artifacts." Teens now check out about 1,300 books a month, which is "a lot more than they used to," she adds.
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YOUmedia's recording studio lets kids express themselves through music and the spoken word. |
The researchers found that these online activities extend teens’ learning and exploration significantly beyond experiences in school or local community programs.
The goal of YOUmedia is to support kids in their participation with digital media across all three of these practices—and over time, increase the number of Chicago teens who use online resources and new media as tools to engage in inquiry about their neighborhoods, the city, and the world.
The space, designed by a team of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, is a collaboration between the Chicago Public Library and Digital Youth Network, a three-year collaborative project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation that explores how kids use digital media in their everyday lives. It received $500,000 in funding from the MacArthur Foundation and $180,000 in hardware and software from the Pearson Foundation through the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
