Tune in to IT @ Your Library
March 2-8 is a great opportunity for school librarians dealing with teenagers to take advantage of new technologies available in schools to ensure that their users are competent, capable and ethical consumers (and producers) of information.
This week is TEEN TECH WEEK.
Sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association this special week targets teens to ensure they are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, and videogames. Teen Tech Week gives school librarians the chance to discuss ethical issues regarding the use of digital resources with their students and to demonstrate that librarians are experts who can help them develop the skills they need to use electronic resources effectively and efficiently.
The YASLA site offers Teen Week suggested activities, and a great list of resources to keep you abreast of current technologies and how you can use them in a public or school library program.
Download YALSA’s 25 Ways to Celebrate Teen Tech Week flyer (PDF) and post it in your library!
25 ways to celebrate Teen Tech Week
1. Download an eBook or audiobook onto your mp3 player.
2. Visit your library’s webpage.
3. Blog about a library book or program.
4. Try out a book focused site like LibraryThing or Shelfari.
5. Create a soundtrack for your favorite book.
6. Ask your librarian to recommend a nonfiction book on an area of technology that interests you.
7. Add something to an article on Wikipedia.
8. Set up a podcast for a group or club you belong to. (Click the link to check out YALSA’s podcasts!)
9. Many young adult authors welcome email from their readers, and some even have their own MySpace profiles Why not send them a message in honor of Teen Tech Week?
10. Check out some video games, DVDs or music CDs from your library.
11. Create an avatar on Yahoo! Avatars.
12. Start a Teen Tech Club at your school or public library.
13. Read and contribute to a blog about technology.
14. Practice your HTML skills on your MySpace (and ask your parents to help!)
15. Watch some anime or startup an anime club at your library.
16. Create a video about your library or a favorite book.
17. Download a newspaper article from the day you were born from an electronic database.
18. Volunteer to help clean the computers and media at your library.
19. Volunteer to tutor library customers who are new to using computers.
20. Learn how to DJ music or record music with a computer.
21. Search in a biography database for an article about your favorite musical artist.
22. Learn how to use some new software.
23. Take a class on graphic design or digital photography.
24. Create a database of something you want to organize.
25. Start a del.icio.us, Twitter or Flickr account.
The CMIS ICT in the Curriculum web page links to information to help teachers using ICT in their classrooms.
The CMIS Resource bank includes reviews of 85 resources for Curriculum through ICT and 103 reviewed resources for Curriculum through ICT websites..
