Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Technology, Teens and the Library

This is completely based off of my experience in a small town library.  I've talked with the teens who come to the library and the teens who are on the Teen Advisory Board about technology and what they think the library should have.  I also asked them if they use any type of eReader for school or fun.  Turns out that only a few of them own eReaders or use their smart phones to read books.  A few have a tablet of some sort, but do not use it for reading.  They prefer coming to the library and borrowing books.  When asked what technology they would like to see in the library, they all agreed that there should be iPads for the teens to use.
I've been looking into how to use the iPads with the teens.  They mainly want the iPads just to sit down in the Teen Lounge and surf the Web or play games on them.  That is something that can easily be done, but what else could they be used for?  Gaming days at the library, use them to make eBooks, digital drawing contests, check books out right from the iPad???  There are many possibilities, it's just a matter of developing a library program that the teens will want to participate in.  I'm thinking about including library iPads in my monthly challenge games and see if I can get more teens to participate.  What are your thoughts on introducing more technology into the library and using it with teens or kids?

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