Introducing Jennifer…. Jennifer is a Young Adult Librarian for the Otis Library at Norwich, CT. Getting a new shipment of books is the best part; it always feels like Christmas morning and she has the hardest time deciding which book to take home first. Thus her bookshelf is filled with books and she has a mile long list of books-in-waiting. She’s also addicted to the internet.

Teen Library Websites: Love them or Hate Them?
I’ve recently spent a lot of time researching library websites in anticipation for our new website for Otis Library in Connecticut. Our site, in trying to be uniform as a whole site, quickly made our teen page less about graphics and more about the information.However, when I first looked around, there were pages that I wanted to emulate (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). My favorite site was the teen site at the Public library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County of North Carolina. Their Library Loft page is bold, interesting, and chock full of information. The Louisville Free Public Library has a wonderful teen page including, along with many other libraries, booklists. I freely admit to including 2 booklist pages after looking at this page. Teens at the Johnson Country Library’s teen page can change the background theme of their page with several choices including Goth or monkeys. Each library strives to make their page unique and attention grabbing, but according to teens that I’ve spoken with, it may be a lost cause.

1) Do teens really look at library websites?

2) Are they drawn to images/graphics or more information?

3) What do they envision for the library website?

The biggest question of all:

4) Do they even care?

With all the social networking sites (yes, I’m on myspace, facebook, and Shelfari – all under the title YABOOKNERD to make it easy) does it really matter to have a wicked cool teen website? From the teens I talked to, most didn’t really know that we had a website catering to them. Once they did know, they didn’t seem impressed and when asked would be unlikely to use the site, unless they were bored. So in this case – how do we reach out to teens? Does anyone else find the library website a tool of the past?

Posted by Jennifer

New post from Jeff 2.0! Jeff took a 15 year detour through chemistry and engineering before becoming a librarian. He wonders why he didn’t start there in the first place. In addition to being a YA specialist, Jeff is also a Boy Scout leader.

Intellectual Property Rights, Creative Commons and…Nine Inch Nails?

Teaching information literacy skills is an important role for YA librarians. Educating teens about such issues as intellectual property rights, digital rights management (DRM) and the law can often come across as preachy. Fortunately, an unlikely partner can help break the ice with teens on this subject: Nine Inch Nails.

Ask a teen where they got the music on their MP3 player and they’ll likely reply “the internet.” Of course, the real question is: was it obtained legally? While authorized downloads of artists’ music are available through online retailers such as Apple’s iTunes Store or Rhapsody, many people still use file-sharing protocols such as Limewire, KaZaa and BitTorrents for unauthorized downloading (aka theft) of copyrighted materials.

The world seems divided into two camps: those who view all intellectual property as essentially being public domain (as long as they don’t get caught), and those who view all intellectual property as private property posted “no trespassing, authorized persons only”. The former camp says that copyright stifles creative uses of intellectual property such as sampling in music; the latter camp says that owners of intellectual property should have the right to control all its uses.

As in most ideological battles, there is a middle ground. Enter Creative Commons, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable corporationthat defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright [http://creativecommons.org/about/]

Many teens may be familiar with Creative Commons from its use on Flickr. Flickr allows you to apply Creative Commons licensing to grant other users the right to use your work under certain circumstances.

Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have given us the opportunity to use their music to educate teens on intellectual property issues. NIN has released their latest album, Ghosts I-IV under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. This means that you can share it, or remix it and share it under the same license for noncommercial (i.e. free) uses as long as you attribute it to Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails offers the album for download for only $5, or you can download a partial album for free from the website or via BitTorrent.

The album consists of instrumental tracks which are perfect for remixing and/or adding vocals. One of the programs suggested for Teen Tech Week 2008 (or any other time) involves teens using Splice Music, JamGlue, or Audacity to create their own music. Why not include downloading the free Nine Inch Nails tracks and have the teens make their own remix? How about adding vocals? What about a music video posted to YouTube? The finished product could be uploaded and shared following the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. The teens will have fun exercising their creativity, and we will get the opportunity to talk with teens about intellectual property rights and Creative Commons licensing.
Posted by Jeff 2.0

The word has been out for awhile now that social neworking sites provide a creative and easy way to connect with people. Libraries, businesses, publishers, musicians, politicians, radio stations, you name it, the question is not so much “do you have a MySpace?” but “who does not have a MySpace?”.

One of the first things librarians often do when they create their MySpace (or Facebook) profile is search out well known YA authors and add them as friends. The purpose is mainly to help introduce book titles to visiting teens and to promote books and the joy of reading in general. Besides, who wouldn’t want Meg Cabot on their friend list. How cool is that?

Publishers have caught on and many have started automatically creating MySpace and Facebook profiles for their authors as soon as their books come out. However, after reading an article in the October issue of Publishers Weekly, it would appear that some publishers are becoming weary of this practice for two reasons. First of all, maintaining author profiles can be time consuming. Second, a publishers ultimate goal is to sell books and it’s difficult to find verifiable statistics proving that social networking sites actually do increase book sells. “We have tangible results that blog postings and website features sell books. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of social networks” says Fauzia Burke, President of FSB Associates. Granted, the people interviewed for this particular article mainly publish for an adult audience, so it would be interesting to see what HarperCollins would say about the effectiveness of author profiles when it comes to selling their books.

Nevertheless, this article intrigued me since a librarys’ motivation for creating social networking profiles are in a sense similar to that of a publisher. We’re trying to connect, to direct viewers to our physical and virtual locations. So if publishers are having a hard time getting tangible results from them then how are librarians doing? Is it possible to be able to prove that a MySpace is getting viewed and more importantly, directing viewers to our resources? I believe it is, at least with MySpace. (Keep in mind that I am only 75% techie so if someone out there knows a better way please share). I noticed recently that the “new skin” on MySpace has a new site tracker so you can see how often your profile is being viewed. If you want to know whether your profile is leading viewers to your website or blog then you can use free applications like Blog Tracker and Google Analytics which show you how viewers interact with your site and how they got there in the first place (keywords, referring sites, etc.).

There does, however, seem to be an interesting movement away from traditional social networking sites. Anna Zelenka of Wordpress wrote a post mentioning how some well known bloggers have always seen the whole MySpace/Facebook thing to be pretty much a waste of time and found blogging to be much more effective in reaching readers (the focus of the discussion on these posts has more to do with the OpenID movement, a concept I’m still trying to wrap my pretty blond head around). She also points to a fascinating post by Dana Boyd who uses the term ephemeral profile to describe a particular behavior that I’ve also witnessed with the teens at my library. They have this tricky habit of loosing or forgeting their passwords. However, rather than hunt down the password or having it emailed to them (which is what I and probably most adults do), teens are more apt to just start over again, beginning with an entirely new email address, creating an entirely new profile and possibly even moving to a completely different social networking site (since they do seem to be in abundance lately).

Boyd notes that this behavior is indicative of teens who are all about creating and recreating their identity. What better way to do this than with social networking sites. Create a new profile, a new you and meet completely new friends. She has an interesting quote, “I should note that I don’t think that the answer is “help teens remember passwords.” I actually think that this tendency to shed is advantageous in the way that we shed clothes every year because the “old me” is no longer relevant. Technology is a bit too obsessed with remembering; there’s a lot of value in forgetting.”

So, where does this leave teen librarians? It’s a hazard of the occupation I guess and all the more reason why we need to remain on our toes.

 Attention Teen Librarians: Want free money for your teen tech week programming?

YALSA is giving out 20 mini grants for Teen Tech Week celebrations. Each grant is $450 in cash for a library’s TTW plans, plus $50 worth of Teen Tech Week products from ALA Graphics. All you have to do is turn your application into yalsa@ala.org by January 7…. Which is next Monday

To download the application and official rules for the Teen Tech Week mini-grants contest, visit www.ala.org/teentechweek and click on “Contests.”

It’s that easy!

Good luck with your Teen Tech Week mini-grant.

-Stephanie, 2008 Teen Tech Week Chair 

Library Review is looking for papers about web 2.0 and teens in libraries. According to the journal description, “Library Review aims to provide an international communication link between researchers, educators and library professionals in academic, public, company and other libraries by publishing papers which have been reviewed by the Editor and one or more reviewers.”

_____________________________

Special issue call for papers:  Web 2.0, teenagers and libraries

According to a recent survey of 11 to 20 year olds reported in Media Guardian (17.5.07), more than 90% of UK teenagers have used a social networking website and a third have at least four profiles on social networking websites. One-fifth claimed they ‘couldn’t live without’ social networking. It is essential that libraries which aim to engage a teenage audience acknowledge this trend and find new ways to provide services which are accessible to teenage users in the online environments where they feel most comfortable.

This special themed issue of Library Review (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/lr/lr.jsp) will explore the current use of Web 2.0 technologies in libraries which serve teenagers, and consider how services might be developed future to better meet the needs of a teenage audience.
The issue will cover initiatives in all types of libraries serving teenagers: school, public, college, university and other information services. Contributions are welcome from researchers, library/information practitioners and other interested parties. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):

• Involving teenagers in the design of web 2.0 services
• MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites
• The use of blogs
• Security and safety issues
• Getting staff – and managers - onboard
• Gaming - does it have a place in libraries?
• Online reading groups
• Podcasting - library tours and other uses
• Web 2.0 approaches to information skills
• Wikis and online communities.

Articles should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words in length. Author guidelines are available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/lr/notes.jsp
If you are interested in submitting an article, please email sarahmcnicol@hotmail.com I am very happy to discuss ideas for contributions.
The deadline for submission of full articles is 18^th April 2008.

About 1 year ago I wrote a post about the then soon to be released Nintendo Wii and what benefits it would have over other systems for library gaming.  Having now owned a Wii for about 6 months and having used it at my library a time or two, I thought it would be fun to revisit the post to point out a few reasons that this system is a great choice for library programming.

             Before the release of the Wii I speculated that it would be a great system for libraries because it would appeal to many ages and I stand by that thought now that it is out.  One of the things that Nintendo has done with the Wii is create a system that is accessible to every one, from a young child, to the elderly, because it relies heavily on natural physical movements and less on the mashing of buttons, which can be unnatural to someone who does not have much gaming experience.  In addition to creating a system that could be fun for everyone, Nintendo also seems to be doing a good job putting out games for it that appeal to anyone.  From simple games like Wii Sports, to more complicated games like Trauma Center: Second Opinion, there are games for both the casual and hard core gamers alike, and gamers of any age.   So, in addition to being a great draw to get teens into your library, this system can also be used for events with a younger crowd.  Better yet, it might be a perfect system to use if the teens in your library would like to help introduce their parents, or even grandparents, to video gaming.

             Another great thing about the Wii is that there seem to be two reasons that make it a great choice for social gaming.  First is the fact that it is a physical experience.  Games like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero have become very popular with libraries because it is fun to have a game that gets you moving, and it is also very fun to watch someone play a game that gets them moving.  Nintendo has capitalized on that by making movement a central part of almost every game for the Wii.  You can have 4 people lined up next to each other, each swinging the remotes like a tennis racket, while the characters on the screen engage in a heated doubles match.  Afterwards everyone could take a turn using the controller like a fishing rod and hopefully real in a large catch.  Not only is this a ton of fun to do, but it is also very fun, or better yet funny, to watch. The second reason is that many of the games that Nintendo makes are often meant to be played with numerous people.  This has been a big draw for earlier Nintendo systems and it continues to be the same for the Wii as well.  There are games like Mario Stikers Charged or WarioWare Smooth Moves, which are already out, as well as the soon to be released Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is sure to be a huge multiplayer hit.  Either way, because of both the style of play, and the type of games, Nintendo has hit the nail on the head when it comes to social gaming, a fact that their advertising is often quick to point out.

             There is also a temporary reason that makes the Wii a great choice for library gaming.  This is the simple fact that is still very hard to get your hands on one.  When stores do actually get this system in stock they still sell out very quickly.  This means that if the library can somehow get its hands on one, there will be plenty of people who want to come experience it because they can not get their own.  This is a lot easier said than done, but if you happen to find one somewhere, or if you have a staff member who owns one and is willing to bring it in I would highly recommend doing so.  At our last videogame night I brought mine in and every one, teens and parents alike, was very interested in trying it out.

One last reason that the Wii is such a good choice for the library is its price point.  The Wii retails at $250 dollars, which includes a game called Wii Sports, as opposed to the Sony Playstation 3 which retails at $499 and up.  The Microsoft Xbox 360 has recently come down in price, but it still generally costs $299 for the core system.  All three systems have similar prices for games and controllers depending on which ones you choose to buy.  So, when considering the ever tightening budgets that libraries have, the savings of anywhere from $50 to $250 can be a big deal.

So, all in all, if your library is looking to purchase a video game system to use for programming, I highly recommend the Nintendo Wii.  It is a very fun system, which is sure to draw a big crowd at your next gaming night.  For more info on the system or the games check out the Nintendo website, IGN, or an Avatars Reflection, which is where Jami Schwarzwalder, an active library blogger and video game enthusiast reviews games for the Wii.

Originally I was going to write about literature based social networks available on the web, those being Anobii*, Library Thing*, Shelfari*, and Revish*. However, with the branch library full of teens discussing final parties to attend, amusement parks to visit, and the number of days left to stay up really really late before school starts, my original topic diverged to meet their impending school situation. In this post we discuss social network resources that can academically or entertainingly engage the online teen who face a new school year. The starred links will direct you to my personal accounts so that you may gain a better understanding of the limitations of each social network.

Research Tools
Clipmarks and Fleck
Older teens facing an unfamiliar year of writing research papers may find appeal in the web annotation services of Clipmarks and Fleck. While browsing the web for information, Clipmarks will allow the user to highlight text portions of a page store them on an account to tag, comment, or read later. There are times when researching requires annotations directly onto the web page rather than highlighting its text and Fleck can immensely help this type of researcher. Fleck also has functions to email and save the annotated pages. Both applications are free, but users can only access their accounts from the original computer containing the downloaded application.

Literature Themed Social Networks
A book report alternative
Teen readers may find perks in either of these programs aimed at gathering teen opinions on young adult books. First Look offers ARCs to registered teens in exchange for opinionated reviews. Creating an account with First Look will enable the user to participate on the message boards as well as grant them permission to receive arcs. If you have a library MySpace page, HarperTeen has a presence worth checking out. Just grab some code to continue promoting literature. More involved but equally rewarding, the Pulse It program created by Simon and Schuster, Inc is aimed at reading enthusiasts. Teens print a parental consent form, mail it to S&S, then create a member profile. They will be sent young adult titles to review including ARCs on a regular basis.

Shelfari* and Revish*
For teens who have book collections at home, Shelfari is the coolest place on the web to create an online bookshelf, join book discussion groups, make friends with similar genre interests, and gleefully grab some code to show off their bookshelf on MySpace or other blogs. Shelfari recently held a best review contest for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in which the winner received a signed copy. I’m not aware of Shelfari holding many contests, but Revish is hoping to have more user-driven review of the month competitions. If they follow through this idea, Revish would be the place to suggest for the teen looking to branch out of book reports.

Extracurricular Activities
Of the social networks listed below, I’ve only tried StyleMob. The others look like they carry heavy appeal towards the right audience:

StyleMob* Fashionistas can find inspiration and feedback for their daily outfits. Members can add friends to their personal StyleCouncil for clothing advice, ask ‘The Mob’ such questions as “Are leggings good or evil?”, have their looks rated, and participate in style forums and contests. Check out StyleMob for ideas on how to mix-n-match your wardrobe.

FanNation - Sports fans might be interested in checking out FanNation for the latest news in sports or sports fantasy.

introPlay - Teens interested in fitness can keep track of workouts and goals and compete against other members.

GuildCafe - This social site promotes interaction between gamers. With GuildCafe, members can keep a profile of their gaming history as well as create a hub for their guild and/or clan.

Kongregate - A social site full of user-submitted Flash games.

Recently my library system decided to start a YA blog.  Previously we did not have much of an online presence for our teens and this will hopefully mark a change in the right direction.   We have it ready, but we will not be officially launching it until the end of the summer.  I wanted to share some of our goals and thoughts behind the blog so they might aide other librarians, but also so those of you who already have one can advise us on what will and won’t work.  So let the comments fly.

            In regards to content, we decided we wanted to model it after a blog called The Atrium.  The Atrium is the blog for the Grand Rapids Public Library system and it is one of my favorite library blogs.  The thing we liked about The Atrium was that the bloggers discuss more than just books and events.  They talk about anything on their minds, from the weather, to knitting, and everything in between.   Then they find a way to tie it to the library.  I have seen a lot of teen blogs that talk about programs and or books, but not too many that go beyond those topics.  We wanted something a little more versatile so we could talk about the things that really interest our teens.  We plan to write about anything and everything, from sports, to music, movies, or books.  Basically anything that interests us and would interest our teens.

            This then presented a small problem.  How do we make this blog applicable to the library if we are not necessarily talking about library events or items?  Well we have two answers to that.  The first is that almost every topic we could write about can be tied to the library.  If we write about the latest movie in the theatres, we can link to our catalog showing some movies we carry with those actors.  We could write about playing fantasy baseball and give a plug for a new sports book, or mention an upcoming program with a local athlete.  Secondly we decided that every other blog entry should directly tie to a library item or event.  This should not be hard, because, as mentioned above, almost anything can be tied to our collection or programs. It does, however, provide a reason for us to stay on task and it also helps us defend the blog if our board or administration is skeptical about its purpose.

            So, we have our content ideas ready, what about commenting?  We were unsure what, if any, rules we wanted to have for commenting.  After consulting the 12 laws every blogger should know found on the Aviva Directory and reading the comment guidelines on a variety of other blogs, we came up with the following guidelines, which will appear on the comment form.

• Please use appropriate language.
• For your safety, comments containing or requesting personal information, including phone numbers, will be deleted.
• Feel free to speak your mind, but please be respectful to others; offensive and inappropriate comments will be deleted.
• Comments are moderated; CADL is not responsible for the content of posted comments.
• CADL reserves the right to delete comments at any time for any reason; comments not directly related to the discussion will be deleted.

Most of these guidelines are probably not necessary but we wanted to make sure that we had the right to moderate the comments if a need were to arise.  They basically just give us the right to not post a comment, or to delete a comment, and they explain why we might do that.

            That is where we are right now.  The blog is ready to launch and we are simply waiting on a name.  We have decided that a fun way to launch the blog would be to have a contest, in conjunction with our summer reading program, to name it.  For the next month or so our teens will hopefully be emailing us possible names.  The winner will receive a gift card for a book store, in addition to having the name selected for the blog.

            Hopefully these ideas help any other folks out there starting a blog.  I would love to hear from those of you who have been running a teen blog for a while now.  What has worked for you and what hasn’t?  What do you write about?  Do you moderate comments at all?  And of course how have you attracted your teens to it?

Gaming and libraries seems to be a topic on the tip of everyone’s tongue here lately. Shifted Librarian, Jenny Levine has been blogging notes about the Gaming, Learning and Society conference which took place in Madison, Wisconsin last week and I imagine the biblioblogshere will soon be buzzing about the much anticipated ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning and Libraries symposium taking place later this month on July 22-24. All this recent attention on gaming and libraries has brought a shift in focus from viewing gaming simply as a recreational activity to acknowledging its potential as a literacy/educational tool.

At ALA this past June, OCLC Vice President George Needham conducted a presentation called Gaming, Information Literacy and the College Student, which ultimately attracted a lot of stimulating discussion and criticism. Although the focus of this presentation was directed more towards academic libraries, I think there is a lot here that would make for some interesting discussion amongst teen librarians also. Relying on recent research (2003 Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Marc Prensky) Needham’s presentation attempted to encourage librarians to think ahead a few years and consider the information literacy needs of the graduating class of 2010. Pegged with a multiple of descriptive, if not stereotypical names (net gens, millennials, gen y, gen me), this generation is especially known for its video gaming enthusiasm.

According to Needham’s presentation, gamers believe:

• there are multiple paths to victory
• failure along the way is to be expected
• leaders can’t be trusted
• life should be fun

Taking these traits into consideration, Needham suggests that we design library tools with gaming technology in mind so users can essentially learn on their own (remember: multiple paths to victory, failure to be expected, life should be fun) without having to turn to the “information priest” (leaders can’t be trusted) for assistance. He does not necessarily advocate that we completely forfeit our role of helping students find information, only that we allow them the opportunity to “play” first and ask when they feel they need the help.

Needham said that in this environment, librarians should focus on “in demand training,” helping students when they hit an obstacle, not before they start. Even then, he said, librarians shouldn’t say that they are providing formal training, but should say things like “let me show you a short cut,” the kind of language students use with one another all the time.

Many critics have since taken issue with Needham’s use of metaphor (digital native vs. digital immigrant, librarian as information priest), while others have take issue with his attempt to make gaming behavior synonymous with information seeking behavior. There is a lot of concern that allowing for “failure” is the same things as lower expectations and as such would be detrimental to the learning process. There also seems to be a lot of concern about taking the “librarian” out of the process and diminishing their role to mere “shortcut pointer-outer”. Would designing library technology tools so they are more game-like, more intuitive and trial-by-error be better for teens? Would this be considered the same as speaking to them on their own terms or is it simply “lowering the bar”?

When mulling over this myself, I can’t help but think about a presentation I saw at PLA last year called Making Traditional Library Services Teen Friendly. Mary K. Chelton was among those presenting that day. Well known for her research on teens and information seeking behavior, one of the things she kept repeating was how librarians tend to suffer from an “ideal user” syndrome. Attitudes need to change, she said, we need to start treating teens according to who they are, not how we wish them to be. I have since come to believe that this philosophy is key to providing successful services to teens; however, critics may still view it as another example of lowering standards. Reference-anxiety is another thing that needs to be taken into consideration here. Can we really expect teens to admit that they can’t do something and to come for help?

Current research on teens and information seeking indicates that whatever information literacy we are teaching them isn’t working very well. They make errors when they search and have difficulty combining word variations. But research in this area is incomplete and I have yet to see anything that really substantiates whether other tools such as podcasting or vodcasting might actually help in this area. So what do ya’ll think? Is it time to push for more alternative, non-traditional methods when it comes to teaching teens how to find information? Does the answer rest with gaming technology? Or do we need to take this thing back to the drawing board?

Although it has already been mentioned over on the Yalsa Blog I felt it was time to throw in my support for the new Myspace Channel called Impact. This is a very interesting new channel, which provides myspacers with links to the myspace pages of presidential candidates as well as a link to a page that will help someone register to vote online. There are other things the page offers, such news, videos, and more, which relates to making an impact in the world.

Channels like this could have a big impact on our youth. It gives politicians a means to try and reach an age group they hadn’t previously been able to communicate with very well. Now a teenager can simply get on myspace to read about candidate’s issues, and even comment on the page or send a message with a question to them. Even better, this has the potential of spreading quickly because every teen that is interested in a candidate or issue, can add links to their profile, include that candidate as a friend, or mention it in their blog. For more info about the channel and the impact it could have check out this recent NY Times article.

So what does this mean for us as librarians? Well, as librarians obviously we should be excited about anything that helps provide information to the people who need it. So something that connects youth and political information should be worth a look. There are a lot of ways we can try to get the word out about this source. Link to it on your websites, mention it in your blog, have a program centered on politics for youth, or even create a bookmark or pathfinder with political info for your teens. If you have a myspace, mention it there and add a banner for the register to vote page. Also, when you are talking with your teens simply mention that you saw this cool new site. This is a great new site which goes along with other resources such as Rock the Vote, which we need to be encouraging our youth to check out. Don’t forget many of our 16 year olds right now will be eligible to vote in the next election.

I just thought I’d share this although it’s not directly related to YA services. Michael Wesch, a Kansas State anthropology student did a video essay on digital text and Web 2.0. I thought it was a good visual intro to Web 2.0 and could be used a neat staff development tool to help further introduce and encourage Web 2.0 philosophy.

Recently, we received this comment on the Alt. Teen Services Blog:

MySpace - Libraries on MySpace appeal to teens!”

Is this true, or just an aphorism? I’ve heard from teens that MySpace is a good source of library information, but I’ve also heard from the same teens that they want MySpace for themselves. They’re not pleased with organizations, especially ones they consider to be “authority” (read: school or library) being on their turf.

Here is my response, which hopefully propels us into a nice discussion:

With the large number of libraries creating MySpace profiles, I find myself wondering if teens want a public authority such as a library on their friends list. Does a teen feel pressured into adding the library on their contact list? The teen that just “added you” may have done so to be polite, but is actually annoyed that the library will be able to view their personal profile.

I have met young adults that refuse to add the library onto their friends list. “Um, I don’t think you want to KNOW what is on MY PROFILE”. And that’s okay if a teen doesn’t want to add the library. In fact, I have both a private and professional MySpace, and encourage teens to do the same if they feel splintered between the Library MySpace and their personal MySpace.
But I’ve also run into teens who LOVE having the Library on their friends list. The library is in their top 10, and we banter back and forth with quirky library comments. One teen commented, “OMG…books can be dangerous when thrown at high speeds?! Why didn’t anyone warn me…”. When we encourage these library-related comments, we are accepting teens for their quirkiness and strengthening our library relationship with them.

Still, there are the teens that feel befriending the library would limit their ability to “be themselves” on MySpace. They may dread the thought of the librarian reading profile comments and seeing private photos.

I’m curious as to what other librarians think about this question. Are we invading a teen’s private space when we add them as a friend?

I received e-mail from Andrew about using the LAST FM social networking tool. He was unable to comment in a previous blog, so I’ve posted his thoughts as a blog entry. By the way, our word verification comment tool is case sensitive. We’ve had occasional problems, but I prefer to use word verification rather than having to approve every comment before it goes live. If for some odd reason you are unable to leave a comment, just e-mail me and I’ll make sure your thoughts are shared on the blog in some capacity (either comment or new blog entry).

-Stephanie ( contact alt.teen.services at yalibrarian.com )
- - -
Hello I tried to leave a comment on the post but it kept saying that i
entered the wrong security code.  I dont know what I was doing wrong
so i figured i’d email it to you.

I have recently found a networking site which I think is really
interesting and I saw that it wasn’t mentioned in the YALSA pdf.  It
is www.Last.fm and it takes all of your recently listened mp3s(from
either your mp3 player or from the player on your computer and tracks
how many times you have played them.  It then will give you potential
“friends” who share similar musical interests.

I have been playing with this site for about a week and I am working
on a program with my teen patrons with this website as a warm up
program to a teen podcast.  I was thinking I could use this to see
what the kids are listening too and see if there is an interest in
making our own podcast.

I would be interested if anyone else has played with this site and/or
done it with teen patrons.

Andrew

p.s. heres the link to my personal last.fm profile to get an idea of
the tracking and what not… http://www.last.fm/user/scumkatt/

Thanks

During the month of October a group of YALSA Bloggers spent time looking at social networking sites. Everyday they added a new post talking about a new site or group of sites and how libraries or schools can positively use them. If you missed these posts I suggest you check out the recently released pdf, which includes all of them.

Anyway, I wanted to take a second to mention a few other sites that I think are a lot of fun and have some good potential for libraries. The first site I want to mention is www.bookcrossing.com . According to the site, and also now the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, a bookcrossing is “n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.” If you’re still confused as to what Bookcrossing is then the “3 Rs” of Bookcrossing should help.

1. Read a good book (you already know how to do that)
2. Register it here (along with your journal comments), get a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), and label the book
3. Release it for someone else to read (give it to a friend, leave it on a park bench, donate it to charity, “forget” it in a coffee shop, etc.), and get notified by email each time someone comes here and records a journal entry for that book. And if you make Release Notes on the book, others can Go Hunting for it and try to find it!

Basically the idea is to create a worldwide library and to share books. This has potential for some real fun programming that could promote reading. You could host a program, or maybe try combining it with a Teen Advisory Board meeting, that involves teens bringing in a book to label and write a journal entry for. Then you send them all out into the community to release the books. From there you simply keep track of the books online and see what happens to them. Or better yet, the librarian can release a bunch of books into various places in the community and record where they are on the site. Then your teens can use the hunting feature to go find them and read them. If you can think of a more fun way to get teens excited about reading a good book than a community wide scavenger hunt I would like to hear it.

The next site I want to mention is a little more obscure and does not apply to libraries quite as directly but it is my personal favorite social networking site so indulge me. It is called Frolf Caddy. According to the creator “Frolf Caddy is a user driven disc golf community, which aims to bring frolf players together.” For those unfamiliar with it disc golf is a sport very similar to regular golf except you throw discs or Frisbees toward a basket rather than hit golf balls toward a hole. Basically Frolf Caddy is a website where disc golf players meet online to share scores, courses, stories, and anything else disc golf related. The site will keep track of all your scores every time you play and give you all sorts of stats so you can analyze your game as well as compare it to your friends. So how does this apply to your library? Well that depends on your community, if you don’t live near any disc golf courses then it doesn’t, but chances are there are at least a few courses near your area and you can use the sites course locator to find out. If that’s the case why not have a program based around Frisbee golf for your teens. You can have a local player come in to talk about the game, the equipment and of course the site. Or if you know some of your teens are frolfers then simply tell them about the site, they are bound to love it. Be creative, there are many ways you could use this site if you think your teens would find it interesting. If you are still unsure trust me, it is huge across the country, especially among high school and college students so use the site to find a player in your community and see if they have any ideas.

The main thing that you should learn, both from the Yalsa pdf, and from my rantings on social networking sites is that they come in many different varieties and they have many possible applications for your library. They don’t need to be a scary or foreign thing; they are simply online communities for people who share interests such as books, disc golf, or anything else. So, find a site that would be interesting to your teens, explore it, and find a way to use it at your library.

By way of the ALA direct Newsletter, I came across this Teen Read Week music video.
Pretty cool!