Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Teens and Libraries in Today’s Digital World


Rainie, L. (2014, April 9). Teens and Libraries in Today’s Digital World.    [Slideshare Presentation]. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/09/millennials-and-libraries/


This presentation shares the attitudes of millennials towards libraries. It also explores how teens today use libraries to meet their needs. Internet and digital tools have become second nature and a priority in their everyday lives. Rainie explores the positive and negative impact technology has had on teens educationally from a teacher’s perspective. While students are becoming increasingly more independent researchers, they are also prone to finding quick answers rather than analyzing the data they find. I think that all students need to be taught the learning process. All subject areas like reading, writing and mathematics have a process, and the effective use of technology is another process that needs to be taught.

The data collected in the presentation shows teens primarily read for academic purposes more so than for pleasure, and they utilize the library for that reason. Even though they are patrons, this group does not recognize the impact libraries have on the community. I gather in the mind of a teen, they think if there is no library information can be gathered from the computer or somewhere else.

So the question is posed, what is the academic future for millennials? Opinions are diverse. Technology is not going anywhere but rather becoming a part of everything we do. So educators and libraries need to provide the necessary tools and support the future of education.

Pages Read: 40

4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your synopsis so much I will have to go back and read the article, thanks.

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  2. I agree with your last sentence. Teens are no longer using the library to find reference information. We need to provide the tools they will need and use in order to support them.

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  3. I agree with your thought that students are becoming independent researchers, and some students do tend to just find an answer rather than reading more and learning more on the topic. Some kids really don't analyze what they read! We need to guide and teach them how to do it as teachers and future librarians. You make a great point.

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  4. In my experience, it seemed that once teens felt they were welcome in libraries, they used them extensively. Maybe the takeaway from that is that it is still about relationships.

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