Teen Tech Week

We're very excited to be part of the national celebration of Teen Tech Week with some special events March 2-8.

The event was created by the American Library Association (ALA) to celebrate and encourage the efforts of teens with what will undoubtedly be the building blocks of their futures: emerging technology.

Check the teen programs page for specific events going on at your local library, or take our online quiz and find out "How techie are you?"

Not surprisingly, the Pew Internet & American Life Project tells us online content creation by teenagers is a rapidly-growing trend.

The use of "social networking" sites may be the largest contributor. More than ever, teens are using sites such as flickr, Facebook, MySpace and the like to form online friend networks and communicate with people around the world.

The ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers more information for teens, as well as librarians and educators working with teens, on the safe and exciting uses of these newer technologies.

For those who may have reservations about online use by younger generations, David Pogue also has written a very timely article for the New York Times talking about his own research, and a Frontline episode titled "Growing up Online," about Internet use by children and teenagers.

If, as Pogue asserts, this is simply the latest form of socialization for teens in an ever-changing world, we all have a lot to learn.