Anne Hamland, the youth services consultant for Wisconsin Valley Library Service, now works in the same office as me. I can’t tell you how exciting it is for me to work in the same building with someone else who is thinking about services to youth! Especially someone as creative and committed as Anne is. She put together this terrific blog post for her library system, and gave me permission to re-print here.
The Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) Teen Tech Week is when libraries make the time to showcase all of the great digital resources and services that are available to help teens succeed in school and prepare for college and 21st century careers.
2018. This year’s theme encourages teens to take advantage of all the great digital tools offered through the library to become content creators, and to leverage library resources to share out their creations, whether they be podcasts, videos, apps, games, wearable tech, or some other fabulous invention or creation!
- · Send information to your school librarians and teachers to pass along to students.
- · Make announcements at all programs leading up to Teen Tech Week.
- · Reach out to your local newspaper, radio stations, and closest Chamber of Commerce.
- · Post it all over your website and social media with the hashtags #TeenTechWeek and #WisconsinLibrary. Ask library users to share your events and post photos.
- · Use word of mouth at the circulation and reference desks.
- · Reach out to regular library users through email lists and conversations.
- · What else could you try?
Teens would prefer not to talk to adults and librarians, right? Try programs that work with this
communication preference and empower them through discovery!
Tech Week? Share the following 25 ideas! HOW: Print out the 25 ideas individually and
post them around your library and on your social media!
a passive program! Teens might not want to talk to a librarian, that’s okay! Set out a kit
and watch them explore!
passive programming for Virtual Reality. Buy a pair or two at $10 or less, set them out
with, tell the teens to download the free Cardboard app and let them play!
app craze with social media posts, flyers around your library, and communications to
your school librarians. Is your library a PokeStop or Gym? Download the free app to
check it out.