Do you follow the golden rules?

Librarians were among the first to embrace the usefulness of technology in helping our patrons find the information they need. Still, it's useful to remind ourselves every once in a while that it's easy to be complacent about the computers and databases that we have offered the children in our libraries and schools. Technology has gone far beyond the computer lab and shelf of DVDs in the corner of the library. The interactive Web is here and it is important to let our children use it. Read this important article from Media Shift about the 7 Golden Rules of Technology in Schools. It is important to allow children access to the social media they will be using in the real world outside the school and library. Perhaps the most important rule of all is the one about the "F--- Word" That word is FEAR--fear of offending some teacher or parent by allowing a child to stray off the tried and true tools of print. Some of the reason for this fear is the exaggerated sense that the Internet is filled with evil sites designed to hurt children. The truth is that this fear is overblown. Occasionally a child may stray into a site that shows some nudity or uses some inappropriate language, but almost all children react by giggling and pointing it out to their friends. They are not injured or offended by it and young children are usually not terribly interested. Of course, we have to keep an eye on what the kids are up to in the library, but we don't want to repeat the errors of librarians in mid-20th century who tore pages out of the "National Geographic" or worse still banned the magazine so that children would be protected from seeing an occasional indigenous woman wearing less clothing than would be seen on Main Street. Children are resilient, we need to trust them and to help them find their way through the new digital media, because this is the world we all live in now. The more we embrace change, including changes in technology, the more we help our children grow into the strong citizens who can face the new world fearlessly.

Does Facebook Make Teens Sad?

Parents, librarians and teachers are all charged with maintaining the health and safety of children and teens under our care, so it's no wonder we worry so much about what they are doing. One of the latest concerns is the effect of social media--online predators, sexting, and the latest threat "Facebook depression". In March the American Academy of Pediatrics released a report about children and teens' use of social media which revealed that indeed a great many younsters are online much of the time and that it's an important part of their lives. You can read the report online--it's quite short and strikes a sensible balance between showing concern for the cases of cyberbullying and depression that are linked to online use and the benefits teens gain by using these media. Relatively few children and teens are solicited or harrassed online by adults; most of their interactions are with their peers; online bullying seems to be no more common than face-to-face bullying. While parents and other adults should be alert and aware of what is going on, the solution isn't blocking the use of social media but encouraging discussion of the issues. As a follow-up to this report, Dr. Rahul Parikh, writing in Salon.com, describes what he calls "Our overblown paranoia about the Internet" and urges adults to accept the importance of online socialization for teens and tweens without panicking about possible misuse. Technology is constantly changing, young people have to learn to live with changes and to learn how to handle them, so adults who want to help children grow should accept the world they live in and not give way to unreasonable fears or try to place unnecessary walls around youngster's experience. After all, Rapunzel's guardian couldn't keep her locked up forever--and neither can we. We should help children learn how to live in the world not hide from it.

New, faster Internet for all

Despite the overwhelming presence of online entertainment and services for most young people in America, there are still pockets of the country that are unable to access Broadband. And of course there are also thousands of families that cannot afford access. The FCC is announcing a new ten-year plan designed to introduce Broadband access to every part of the country and to encourage making it available to all individuals and families. Part of this new plan is a digital education component to teach people how to use online information and services. The Obama administration believes, as many others do, that the Internet will become the major channel of entertainment and information in years and decades to come. There is no information yet about how librarians will be integrated into these new plans, but if we are wise, we will work to make libraries and librarians a vital part of the system. Libraries exist to provide information and entertainment, if the channels of delivery change, we need to be sure that we change with them.

More cooperation

Schools and public libraries often work together to help children have better access to the resources they need for homework and pleasure. Often this is done by simple means such as linking to each other's catalogs on the homepage of each system. New York City is now aiming for a more elaborate way of inducing students to use their public library resources through developing widgets to make the process easy. School Library Journal reports that work has started on these widgets and the first of them will be introduced at the NYC School Library Conference in the fall. Librarians throughout the country will be keeping on eye on the developments. It sounds like a winning idea for everyone.

Copyright for the grandkids?

Arguments over copyright will probably never end and librarians need to be informed of the legal and moral rights of people who write, draw or otherwise create content. There is a difference, however, between the moral rights of a creator of content and the legal rights of a corporation that controls the copyrights of many creators. Many new works and creative commentary on published materials are stifled by narrow and sometimes absurd restrictions. A new book about the Internet and its follies, Digital Barbarism, written by Mark Helprin, comes in for some thoughtful criticism by N.Y. Times columnist Ross Douthat. Anyone who has read through the long columns of comments appended to many news stories and blogs, will sympathize with Mr. Helprin's anger, but it's important to remember that a few of the comments will be thoughtful and offer new insights into any subject. Listening to the voice of the people is tedious, but in the long run we often discover that truth lies somewhere in the welter of words and is often worth seeking out. Our copyright laws need revision, but we need to listen to more voices than that of Mr. Helprin.

Separate and not equal?

The difficulty of communication between parents and their preteen or teenage children has often been noted. Now that many young people spend much of their time online, is the gap becoming better or worse? Check out the blog hosted on the Digital Natives website and you can read about another website full of complaints about parents who joing Facebooks. Librarians and teachers may want to consider the implications of this. Will setting up a library page on Facebook be seen as a friendly gesture by young library patrons or will it be an intrusion into their space? Probably the best way to find out is to talk with the kids. In this world of interactive media, we adults should do our best to focus on honest interaction--asking kids what they want and listening to what they say.