Kids these days.

Posted March 13, 2015 by Alison Mitchell

Jessamyn West, who lives in Vermont and blogs at www.librarian.net, is really great.  Her most recent blog post details two presentations she gave to local parents, one on apps used by teens and one on internet safety.  There are so many great things about her presentations:

• A librarian is proactively meeting with members of her community to introduce and discuss issues around technology.
• She’s helping parents keep current with technology used by teens today.  I think it’s super important for parents to know what their kids are doing, but I’m sure many parents aren’t exactly sure how to go about getting that knowledge.
• Jessamyn herself had to learn a new technology to give this presentation (Snapchat).  She’s a pioneer in library technology (maybe that is overstating it, but she certainly knows a lot) and she still had to learn something new!  It’s all about lifelong education.
• Because of her presentations, local parents talked with each other, shared strategies and ideas, and generally built community.  Look what librarians can do!

One of my classmates in 488 (Technology for Information Professionals) recently made the point that adults have to be authentic and knowledgeable when discussing and using technology with teens.  As librarians (and personally, as a parent) we should make every effort to know about the technologies teens are using.  I’d love to attend a presentation like the one Jessamyn West gave — anyone out there interested in teaching it?