Name
Dylan Baker
Library
Ada Community Library
Email
dbaker@adalib.org
AIM Screen Name
dbaker4adalib
Yahoo! ID
dbaker4adalib
MSN Screen Name
dbaker@adalib.org
Google Talk
dbaker@adalib.org
I was pleasantly surprised to find that today's (7/22/06) Library Link of the Day features a newspaper article from The Times-News in Twin Falls, ID. The article's titled "Libraries Adapt to Attract New Generation" and is well-worth a few minutes of your reading time.
With 87 percent of Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 using the Internet for almost everything, librarians are being forced to change their offerings to both keep their older patrons and attract new ones weaned on electronics.
Kudos to Jerome Public Library and Twin Falls Public Library for striving to create Digital Native friendly library spaces. I particularly like the idea of a "Homework Cafe" and "juice bar". By not only refusing to sell food and drinks, but outright banning them from our libraries, we've given over our "third place" cred to places like Barnes & Noble and Starbucks.
What is your library doing to create a "Flight Deck" for teens and Digital Natives?
This web site and other Idaho Commission for Libraries programs are assisted with funds from the Library Services and Technologies Act through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
SPLAT recommends Google Reader.
Comments
You beat me to it!
I'm glad to see that you blogged about this article, it's great to see what some Idaho libraries are doing to meet their patrons needs.
I couldn't agree with you more about the need for food space. I'll have to blog about it in more detail, because I think it's vital that we reach out to the patrons we already have and the people who don't yet use their local library by creating an environment that people actually want to be in.
Space for Food & Drink
I saw the Twin Falls article as well and was totally excited about it. East Bonner County Library (EBCL) does not have a teen space, but we do have a small kitchen with a pull up window in our entrance area. Between Spring Break & the end of the school year this spring, we tried a once weekly "Teen Cafe." We served donated coffee, crystal light, and water. We put up a poetry board. And we played tunes (I do need some schooling on teen tunes...). It was an immediate success. Kids materialized from no where. They hung out. They talked. They wrote. They played with poetry. I can't wait for the school year to reinstate it!
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