The Zombie Stack Exchanges That Just Won't Die
For a while now, there has been a lot of buzz around the idea of public libraries becoming hubs for digital media creation, particularly for young people. To that end the MacArthur foundation helped fund YOUMedia in Chicago's Public Library (I have included some of how they describe themselves and their philosophy below.) This idea also seems to be a big part of the Institute for Museum and Library Services strategic plan for the future as well (see the IMLS stratigic plan in this PDF)
The philosophy behind the creation of the Chicago Public Library's YOUmedia was to enable teens to be more than just consumers of digital media, but to be creators as well. Through the activities of making and doing, YOUmedia addresses two significant challenges facing urban public libraries today:
The shortage of authentic, engaging physical and virtual spaces for teens in public libraries; and A lack of meaningful opportunities for teens to learn digital media skills while also gaining relevant new entry points into library resources.
To what extent is this idea taking off? I would be interested to hear of other examples or references to any other sorts of information that would suggest this is trending one way or another.
Trevor Owens
We have a smaller version of that model. We were recently awarded a state library grant called Teen Vooks. We would build a digital media lab for teens to consume and create media. It has been a wonderful asset engaging teens to take an active role in the library expanding their space, collections, and programming. Teens get access to MacBooks, tablets and other tools to play with and create. At the end of the grant cycle we plan to publish, perform, or exhibit their creations. We are pretty excited about the project. We also are combining this grant with another grant so the teens can check out Chromebooks to take home. The teen librarian here has been a whirlwind putting all this together.