St. Johns libraries participate in Teen Tech Week

Karen Pan reported to Historic City News that local teens will be tuning in at the library as St. Johns County celebrates the second annual Teen Tech Week March 8-14, 2009.

We will join thousands of other libraries and schools across the country who are celebrating this year’s theme “Press Play @ Your Library”. Teen Tech Week is a national initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults.

The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use libraries’ non-print resources for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology.

Jae Bass, Technical Services Administrator for the St. Johns County Public Library System, believes getting teens into libraries is essential. “Offering a variety of technologies and providing top notch education about these resources is key in getting them in the door,” she said. “Once they’re in the door, anything is possible.”

Recent studies from the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that, on average, students ages 8 to18 spend more than six hours per day using technology including TV, DVDs, video games, audio media and computers. “Teen Tech Week is a way for librarians and educators to collaborate with and educate teens about technology,” says Bass. “Over the last several years the library’s role in increasing technology literacy has become more and more important, equal to that of reading literacy.”

During Teen Tech Week St. Johns County libraries hope to attract a wide variety of teenagers and increase teen technology literacy locally by offering a series of programs including:

· Madden ’09 Tournament – Hastings Branch Library – March 7 at 12:00 noon – Kick off Teen Tech Week by taking part in the Madden ’09 Football Tournament. Snacks and prizes will be provided.

· Teen Karaoke Night – Southeast Branch Library – March 10 at 6 pm – Teens 12 to 18 are invited to belt it out. No worries… this isn’t American Idol, so you do not need a Simon-worthy voice!

· Blogging Workshop for Teens – Hastings Branch Library – March 10 at 6:30 pm – Do you like to write and let your opinions be heard? Do you know what’s going on in the blogosphere? Come learn about different blogs, then set up and design your own!

· Middle Schoolers’ Gaming Afternoon – Anastasia Island Branch Library – March 11, 3:00 to 5:00 pm – Middle school students ages 11-14 are invited to join us for popular video games to celebrate Teen Tech Week. Snacks will be provided.

· Scene It-4-Teens – Main Library – March 12 at 4:00 pm – Celebrate Teen Tech Week by competing with your friends and showing off your knowledge of popular movies as we play Scene It on Xbox360. Take home a free graphic novel just for coming!

· Teen Guitar Hero Tournament – Bartram Trail Branch Library – March 12, 5:30 to 7:30 pm – To celebrate Teen Tech Week, we’re having a Guitar Hero Tournament here at the library. Rules and guidelines will be available prior to the start of the tournament.

· Family Gaming and Just 4 Teens Gaming – Bartram Trail Branch Library – March 14, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (family gamers) and 2:30 – 4:30 pm (teens grades 6 to 12) – You are invited to come in and try out our Gaming Systems – Wii, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, RockBand, and Xbox 360.