This afternoon I attended a session called “Young Children, New Media, & Libraries Survey” presented by Amy Koester and J. Elizabeth Mills. Back in August of 2014, ALSC, LittleeLit.com, and the iSchool at the University of Washington conducted a survey where they asked public librarians how they use new media with youth in their libraries.
To put the survey into perspective, the definition of new media is technologies and the definition of young children is age 0 to 5.
We each received an infographic with the results and some were pretty surprising! Here are some of the highlights:
- A total of 415 libraries participated and user populations ranged from less than 5,000 to over 1,000,000
- Of those libraries, 71% use at least one type of new media in programming with young children
- The most popular type of new media used are tablets, 91% of which are iPads
- 58% of those libraries plan to increase new media availability in the future while 13% plan to maintain that level and 0.5% plan to decrease theirs
- The most popular ways that that libraries are using new media devices is in tethered devices, in storytimes, and as check-outable materials
Amy and J. Elizabeth then went on to discuss the implications of their findings. The biggest point that they made was that as librarians, we need to be Media Mentors for our communities. Meaning, we need to be providing not only access but guidance on using these devices. Amy made the point that they weren’t trying to tell everyone that they have to start using iPads in storytime, but we need to be aware and mindful of the technology that our young patrons and their parents are using.
How does your library use technology with children?