Young people often come to libraries with partial answers already in hand. Search results, social feeds, and conversational AI systems may have shaped the answers they bring. Private discovery asks how much a young person must reveal before reaching help. Amanda Gray Perry of the University of Notre Dame moderated Core’s Top Tech Trends panel. Speakers working in public libraries, academic libraries, and library technology examined AI, metadata infrastructure, discovery tools, and media access. In my presentation, “Private Discovery by Design: AI Infrastructure in Teen Services,” I posed the question directly: When does a teen’s inquiry become data? Values Before Tools Nicole Steeves, Director of Library Technology at Chicago Public Library, set out a values-based approach to AI. She argued for AI investment when a proposed use improves patron service, protects privacy, preserves staff expertise, and includes human review. She drew clear limits around reference search, readers’ advisory, and traditional…
Category: Children & Technology
Parenting Trends: Analog Living
You may have heard the phrases, “Slow Parenting”, “Low-Tech Living”, or “Analog Living”. Whatever you decide to call it, the underlying trend is to have more screen-free experiences and unplugged moments. It’s not about removing devices and technology entirely. Instead, it’s creating healthy relationships with devices, which is an important skill to teach and model for children.
Make Tonies® and Yoto Players Work for Your Library
Tonies® and Yotos are everywhere! These screen-free audio players are a hit with young readers and caregivers alike. If you don’t already offer them, you’ve likely heard library families abuzz with hopes of the library lending them. My library added these players and their figures and cards to our collection in 2024. Finding the right way to circulate these items has relied on community feedback and a gracious staff. Want to add them to your collection? Learn from my years of trial and error!
Raising Kids in a Digital World: A Sesame Workshop Partnership
A few months ago, Sesame Workshop put a call out for librarians across the U.S. who were interested in hosting a workshop on digital well being. After originally being wait listed for the program, I was invited to participate by hosting a workshop this fall. Read on to learn about the process, what Sesame provided, and my takeaways from hosting!
Tech Titles – Middle Grade
Tweens are in the midst of a changing reality, with technology at their fingertips and all around them. After noting some of my favorite tech-themed picture books in a post earlier this fall, of course I had to follow it up with middle grade tech titles!
Privacy Literacy: Call for Feedback
This spring in “Beyond Passwords” I shared initial reflections from the Privacy Literacy Forum at Penn State. Since the forum, working groups have continued project efforts. Now that practitioner resources have been drafted, feedback is requested as part of the next steps in project development. Comments are open to feedback until January 2026 and will be followed by expert review. A critical 21st century skill, privacy literacy means understanding and making informed choices to manage personal information, and it’s a growing area of library instruction and programming for multiple age groups. Consensus around professional competencies in privacy literacy will contribute to a workforce that can meet this growing societal need. Drafted materials for review include Framework for Privacy Literacy, a Roadmap to Privacy Literacy Programming in the Library, and a Privacy Literacy Self-Study Guidebook. Forum proceedings will be published and made available with open access via the forum repository, and…
Tech Titles – Picture Books
Youth use technology all the time. But library workers can do more than help young patrons navigate new tech. With a professional knowledge of privacy, digital security, media literacy, and digital safety in mind, the tech savvy library workers offer may go beyond basic skills to build meaningful conversation and instruction. Real Talk About Kids and Technology from the ALSC Children and Technology committee introduces great information about usage rates by age group and what that implies in libraries. As children’s literature enthusiasts, we also know how important books are in creating opportunities for conversation about timely topics. Here are some of my favorite picture books that address youth tech and media literacy. Hooray for picture books that invite reflection and analysis on thes timely topics! Youth spend a lot of time on screens and online for learning, recreation, and socializing, and that’s probably not going to stop, but library…
Suggest Your Favorite New Digital Media!
The 2026 Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award Committee would love your suggestions! The Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award Committee is tasked with finding the most distinguished digital media created for an early learning audience (children ages 2-8) by a producer based in the United States. To learn more about the criteria and work of this committee, please visit this page.