Technology and Literacy

Arguing that public libraries play a key role in ensuring kids develop twenty-first century literacy skills, Nelson, a library consultant, and Braafladt, a teacher and developer who specializes in technology program implementation, advocate for the development of technology-infused programs to support informal learning by youth in public libraries, focusing on out-of-school programs and opportunities for them to develop twenty-first century skills and emphasizing the core principles of positive youth development as a way to respond to their developmental needs. They describe how to build capacity for innovative program development and gain organizational, staff, and administrative support; outline their experiences to show how to deal with challenges and opportunities, such as communication and staff skill; and explain how to develop programs, with a focus on Scratch, a free programming language that can be used to create workshops. They also cover preparing the learning space, selecting equipment, measuring outcomes, workshop models, staff and volunteers, outreach, preparing for workshops, hardware and software, and several types of Scratch workshops for animation, games and gaming, digital greeting cards, and others ideas, including project templates. The book is based on their experiences with a series of projects that occurred between 2006 and 2010 through Media MashUp, a project designed to test the adoption of rich media technology programs in a set of diverse public libraries. Annotation Ac2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)