THE LURE OF THE LINKS (Part 2)

Well, it's Sunday at 7 p.m. and I'm finally getting my turn at the computer.

Back to the legislation re blocking social networking sites. I'm pretty certain these activities aren't going to go away, so I'm on the side of education for everyone, but especially children, on safety issues. That being said, I know that kids don't think ahead very well, and even well trained children can be lured into "breaking the rules" pretty easily.

In my library, in the children' department (which only serves up to 5th grade), any kind of chat or social networking is a tough issue. Parents are the ones responsible when their kids go on the Internet at the library, but our "regulars" are there every day until around 5 p.m. waiting for a parent to pick them up (after work). Many are "dropped off" in the department while the parent goes downstairs or across the library to use the adult computers. MySpace hasn't been a problem since it is illegal to have an account if you are under 14. But Disney is starting a place for 8-to-12 year-olds. What do we do about that? So far, we are just refusing to help a patron open an account, saying that one's parents have to do that for them. I really think libraries are going to have to be pro-active about this by hosting programs for families giving them information about these sites and teaching them how to stay as safe as possible.

.....

Now I'm back from surfing. Those links! I went to Michael's blog and from there went to an article in SLJ about how schools are using Second Life. It seems that the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklinburg County in N.C. are partnering with Alliance Library System in Illinois to own some islands in a
Teen Second Life site. Read this - it's really cool.

This article, along with the job postings we've been seeing (see Michael's Feb. 24th posting
Maricopa County Library Seeks Virtual Branch Manager) have my head spinning. I wonder - as a Children's Librarian, how much of this is going to affect my job? I think I'd like to have a "What's New" blog on the Kid's Space page, but I don't think we're going to be going to Second Life any time soon.

What do you think? (You out there in LIS 753 Land) Will kids younger than 10 be listening to podcasts and contributing to blogs on the library web page? Chatting with friends on the library computers? (We already have a few 5th graders doing this) How much of Library 2.0 will affect Children's Librarians?

So why did I label this Post "The Lure of the Links"? Because it took me two days and about 8 hours to do this one. I just can't quit clicking those links!