Teens, libraries, and social networking : what librarians need to know

Learn how teens use social networking technologies and how these same technologies can be used to engage them in library services.

Teens and Social Networking Now: What Librarians Need to Know is organized around ten major topics, including using social networking sites to connect teens to young adult literature, social networking and legislative issues, social networking and safety/privacy issues, and the social and educational benefits of social networking. Expert practitioners explain how such issues can and should impact library services to young adults, focusing on concrete suggestions and specific steps for best practices and program designs that will help librarians utilize social networking tools to enhance library services to teens, both online and in the library.

As background, the book explores the reasons so many teens use these sites. It also shares a profile of an award-winning public library's use of social networking to engage teen library users and a national survey of the ways YA librarians are using social networking to deliver public library services.

• Series Foreword p. xiii
• Introduction: Teens, Libraries, and Online Social Networks: A New Era for Library Services to Young Adults p. xv Denise E. Agosto and June Abbas
• Defining ôSocial Networksö and ôSocial Networkingö within the Context of This Book p. xvii
• How Do Public Libraries Use Online Social Networks to Deliver Services to Teens? p. xvii
• Overview of the Book p. xix
• References p. xxii
• Websites p. xxiii
• 1 What Do Public Librarians Really Do with Social Networking? Profiles of Five Public Libraries June Abbas p. 1 Denise E. Agosto
• How U.S. Public Libraries Use Social Networks to Serve Teens: Two Recent Studies p. 2
• How Public Libraries Use Social Networks to Serve Teens: Public Library Profiles p. 7
• Where Do We Go from Here? p. 10
• References p. 11
• Websites p. 12
• 2 Looking Closely at Teens' Use of Social Networks: What Do High School Seniors Do Online? p. 13 Demise E. Agosto and Joyce Kasman Valenza and June Abbas
• Describing the Study p. 13
• The Study Participants p. 14
• What Did We Learn about Teens and Their Use of Social Networks? p. 15
• What Does All of This Mean for Library Services to Teens? p. 22
• Conclusion p. 26
• References p. 26
• Websites p. 27
• 3 How Social Networking Sites Aid in Teen Development p. 29 Sean Rapacki
• What Do Teens Need to Succeed? p. 29
• How Do Social Networking Sites Give Teens What They Need? p. 31
• Ways Libraries Can Use Social Networking Sites to Help Promote Healthy Teen Development p. 33
• Conclusion p. 36
• References p. 37
• Websites p. 37
• 4 The Role of Media Literacy Education within Social Networking and the Library p. 39 Belinha S. De Abreu
• Media Literacy and Social Networking p. 40
• Social Networking in the Popular Media p. 43
• What about Libraries? p. 44
• Conclusion p. 46
• References p. 47
• Website p. 48
• 5 If You Build It, Will They Come? A Comparison of Social Networking Utilities p. 49 Stephanie D. Reynolds
• Why Engage: To Build or Not to Build p. 50
• Virtual Foundations: A View of the Landscape p. 50
• Conclusion: It All Comes Down to Engaging Teen Library Users p. 56
• References p. 57
• Websites p. 58
• 6 Teens, Social Networking, and Safety and Privacy Issues p. 59 Denise E. Agosto and June Abbas
• The Privacy and Security Conflict: Protecting Personal Information versus Engaging in Online Sharing p. 61
• What Teens Think about Privacy and Security in Social Networks p. 66
• How Librarians Can Help Teens Protect Their Online Privacy and Security p. 70
• Where to Go for More Information p. 72
• Conclusion: Maximizing Benefits, Reducing Risk p. 73
• References p. 74
• Websites p. 75
• 7 Social Networking: Teen Rights, Responsibilities, and Legal Issues p. 77 Annette Lamb
• Rights and Responsibilities p. 78
• Balancing Privacy and Socializing p. 88
• Organizations that Specialize in Online Safety Education p. 89
• Acceptable Use Policies p. 90
• Digital Citizenship p. 91
• AASL Standards p. 92
• Conclusion p. 93
• Note p. 93
• References p. 94
• Websites p. 95
• 8 Using Social Networking Sites to Connect Teens with Young Adult Literature p. 97 Janet Hilbun
• Library Web Pages as Social Networking p. 98
• Blogs p. 100
• Video Book Reviews and Book Trailers p. 103
• Online Book Clubs and Literature Circles p. 104
• Book-Sharing Social Networks p. 106
• Facebook, MySpace, and Nings p. 107
• Twitter and RSS p. 109
• Avatars, Second Life, and Other MUVEs p. 110
• Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here? p. 111
• References p. 112
• Websites p. 113
• 9 Fandom as a Form of Social Networking p. 115 Elizabeth Burns
• What Is Fandom? p. 115
• Community in Fandom p. 117
• Fandom as Community Discussion p. 119
• Fandom and Popular Books: Harry Potter and Twilight p. 120
• Other Book Fandoms of Particular Interest to Teens p. 121
• Fans, Authors, and Fandom p. 121
• Official Fandom Resources p. 124
• Fandom and Legal Issues p. 126
• Librarians and Fandom Programming p. 128
• Conclusion p. 129
• References p. 129
• Websites p. 130
• 10 Hanging Out on the Grid: Virtual Worlds for Teens and Preteens p. 133 Eric M. Meyers
• Games or Virtual Worlds? p. 135
• Tween and Teen Virtual Worlds: An Emergent Genre p. 136
• The Difference That Space Makes p. 140
• Who Are You? Building an Online Identity p. 141
• A New Way of Looking at Online Socializing p. 143
• Developing Virtual Services: Opportunities and Challenges p. 145
• Conclusion p. 147
• References p. 147
• Websites p. 149
• 11 Pages, Profiles, and Podcasts: How Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Engages Teens through Social Networking p. 151 Holly Summers and Rebecca Pierson and Christen Higgins and Ralph Woodring
• Logging in: How Charlotte Mecklenburg Library First Embraced Social Networking p. 153
• The Forum: Current Connections at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library p. 157
• Network Migration: What's Next for Social Networking at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library p. 161
• Save As: Suggestions for Best Practices from an Award-Winning Library p. 163
• Conclusion p. 166
• References p. 167
• Websites p. 167
• 12 Bringing It All Together: What Does It Mean for Librarians Who Serve Teens? p. 169 June Abbas and Denise E. Agosto
• What Does It All Mean for Libraries? p. 169
• A Profile of Teens' Use of Social Networking Technologies p. 170
• Best Practice Ideas for Library Services p. 171
• Conclusion p. 175
• Reference p. 176
• Index p. 177
• About the Editors and Contributors p. 181