A Waste of Space?

It sounds like an ideal situation: teenagers in the local public library, filling the computer stations and area to network, play, explore and learn. It certainly beats many “entertainment” alternatives available to teenagers, and they might even learn something. Not everyone, however, is happy to see the teens in the library. Sometimes these people are adults waiting for their turn on the computer, but other people are concerned as well. In my community, comments from parents, grandparents, community leaders and other citizens question the value of this teen computer access. One grandparent recently announced in a local newspaper article that he refused to bring his grandson to the library at all after learning that he was playing computer games there. Even library staff can get concerned as noise levels rise, computers are not available to waiting patrons and groups of teenagers fill the computer area.

A better situation than the single, central computer area available in our small community library is one where teens have their own computer area. But even if there is a separate teen area in a library, the question of whether or not computer games justify the space, staff and equipment utilized in such an area still arises. For the adult community, is it sometimes too easy to see activities like surfing the web, accessing MySpace, or playing online games as a waste of time, and in the library’s case, money.

The truth is, however, that providing teens with internet and computer access is necessary. Teenagers are gaining skills that are required in today’s information age and all teen computer activities build the individual skills required to live and work in a computer-dominated world. According to Jones, Gorman, and Suellentrop (2004), “whether young people use the Internet for education, communication, or recreation, it is vital that they have the opportunity to learn, through hands-on experience, the information-literacy skills necessary for future success” (p. 270).

The information-literacy skills teens are honing help them succeed in a business world still heavily influenced by the modernist theories that ruled business for decades. These ideas, while currently progressing and changing as new theories are introduced, still enforce ideologies that call for advanced technologies to be incorporated into business. Hatch (2006) says that there is a “modernistic love for the newest ideas and latest techniques, and [it] supports the notion of scientific progress as a series of linear, cumulative steps toward the ideals of complete knowledge and human perfection” (p. 37). Knowing how to use computers and new applications is part of the latest business methods and advancements on the computer front are considered a scientific step forward. Teenagers need to be competent with computers to succeed in a life that demands a basic understanding at least of the latest trends and uses in computer technology and to gain these skills they need computer access.

Computer skills are not just important in the business world. Social communities are an important part of a teen’s life and more and more these communities are found online. The Communities of Practice as defined by Wenger and Lave in Hatch’s text (2004) are an example of how these online communities can be beneficial. As an informal group of people, “bound together by common interests and shared repertories,” (p. 129) these people learn from each other. Teenagers are learning a vast amount of diverse information and need a community that can share that knowledge. While beneficial to social and school life now, these are also skills that will transfer into any organization these young people join as adults. Knowing how to network and discuss information and ideas in a business or while working on a project will be another valuable skill for an employee to have. The teenager with internet access to social networking will have that skill.

It is especially important for libraries to provide internet access for teens and communities that are being left behind in the computer age. The “digital divide” that separates economically disparate communities keeps groups and individuals without means to purchase equipment and services from internet and computer access. Those without a computer at home need a place to go to participate in the continually growing online community and, according to Rubin (2004), “public libraries contribute to closing this gap” (p. 22). He also points out that computer use is rising among young adults, up to 76 percent among teens (Rubin, 2004). As “the public library is the number one place for teens without Internet access to get online who do not have Internet access at home or at school” (Jones, Gorman, & Suellentrop, 2004, p. 270), this service remains valuable to teenagers.

Internet access can provide a lot for a teenager; research for a school project, a place to find existing friends on a social network, or to find new friends in an accepting social or gaming community beyond the daily problems in a teenager’s life. These tasks are important to teenagers. It may also be “the sole means of finding information about topics…that might be considered controversial in some communities” (Jones, Gorman, & Suellentrop, 2004, p. 270). Libraries are dedicated to providing that freedom of access to everyone and teenagers are library users just like everyone else. It is not right to disallow someone access to a public computer based on the age of that individual, within the limits of the law. Teenagers need a place to get on the computer and as libraries, we are that place.

So everyday my little library puts up with the noise, the crowds, and the complaints from adults in order to ensure that every patron, teenagers included, have equal access to the computers. Knowing how important this access is to our teenage, soon-to-be adult, patrons makes the sacrifices worthwhile. It is one way libraries are making a difference in the lives of the individuals we serve.

Sources

Hatch, M. J., (with Cunliffe, A. L.) (2006). Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Rubin, R. E. (2004). Foundations of library and information science (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Jones, P., Gorman, M. & Suellentrop, T. (2004). Connecting Young Adults and Libraries. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.