Teens and Information Literacy
… and the Public Library
An overview of the librarian’s potential role
in the development of
teenagers’ information literacy
outside of school
Katie Day
[email protected]
June 2005
ABSTRACT: This literature review explores the various roles or practices available to
public librarians that support and enable the development of teenagers' information literacy
in the broadest sense, including both direct and indirect means, in both physical and virtual
settings. First definitions of information literacy are considered, then aspects of teenage
information literacy, including new literacies and the cognitive implications of popular youth
phenomena such as gaming, and finally the intersection of teens, information literacy, and
libraries, particularly public libraries. The literature on teens and information literacy is
heavily skewed towards the educational sector, underlining the fact that public libraries need
to become more proactive both in reality and in the discourse. Research supports the
conclusion that teens’ information literacy needs continual support and development,
especially their critical literacies, and that more research is needed, especially research
directly querying teens about their information seeking behaviors and related affective
factors. Libraries also need to creatively involve teens and their new literacies in the design
of information literacy initiatives.
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Purpose
This literature review will provide an overview of current writings which explore or relate to
the various roles available to librarians in positively affecting the development of teenagers’
information literacy, directly and indirectly, outside of the school environment, as well as
trends and possible future directions. The goal is to convey a snapshot of the intersection of
information literacy, teens, and public librarians – and to focus on different angles in order to
consider roles – or a set of potential practices – for public librarians.
Introduction
Information literacy was featured in two articles published in the New York Times earlier this
year. Nunberg’s (2005) opening line states, ‘Information literacy seems to be a phrase whose
time has come’, while Zeller (2005) reports on the establishment of a new test for university
students in the States, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) literacy
assessment, produced by the prominent non-profit Educational Testing Service organization.
This mainstream attention is fairly recent; a search of the archives of the New York Times for
the phrase ‘information literacy’ revealed that, prior to 2005, it was mentioned twice in the
previous nine years.
With information literacy’s emergence into more public discourse, questioning and criticism
of it also gain a wider audience – hence another recent article loudly questions the
assumptions behind information literacy and libraries’ role in affecting and/or effecting it
(Wilder 2005).
The stakeholder group this paper is concerned with is librarians, not including
teacher/librarians as their role in the development of students’ information literacy within the
school community is well discussed and documented elsewhere. (Having said that, some
articles focused on school libraries are included because they’re generally applicable to the
topic.)
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The role that public librarians can play in affecting teenagers’ literacy is less noted, though
no less important. Many teens do not attend academic institutions, whether because they
have formally ended their education or because they are being home-schooled. It is also
important to note that not all countries have a tradition of teacher-librarians, e.g., the UK.
Definitions of information literacy
The American Library Association (ALA) (1989) is credited with one of the earliest and
most enduring definitions of information literacy: ‘to be information literate, a person must
be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and
use effectively the needed information’. It still echoes in the most recent initiatives of other
countries, such as Australia and New Zealand (Bundy 2004) and the UK (Armstrong 2005).
Information literacy standards for student learning, produced by the ALA in 1998, linked
information literacy, independent learning, and social responsibility (ALA 1998).
Information literacy is widely recognized by governments as an important attribute for
citizens in the modern world. UNESCO (2005) held a thematic debate on the topic in which
it was asserted that ‘information literacy should be a basic human right in a digital world’.
Not surprisingly, the adjective ‘21st century’ is often associated with information literacy –
stressing its importance to the future. One of the major ongoing campaigns of the ALA
(2001) is called ‘21st century literacy @ your library’.
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Definitions of information literacy fall onto a spectrum, ranging from skills to concepts, from
the literal to the metaphorical, and from ‘thing’ to process to experience (Bruce 1997a,
1997b; Langford 1998; Kapitzke 2003b; Rader 2002; Behrens 1994; Virkus 2003). Moore
(2002, p. 3) comments that ‘information literacy cannot be captured completely in a
snapshot; it is more like an epic film being made from a script under constant revision’.
Armstrong and Warlick (2004) avoid the term ‘information literacy’ completely, though
espousing congruent concepts, with their 4E’s – derived from the traditional 3R’s, i.e.,
Reading  Exposing knowledge, Arithmetic  Employing information, Writing 
Expressing ideas compellingly, plus Ethics – an attempt to elevate the literacy discourse
above the programmatic, instrumental and operational level.
As information is the currency in all areas of learning and can be conveyed in multiple forms,
new literacies such as visual, media, computer, digital, and network are claimed to be
implicit in information literacy (Eisenberg, Lowe & Spitzer 2004; Shapiro & Hughes 1996).
The image of information literacy as an umbrella incorporating all the other new literacies is
promoted by Breivik (2005), a leading information literacy advocate, in her article on 21st
century learning and information literacy, which includes a diagram of ‘The Information
Literacy Umbrella’ consisting of panels labeled ‘computer literacy’, ‘library literacy’, ‘media
literacy’, ‘network literacy’, ‘visual literacy’, and a blank one (obviously meant to mean
‘etc.’), with the words ‘critical thinking skills’ covering all like waterproofing.
Critical literacy is a term closely associated with information literacy, though its definition
originates in the language and literacy field (Asselin 2005). It also falls along a spectrum,
ranging from critical cognitive skills (Langford 2000) to a combination of new literacies,
with a conscious attitude adopted towards texts that constantly questions the political, social
and economic bases of the production of those texts, and many scholars now link the two
fields together (Kapitzke 2003a, 2005; Beck 2005; Pawley 2003; Asselin 2005).
McKenzie (2005) argues that the use of the singular concept ‘literacy’ politically constricts
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the discourse, and that instead the term ‘information literacies’ should apply to subcategories
of information, e.g., artistic literacy, ethical literacy, numerical literacy, textual literacy,
social literacy, etc.
Kapitzke (2003a, 2005), who subscribes to the necessity of the more pure, radical form of
critical literacy in libraries, argues for a critical information literacy leading to hyperliteracy
– or literacy about literacies, though the term and concept of hyperliteracy has yet to take
hold in other articles.
For the purposes of this paper, a middle-ground working definition, involving both basic and
critical literacy, is proposed: ‘Information literacy is a transformational process in which the
learner needs to find, understand, evaluate, and use information in various forms to create for
personal, social, or global purposes’ (Abilock 2004).
Readers are reminded that different working definitions will be used by the different authors
of articles cited.
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Teenage information literacy
A challenge in searching the literature is the multitude of terms which can be used to identify
human beings between childhood and adulthood, e.g., youth, adolescents, young people,
young adults, kids, teenagers, teens, etc.
‘Student’ is commonly used, though it can apply to human beings from the age of 4 to 22,
and beyond. For example, the ALA’s (1998) ‘Information power: information literacy
standards for student learning’ assumes a student is someone in a learning community – a
standard which apply to anyone of any age in an ideal world of lifelong learning. ‘Children’
is another term used quite generically; it definitely applies to 6-year-olds, but not always to
16-year-olds.
The terms ‘teens’ or ‘teenagers’ seem to be the most precise, limiting the range from 13 to 19
years old – a range which also conveniently covers the years of most secondary schools, thus
eliminating elementary or primary schools and higher (tertiary) educational institution age
groups.
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What factors make information literacy for teenagers different than general considerations of
information literacy?
The continual advent of new technology, often first tried and then favored by youth, brings
new information literacy demands. For example, the ability to share and download material
from the internet and the rise of instant messaging and online communication, e.g., chat
rooms, online chat, and weblogs, provoke issues of ethics, intellectual property rights, and
privacy. These concern all of society, but are particularly relevant to teens because of their
social and musical interests and high use of the internet.
A common observance is the distinction between those born before 1970, the time video
games began, and those born after, though the labels used differ. Storey (2005) uses
Boomers vs. Gamers, while Prensky (2001a, 2001b, 2004) calls them Digital Immigrants vs.
Digital Natives. Weiler (2004) uses the term Generation Y for those born between 1980 and
1994.
New, preferred modes of thinking – such as multi-tasking (Ryan 2005), gaming (Shreve
2005; Squire & Steinkuehler 2005), and the appreciation of more cognitively demanding
(‘smart culture’) mass media (Johnson 2005) – recognized as more prevalent in youth, as
well as research into the development of cognitive processing in the teenage brain, need to be
taken into account.
These new modes of thinking are literally changing the brains of young people, creating
faster, parallel-processing, random-access ‘hypertext minds’ (Prensky 2001a, 2001b) – which
is changing the information literacy practices of teens. (As Moje says (quoted in Braun
2004), information literacy doesn’t necessarily mean reading novels anymore.) A potential
negative mentioned as a result of this change in thinking patterns is the loss of the practice of
reflection – i.e., the process of ‘learning from experience’ (Prensky 2001b).
The development and cognitive implications of these new literacies arising out of new
technologies fit into the theory of the Attention Economy, where attention – defined as
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‘engagement with information’ – is the scarce commodity being allocated in a world
swamped with information (Lankshear & Knobel 2001). The trick in such an economy is
how to get people’s attention and how to keep it – and this has caused a shift in information
science from a system-oriented paradigm to a user-oriented one (Todd 2003). The issue then
becomes a matter of paying attention to what teens pay attention to (because no one doubts
they can pay attention when motivated) and tap into it (Prensky 2001a, 2001b).
As a consequence, the positive value of sophisticated gaming, perceived as a popular culture
incarnation of multi-tasking and multi-modal literacies, is on the rise in the literature. James
Paul Gee, an academic guru of critical literacy, published a book in 2004 called ‘What video
games have to teach us about learning and literacy’, which explores literacy practices of
youth outside the school context, from which, he argues, professionals can learn a great deal
if they choose to (DeWitt, Selfe, & Takayoshi 2004).
Another distinguishing characteristic of teen’s information literacy is the nature of their
information needs. Teenagers, poised between childhood and adulthood, have important
personal information needs related to entering the adult world, e.g., career choices and
financial and legal awareness. They also need information on topics that adults may not want
them to know about – yet, e.g., sexuality, drugs, and other ‘adult’ issues – and much less
research has been done on this than on teens’ school-related information seeking (Todd &
Edwards 2004).
Todd utilizes the Theory of Information Poverty (Chatman 1996 cited in Todd 2003) to
explain how teens’ information seeking – and therefore information literacy needs – about
life concerns may be different. Though information may be readily available, social
conditions – e.g., distinctions between insiders and outsiders, social norms, mistrust,
potentially negative consequences, economics, etc. – may prevent the use of it (Todd 2003).
Different user-oriented research reveals the need for information professionals to strive for a
clearer understanding of the teen’s information needs from the individual teen’s point of
view based on their particular situation (Todd 2003; Julien 2004).
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Moje (2002) makes an impassioned plea for more research into adolescent literacy – not only
to help youth develop their literacy, but also to learn from them. She wants research to
refocus on the potentials and possibilities of youth (not just problem-based studies) and on
how texts serve as ‘tools for identity construction and social action’ (Moje 2002).
Besides personal information needs, teens also have to deal with imposed ones from the adult
world. Gross (2001) explores the implications of imposed information seeking, e.g., school
assignments versus self-generated questions for young people, especially given that some
research shows as children enter adolescence the number of imposed queries increases while
self-generated use of libraries declines. The question of choice or freedom in terms of an
information need can affect their motivation and hence the practice and effectiveness of
teens’ information literacy.
The effect of emotion on learning (and hence information seeking and literacy) is becoming
more widely recognized. Kuhlthau (2004) is known for her research on affective factors
(thoughts, feelings, and actions), especially anxiety and uncertainty, in the information
seeking process – which affect motivation. Three areas of Kuhlthau’s (2004) Information
Search Process (ISP) model that are usually weakly articulated by teens are selecting,
exploring, and formulating, which are critical to the process of generating new personal
knowledge (Todd 2003).
Weiler (2004) considers how the intellectual developmental stages of teens affects their
information-seeking behavior and ability to think critically, and cites research that suggests
that in seeking information on sensitive or controversial issues some university students were
still not intellectually able to accept dissonance and sought to reinforce existing knowledge
rather than create new meaning.
How information literate are teens? The answers vary, depending on whom is being asked –
teens themselves, teachers, or researchers – and what aspect is being considered.
Cool (2004) provides a useful historical literature review on 'Information-seeking behaviors
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in children using electronic information services during the early years: 1980-1990'.
Loertscher and Woolls (2002), summarizing research they have published in book form,
present teens as overconfident in their practice of information literacy, with a tendency to not
discriminate and to settle for less. Watson (1998) also cites self-confidence in relation to the
Internet as a tool and a resource as an important affective variable. Todd (2003) discerns a
consistent theme from a number of studies – that teens need to develop their critical
literacies, especially regarding the Web. Particular areas needing attention include searching
and finding information on the Internet, understanding hypermediated text, and critically
evaluating information found online (Asselin 2005). Branch (2003) in her article
'Instructional intervention is key: supporting adolescent information seeking' reviews the
literature on the information seeking behavior of children and teens and finds it quite limited.
As her title indicates, research shows that teaching and mediation is a critical element in
improving the information literacy of young people.
Now let’s turn to libraries and see how they fit into the picture of teens' developing
information literacy.
Katie Day
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…and the Public Library
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Teenagers’ Information Literacy and Librarians
As the above diagram attempts to illustrate, school libraries have far more access to teens and
assume the burden of developing teens’ information literacy far more than public libraries.
The context of the information literacy discourse is heavily geared to the educational realm.
Rader (2002) finds 80% of the literature educationally oriented, and Virkus (2003) is also
heavy on school and university programs. Neither of those two major literature reviews
explicitly mentions public libraries.
Though school libraries are not the focus here, it is still important to note some of the
literature which pertains to libraries’ effect on students’ information literacy and
achievement, from which implications for public libraries may be extrapolated. For
example, Londsdale’s (2003) ‘Impact of school libraries on student achievement: a review of
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the research’ notes that less research has been done regarding secondary school libraries and
there is some evidence that the impact of school libraries decreases as students go through
secondary school and that more evidence is needed about how school librarians specifically
contribute to students’ information literacy.
Articles on the role of public libraries in developing information literacy (or certain practices
of information literacy) exist, but none were found which focused on the specific topic of this
literature review and many do not explore any substantial roles beyond recommending
collaboration with public libraries.
For example, McMillan’s (2001) article entitled ‘Taking up the challenge: how can public
libraries help develop information literate children’ sounded very promising, however, upon
retrieval it turned out to be a study about introducing the Dewey Decimal system to 11-yearolds via home-made board games in the public library, with one of the final
recommendations being to seek collaboration with school libraries to promote information
literacy. Similarly, Skov’s (2004) article entitled ‘Information literacy and the role of public
libraries’ determines that the ‘most pertinent role of the public library is a supporting one’ –
collaborating with schools.
This is not to say that information literacy is a secondary consideration for public libraries.
‘Information literacy’, along with ‘adolescent literacy’, is one of the ten core values outlined
by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of the American Library
Association – a group oriented to public librarians (Jones & Pfeil 2003)
Loertscher and Woolls's (2002) article on ‘Teenage users of libraries’ adroitly addresses the
topic of teens, libraries, and information literacy, utilizing a question-and-answer format re
three areas – reading, information literacy, and use of technology – to summarize research
findings and point out implications. Though school libraries are considered alongside public
libraries, the authors only mention collaborative efforts between the two in passing; instead
the collaborative efforts they argue best serve the cause of improved teen information literacy
are ones between adults and teens, where the adults consciously try to ask and listen to
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teenagers in order to understand them and their information needs and behaviors. This
recommended user-oriented approach is reiterated in Jones and Pfeil (2004), who comment
on the unfortunate research finding that most public library Web pages for teens served the
needs of the institution more than the developmental needs of the teens, and Gorman (2002),
who claims the most successful library programs are ones that let teens take the lead.
What are teens' perceptions of public libraries and how might that affect librarians’ access to
those teens? Unfortunately, teens hold damaged viewed of public libraries on many fronts,
according to research cited by Fisher (2003), with over 30% of teens queried saying no
suggested improvements would entice them into one. According to one study cited by Gross
(2001), the majority of public library use by teens is because of school assignments. If so,
there is a need for positive marketing to create other reasons for teens to become patrons.
Loertscher and Woolls (2002) found it impossible to answer the question as to whether teens
regard libraries as an essential service, but note that in the Attention Economy libraries must
do more to gain the attention of teens, especially given the competition of the Internet.
But haven’t libraries changed since the advent of the digital revolution? Not enough, is the
answer many argue. Libraries as a whole need to be re-envisioned by librarians to break from
the traditional, neutral, print-based culture and embrace the new digitized literacies which are
transforming literacy for youth, with an awareness of the transformational political
implications of critical information literacy (Kapitzke 2001, 2003a, 2003b; Luke & Kapitzke
1999; Pawley 2003). Libraries -- or cybraries -- must recognise their role as 'nodes or hubs
for communities of knowledge producers and distributors' (Kapitzke 2003b). Teens' level of
information literacy will determine the extent to which they can participate in these
communities as producers as well as consumers (Pawley 2003).
The dominant question for professionals must always be 'what is information literacy for and
who is it for?' (Pawley 2003).
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Potential encounters with teens
Librarian encounters with teens involving issues of information literacy can be viewed as a
matrix of spaces and situations, for example:
SPACES & SITUATIONS
Physical library
Virtual (online) library
Other
Direct
Instruction, whether justin-time or planned
sessions;
Reference desk;
Casual interaction;
Teen centers;
Teen advisory
committees
Online reference desk;
Chat rooms;
Blogs
Events in collaboration
with other stakeholders;
Community activities;
Research
Indirect
Providing access to technology;
Collection development (providing
access to resources)
Providing a supportive space for
learning and information seeking;
OPAC;
Webpages;
Role of mediating access to
internet (e.g., possible filtering);
Adult-level collaboration with
other stakeholders;
Professional development in the
field of information literacy and
teens and ICT
Physical library / Direct:
Librarians can theoretically provide instruction on a variety of aspects of information literacy
-- and as already mentioned, 'instructional intervention is key [to] supporting adolescent
information seeking' (Branch 2003).
The reference interview, defined as ‘personal assistance and question negotiation’ (Curry
2005), is the classic site of direct interaction between librarian and patron. Yet research
shows students are unlikely to ask a librarian, despite the fact that they ask other people –
both strangers and familiars – for help with information needs (Weiler 2004). Furthermore,
Weiler (2004, p. 50) notes that students’ descriptions of a ‘dream information machine’ – a
one-stop source for information needs, able to understand voice and natural language queries
– could easily be applied to a reference librarian!
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Curry (2005), reviewing the literature on the reference interview, stresses that the questions
the librarian asks (getting to the ‘why’, the motivation behind the information need) are far
more important than the answers. Todd (2003) confirms this, arguing that teens need fewer
facts as answers and more understanding of the ‘desired cognitive, behavioral, and affective
outcome, the new understandings, and sense that each adolescent wants to create through
accessing information’. Watson (1998) also believes that adults can play a powerful role in
asking teens about and helping them to reflect upon their learning and to form narratives that
reveal meaning. The reference role might be better envisioned, then, as one of a mediator of
information needs, such as described by Kuhlthau (n.d., 2004), with the five roles a reference
mediator can assume (the Organizer, the Locator, the Identifier, the Advisor, and the
Counselor) matching five zones of intervention, representing five different levels of need.
Loertscher and Woolls (2002) recommend teen advisory councils as a means of regularly
querying teen users about their information practices and needs.
Squire and Steinkuehler (2005) say librarians can't afford to ignore gaming and the multiliteracies it both requires and encourages. Their suggestions include carrying games as
library resources and hosting gamer events. The authors go on to envision 'a library built on
gamer principles, where patrons decide which materials and services are offered and which
are not' -- a revolution in orientation, shifting libraries from controlling gatekeeper entities to
open access communities. Storey (2005), in a similar gaming frame of mind, recommends
the role of strategy guide for librarians, rather than gatekeeper.
Physical library / Indirect:
The provision of computer terminals in public libraries is a physical aid to information
literacy, offering access to the Internet and often instruction in the ICT skills necessary to
operate them. This service to patrons is mainly perceived as addressing the problem of the
digital divide rather than informtion literacy and how it benefits teens is not a main concern
in the literature except insofar as they belong to an economically or racially disadvantaged
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group; instead the elderly are singled out as needing attention, e.g., in the Gates Foundation’s
(2004) report ‘Towards equality of access: the role of public libraries in addressing the digital
divide’.
One traditional role of librarians is the selection and acquisition of resources for patrons to
use. To help teens develop their information literacy this should include resources from
marginal and alternative producers presenting different points of view (Pawley 2003), as
resources related to teens’ interests, such as games and materials which support teens’
gaming capabilities (Squire & Steinkuehler 2005).
Another indirect or passive contribution is the physical space of the library which supports
teens’ learning – and hence their information literacy – by offering comfortable spaces in
which they can be themselves (Moje quoted in Braun 2004). The library should also be
perceived as a safe place for teens to explore answers to ‘deep questions’ about life, in light
of (the Theory of) Information Poverty, as mentioned earlier (Todd 2003; Todd & Edwards
2004).
Gorman (2002) describes an innovative public library teen initiative called Wired for Youth
(WYF) centers, which offer teens a place to practice their ICT skills, do homework, produce
texts, and generally have access to information literacy resources, including human
‘cyberlifeguards’.
Virtual (online) library / Direct:
Virtual reference, whether through e-mail, webforms, or live chat, are a possible access point
between teens and librarians that supports information literacy and could possibly help
develop it. In her extensive literature review on the reference interview, Curry (2005) poses
the question of what methods of teaching information literature could be used in the
reference interview.
Blogs are very popular with teens (Darrow 2005). Twist (2004) comments on how teens
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reach out to each other via blogs and how the length of the average blog post is over 2,000
words. Blogs can also be a way for libraries to reach out to teens. Garrod (2004) points out
that weblogs in public libraries allow young people to participate as information producers
and generally support the development of information literacy and a learning community.
Virtual (online) library / Indirect:
Library OPACs are a major tool for facilitating access to resources and the use of them
involves some kind of ICT and information literacy. In comparing them to search engines
such as Google, Miller (2005) comes to the defense of 'stupid users' in suggesting that library
search interfaces need to become simpler rather than more sophisticated, or, rather that
libraries need to follow example of Google and invest 'under the hood' such that extensive
instruction in use is not necessary for beginning users. He argues this user-oriented attitude
results in 'high content, low hassle, and happy users' (Miller 2005). Wilder (2005) agrees; he
believes librarians should develop systems as simple and powerful as the Internet -- requiring
minimal information literacy instruction so librarians can spend more time helping students
construct meaning in their own disciplines.
Papazoglou (2000) reports on an OPAC development project designed to create an OPAC
with maximum support for young people, including a thesaurus, a dictionary, an
encyclopedia, 'ask a librarian' option, etc.
In the Attention Economy, the challenge for libraries is to generate human-attention
structures, e.g., develop gateways, that will facilitate organizing and managing information
(Lanham cited in Lankshear & Knobel 2001). This might involve encouraging teens to
create their own personal digital libraries (Armstrong & Warlick 2004), perhaps via a library
webpage interface which allows users to customize it to represent their personal view of the
information space provided (Loertscher 2002).
Developing quality websites with and for teens is an excellent way to help develop their
information literacy (Jones & Pfeil 2004). Their advice is to remember T is for Timely (i.e.,
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use the latest technology and information), E is for Edgy (think rebellious), E is for
Educational (make the website also relevant to teens’ school curriculum), N is for Navigable,
and S is for Simple (Jones & Pfeil 2004).
Other / Direct:
Research, especially research which involves talking to teens and asking them about their
information literacy practices, is one of the most valuable activities for librarians (Watson
1998; Watson 1999; Moje 2002; Loertscher & Woolls 2002).
Other / Indirect:
Collaboration between school libraries and public libraries has been called ‘a natural
alliance’ (Mulrine 2004) and others agree (Abram 2005). Fisher (2003) cites collaboration as
the great unfulfilled potential for two bodies with so much in common in terms of clientele,
and she argues for constant dialogue.
Likewise, Harris (2003) notes that student information literacy requires being coached
through multiple information-seeking experiences over time, therefore, ongoing partnerships
between the two kinds of libraries are necessary to maintain constant and consistent exposure
of students to quality information experiences. The collaboration can be as simple of
librarians visiting each others’ establishments or as involved as joint literacy promotion
activities (Harris 2003), and Spelman and Kelly (2004) offer a range of detailed suggestions
about possible collaboration between the two.
Collaboration might also be with entities other than school libraries, e.g., community teen
centers (Moje quoted in Braun 2004). Garrod (2004) in her article on the positive role of
weblogs in public libraries play in improving young people’s information literacy and ICT
skills, comments that library managers must keep elected government officials informed and
involved in library activities that support government agendas re information literacy.
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Potential issues of encounter
Web pages for teens should definitely include information and links to more information on
the special information needs of teens, e.g., sex, drugs, violence, suicide, teen pregnancy, etc.
(Jones & Pfeil 2004).
All staff who might have direct encounters with teens, e.g., reference librarians, should be
knowledgeable about these life issues and resources relevant to the local community, and be
familiar with the Theory of Information Poverty and how it can relate to teens (Todd 2003;
Todd & Edward 2004).
Julien (2004) asks the basic question as to whether teens' information seeking behavior about
careers (and other life issues) can be assumed to be rational; she urges librarians to actively
identify teens' information needs on an individual basis and context.
Potential roles of librarians
Here is a list of roles, or a set of practices, implied in the literature discussed above:

Instructor / teacher, whether just-in-time or planned sessions;

Mediator or counselor for information needs, e.g., on the reference desk, whether
physical or virtual;

Model of an information literate person, e.g., thinking out loud

Tool maker and/or distributor, e.g., creating websites, portals, blogsites, etc. with the
involvement of teens themselves, and distributing free software;

Collaborator with other stakeholders in teenage information literacy, e.g., parents,
teachers, and, most importantly, teens themselves;

Student of information literacy, e.g., continuing to study and reflect upon the meaning
of information literacy in their practice as a librarian;

Researcher;

Anticipator / leader, e.g., keeping track of the cutting edge of technology, teens, and
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information literacy;

Advocate for an information literate community, especially one appropriate and
accessible to teens;

Marketer to teens for the library as a valuable resource – not just for information, but
for the teens’ effective development and practice of information literacy
Trends, future directions, and avenues to be explored
Chelton (2004) notes some areas for further research regarding youth information-seeking
behavior (including elementary-age children): information system design, the Internet versus
other resources, social responsibility and ethical use of information, pornography and illegal
content, and personal information seeking.
A major trend in the literature is the emphasis on the need for more research, in particular
research directly querying teens about their own information literacy and information seeking
behaviors, especially motivation and affective factors, which parallels a move towards
involving teens in the creation of more user-oriented library services.
The area of gender differences in relation to information literacy is an area not well
researched yet, e.g., Twist (2004) mentions how few in-depth studies there are on how each
gender uses blogs.
Prensky (2001a, 2001b) argues that the educational goal is to teach both Legacy (pre-digital)
and Future content using Digital Native language and methodology. This means developing
‘human-attention structures’ (Lankshear & Knobel 2001) or initiatives to attract and maintain
the attention of teens using new technologies. The possibilities of using gaming in the
service of developing information literacy and tapping into the creativity of teens to help
create such tools should be pursued (Prensky 2004; Squire & Steinkuehler 2005).
There are several different 'ages' being identified as markers of present and future societies.
Each must be considered by librarians in their efforts to develop the information literacy of
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teens.
In the Attention Economy people take upon themselves roles – and play the part, in the
rhetorical sense – with a consciousness that ‘how’ something is said is just as important as
‘what’ is said (Lanham 1997). In the Experience Economy work is conceived as theater,
where employees are playing in a 'well-conceived, correctly cast, and convincingly portrayed
real-life drama of 'doing'’ (Pine & Gilmore 1999). Both these concepts should be considered
by librarians, e.g., how they present information literacy to teens and how the experience of
information literacy might be 'staged' in order to engage teen patrons.
Pink (2005) posits the Conceptual Age, harnessing the power of the right brain hemisphere
and leading to 'a society of creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning
makers', and Prensky (2004) considers the desire to create to be one of the defining
characteristics of Digital Natives. Creativity as an attribute of the information literate person
is an area librarians might explore. As Squire and Steinkuehler (2005) declare, 'Librarians
must find creative ways to support people in forming sites of collective intelligence,
searching information, working within social networks, and producing knowledge'.
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Summary
The importance of information literacy for teens in an ever-increasingly digital age has
gained the attention of librarians and other professionals. Existing research is heavily
skewed towards the educational field, with public libraries playing second fiddle to school
and university libraries in assuming responsibility for teens' information literacy. Teens do
not spend all their time in school, yet public library attendance is not compulsory, as it is
with school. This creates a challenge for public librarians to select the best means of
attracting the attention and winning the loyalty of teens in order to have the opportunity to
exercise, strengthen, and develop their information literacy, in all its manifestations.
There is general concern over teens' poor information literacy skills, especially in terms of
the Internet and critical thinking. Librarians are needed to help teens develop the capacity to
research aspects of the world instead of just gathering facts about it – to always aim for a
critical information literacy beyond the mastery of the basic information seeking skills. Yet
in terms of the new literacies it is suggested that teens are probably far more adept than most
adults (including librarians) -- and so librarians as Digital Immigrants must be prepared to
learn from teens as Digital Natives.
There are many roles -- both active and passive, physical and virtual -- that public librarians
can play in the development of teens' information literacy, but the ultimate role is to
continually research and seek to understand -- to pay attention to -- the phenomenon
themselves, in essence practising their own information skills in the service of teens'
information literacy.
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