From the Editor
Sarah Flowers
Anyone who spends any time in a library knows that libraries have much more to offer than print resources, and also knows that teens are attracted to many of these resources, especially the electronic ones. This year, YALSA’s Teen Tech Week will take place March 6–12, and the theme—Mix and Mash@ your library—focuses on encouraging teens to use library resources to express their creativity by developing their own unique online content and safely sharing it by using online collaborative tools. There are lots of exciting possibilities, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of projects like creating book trailers, music videos, visual poetry, digital scrapbooking, and more. Besides the great ideas that appear in this issue, be sure to check out YALSA’s Teen Tech Week Web site (www.ala.org/teentechweek) for other suggestions, or add your own ideas to the Wiki. One of the great things about an event like Teen Tech Week is that it gives you an opportunity to highlight to your community some of the great things you are doing with teens in your library. So take advantage of the publicity tools that YALSA offers and send out a press release, or get your city council to issue a resolution in honor of Teen Tech Week. Use this opportunity to share with community members, officials, parents, and teens themselves about some of the ways you can help teens develop the skills they need to use electronic resources effectively, efficiently, and safely.
Meanwhile, check out the great ideas for Teen Tech Week in this issue. Donna Block shares details about how to do low-cost digital photography programs, Lauren Comito focuses on techoriented crafts programs, Jesse Vieau shows you how to help teens create short films, Sarah Ludwig describes a Teen Tech Camp, Laura Peowski Horn offers some suggestions for online marketed strategies, Deborah Marshall and her colleagues describe a Computer Technology Education fair, and Jerene Battisti talks about using actual printed books with Teen Tech Week.