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This paper presents the results of an empirical study examining teen social media practices, which was collaboratively developed, carried out, analyzed, and presented by a team of researchers that included seven teens. This co-designed study characterizes the social media use of thirteen teens through a survey, highlighting their complex relationships to technology and their prioritization of learning when online. Further, the results highlight that some teens' assessment of information shared through social media is socially informed, while others rely on preexisting perceptions and beliefs when deciding what to believe on social media. Through the analysis of these findings, the teen researchers who participated in the project had access to opportunities for metacognition and literacy skills development. By connecting the co-designed study and the experiences of the teen researchers, this paper contributes an argument that teens have complex perceptions of their relationships with social media and that collaborative research with teens is achievable and valuable, with direct implications discussed for youth services providers in libraries as well as researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teen services librarians are well positioned to embrace connected learning principles in designing and implementing teen programs and services at their libraries. Due to the proliferation of participatory culture among teens, it is crucial that teen services librarians obtain teens' voices (especially from non-dominant teens) as they conceptualize, design, implement, and evaluate connected learning programs and services for teens. By illuminating the desired librarian-teen engagement practices in connected learning using Radical Change theory, this paper describes six cooperative inquiry techniques utilized by human-computer interaction scholars to co-design technologies and learning programs with children that can be adapted for designing library programs and services with and for teens. In addition to explaining these techniques, potential ways that these techniques can be used by teen services librarians are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how research was used to guide the design, implementation, and evaluation of a public library young adult (YA) space design program with teens and librarians through a community-university partnership. Previous studies have shown why it's necessary for librarians to allow teens to participate in public library YA space design projects. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature by contributing a theoretical and methodological framework to study YA space design projects with teens and librarians using critical pedagogy and ethnographic action research. Community informatics is the theory and practice of using information and communication technology in support of community-defined development goals, which might include digital inclusion, civic engagement, and social justice. The Youth Community Informatics Studio, or YouthStudio, is introduced as a model of engaged scholarship that embraces both critical pedagogy and ethnographic action research to show how researchers can work with teens and librarians to design, implement, and evaluate YA space design projects in public libraries, as sites where teens can engage in social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries are developing transformative teen-centered spaces and services to facilitate informal learning, creation, socialization, and community engagement. For sustained success, it is crucial that qualified professionals staff these learning spaces. This study explored the following research question: What are the competencies required for professionals to provide teens with resources and services in informal learning spaces such as Learning Labs or Makerspaces? Survey results of professionals working in Makerspaces or Learning Labs in libraries in the United States are presented. Findings relate to (1) the participants' job responsibilities and competencies necessary to work in a Makerspace or Learning Lab; (2) their perceptions of the value of their higher-education experiences; and (3) choices of resources for learning competencies. The findings inform professionals working with teens about necessary competencies; provide library directors and managers with a research-based framework on staff recruitment and training; and offer suggestions for curricular updates to library and information science (LIS) educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the proliferation of sex education information sources in the twenty-first century, teenagers are faced with a wealth of available sources on the topic. However, hegemonic narratives from classroom education alienate certain youth, while negative misinformation from unreliable sources has the power to encourage harmful behaviors. At even greater risk are youth coping with trauma, particularly survivors of sexual assault and queer teens, or those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who have limited Internet access. This qualitative pilot study identifies the explicit and implicit choices that teenagers make to seek and select specific information sources for sex education, and it examines the factors that prevent teenagers from seeking such information from library resources. Data was collected in the form of semistructured, face-to-face interviews comprised of open-ended questions with four participants. The results suggest that teenagers use a variety of sources to gather sex education information, including curricular instruction and the Internet, as well as interpersonal, media, and print sources. A wide range of factors attracted participants to use specific sources, such as ease, privacy, comfort, perceived experience, familiarity, openness, and assured provenance. None of the participants visited the library for sex education, and lack of awareness of collections as well as confidentiality concerns represented the main barriers to use of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]