Plus ca change, as the French say...

There's a quote that has been thrown around for years describing the youth of the day as unwashed, ill-mannered and lazy (I'm paraphrasing here), The punchline is that, when you finally get to see who said it, it's attributed to Socrates. I was reminded of that today as I was reading an article that described the emergence of the term "tween" to describe kids in the 8 - 12 year-old range as having come from the steady slippage of adolescent behaviors into the pre-adolescent age range. The article, by Kay S. Hymowitz, describes the "morphing" of her daughter from a sunny child into a surly adolescent, culminating in the throwing of a sheet over the child's collection of American Girl dolls, as though she (the daughter) were bringing down the curtain on her childhood - all at the age of ten and in fourth grade. Hymowitz then goes on to talk about the increasing sexualization of pre-adolescents - boys as well as girls - and the inherent risky behaviors that accompany them, with the risks enhanced by tweens having even less sense of themselves than do 15-to-18-year-olds. She quotes one psychologist as saying that there is a trend to "kids getting older younger." (I have to admit, that convoluted phrase reminded me of the time my mother said to me, "When I was your age, I was older.") As a middle school teacher who sees evidence of this every day, I was nodding my head in agreement when I happened to glance at the date of the article. Autumn - 1998. My own daughter was in fourth grade that year, but somehow escaped the sort of transition Hymowitz describes. Maybe it was because she was involved in sports. Maybe we were just lucky. Or maybe I just have a very bad memory.

Whatever the case, the article serves to point out something we need to be aware of as youth librarians. Much as we'd like to turn back the clock or un-ring the bell, we have to remember who our clients are and meet them where they stand. That's not to say we need to give in to the over-sexualization and exploitation of tweens. But we need to strike a balance between, "Give 'em what they want" and giving them what we believe they should be exposed to.

Looks like this is going to be harder than we thought.

References:

Hymowitz, K.S. (1998). Tweens: ten going on sixteen. City Journal, Retrieved from http://www.city-journal.org/html/8_4_a1.html

BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION: Hymowitz, K.S. (1998). Tweens: ten going on sixteen. City Journal, Retrieved from http://www.city-journal.org/html/8_4_a1.html [NOTE: Italicize "City Journal"] PARENTHETICAL CITATION: (Hymowitz, 1998)

We Built It and They Came

"Video games are now a part of the culture and the fabric of our society." So says Sandy Farmer in her article entitled "Gaming 2.0", published in the November/December 2010 issue of American Libraries. Farmer, Central Youth Services manager for the Houston Public Library, describes how the addition of two dedicated gaming spaces, one for children ages 5 -12 and the other for teens, has spurred a major increase not only in the number of patrons using the library but in the circulation of more traditional library materials. The "KIDS" area features Wii consoles and games rated either E or E-10, while the TEEN space offers Playstation 3 consoles and T-rated games, along with some E and E-10 choices. The games span the full array of available genres. An initial investment of $22K is now down to an average expense of $1 per client, and will continue to drop as usage increases. And any concerns about noise levels seems to have been assuaged - as Farmer points out, "When we are busy it would be hard to notice those individual sounds anyway." (Farmer, 2010)
Given my own aspirations of school librarianship, I began to ponder how game consoles might work in a school library. Putting aside the issue of cost for the moment, there's the space problem. Most public school libraries are small, and set up on an open space plan. But if you're lucky enough to have an adjacent room off the library (maybe you work in a former "open plan" school that has been converted), this could be doable. Even in a more traditional library, gaming could be limited to specific off-peak times. Gaming privileges might even serve as a reward - tickets entitling the student to game time could be given for improved attendance, improved grades, or improved behavior.
Okay, so now - what about those costs? Start small, and the costs could be no more than a tenth of the HPL's investment. Local businesses might be persuaded to donate materials. Students could fundraise. Some of the larger game producers might even be convinced that this was a perfect opportunity for some good publicity.
Wii Tennis, anyone?

References:
Farmer, S. (2010, November/December). Gaming 2.0. American Libraries, 41(11/12), 30 - 34.