Bridging Books and Children Into the World of Digitization 4 of 4

Enter Technology

And now we talk about technology. Our traditional reader’s advisory and reading guidance services still holds water to children of this day and age. But as mentioned earlier, children growing up in the digital age can develop a genuine love for books and reading even more when we use technology as an enabler. Not only will technology provide access of these books by children, technology becomes the environment where children can explore and discover reading materials that will empower them.

Using blogs and wikis to post new titles of books, accessible through the library website is a start. Having a mobile app like ThingLink to create book promo materials presents a virtual image that chidden can interact with. Keeping a Twitter page and a Facebook account of the library where librarians post books, reflections on books read create a buzz of interesting books to read. Creating book trailers and posting them up on You Tube extends the interest of reading books. Get an account in Goodreads and post book reviews and recommendations. This way your network of children's literature readers expands. This can help in collection development. Involve children in the process of creating their own storybooks. Worthy of mention is the Early Readers Project of the Beacon Academy. High school students make their stories for younger readers which they can download for free. Another is Halo Halo books that follows the same model.

Indeed, books bring people together. You put a transformed librarian between books and children. The results can be life changing!

In conclusion, children's librarians are more relevant today than in any other time in empowering young readers to become citizens of the 21st century. With a knowledge of the young reader, the literature that is valuable for their development and the intelligent use of technology, children's librarians are transformers in their respective communities. It is my hope to see best practices of children's librarianship, backed up by sound research to further improve the profession.

Thank you for listening. Mabuhay!