Creating a Digital Media Space for Today's Teens: Part 1 (Jan. 2019)

1. Creating a Digital Media
Space for Today’s Teens
Corey Wittig, Falk Laboratory School,
University of Pittsburgh

2. Corey Wittig
Digital Learning Lead Librarian,
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
● 11 years at Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh
● Program Manager of The Labs -
CLP’s mentor-driven library Learning
Lab program
● 2012 Library Journal “Mover and
Shaker”
● Librarian and Teacher at Falk
Laboratory School K- 8 (beginning August 17)

3. Part 1: Background
and Theory (Today)
Part 2: Practice
& Planning
(today and next week)
Part 3: Stuff:
Equipment, software, etc.

4. 2,357,981 (metro area)
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
USA

5. Carnegie
Library of
Pittsburgh

6. The Labs
Creative Technology Programming

7. vimeo.com/129009992

8. Part 1:
Background
& Theory

9. Thesis statement:
A library with mentorship at
the heart of service can
better reflect and serve the
community of which it is a
part.

10. A shift from a transaction-based
library model to one based on
relationships and community building.

11. 3 levels of engagement
• Hanging Out
• Messing Around
• Geeking Out
YOUmedia
Chicago –
the big cheese
HOMAGO
Youmediachicago.org

12. Questions?

13. “Mentorship is about love.”- “Brother Mike” Hawkins
http://digitalyouthnetwork.org/
dmlhub.net
It’s not just about sharing knowledge. Mentorship is also about kindness and compassion.

14. Pittsburgh
then...
“Hell with
the lid off.”- James Parton

15. Pittsburgh
now
nextpittsburgh.com
America’s “Most
Liveable City”

16. But...
America’s “Most Liveable City”
newpittsburghcourieronline.com
● 2 to 3 times as many African-
Americans living in poverty as
whites
● Preschool and private school
enrollment lowest for African-
Americans
● The typical white student attends a
school that’s 90% white with little
poverty among classmates
● The typical African-American
student goes to a school where half
students also African-American and
poor

17. This goes beyond Pittsburgh
More than 16 million children in the United
States--22% of all children--live in families with
incomes below the federal poverty level--
$23,550 a year for a family of four.
The Future of Library Services for & with Teens: A Call to Action, The Young Adult Library Services
Association, 2014

18. What can libraries do?

19. Libraries can
bridge the
equity gap by:
● providing caring, non-parental, non-
teacher adults to encourage youth
○ Though it doesn’t have to be
limited to youth
● create spaces for informal learning
and exploration of interests

20. Embrace
our role as
educators
and mentors.

21. Credit: Connected Learning Research Network and Digital Media & Learning Research Hub

22. Learning

23. View the library as a place where
literacy and learning
are supported and encouraged.

24. Discrete skills are cool (learning
how to do this and that) but keep
in mind WHY – to what end?

25. STORY
How did we get there?

26. YOUmedia & Pittsburgh: a history
Acting Director of the ETC
• The YOUmedia physical space was designed by a
team of graduate students under the direction of
Professors Drew Davidson and Jesse Schell from
the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie
Mellon University. – youmediachicago.org

27. CLP – Main,
Teen Dept.

28. Getting started, or “How Do You
Create an Initiative Out of Thin Air?”
• Plan your program in the context of your library’s
Strategic Plan/vision/mission statement
• At every turn in the search for funding you will have
to justify your program. It starts here.
• Root it in research.

29. http://www.search-institute.org

30. The Thick of It: Program Design
YOUmedia & The Labs guidelines.

31. Institutional
Buy-inMission
To Engage our Community in Literacy and Learning
Vision Statement
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will inspire in the citizens of our region
respect and responsibility for life-long learning, citizenship, and civic
participation

32. Design for Mentorship
Intentional Design of programs and
services will help insure mentoring
becomes an explicit part of library
service

33. The Labs & Mentorship
Mentors in The Labs were hired based
on the YOUmedia (Chicago Public
Library) model
This model marks a shift toward public library workers
identifying as educators first.

34. Mentoring’s
Effect
"I'd like to thank-you for always listening to me and being such a supportive person. When I'm at the
library I always feel free to be me, because of the amazing positive energy you put into the space. My
favorite project is still the sock cat with light up eyes. I still have mine. Through Outside the Lines I
grew to have more confidence in myself and see my self worth because of all the new things I was
trying and people I was meeting."

35. Designing for
Multiple Literacies =
Designing for Diversity
(This can mean: racial diversity of staff, diversity of interests represented in
staff and programming, and on and on…)

36. Design for Multiple
Literacies to Support
Mentors
● Strategic Plan
● Staff training through
project-based learning
sessions
○ Both make mentorship a
part of library culture
Learning with The Labs:
Soldering 101

39. It’s scalable!

40. “The strange thing is that I didn’t know that was
my education. I thought that was the stuff I was
escaping my education for.”
Neil Gaiman
on what he learned in libraries

41. Next week: Tips for planning
your program. Equipment
suggestions and ways to
engage your staff.