Innovative pedagogies in the modern Library

This blog post will take a more personal format with some opinions and personal reflection included. During the post I will also examine some innovative pedagogies within libraries. As I am currently a Library student I will talk about pedagogies in regards to this sector and what practices I may undertake when I enter the work place.

To discuss pedagogies first we must understand what a pedagogy is. Wikipedia defines pedagogy as the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching (2010). The introduction of new technologies has changed the pedagogy and changed the way that we teach youth (Wikipedia, 2010). Innovative pedagogies involves the idea that participants can be connected, creative and critical.

The nature of the modern library has changed. Most of us are aware of term web 2.0 to describe the new participatory web. Michael E. Casey has written a book ‘Library 2.0’ which discusses the idea of the participatory library (2007). In this book he and his co-author discuss ways to bring a working library up to date and to accommodate the new technologies that youth in particular are being drawn to. The text discusses things like wikis, blogs and RSS feeds which are basic but important for interacting and drawing in younger users to the library. When talking about new pedagogies these are the kinds of things that could be extremely important in a library

To understand new pedagogies and innovations in libraries the best thing to do is to examine how libraries are using innovation in libraries to teach youth. At the Harold Washington Library in Chicago there is a space that has been introduced to teach youth and other members of the community about technology and new media. Although the program is not exclusively about youth being able to use the internet there is definitely contact with it by the users. The new space at the library is called ‘YouMedia’ and was designed with the concept of ‘Hanging Out, Messing Round and Geeking Out’ in mind (YouMedia, 2009). The space has been designed to introduce youth in the area to new media. In this space you can hire out laptops and play games and use the internet. By doing this they become connected. The way that they are making this space innovative is by educating the youth that visit YouMedia on how to use the new technology provided in the space. They also provide online and offline mentors for students who wish to participate and these mentors have knowledge of the new media tools. They also provide workshops for the new media tools and have transformed the way it is done by providing a space where participants in the workshop can showcase their work after completion. This allows users of the innovative pedagogy to be creative. The way that they have redesigned the library space to draw in youth is innovative. One point that I found interesting in the clip was that the usage of non-new media resources and resources that were already in the library actually went up after introducing this space.

Another example of a library using innovative pedagogies is the Logan City Council Library. They have developed programs to specifically cater to youth and teens in the community.  They have used the concept of being connected, creative and critical by developing a  teen blog. Teens can communicate to readers about popular books, book review,s upcoming events and websites (Talk to Me, 2010). The Logan Library has turned the blog into a participatory learning space in which content is provided by the teens that contribute as well as the librarians. As already mentioned in other posts on this blog participation is a concept that youth are drawn to. This is the kind of innovation that I hope to be able to employ when I enter the workplace.

As I am studying to enter a library sector there are many innovative pedagogies that could be employed into a library space. As I have already discussed earlier in the post there are some libraries that have already started to employ innovative pedagogies related to youth. For me there are a few things that I would do differently. In regards to the YouMedia space I would try to employ more pedagogy that involved online media. The YouMedia space has more of a focus on technology where as I would try to provide more education for the tools that are available online to youth. I would employ this tactic as most of the tools online are available for access by youth at home. Most youth know about the main internet tools like Facebook and Twitter but they may need more education on how to use blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, podcasts and screen casting to name a few. In my own practice I think I would try to employ more innovative pedagogies that get the users connected to each other and the library like the Logan City Council Library does through the blog. Youth are constantly surrounded by technology and the online world so I personally think that I would employ those things to teach youth as they are more likely to respond to and be engaged in an environment that uses the same tools that they use in their personal lives everyday.

By Nova Watson