Pownce on This 

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Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 8/28/2007 2:07:00 PM

Those media specialists looking to better engage their teen patrons should consider the recommendations coming out of Library Camp, which occurred earlier this month in New York City.

To fuse a tighter connection with the student set, attendees suggested creating both a personal and official-looking page for those who maintain Facebook and MySpace accounts. “When you order a pizza by phone, don’t you always want to talk to the same person who knows your preference for toppings?” wrote one attendee on the Library Camp wiki.

Librarians also shared more cutting-edge ideas to virtually connect to younger patrons, as opposed to expecting their physical presence at the library. As anyone who interacts regularly with teens knows, email is no longer the preferred way of communicating. Too cumbersome. The hip way to chat now? Tweeting—or sending text messages by cell phone. The Cleveland Public Library is one space  that’s using the tool called Twitter, which can also act as a less formal alternative to listservs. Want to appear even cooler? Push Twitterlit.com to teens, which provides the first line from selected books, then links to the titles on Amazon.

Another favorite with the smart crowd? Pownce, where users can send messages, links, and files to a set network, such as a library’s reference group, across the Web. Fairly new, this tool is invite-only for now. All the more reason for media specialists and librarians to get on the waiting list and impress their younger patrons with their hipper-than-thou ways.