Becoming a Media Mentor: A Guide for Working with Children and Families

by Claudia Haines (With), Cen Campbell

Foreword by Chip Donohue In a time of rapidly changing technologies, the role of the youth services librarian has expanded to include the realm of digital media. Supporting children's literacy now means serving as a media mentor. This book empowers youth services staff to confidently assist families and caregivers as they navigate the digital world, guiding them towards digital media experiences that will translate into positive and productive lifelong learning skills, regardless of format. Melding the latest research and key messages from a variety of experts with replicable examples, this book defines what it means to be a media mentor, providing historical background and context; outlines three types of media mentorship: media advisory, programming, and access to curated media; outlines the implications of media mentorship in libraries, focusing on a shift from the notion of "screen time" to "healthy media decisions"; draws on detailed case studies from a wide variety of libraries and community partnerships to showcase inspiring media mentorship in action with ages 0-14; provides guidelines for working with diverse families and caregivers; and explores management issues around media mentorship, ALSC competencies, suggestions of additional resources, and professional development. Guiding children's librarians to define, solidify, and refine their roles as media mentors, this book in turn will help facilitate digital literacy for children and families.

Genres: Professional Development, Nonfiction, Adult, Library Science, Technology

176 pages, Paperback

Published July 29, 2016

Reviews

[Lisa Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book which gives advice and ideas on how to be a better media mentor as a librarian or a parent. Last half of the book includes programming ideas.

[Julia Beavis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me a lot to think about in regards to how to be a media mentor in librarianship in general and also how to be a media mentor during a pandemic.

[Kate Alleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the media mentorship team that is Cen Campbell, Amy Koester, and Claudia Haines. This book was a perfect overview of why media mentorship is important and different ways to incorporate it into libraries. I have a lot to digest from this to figure out how I can share with staff!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reviewing this in 2020, but I read it not too long after it came out.

When I read this book, sections of it felt a little out of date already. That's not a criticism of the authors necessarily, but the media discussed in this book moves and changed rapidly. There are even updates to the medical professional (ie pediatricians) recommendations that were present in this text when it was present. As with any medical information, verify for updates to them, especially as they relate to children.

In general, I found the examples to be the most useful part of the book. The meat of this book felt far too similar to the articles and blog posts that predated this text. While this is still a pretty small LIS text, this one still feels too long in the reading than what is necessary for a topic that rapidly changes. I think it would have made more sense to have an ongoing blog with necessary updates rather than a fixed media like a book than was so quickly out of date. There are ways this information could have been shared in a continuous, helpful way other than what was done.

[Louisa Lebwohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to review this book for my class on instructional strategies, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Media mentorship brings together information literacy, tech literacy, and aspects of readers' advisory, and this book does a great job of discussing the need for media mentors while providing some how-to. I especially recommend this to people working in libraries, but is also worth reading for people who have kids, work with kids, or know kids. There's lots in the book that is relevant to non-kids, too! I'm really interested in how people (of all ages) can develop healthy and productive relationships with media and technology, and this book has really helped me to think that through.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetitive, but a good overview about the conversation parents and media specialists are having about the various digital formats and literacy available to kids today.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m in it, how could I not love it!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry. Dry as a smoked turkey. And it's weird that one of the authors talks about her own work in the third person right?

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a rapidly expanding field of apps and other technology for children and teens, this publication is a recommended resource for youth services librarians and staff interested in enhancing their ability to match the information needs of their patrons with excellent resources of all types. The authors carefully consider all aspects of best practices and offer current research to support their methods. Includes well-documented examples of media mentorship in all types of libraries around the country.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does this book give me everything I need to be a media mentor? No, but it's a great start. I liked the examples in Part II about what other libraries are doing to incorporate technology. Lots of anecdotes and app info. This book is only the beginning, but I think it's headed in the right direction. 3.7* rounded up.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great ideas on how to incorporate all different media, including apps, into patron's lives, especially on we Librarians can guide people who ask on advice about them.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good background for librarians and students working on their MLIS. Helpful examples of projects used in many libraries and interesting info found in the appendices make this a great read.

[Barbara Band]

The aim of this book is to assist staff in helping families and caregivers, showing what media mentorship looks like and empowering the reader to support families with the best resources and tools available. It has two parts; the first deals with the background to media mentorship with supportive information whilst the second part looks at three types of mentorship using practical examples that cover a range of geographical areas (US), urban and rural libraries, as well as simple and complex initiatives.

Section one looks at the use of media; its creation and consumption; healthy media decisions; working with parents, families and the community; and professional development. The last chapter considers three ways to be a media mentor – in an advisory capacity, via collaborative programmes or by facilitating access – and section two looks at these three aspects using real life programmes. Each programme details the target audience, media used, experience required and funding, and considers lessons learned and future plans allowing for adaptability and adjustment.

Written in collaboration with the ALSC, each chapter in section one has background and supporting information with suggested resources, and the case studies encompass expert insights and guidelines for working with families. The appendices include the ALSC papers on “Media Mentorship in Libraries serving Youth” and “The importance of diversity in programs and collections for children” as well as tools for evaluating apps.

This is a very useful and practical book that is relevant to anyone working with children, teens and their families and, whilst the projects are US-based, they could be adapted for other circumstances. The title of this excellent book is slightly misleading; mentoring in this instance is advising and connecting young people and their families/caregivers with appropriated and relevant resources, regardless of the media. Librarians have always done this.