I Found it on the Internet: Coming of Age Online

Citation

du Preez, M. (2006), "I Found it on the Internet: Coming of Age Online", Online Information Review, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 315-316. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520610675861

This exciting new book examines the significance of coming of age in a world in which access to online information and communication tools is a fact of everyday life. In it Harris explores the impact that information communication technologies (ICTs) have on teenagers and the meaning thereof to librarians and teachers in a way she hopes will help the librarians and teachers think anew about what they do and why they do it. The book also addresses thorny underlying issues of teenagers' use of ICTs and presents solutions for school and public youth librarians.

I Found it on the Internet is divided into three parts. Part 1, Today's Landscape, explores the current situation concerning teenagers' attitudes towards and the use they make of libraries. Chapter 1 compares formal and informal information systems and teenagers' use of the library and the internet. Chapter 2 looks at the variety of formal and informal information retrieval systems used by teenagers, and how they select and evaluate the material they find. It also looks at how the interactive/communicative properties of information systems might affect their information‐seeking experiences. This chapter provides a useful comparison of information organisation in traditional library systems and the internet in terms of how these systems support information retrieval. Chapter 3 concludes this part with a discussion on how information technology meets communication technology.

Part 2 takes an in‐depth look at the consequences, both intended and unintended, of ICTs in teenage life and “some of their ramifications for society at large”. This part shares practical guidance on how to address thornier issues such as: cheating, improper use of intellectual property, hacking, freedom of expression versus freedom from expression, harassment, access to inappropriate content. Advice is also given on how to situate information technology within “ecologies of human activity” and assist teenagers to mature into interesting, productive adults.

The main interest of Part 3 lies in integrating pedagogical approaches, in learning how to give students the tools they need to make the right choices and to achieve a deeper understanding of the thorny issues addressed in Part 2. Harris discusses the importance of teaching teenagers to be their own filters, and be their own barometers of acceptable and intelligent use of ICT tools. She describes how schools and libraries employ basic strategies, regulatory, technological and pedagogical, in managing ICT disciplinary issues. In conclusion, she stresses the power librarians have to make the merger of information and communication technologies work for people. She is of the opinion that teenagers can be librarians' partners in this endeavour and that librarians will not succeed without teenagers' vision and energy. Teenagers will also not become library users without librarians' skill and passion.

I Found it on the Internet is a thought‐provoking book on how to direct teenagers to make responsible, ethical decisions based on their own critical evaluation of sources. It offers commonsense solutions for school and youth librarians while proactively addressing challenging technological issues facing both the teenagers and the librarians who serve them. The volume includes a useful index and bibliography and can be recommended to all librarians and teachers interested in the information usage behaviour of teenagers.