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Today's libraries are thoroughly digital environments, not only storing and preserving written information electronically, but also emphasizing digital access to information as a pathway to equitably educating the community on issues of health, employment, education, and local history. And fostering patrons' ability to effectively use digital tools for information and personal enrichment is a natural fit for public libraries, complimenting other initiatives like information literacy and media literacy. This book provides a holistic view of digital literacy support across the full spectrum of the public library, using real-world examples to help public libraries transform the work of digital literacy from answering on-the-fly tech questions to implementing full scale digital literacy programs which are integrated throughout the library. Public library workers, library board members, and those who want to understand more about the digital literacy imperative within public libraries will

• delve into the concept of digital literacy, the ways in which it empowers individuals in digital systems of information, and how it fits in with other kinds of literacy;
• find ideas for effective digital literacy technical support, programming, services, spaces, collection development, outreach, and more;
• learn how to measure the impact of digital literacy initiatives, identify gaps within the community where the library can make an impact, and overcome challenges;
• discover guidance on building partnerships, both internal and external, and finding additional sources of funding to expand digital literacy opportunities within the scope of what is already available;
• receive practical advice from the "Ask the Expert" sidebars throughout the book, where practitioners share their knowledge and experience; and
• get adaptable tools such as sample language, an expenditure budget, an individual needs assessment, a digital literacy readiness checklist, survey instruments, and a lesson plan template that can be used for digital literacy programming.

A surprising and deeply researched look at how everyone can develop tech fluency by focusing on five easily developed learning habits.

Picture a typical computer geek. Likely white, male, and someone you’d say has a “natural instinct” for technology. Yet, after six years teaching technology classes to first-generation, low-income middle school students in Oakland, California, Cassidy Puckett has seen firsthand that being good with technology is not something people are born with—it’s something they learn. In Redefining Geek, she overturns the stereotypes around the digitally savvy and identifies the habits that can help everyone cultivate their inner geek.

Drawing on observations and interviews with a diverse group of students around the country, Puckett zeroes in on five technology learning habits that enable tech-savvy teens to learn new technologies: a willingness to try and fail, management of frustration and boredom, use of models, and the abilities to use design logic and identify efficiencies. In Redefining Geek, she shows how to measure and build these habits, and she demonstrates how many teens historically marginalized in STEM are already using these habits and would benefit from recognition for their talent, access to further learning opportunities, and support in career pathways. She argues that if we can develop, recognize, and reward these technological learning habits in all kids—especially girls and historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups—we can address many educational inequities and disparities in STEM.

Revealing how being good with technology is not about natural ability but habit and persistence, Redefining Geek speaks to the ongoing conversation on equity in technology education and argues for a more inclusive technology learning experience for all students.

Writing on the Social Network builds upon traditions in longitudinal writing research to present a longer view of the impact of social media technologies on individuals’ literacy practices. Amber M. Buck considers user experiences and digital literacy practices that developed on these platforms in the first decade of social media and calls for a larger acknowledgment of social network sites as locations where individuals engage in sophisticated and literate activity.
 
Through qualitative case study research, Buck explores how literate activities on social network sites coalesced around three areas crucial for writing in digital environments: (1) a heightened awareness of audience and an ability to tailor messages to specific audiences; (2) an understanding of how personal data is collected and circulated in online spaces; and (3) a means through which to use the first two skills for self-promotion and self-presentation in both personal and professional settings. She identifies several distinct literacy practices and strategies used by participants to communicate effectively and addresses how these strategies can help writing researchers and internet scholars understand the impact of social media’s first decade and can inform the ways they will research and understand social media’s second decade.
 
Social media platforms represent important locations where the different influences on writing become visible. Writing on the Social Network is a close study of the rich literate practices individuals have engaged in on social network sites over the last ten years that allows for a better understanding of the role social media plays in shaping digital literacy.