How to Navigate Privacy Issues Involving Youth and Technology

Children and teens may come to your library to play games on a library X-box, do homework on a school-issued Chromebook, or record TikToks on their smartphone. How do you navigate the privacy issues that inevitably arise when child and teen patrons engage with technology? This interactive accelerator session walks participants through a privacy literacy toolkit designed to help librarians navigate privacy issues and model for children and teens what it means to engage with technology in socially appropriate ways. Through a series of group activities and reflective discussions, participants will apply a theory-based privacy literacy framework to real-world scenarios and use their analysis to map out steps to address privacy issues in their own institutions. The session materials are designed such that participants can take them back and facilitate similar sessions with their colleagues. This accelerator is intended for librarians who primarily work with children/teens, including youth services and school librarians, although staff and administrators who are involved in policy development and interested in how library policies and practices affect youth privacy are also encouraged to attend.