Each weekday when school let out, the Queens Library at Far Rockaway--a branch of the Queens Library in New York City--would fill with nearly 100 teens. Drawn by the public-use computers, many others, who had dropped out of school, would also crowd in. To invoke a cliche, the situation was both an opportunity and a challenge. The popularity of the…

Getting kids excited about the library isn't as difficult as media librarians think. All it takes is giving them some control. They'll be surprised at how quickly their attitudes change once they let them play a role in everything from programming and technology to book selection and design. It may take some getting used to, but listening to what…

There's no such thing as a school or library with too many computers. We're still nowhere near the one-student, one-computer ratio that's ideal for our schools and libraries, especially those in neighborhoods where most students don't have home computers. That's why Computers for Schools (www.pcsforschools.org) is such a great idea. The nonprofit…