Youth(wired) - Teens @ SAPL Webpage V4.0 / San Antonio Public Library

The teen page of the San Antonio Public Library is titled Youth(wired) - Teens @ SAPL Webpage V4.0. This page is very is user centred page with lots of interactive links and areas to give teens help with their home work, personal research, information about library programming and personal reading choices. Library links include: a homework link with information and online help from tutors; booklinks with lots of reading selections arranged by genre; a MySpace page with a bookshelf, images, blogs, videos, “friend” links and a meebo chat box; a practice test page; a link to library events and a place to submit book reviews.

The Youth (Wired) page in my view functions fairly well as place where teens will gather, with the interactive components, like the MySpace page and the tutor help. There are a lot of “teens” visible on this page which seems to give ownership to those particular library users, which I think should make it more attractive to them as well. I did, however, find a few dead links on the site, including one big link on the main page to the Spanish component of the website. I also found the website may have been a bit lacking in information about how to use the library or links to library resources for teens (aside from the reading lists; audio or video or electronic resources or magazines).

San Antonio Public Library. (2009). Youth(wired) - Teens @ SAPL Webpage V4.0. Retrieved from http://www.youthwired.sat.lib.tx.us/

Rihanna good girl gone bad: Reloaded / Rihanna

Rihanna good girl gone bad: Reloaded is the self titled CD of contemporary music by a very popular musician. Rihanna has been in the news recently (early 2009) because of some troubles she has had with her boyfriend. Pictures of Rihanna have circulated with a black eye and bruised face and there is lots of talk of abuse and the possibility of a court appearance for Rihanna and her boyfriend. The personal lives of pops stars are great food for the hunger of the popular media and Rihanna's fame and her problems have her clearly on the popularity plate.

Rihannna's CD is very popular in its own right featuring hits like; Shut up and drive. Push up on me, Don't stop the music, Umbrella and more. The music on Good girl gone bad, is a mixture of Rhythm and Blues, Motown, and Disco with a strong beat, and the clear, strong leading voice of Rihanna. The lyrics of this album are predictably those that appeal to a young adult audience. Rihanna sings of love and relationships in a direct way and sex in a metaphorical manner. All in all this is a well done entertaining CD that most aficionados of popular music will enjoy.

Evan Rogers et al (Producers). (2006). Rihanna good girl gone bad: Reloaded [Sound Recording CD]. New York: Def Jam.

RAMP / Toronto Public Library

I like the website of the Toronto Public Library which is called ramp: for youth. The website is clean and information heavy. The extensive list of websites are each annotated and classified nicely in understandable categories. The websites listed here are appropriate and relevant for teens and all of the links I checked were active. The links are mainly for local resources which I find appropriate considering the teens live in Toronto and would want to be able to find local resources. There are also links to lots library information as well, from program information and book recommendations to links for article searching and opportunities to contribute to some library publications.

ramp has a lot going for it. There are lots of opportunities one to site that allow teens to become involved with library activities and the site is also a portal to the rest of the Toronto Public Library resources. The site has a clean look and I found it easy to navigate through the extensive resources there with ease. The only problems I could find with ramp were that the search option at the top of the page did not work and the discussion forums were not well used.

Toronto Public Library. (2009). RAMP: for youth. Retrieved from http://ramp.torontopubliclibrary.ca/index.html