Looking to Make Your Tech More Accessible?

ALA's Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Committee on Library Service to Underserved Children and Their Caregivers has produced their newest monthly toolkit and it's amazing! 

This longstanding ALSC committee has been leading the way for decades long before the pandemic highlighted how critical the need is to expand our thinking and service. Recently they began producing free, monthly toolkits to help libraries serve their underserved populations better. Chockful of resources, booklists, hints and practical suggestions, these toolkit google docs are extremely helpful. Their newest one, created in collaboration with ALSC's Children and Technology Committee, is all about providing equitable access to technology for youth.

In a recent ALSC blog post they write: "February’s Toolkit focuses on accessibility to technology and its impact on children. With the onset of COVID-19, gaps in the digital divide became chasms. The inequities that technology – or lack thereof – created became impossible to ignore. 

When librarians transitioned to providing online programming, it became all the more apparent that large swaths of children were missing out on crucial learning opportunities. The materials in this toolkit both address internet inequity and provide resources that introduce children to technology or offer low-tech options for programs.

What you will find in this toolkit:

• Picture books, early chapter books, and middle grade books for children of various ages and their caregivers.
• Professional resources such as articles and books that provide research-based information and ideas for addressing technology gaps.
• Materials you can purchase for your library’s children’s room and to use in your library programming that are low-tech or no-tech.
• Recommended webinars that target digital equity." 

To access the blog post with more info and the link to the doc, please stop here.