Power Lines

Helping readers understand the challenges and barriers faced by teens in urban communities, this one-of-a-kind resource offers real-world recommendations, case studies, and experience-based programmatic solutions for fostering crucial media literacy skills.

Information and digital literacies are essential skills to survive and thrive in today’s media-saturated world. But minoritized and economically disadvantaged youth in urban communities often lack these critical media literacy competencies. Offering a multi-faceted perspective, this book guides those who serve teens in libraries towards implementing innovative and transformative learning experiences. Librarians and YA specialists who serve urban youth in public, school, and academic libraries will  

gain insight on how factors such as lack of information and communication technology proficiency, inadequate technology and internet access, and instructional inequity place urban teens at high risk for media and informational illiteracy;
receive hands-on and strategic guidance for connecting successfully with and creating spaces for teens in urban communities, illustrated through teen reflections, narratives from librarians and educators across the US, and voices from scholars in the field;
learn about several successful media literacy programs that have been implemented in libraries and communities, from Hip Hop Studies at Virginia Tech to youth podcasting, a zine club, Black Girls Film Camp, and others; and
find a toolkit of additional resources such as handout templates, sample lesson plans, and information about books and websites.

Author Biography

Jimmeka Anderson received her Ph.D. in Urban Education and is an author, media literacy educator, advisor, and consultant for several national organizations such as the American Library Association, Women’s Sports Foundation, New America, US Department of Education’s Office of Education Technology, and WestEd. Currently, she serves as a Project Manager for the Cyber Citizenship Initiative with the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). She is the creator of the Black Girls Film Camp and the Founder and Executive Director of I AM not the MEdia, Inc. Jimmeka has been featured in WIRED Magazine, the Washington Post, on NPR 1A, and in the recently released Trust Me documentary in Fall 2020.

Kelly Czarnecki is the teen library manager at the ImaginOn branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. She also served as the 2021-2022 president of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Czarnecki has developed, implemented, and managed new library programs serving the Charlotte Mecklenburg community in North Carolina. Some of her programs have earned national recognition from YALSA. She has also contributed extensively to the literature on teens and libraries, particularly with technology as a focus. Czarnecki earned both MSLIS and EdM degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has also worked for more than twenty years with people experiencing homelessness who are sheltered.