Teen Tech Week is a celebration of the technology you love to use @ your library®, including playing video games, chatting on the Web, listening to mp3s and more.

During Teen Tech Week, libraries across the nation encourage teens to explore technology and learn something new. Visit your school or public library to find out how you can celebrate Teen Tech Week or get started right away with a list of 25 celebration ideas. Tune in @ Your Library is the 2008 Teen Tech Week theme and the celebration takes place March 2-8.

25 ways to celebrate Teen Tech Week:

1. Download an eBook or audiobook onto your mp3 player.
2. Visit your library's webpage.
3. Blog about a library book or program.
4. Try out a book focused site like LibraryThing or Shelfari.
5. Create a soundtrack for your favorite book.
6. Ask your librarian to recommend a nonfiction book on an area of technology that interests you.
7. Add something to an article on Wikipedia.
8. Set up a podcast for a group or club you belong to. (Click the link to check out YALSA’s podcasts!)
9. Many young adult authors welcome email from their readers, and some even have their own MySpace profiles Why not send them a message in honor of Teen Tech Week?
10. Check out some video games, DVDs or music CDs from your library.
11. Create an avatar on Yahoo! Avatars.
12. Start a Teen Tech Club at your school or public library.
13. Read and contribute to a blog about technology.
14. Practice your HTML skills on your MySpace (and ask your parents to help!)
15. Watch some anime or startup an anime club at your library.
16. Create a YouTube video about your library or a favorite book.
17. Download a newspaper article from the day you were born from an electronic database.
18. Volunteer to help clean the computers and media at your library.
19. Volunteer to tutor library customers who are new to using computers.
20. Learn how to DJ music or record music with a computer.
21. Search in a biography database for an article about your favorite musical artist.
22. Learn how to use some new software.
23. Take a class on graphic design or digital photography.
24. Create a database of something you want to organize.
25. Start a del.icio.us, Twitter or Flickr account.

Teen Tech Week posters, CD/DVD holders, pens, and bookmarks are still available. Visit the Teen Tech Week Products page to see ALA's Teen Tech Week offerings.

It’s Teen Tech Week, the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual celebration of technology available to teens at the library. More than 1,500 libraries across the country are holding special events ranging from podcasting seminars to gaming nights—but for twenty libraries, Teen Tech Week is downright special this year.

Thanks to the generosity of Corporate Sponsor Dungeons & Dragons, the Young Adult Library Services Association, twenty libraries each received mini grants of $450 cash (along with $50 in promotional Teen Tech Week products) to plan and sponsor events that encouraged teens to take advantage of the technological resources at their library.

“We’ve had a YA collection since the ’80s and this is the first year we’ve been able to focus on providing young adult services,” said Beth Wright, from the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont. “It’s such a shot in the arm, so thrilling, to receive this grant.”

Fletcher’s funds will aid its fledgling gaming program, with the Teen Tech Week gaming night scheduled for March 7. Wright is also conducting a contest this week called “Dig Beyond Google,” in which teens search for answers to 20 questions using Web resources at their library. To see what else Fletcher has planned, visit its blog.

Teaching safe use of technology has been a challenge for Monique Delatte, a librarian at La Puente (Calif.) Library, a branch in the Los Angeles County system.

“Many of our young adult patrons and volunteers are intimidated by technology,” Delatte noted in her application. “Technology-savvy youths will have more choices about their futures, and young adults at La Puente Library will benefit most from a series of basic classes.”

At La Puente this week, Delatte will offer a digital photography class for her teens. Guided by a local artist, they’ll learn how to upload pics, create an online photo album, and order a digitally-produced photo album for the young adult collection. Teen volunteers will also learn how to shop online for books to add to the young adult collection. Delatte also plans to give out gift cards to iTunes and BarnesandNoble.com to students in her information literacy class as part of an online scavenger hunt, as well as close Teen Tech Week with a gaming night, which will include instruction on how to set up gaming systems.

Queens Library in Forest Hills, N.Y., plans to use its funds for a unique program called “Tech Buddies.” Teens will be matched up with senior citizens who want to learn more about technology. They’ll begin the program during Teen Tech Week with Wii games and snacks, and continue the project for another ten weeks. Librarian Karen Keys is documenting the project at her blog, Hood and Hat.

These three events are just a sampling of what the mini grant winners plan to do. Read ALA’s press release on the winners and see their plans for the grants at YALSA’s Teen Tech Week Wiki.