Why ConnectedLib?
As social and technological hubs for their communities, libraries are natural environments to connect learning, creativity, and knowledge production. They are centers for knowledge creation and sharing, they support self-directed and interest-based learning, and they are inclusive public spaces that bring many different groups together.
— Connected Libraries: Surveying the Current Landscape and Charting a Path to the Future
The ConnectedLib Toolkit was created to fill the need for accessible professional educational resources for library staff who work with teens and wish to learn how connected learning can help their youth services have a greater impact for their community. Public libraries have a unique set of strengths and opportunities that are not found in formal learning environments, which makes connected learning materials designed for schools or other structured settings less relevant to libraries. The Toolkit was created with the input of over one hundred staff from libraries all over the United States.
A short history of connected learning
In the first decade of the 21st century, many organizations, projects, and researchers contributed to a movement centered on social, participatory, and interest-driven learning that led to connected learning. Organizations including the MacArthur Foundation, the Digital Youth Network, and the Digital Media Learning (DML) Research Hub, and researchers like Howard Gardner, Henry Jenkins, Katie Salen, Bill Penuel, Nichole Pinkard, Joseph Kahne, and many more all engaged in this movement. The connected learning framework itself was developed in the early 2010s by Mizuko Ito and her colleagues after extensive research and engagement with teens. Since that time, a vibrant community of researchers and practitioners has formed with the Connected Learning Alliance as a central hub for ongoing learning and practice. Learn more about the history of connected learning, in Connected Libraries: Surveying the Current Landscape and Charting a Path to the Future