In this episode of iQ: smartparent, experts explain the range of resources available at libraries, in person and online, demonstrating the many ways that libraries are transforming lives and serving as the new "community living room." Guest Felton Thomas, Jr., President of the Public Library Association, a branch of the American Library Association, explains services offered in libraries, including ones to build skills in education, employment, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and engagement. Another guest, Marie Belle Vargas, is a Library Media Specialist at PS1x Cortlandt School in the South Bronx of New York, and the winner of the 2016 Common Sense Media Award for Educator of the Year. She explains the innovative ways she's turned her school library into a true community resource, offering parents as well as students in a socioeconomically challenged neighborhood a range of activities to build technology, literacy, language, and hands-on science skills. And, Mary Francis Cooper of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh provides tips for using online library resources for everything from homework help to personal research and adult education. In addition, this episode includes two field packages. One explains digital badging and the other illustrates ways that libraries are using gaming to draw teens into their local libraries.
