A Library System Director's view on MySpace

Bev Obert, system director of Rolling Prairie Library System was quoted in a recent newspaper article in the Decatur Herald-Review and their library policies on MySpace. One of the best features of this article was that Chris Sweet, a reference librarian at the Decatur Public Library is now going to do training (as we all should) to educate our students (&/or their parents) about appropriate use of the site since they will be using it anyway, it is our job to use this as a "teachable moment!"

I asked my son and his girlfiend, both college students, and they offered their opinions on the MySpace controversy. They think FaceBook is a better site in that the ability to refuse or deny to contact someone is built into the site. They thought that should be part of MySpace (as a cefault) as it would offer more protection to those teens who do not always want to indicate that they are under 16. So, that was my small survey of young adults ages 19 and 21.