Teens Don’t Get Retro!

In February, I glanced at YALSA’s list of teen programs for Teen Tech Week and became intrigued by the idea of having our library’s Young Adult Council (YAC) host a Retro-Tech Museum.  The advantage of this activity over the others would be that the teens themselves would be in charge of the whole thing.  Hooray, right?

• Step 1: Get Manager’s approval – check.
• Step 2: Present the idea to YAC – check
• Step 3: Get YAC to make a poster to put behind the “display of retro stuff” – check
•  Step 4: Get YAC members to bring in their retro-technology – UH OH!

Step 4 was where we ran into problems.  At the YAC meeting, teens brought in their “old” i-phones.  Not kidding!  Now that the Retro-Tech Museum was on the books, I needed to get stuff to display FAST.  So, I sent out a bribe to all Teen Volunteers:

In honor of Teen Tech Week, the Library will be putting together a “Retro-Tech Museum.”  For this event to be successful, we need your help.  I will add 4 hours of volunteer time to your timesheet if you bring some sort of OLD electronic equipment to be share and be displayed during the week of March 11-16.  Prizes will be awarded for a variety of categories like oldest, weirdest, most useless, etc.  In order to be eligible for volunteer-time and prizes, you must include your name and phone number somewhere on the electronic device(s) you share, and drop off your device sometime BEFORE Friday, March 8^th.  (Note that you will be responsible for collecting your gadget before March 22 or it will be recycled.)  Below is a brief list of examples of old technology that you may be able to find at home or at a local thrift store.  Let the scavenging begin!

• Click each for photos!
• Calculators  
• Computers
• Radios
• Telephones
• Cell Phones
• Answering Machines
• Typewriters

Even after this, only TWO teens brought in devices that were worthy to include in the museum: a super large surge protector and an old Nintendo machine.  Thankfully, staff responded by bringing in other stuff, like 8-track tape, slide viewer, rotary phone, etc.  Possible catastrophe avoided.  Continue to Retro-Tech Museum Project Reflections for how I measured my results for this particular project.