While browsing the resources of this module, I noticed that most were about digital skills. And of course, it is extremely important to teach them because our new world is now infused with tech. People need those skills now, and they will need them even more later. Libraries can help offer technological spaces and tools, while also providing instruction and assistance so that users can be empowered to create and collaborate on what matters to them. 

Nevertheless, amongst these resources, a particular one stood out to me: a YouTube video from the Goffstown Public Library: “Life Skills Cooking Basics for Teens ~ PIzza Episode”. This is a library teaching life skills. Life skills could involve technology or not, but as their name indicates, they are vital. Reading a map, sewing a button or cooking are activities that can seem so obviously essential and basic that we forget they were learned. If we turn back time (and let’s do it on the hands of an analogous clock, because it is so much more stylish!), life skills were often taught in Home Economics classes in secondary schools. On social media, I often see comments saying that schools should go back and teach this or that skill. I often do not disagree, but as a teacher, I also know that there is just not enough time to build these into an already packed curriculum. It could be an elective, but space for electives is already sparse in students’ schedules, and that would also mean that not everybody can benefit. Yet, I have experienced high school students who cannot tell the time on an analog clock or read a map. These, just like cooking or drafting a monthly budget are needed basic skills. 

So who to teach them? Today, one third of American kids live in a single-parent family (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2025). Single parents can absolutely teach these basic skills, but it has to be recognized that it is harder because of time constraints. Also, parents may not know how to approach teaching them to their child. Or it can be the simple fact that they were not taught as kids. Therefore these children and teens become adults without these skills. That is where I believe that libraries can step in. They can teach many basic competencies, and not just to teens. As I was explaining, everyone can learn some basic skills. Learning how to cook is really useful at 15, but it is just as enlightening at 50! Sewing back a tear, changing a tire or checking the fluid levels, tying a tie, planting a plant, but also financial literacy, investment instruction or CPR are all examples of life skills that are useful to all of us. 

Learning Labs: Bros Who Sew [Photograph]. (2026). Gwinnett County Public Library. https://events.gwinnettpl.org/event/13386717

Public libraries could teach those in person, with some themed session sets (like January cooking lessons every Monday night or basic car care every Thursday afternoons of April). Tutorials could be offered, but in-person programs should also occur because some skills are just logistically easier to learn. Moreover, it is way more fun to learn how to sew a button with a buddy than on your own behind a screen. It builds community. Furthermore, school libraries as well could have these programs and tailor them specifically to teens. This would be another way of getting students into the library space and show them that learning happens everywhere about everything. And those are quite the tenets of Infinite Learning: keeping learning, everywhere, always. 

References 

Goffstown Public Library. (2020, May 5). Life Skills: Cooking Basics for Teens ~ Pizza Episode [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf6N_Be7kaI

The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2025, December 19). Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families. https://www.aecf.org/blog/child-well-being-in-single-parent-families

Virtual Symposium

For many people, libraries are a temple of knowledge, a place where we come and return to throughout our life to find the information we need. Nevertheless, with the advent of the internet relocating information in people’s homes, and more recently AI, public libraries have evolved into places that foster participation, lifelong learning and community engagement. Throughout this course, I have become gradually more and more interested in discovering how libraries have evolved into these community spaces, and how as a librarian, I can also be a participant in this evolution. As we studied participatory learning, Infinite Learning and Library 2.0, I was inspired to read about and watch those libraries whose users not only acquire knowledge but also build relationships, develop confidence, and actively contribute to their communities. Because I immigrated to the US myself, I know how overwhelming settling in a new place with a new language without knowing almost anybody can be. So I wanted to pause and think back about that. I wanted to take the time to reflect on what would have helped me at the time, and what could help other immigrants in situations different than mine. 

My primary objective is to become a teacher librarian in a secondary school, so it seems at first that this proposal does not necessarily align with my professional interests. First, because we can only choose three final classes outside of the mandatory TL courses, it is true that I wanted to tap into a different kind of library. The array of public libraries we saw in this class, as I explained above, inspired me for projects in those environments. Second, my personal cultural background inspired me. And last but not least, it is actually relatable to a school library environment. We have many English Language Learners at school who have immigrated with their parents, and I could use this as a starting point to also reflect on what the school library could bring to them. 

Inspiration Report: Newcomer Learning Center