A recent issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine has the photo of a 2-year-old staring intently at an iPad, with the title underneath: “The Touch-screen Generation.”  

While the article poses questions about the effect of technology on the intellectual and emotional development of children, the image highlights the undeniable fact that the digital generation is here and there will be no retreating from it.

In response, the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, with the help of funds made possible through the Friends of the Library Used Book Store, has purchased two iPads for use in the Children’s Room.  

Our intention is to load up the iPad with reading and literacy apps, and make it available for use within the library to children and parents for an hour or two at a time.

Also, Mary, our Children’s Librarian, hopes to incorporate the iPad in her traditional Friday story time and see how the children respond.  The apps are wonderful and highly interactive.

For example, the app for Peter Rabbit has Peter, when the child touches the screen, jumping in a hole to escape Mr. McGregor.  ABC books will pronounce the letter on the screen along with sounding out a word with the letter when it is touched, so the child can both see and hear at the same time.

The special quality of these applications combine the traditional visual reading experience with actual sounds and actions to help the child make linguistic connections the printed page cannot do. And this happens at the child’s command, which makes the experience even more powerful.

We’re excited about adding these special tools, keep checking the library’s website to find out when they will become available.