This Sunday, the 10th annual United States Media Literacy Week kicks off, hosted by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). With digital media becoming an ever-greater part of our lives, media literacy skills are important for all ages to learn, but especially today’s youth. They help us analyze the media we see and hear, and determine whether news sources and messages are credible.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education, in partnership with Meta and Media Literacy Week, came out with five steps to being a media-literate parent and helping the young ones in your life stay safe and smart online.

First, when modeling media literate behaviors, ask your own children before you share about them on your personal social media pages. This establishes and maintains trust with your child. This exemplifies an important skill for kids to develop when they are deciding to post or share about others.

Next, pause before sharing media content. Show the teens and kids in your life how you check the credibility and reliability of information before sharing. This also shows how taking a pause before posting news can give you a moment to check in with yourself. Are you reacting emotionally? Why did the news you’re sharing invoke that feeling?

Third, be curious about media content. Great thinkers are inquisitive and sometimes even skeptical of the information they consume. Modeling habits of inquiry is a great way to get your kids to ask questions. If you’re watching a film that says it was based on a true story, try looking up the people who the story is based on and seeing what differences you find. Looking at a piece of information’s source, agenda and credibility are useful tools in discerning content.

Fourth, check in with yourself and your own beliefs, experiences and perspectives. Being aware of your personal biases can help you reflect on how they impact your understanding and feelings about the content you consume.

Finally, show balance in your use of technology. Showing kids that it’s possible to take tech breaks is a great way to model a healthy relationship with technology. Of course, the library is a wonderful resource to disconnect. With books, puzzles, StoryWalks, and interesting spaces, we’re happy to be your tool to help balance your technology use at the Delaware County District Library.

Books this week are recent releases in our nature and science genres.

• “The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets” by Thomas R. Cech. Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Thomas R. Cech explains RNA, covering its amazing properties, exciting early developments, modern day advances (CRISPR, mRNA vaccines), and possible future uses in this “lively and entertaining” (Wall Street Journal) debut.

• “Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist” by Jasmin Graham. In this inspiring memoir, marine biologist Jasmin Graham talks sharks and describes her lifelong passion for the water, her journey to becoming a scientist, co-founding Minorities in Shark Sciences, and the challenges she’s faced in a white, male-dominated field.

• “Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water” by Amorina Kingdon. Synthesizing past knowledge with new research, this “exquisite debut” (Publishers Weekly) lyrically discusses the importance of sound to marine animals, how sound acts differently in the water, the perils of human-made noise on life beneath the waves, and more.

• “The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Hidden History of Math’s Unsung Trailblazers” by Kate Kitagawa and Timothy Revell. In this engaging, accessible narrative that spans six continents and begins with a 20,000-year-old bone, a math historian and a science journalist shine a light on important people who’ve often been ignored or forgotten in the history of mathematics.

• “Adventures in Volcanoland: What Volcanoes Tell Us About the World and Ourselves” by Tamsin Mather. Taking readers to volcanoes in Pompeii, Nicaragua, Hawaii, and more, Oxford scientist Tamsin Mather reflects on her own life as she ponders intriguing questions in each chapter, such as: Why do volcanoes erupt in different ways? What messages do volcanic gases carry from the deep?

If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!