+44 (0) 1273 386849From Storytime to Screen Time: How Libraries Can Reach Generation Alpha
They’ve never encountered a screen they couldn’t touch, swipe, or speak to. They’ve learned to read through tablets, to search through voice, and to collaborate through games. For some, their earliest school lessons came via a webcam. Generation Alpha, those born between 2010 and 2024, are growing up in a world where everything is online.
For librarians, this generation represents both a challenge and an opportunity. How do we design systems and spaces that make sense to children who can pinch-zoom before they can tie a shoe?
When I first began thinking about how to make online library catalogues appeal to younger learners, I assumed the answer would lie in better interfaces and smarter search tools. Then I listened to middle school librarian Alexa Dumas. Her work reminded me that reaching Generation Alpha isn’t just about technology, it’s about trust, connection, and the courage to let students co-create their library experience.
Her approach illustrates what librarians everywhere are discovering: to reach Generation Alpha, we first have to understand how they think, feel, and find information.
Understanding Generation Alpha: what drives them and what they need
Gen Alpha are visual learners, absorbing information through images, animation, and motion. They filter relevance in seconds, so clarity and immediacy are essential. Authenticity is valued, and they respond well to voices that feel human and real. They care deeply about diversity, fairness, and environmental action, and they thrive on shared ownership of space, ideas, and stories. Above all, they want to be involved.
That’s why librarians must nurture the full range of future-ready skills:
- AI and information literacy: Helping children question what they consume and separate fact from generated fiction is essential in the age of generative AI.
- STEM and sustainability: Projects that link science, coding, and environmental action help young people see how knowledge builds futures, not just grades.
- Creative making: More than half of Gen Z and Alpha library users identify as creators – writers, podcasters, filmmakers, gamers, and designers. Libraries can nurture this impulse through maker spaces, recording corners, or digital storytelling sessions.
These aren’t extras; they’re the new literacies. And as information guides, librarians will be among the first mentors to show children how to navigate and question the digital world that raised them. For this generation, information is something to interact with, not just absorb.
The librarian’s role: strategy, education, and mutual respect
Fostering autonomy and getting everyone involved doesn’t mean stepping back, it means stepping differently. Behind every lively, student-driven library lies a library professional who knows when to guide, when to listen, and when to hand over the reins. Nothing in a successful library happens by accident.
Professional judgement and collection strategy
A clear collection strategy relies on solid data, an understanding of the curriculum, and the insight of a professional librarian. Alexa Dumas’s thorough weeding project, where she removed over 5,000 outdated books, was necessary. Leaving old, unused or unsuitable material on shelves would be “a gross disservice” to her Generation Alpha students.
What differentiated Alexa’s approach to this project? Involving students in the process. She invited volunteers on scavenger hunts to locate withdrawn items and get involved with the processing of stock. This transforms passive users into community members, and it’s a great idea.
School librarians as educators
Librarians are educators. Among other responsibilities, they guide students through a complex and confusing information world.
It can mean advocating for access. Librarians play a crucial role in protecting young people’s freedom to read. Book ban and restrictions often fall disproportionately on works exploring the experiences of marginalised groups, particularly LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC authors. We must safeguard inclusive collections.
Librarians don’t just teach students how to find information, they teach them to evaluate the systems delivering it. They introduce research databases, digital resources, and reference platforms that students will depend on later in higher education. They show that the best results often come from combining methods. In doing so, they teach adaptability, context, and critical judgment.
Structure and scaffolding
Even the most collaborative projects need boundaries. True autonomy only works when students understand the framework that supports it.
When Alexa handed students the task of crossing out stamps and barcodes on withdrawn books, she set clear guidance and firm rules – one mark of ink on skin meant the privilege was revoked. That mix of trust and accountability ensured cooperation.
Time and attendance matter too. While programmes and opening times can be flexible, the librarian retains ultimate control over scheduling and supervision. Volunteers working on large projects are expected to contribute responsibly, and challenges like “read five books for a reward” reinforce that commitment brings recognition.
Structure also extends to digital boundaries. In a school OPAC, the librarian configures access to ensure age-appropriateness and safety. Younger readers can discover freely within a protected environment, guided toward materials suited to their level and interests.
Clear boundaries and mutual respect don’t dampen enthusiasm, they direct it. Transparent systems and consistent expectations create a safe space that allows young people to explore with confidence.
Books are central to the library (yes really!)
Despite their digital upbringing, Alexa’s Olympian Reading Challenge proved that Generation Alpha readers still cherish the sensory world of print. Her students eagerly devoured thirty award-winning books over three years – from graphic memoirs to long YA novels – and discovered a love of reading along the way.
Gen Alpha’s relationship with reading is tactile, emotional, and social. They may live online, but they seek belonging offline. They learn best when they can connect effort with reward (and it needn’t be a huge reward!) For librarians, this means books can be central, not because of some misplaced nostalgia, but as a real alternative to digital leisure time.
How can we really help? I have already discussed how sorting books by genre can be helpful. Students want categories such as, “spooky graphic novels”, “cute memoirs”, and specific reading moods – a discovery experience closer to Netflix or Spotify than a traditional catalogue.
In older library systems, readers needed to know the right author, title, or subject heading to find what they wanted. Now, discovery can happen by theme, tone, or even era – Crime, Cosy Mysteries, 1920s – connecting readers to stories they might never have found through alphabetical classification alone.
They aren’t trained in library syntax, and neither should we expect them to be. “Library syntax” is shorthand for the search jargon that might be off-putting for young and old alike – Boolean logic, MARC fields, and bibliographic data.
Library management systems such as SLLS meet those expectations head-on. Responsive design, flexible categorisation, and customisable filters mean catalogues can mirror real reading behaviour: visual, emotional, and intuitive across devices. Technology like SLLS matters because it makes finding things easier.
Between storytime and screen time
Generation Alpha may have been born in the digital age, but as you would expect, they are fiercely imaginative. They need spaces that reward curiosity, connection, and care, so school and community libraries remain key.
And this is where systems matter. The next generation of library software isn’t about competing with technology, but collaborating with it. Digital environments should be as intuitive and welcoming as the spaces they represent. With its adaptable design, intuitive search, and accessible interface, SLLS helps librarians translate human curiosity into digital form without losing the magic that makes discovery feel personal.
From storytime to screen time, the library’s essence hasn’t changed. It’s still the meeting point between imagination and information. The tools and tech evolve, but the purpose endures – helping every generation make the library their own. Find out more from some real library experiences in letting young people take the lead.
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