Welcome
Next-Gen Digital Literacy is a dynamic series designed to empower students with essential skills for navigating today’s complex digital information landscape. From understanding copyright and intellectual property rights to mastering fact-checking techniques, sessions offer practical tools for becoming a more informed and responsible digital citizen. Participants will also explore the value of open access and the role of local news in shaping public discourse. The series also features special events that take a deeper dive into timely topics in data and digital issues.
Join us to sharpen your digital awareness and critical thinking skills for academic and everyday life.
Earn Your Digital Literacy Badge
Students who attend these workshops and events can earn a Digital Literacy Badge—a credential that recognizes their ability to navigate, evaluate, and use information effectively in digital environments. To qualify, students must participate in a total of four digital literacy programs, which can include four workshops or a combination of three workshops and one special event in a semester.
Save the Date!
Is Data Privacy Possible in the Digital Age?
A Q & A session with Penn State University Associate Librarian Sarah Hartman-Caverly
In a world where our personal information is constantly tracked, stored, and analyzed, is true data privacy still possible?
Date: Wednesday, February 25, 12:20 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Location: Marple Campus, Rm. 2246 + Zoom (Register here)
Join us for a thought-provoking interview with Sarah Hartman-Caverly, a leading expert in digital privacy as we explore the evolving landscape of surveillance, user rights, and the technologies shaping our online lives. Learn how to keep your data safe—and what you give up in the process—in today’s hyper-connected age.
We hope you can join us to learn more about this timely topic. Questions? Contact library@dccc.edu.
Speaker Bio: Sarah Hartman-Caverly is an associate librarian with Penn State University Libraries at Penn State Berks, where she supports student and faculty research in the Engineering, Business, and Computing division. Her research examines the compatibility of human and machine autonomy from the perspective of intellectual freedom, including privacy, artificial intelligence, surveillance, and censorship. She is co-author of the forthcoming Privacy Literacy Field Guide (Bloomsbury, 2026), lead editor of Practicing Privacy Literacy in Academic Libraries (ACRL, 2023), and project director of the National Forum for Privacy Literacy Standards and Competencies. She co-curates the award-winning Digital Shred Privacy Literacy Toolkit and her privacy work has been recognized by the Association of College and Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE. Sarah is honored to be returning to DCCC where her privacy education work started more than a decade ago. Outside of the library, Sarah is a wife and mom of two and enjoys edible gardening and trail running. Sarah earned her MS Library and Information Science and MS Information Systems from Drexel University and BA Anthropology from Haverford College.
Upcoming Spring 2026 Next-Gen Digital Literacy Events
April 16th: Why we need local news with Meir Rinde and Kenny Cooper
Check back soon for more details.
Previous Next-Gen Digital Literacy Events
Counting What Counts: Why Public Data Matters
A Q & A session with economist Dr. Laura M. Crispin
What can free government data reveal about students’ lives—and what happens when it vanishes? Hear from St. Joe’s Dr. Laura M. Crispin who’s turning numbers into stories.
Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Watch Recording (coming soon)
The U.S. government is one of the world’s largest collectors of data on health, education, money, the environment, outer space, and more. Because it’s public, anyone—including you—can explore it to answer questions, spark ideas, and make smart decisions.
As an economist, Dr. Laura M. Crispin uses government data to uncover stories about working high school and college students, bullying, and more. She shared how open access to public information fuels her research and what we lose when that data disappears.