I looked a several articles for this Thing.
"Away from the icebergs": Started out fine, but when I got to the second "iceberg" I realized he is talking to a different audience. "Libraries are poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching . . . We need to focus our efforts not on teaching research skills but on eliminating the barriers . . . My job as a school librarian IS to teach research skills.
"Into a new world of librarianship" gave me much to think about. do I exhibit these characteristics in my work"?
I couldn't quite get with Schultz's comparison in "To a temporary place in time." I see the library's "commodity" as information and knowledge, not books.
I decided to look somewhere else for a clearer picture of my role in this 2.0 world. I searched for "school library 2.0" and discovered "Say good-bye to your mother's school library" by Christopher Harris in the May 1, 2003 School Library Journal. So many things in this article left me thinking. He suggests re-shifting /re-working the old, not starting new from scratch.
We library professionals have continually sought to establish the media center as the central foundation of a school. We must persist in this effort. But in its 2.0 incarnation, the digitally re-shifted school library, as I call it, must transcend the physical space to bring services and programming to every student and teacher throughout the school wherever learning is taking place. Consequently, librarians, while still based in the media center, will interact more directly with students as well as their teacher peers in new spaces.
His conclusion:
Digitally re-shifting your school library is about harnessing the power of new ideas like Web 2.0 to help fulfill the mission of school libraries. It does not necessarily mean discarding the old, but rather reconsidering what works best in meeting new challenges in a changing educational world. It’s all a part of helping students become literate users of information in order for them to have successful careers in school and beyond. Remember that for some students, a rich school library experience may be their only library experience. Let’s use every opportunity to help our students engage the joy of reading and the power of information.
I need to recreate my role in a world that thinks "it's all on the internet," but doesn't know how to find and evaluate what is there. Making the work I do behind the scenes visible. Taking the lead in using Web 2.0 tools. Fight the battles if necessary to open sites and tools. (or find the right person to fight them for me) Yes, in the elementary it will be a lot of compromise and waiting.
2 comments:
I really enjoyed reading your post. It looks like you found a great article that addressed this topic as it relates to school libraries!
I think you're right that teaching research skills is becoming more important than ever. Many people are tech saavy, but how do we help them become knowledge saavy, too?
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