Libraries and librarians are on the chopping block in some districts in Maryland.
This is personal for me.
I love libraries.
I always loved browsing the stacks and finding a new book, a new author, a new topic. For me, the library was a place of reverence, a place of quiet contemplation, a quiet place to read and think.
Yes, I know we have computers. But computers give you what you ask for. They may have all the information in the world, but you can’t browse a computer.
Please support school libraries and your public library.
This arrived in my email from a librarian I met last June at a conference in Annapolis:
Libraries Under Attack? Again?
“Why do the children need books? They will all have tablets…”
Here in one of Maryland’s largest school districts, our libraries may be on the chopping block and with them, more than 100 dedicated and hard-working teacher-librarians who are required to have certification in library media/instructional technology. According to current board policy librarians are considered teachers, and as such partner with classroom teachers to collaboratively teach information literacy and research strategies to students K-12. Our supervisor has been nationally recognized for her initiatives connecting librarians to curriculum and instruction. Parents are supportive of libraries because they see the relationship to increased student achievement. Does our new and quite young superintendent support libraries? Will he continue to support our roles?
First, let’s travel back in time. In the early 1990s a new superintendent, while cutting staffing, declared librarians optional and libraries soon fell into disrepair. Parent volunteers checked out books and the collections suffered without trained media specialists to maintain them. Students did not receive instruction in information literacy or literature. The district supervisor of Library Services lobbied hard to turn the trend around, successfully leading the movement to rebuild the sorely neglected collections and put trained librarians back into schools by influencing the district to set policy that mandated a librarian position in each school. Further, she worked tirelessly to secure 10.4 million dollars in funding to rebuild collections, and helped create an initiative with the local university that resulted in a “Library Media Cohort”, a partnership between the district and the local university that offered masters’ degrees in Library Media and Instructional Technology to teachers in the district. The commitment that the district made resulted in investing heavily in the rebuilding of our libraries. The cohort initiative is currently active and has produced to date more than 150 highly trained certificated library media specialists. In our rapidly urbanizing and large district, our library media specialists are trained to meet the needs of our diverse population of over 100,000 students.
When the funds were disbursed more than a decade ago, the county executive, who at the time saw the value of a quality library program, told the district administration, “Don’t let this happen again. Don’t come back asking for more money. Maintain the libraries.”
How quickly we forget our history. Once again, there is a new superintendent in town and libraries may be under attack. The BOE is about to strike language from the policy that defines the commitment to place libraries and media specialists’ roles as critical to student achievement. When this was presented at the February 19th BOE meeting no one from the Library Office was present because no one from that office was informed or invited. Since all BOE meetings are video recorded and archived on the public website, we were able to discover the proposed change by a BOE member who questioned the intent. The decision was tabled until the March 5th BOE meeting.
At an earlier BOE meeting, a reorganization was discussed which made clear that beginning next year libraries will fall under the auspices of the Technology department and no longer under Curriculum and Instruction. In the reorganization, the supervisor of the Library Office’s position has been eliminated. We will be losing our strongest advocate and most vocal supporter.
Saddest of all, rumor has it that someone very close to the top in the district’s administration made the comment, “Why do the children need books? They will all have tablets…”
Yes, the children need books and tablets too.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
FWIW – superintendent in question does have a traditional Ph.D., in his case, from Virginia Commonwealth. He has been on the fast track his entire career, as his CV makes clear, never staying in any place all that long. He only taught for 2 years, which meant he had to get a waiver to be a superintendent in Maryland. He participated in The Supes Academy, which is an endeavor largely pushed by superintendents to develop young talent as superintendent. He was simultaneously a finalist (and runner-up to the same person) for Howard County as well as Baltimore County.
One wonders if he taught for more than 2 years he might realize that libraries should NOT be part of the accountability portion of a school system, but should be considered a key part of the instructional portion.
Dallas Dance- Baltimore County Super. 30 years old. Nuff said.
If it means more money for teacher salaries, I’m all for it. They got rid of our librarians years ago. If these kids can check out the same books from the library online with a tablet, fine with me. It’s redundant to have the physical books in multiple libraries.
Library media specialists do more than check out books. Read the entire post.
What is offered here is a false choice between technology and books (and in the above commenter’s post, between teachers and librarians.) All are needed. Books are not going anywhere, our children should have the opportunity to learn and read with technology, and teacher and librarian collaboration is a powerful for students and their learning.
I did read the post. I have lived life aa a teacher post-librarians. The sky is not falling.
First of all librarians are also teachers. And if you think they only check out books, you are sadly mistaken. They also teach research skills and reading skills. They help supplement the curriculum. And they help students select books that will help them with class assignments. No Ipad can do that. One of the things I did for my school library was order books in more than one language. For students new to this country, they were grateful. For parents who didn’t speak English, they were happy to have a book to read to their child. Ipads can never teach the love of reading. And with a statement like yours, expect all teachers to be replaced by computers!! Libraries are the heart and soul of a school.
I am a big fan of libraries, but I would say that students are the heart and sole of any school.
These are all things I teach my students: look, here are the books in Spanish. Look, here’s how you look words up in a dictionary. Librarians don’t do anything we can’t. 5 years ago, I applied to a MLS degree to become a librarian, but when I thought about it, I knew this wasn’t a profession for the future. It’s obsolete. Now I’m glad I didn’t get the degree, because we have maybe a dozen librarians for our 40,000 or so students (they are only in middle and high schools.)
I think as teachers, we get a bit too dramatic sometimes. We are in the 21st century. We cannot run schools like we have in the past: we need to spend money on what is most important.
You can browse through books on amazon more quickly than at the public library. Kindle readers read 4x as many books than before they got their kindle. I know I read a whole lot more now. More reading should be the goal for our students. Embrace the future, don’t fear it.
The school libraries of today provide both written and technical.
Let’s get back to your original premise…..you are a very greedy person!!!!
Are you kidding me, Kinder? Looking at the big picture, this is all part of the ALEC plan. When there are no libraries & no free books & children in our poverty areas do not have computers at home, from WHERE are they going to get any sort of reading material?
AND–as more people become unemployed (oh, the SEQUESTER!), book purchases, like every other non-necessary (you know, food, shelter, medical care…) item, will go by the wayside. When I was in VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America),
we LIVED at the library when we weren’t working–couldn’t afford shopping. As the UNCF says, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,”
“a library is a terrible thing to lose.”
Have you been to amazon lately? I just bought and read Oliver Twist for free. I have Tom Sawyer and Uncle Tome waiting for me in my kindle. Most of the classics are free. My public library has an e-reader program. Free books aren’t going anywhere.
This is all a part of a long term plan. Read “Hapsburgs to Hitler” as the whole plan is there and it is the one put in place in Austria starting in 1919. Remember Hitler went to Vienna in 1920.
Kinder is unfortunately not very supportive of librarians. Way to stick together, Kinder. Florida? Is this the Jeb Bush legacy? Sad.
Stick together for what goal?
Stick together when you are in the same boat. Sounds like a good idea to me.
When you do “me first,” you are on your own and you endanger everyone else.
In my view it should be students first. I know others may have a different opinion.
If there isn’t any school community students are usually the first to be affected.
Yes, we all know the meaning and consequences of “StudentsFirst” starting with increasing class sizes.
Unlike what Michelle Rhee calls her organization in the most “Orwellian” manner. I really should be student first not students last.
Geez teachingeconomist – you have to ask??? Like doctors or lawyers would throw each other under the bus the way some teachers do!
Doctors and lawyers are ethically obligated to throw their fellows under the bus, though I agree that they often do not live up to that ethical obligation.
My view is that the aim of public education is to educate students. Perhaps you have a different goal in mind.
Are you kidding me! Your district may be able to afford tablets for all students or may be you live in an affluent upper middle class area but in high poverty areas, this just widens the gap between the haves and have nots. You must not have ever had a really good school librarians because good teachers cannot function without a good librarian!
It has fallen for your students, but it sounds as though you may not care unfortunately. Your wording of “these kids” to describe your students probably gives a lot away of how you really feel for them. Very sad. It’s also amazing that you would not want your K students to experience the joys of holding and sharing print picture books from the library. You also do not realize what librarians do (it’s not “look, here’s this” and “look, here’s that,” as you say) and you should research that further before posting.
I was a kindergarten teacher for the past 5 years and I would never want my little students to be without a library or librarian. It goes against research, against best practices, against raising critically thinking citizens, and against what is good for our students.
By the way, if you think the money would go for teacher salaries in today’s climate, you apparently aren’t paying attention to the posts in Diane’s blog.
There is no better way to excite a mind, young or old, than to have easy access to lots of information. One thing always leads to another, if you have the opportunity. Are they actually doing this to really design in non thinkers. I think so. Something like this cannot happen by accident.
So many people, including educators, just don’t know enough about Early Childhood and early literacy. Especially when it comes to :digital”. They just don’t have the background or experience if they have not worked with little people.
Tablets for everything, for all students, will arrive at the same time as jet packs and anti-poverty pills.
I am the Chief Information officer in a very innovative school in Canada charged with leveraging technology to enhance the educational experience. I am often asked about the role for libraries. My response is in one of my most read blog posts: Why school libraries are more important than ever. http://turningtechinvisible.blogspot.ca/2011/11/why-school-libraries-are-more-important.html
So sad the commentary. It’s as if all school librarians ever did was stamp books. All these years we’ve been waiting for Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, 21st Century Skills, higher order thinking skills. Now that school reform is calling for all of the above, they boot the librarians…as if tablets can do it all.
Diane, I love libraries too but serendipitous discovery is alive, well, and STRONGER online than it is in a Dewey Decimal System-categorized library. Sorry but your assertion that “you can’t browse a computer” flies in the face of billions of people serendipitously discovering ideas, content, and people every day online.
I invite you to read http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2006/05/can_we_please_k.html
I don’t know what libraries need to do reinvent themselves (if they even can) for a digital era. I do know that there is no conceivable future in which the primacy of printed text is not superseded by electronic text and media.
And who controls electronic text and media? Who controls what is available and what is included and omitted? Do you think the oligarchs are going to make everything available online? Get real. They will censor the material that does not serve their interests.
And why do libraries need to reinvent themselves? That’s just propaganda. Libraries are crowded with people checking out books.
The Web is a platform that is much more democratic, open to participation, and accessible than the world of print publications ever was. Who controls electronic text and media? Much more often than ever before, it’s US… (and Diane’s blog here is an exemplar of this principle)
The overall percentage of books / periodicals sold that are electronic, not print, steadily increases every month. The percentage of people reading electronic texts and/or online steadily increases every month. It’s going to take a while but, yes, I think that long-term libraries are going to have to reinvent themselves for an electronic, not print, information landscape.
Libraries, school libraries included, ARE reinventing themselves, Scott. Libraries and librarians have never been about books and print, they are about the free access and exchange of information and ideas. As information and ideas have moved to digital platforms, libraries are providing access to those realms, and more importantly, librarians are the guides, teachers and trainers for those who need to navigate the digital world. I spend my days collaborating with classroom teachers to design instruction that integrates information literacy, research skills, social media tools and technology for content creation. My students connect with experts and publish globally using tools found…in the library. I also teach them to be good digital citizens, and to respect intellectual property by using media responsibly and ethically. I show students and teachers how to download eBooks, access audiobooks for both pleasure and academic reading using library resources both in the physical library and online using multiple platforms and devices. That is what librarians DO. Far from being anachronistic, libraries and librarians reside at the bleeding edge of the digital information revolution and we embrace it wholeheartedly.
Becky, I’m with you and think your work is fantastic. But, like for any profession, recognize what you’re doing does not represent every librarian or library everywhere. There are many libraries and librarians that are NOT doing what you’re doing (for lots of reasons). Those folks and places are going to need some serious help, and we’re all going to have to help them figure out what their role is in this new paradigm that we’re all inhabiting.
There’s also the issue of value articulation. If you can’t show – as a library or librarian – the kinds of value you’re providing in ways that resonate with funders, then the scenario that Diane is writing about here will become even more common than it is now. And a lot of libraries and librarians, school or otherwise, are having difficulty articulating their value in ways that are resonant with decision-makers (which is why they’re getting cut).
I like your post about “not all librarians and schools”stepping up to the challenge and opportunity of 2.0 librarianship. That’s much the topic todayin our SLJ webinar “Be the Bhange: 10Keys to Leadership” http:///slj.com/bethechange We’ve got a healthy audience, and I hope you might direct some of your insight and questions to the panelists. I’ve enjoyed following you for some time now, and appreciate your insight and sustained efforts.
Libraries are ALREADY reinventing themselves. Librarians are no longer simply the “keepers of the books”. Who is better qualified to help students access, evaluate, and apply information than a librarian? Classroom teachers don’t have the time (and often the background) to keep up with new technologies, look for resources, and collaborate with others like librarians do. Plus, librarians have some strong professional organizations, such as AASL, the ISTE MS SIG (special interest group), their state organizations, and strong PLN’s to keep up with new advances and technologies. Sure, people can come across information serendipitously, but they might need to assistance or instruction from a librarian to help them to decide if it’s a bona fide discovery worth pursuing. Who is going to help evaluate all of these digital resources?
I agree, the role and way libraries work and look is changing. I think maybe in the future more spaces for charging devices like tablets will take the place of the many shelves of books. I think the librarian will be a digital media guide, that helps expedite and expand your research reading and learning.
There’s always a place for diverse, curated learning content. The trouble only starts when some people decide for themselves, by themselves what should be important for all.
EXACTLY, Maurice.
1) School libraries are about so much more than checking out books. School library media specialists are teachers and research shows that schools with certified library media have increased student achievement:
http://www.slj.com/2013/03/opinion/editorial/the-cost-of-cuts-when-we-lose-librarians-its-the-kids-who-suffer-most-editorial/
2.) School libraries provide equity for our poor parents who cannot afford a tablet or Internet service or even cab fare to the public library.
No disagreement with either point. We also have to figure out how to provide equitable access to our increasingly-digital information landscape for children/families in poverty. Whether we like it or not, the future is not print, it’s digital.
The problem is that these devices don’t cost nearly as much to manufacture as we pay for them. If they’d lower the prices, we could provide them almost as equitably as books. Then they wouldn’t be safety issues as mentioned in another comment.
School libraries are essential. I would argue that school libraries and certified school librarians are more needed now in the digital age and in this time of testing craziness than ever.
School librarians help students–all students–become lifelong readers and learners. They help bridge the gap for our reluctant readers who may find their reading joy in a Playaway or a graphic novel. They provide a safe space where students can see themselves–be that self a minority student, an immigrant learning English, an LGBT student, or simply a student who feels they don’t fit in–in books and feel a little less alone. They have important and meaningful conversations about books with students. They teach information literacy and digital citizenship skills that our students must have in today’s digital world. They provide a forum where students can “show what they know” by creating their own content using digital tools. They support the work of teachers in the classroom and extend and enhance classroom learning. They provide much needed resources to those teachers to support their instruction. They teach the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner as well as helping students to meet academic and ISTE standards. Librarians are teachers and in several states are actually known as teacher librarians.
How do I know? I am a school librarian who has seen the impact of strong school library programs firstand. By the way, both pleasure reading and school libraries with certified school librarians have been shown in research to improve student achievement and protect students from the impact of poverty.
http://keithcurrylance.com/school-library-impact-studies/
http://www.sdkrashen.com/index.php?cat=2
Aside from the numbers, our students need school libraries. They need to learn how to safely, ethically, and efficiently navigate the digital world. They need access to books and other learning resources that they often don’t have in the home (especially our at-risk students.) And most importantly they need the message that pleasure reading is important and can be fun. School libraries and librarians provide that. We are a stronghold of democracy and I will always believe in what I know we can do for students.
Libraries are absolutely reinventing themselves to serve their communities with relevance. Our public library system and school library system here in Nashville have formed a partnership, known as Limitless Libraries, which has benefitted students, teachers, and families in so many ways. The teachers in my school rave over what this partnership has provided for them in terms of additional resources as well as in funding for our school library.
http://www.slj.com/2013/01/programs/libraries-with-no-bounds-how-limitless-libraries-transformed-nashville-public-schools-libraries/
The website for Limitless Libraries can be found here at http://limitlesslibraries.org/
We still have a magnificent library and librarian thanks to Library Power funding. Yes, we have computers, tablets, and the like. But there’s nothing like a good book. Besides books are safe. In our neighborhood technology can be a dangerous experience on a NYC subway!
@mcleod we need mentors (youth and adult on both sides of the mentoring coin) to manage information, manage online identities, critically consume information, be civic participants, be civil participants, understand how the filter bubble works, critically produce,etc. I know you know access is not nearly enough. How can libraries reinvent themselves?, some school libraries already have (I am thinking you know this too, she says with a smile). And in the reinventing the people in the space are more important than the resources in the space. The school (teacher) librarians are the mentors, coaches, and support not just for youth but for teachers. I had (have) time to investigate resources, teach/share, investigate information as a fact checker, teach/share, learn how to do something, teach/share. And so on.
I have some concerns about the research linking achievement to school librarians but it does exist. As does the research that youth need support in taking advantage of the opportunities that exist, while managing risk (I am thinking explicitly of Sonia Livingstone whose research is located in England but I know there is more). Of course I think we have daily examples of adults who need that same support as well.
Very nicely said. As usual. 🙂
Computers, tablets, etc. are tools. Like all tools, they are only useful to people that already have skills. Tablets, computers, and other electronic tools and resources do not create knowledge. They are only deeply useful to people who are already literate, who already have academic skills. In fact, computers seem to HINDER those who have not yet become fully literate.
The popular notion that technology, flashing screens and mouse-clicking make students smarter all on their own is preposterous.
These skills come from books, from libraries, from real educators, from real interactions with others. Flashing screens and mouse-clicking does not produce knowledge.
I have posted this before, but this may be a good excuse to post it again: medieval help desk.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DpQHX-SjgQvQ
“Tablets, computers, and other electronic tools and resources do not create knowledge. They are only deeply useful to people who are already literate, who already have academic skills. In fact, computers seem to HINDER those who have not yet become fully literate.”
This is a great point. There is something to the form of the book, as well as the space of the library, that is far more conducive to fostering literacy than anything digital technology has produced to date.
Yes, sir!
Might one say the same thing when comparing books to the older oral tradition?
I don’t think so, since literacy inherently relates to written language. The oral tradition probably fostered better oral storytelling, and maybe better auditory memory.
And who manages the tablets? Who takes the time to figure out what apps are worthwhile? Who selects the books for the students to check out online? Who gets the system working? Who helps when it doesn’t work? Who makes the connections to the public library so they have library cards and can access more books?
It’s not about books. If libraries are only about checking out books, then they can be closed. But a library with a librarian is a learning center. When that librarian is cut, they’re not subtracting, they are dividing because the librarian is a highly qualified teacher who collaborates, co-teaches, provides resources, and strengthens instruction so the teachers are left trying to fill the gaps that are becoming more evident. Librarians carefully select books and resources and then teach students how to find good information, evaluate what’s not, organize it and put it together into a final product (and hopefully NOT a paper or poster because they know about lots of other great ways to communicate information). They make sure the library is open so there’s access to technology for students who may not have other sources. They teach 21st century skills, including digital safety and citizenship, to students growing up in a digital world and the teachers who are trying to keep up with them. And that’s just a start of what a librarian brings to a school. (http://auhsdteacherlibrarians.wikispaces.com/100+Things)
Research continues to show that school librarians impact student achievement, particularly with at-risk learners (http://bit.ly/14qMHN5). It’s not about the books. It’s not about the technology. It’s about the learning. And librarians make a difference.
I guess my issue is that a lot of schools are subscribing to BYOD (D is for Device). There are a great many articles about mobile learning, using texts and Twitter in class, and flipped classroom and the like. Unless we can provide devices for all students who don’t have, it will further exacerbate that achievement gap problem.
I have had students who did not have books or computers at home. The only reading material they had was that which they took home from school.
Unless this district is ready to purchase devices for home use for all learners and finance the materials losses, they simply aren’t ready to get rid of libraries.
But this can be seen as what it is: a part of the narrowing of the American education.
I have attended all sorts of PD in which people swoon over this sort of electronic folderol. I think that excessive and maladroitly employed technology in the classroom is cognitively unhealthy.
I recommend reading The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.
Contributing here first with disclosure – there are elementary librarian positions cut in my budget proposal for next year.
Quality? We have marvelous librarians.
Use? Generally filled with kids.
Value? Libraries should be the center – the hub – the learning center – the nerve center of a school jam packed with many adults in many roles – small groups – individual work – classes – research – and a reading nest for all, especially beginning readers.
Reality? Not so much the technology. “Browsing” the internet is NOT reading pages of a newspaper, touching pages of books in the stacks, and discovering secrets of the reference section. Will libraries go the way of print media? Who knows. But – a library for a second grader is different than to a fifth grader as it is in middle school as it is in high school. And, it’s not either-or / print v. screen.
Stark Reality? Budgets. http://thinkingaboutschools-jhstlny.blogspot.com/ Value-Subtracted Measures. When the State (Governor, Legislature…) refuses to use means at their fingertips to salvage district budgets and cap local revenue collection – and keep piling on more unfunded mandates (teacher evaluation on steroids, excessive testing) something has to go – and after years of cuts and cuts there’s little left to go except classrooms. Districts in New York talking insolvency, cuts to the bone, cutting kindergarten… and spreading quickly to those districts with means and local support.
Jere, This is unfortunately so true. We have a district on the south side of Indianapolis last week that eliminated ALL librarians but one (required to have one in the district acc to state law, although that person doesn’t have to be in a library!) soon after they added five administrators to cover many of the added duties due to the incomprehensible teacher evaluations, which include the unproven VAM
School libraries are essential. I would argue that school libraries and certified school librarians are more needed now in the digital age and in this time of testing craziness than ever.
School librarians help students–all students–become lifelong readers and learners. They help bridge the gap for our reluctant readers who may find their reading joy in a Playaway or a graphic novel. They provide a safe space where students can see themselves–be that self a minority student, an immigrant learning English, an LGBT student, or simply a student who feels they don’t fit in–in books and feel a little less alone. They have important and meaningful conversations about books with students. They teach information literacy and digital citizenship skills that our students must have in today’s digital world. They provide a forum where students can “show what they know” by creating their own content using digital tools. They support the work of teachers in the classroom and extend and enhance classroom learning. They provide much needed resources to those teachers to support their instruction. They teach the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner as well as helping students to meet academic and ISTE standards. Librarians are teachers and in several states are actually known as teacher librarians.
How do I know? I am a school librarian who has seen the impact of strong school library programs firstand. By the way, both pleasure reading and school libraries with certified school librarians have been shown in research to improve student achievement and protect students from the impact of poverty.
Aside from the numbers, our students need school libraries. They need to learn how to safely, ethically, and efficiently navigate the digital world. They need access to books and other learning resources that they often don’t have in the home (especially our at-risk students.) And most importantly they need the message that pleasure reading is important and can be fun. School libraries and librarians provide that. We are a stronghold of democracy and I will always believe in what I know we can do for students.
Libraries are absolutely reinventing themselves to serve their communities with relevance. Our public library system and school library system here in Nashville have formed a partnership, known as Limitless Libraries, which has benefitted students, teachers, and families in so many ways. The teachers in my school rave over what this partnership has provided for them in terms of additional resources as well as in funding for our school library.
This is as dumb as you can get to end libraries in schools. I went to Catholic School and the county of L.A. sent the bookmobile around to all the schools. My parents used to take us to the public library which I almost read out. If you are not exposed to different thoughts you will never get anywhere or be in a position to knowingly think about different problems and most important solutions or as we call them “Outcomes.”
A few years ago I did research on textbooks and instructional materials and supplies at LAUSD as a result of teachers complaining about not having this material. Teachers are so lazy. What I found by comparing the preliminary budget, the wish list, with the audited actuals. What I found is that for 10 years they budgeted and did not spend $250,000,000/year. That is $2.5 billion. I find it amazing that teachers complain about spending $1,000-1,500/year of their after tax income and yet they did not take the time to look at two line items and compare the preliminary and audited actuals on these items. This is 5th grade math. I always break things down to 5th grade math so that people understand it. I took this information to the L.A. Times reporter. It took them one year to call and say they wanted to do the story. The story came out as “In a Book Bind” by Amy Pyle. Two politicians picked this up and introduced the legislation known as Schiff-Bustamente. This legislation resulted in $1.5 billion extra for the children of the State of California over three years for textbooks and instructional materials and supplies. I them watched many school districts redo their libraries with this money. I was very happy with this. One of the big wins and now they want to destroy it. You know what I say to them, don’t you?
This year our district cut the number of library aides in half for middle and elementary schools. This means our school libraries are only open every other day. This is shameful. The students don’t understand why this is happening. Neither do I.
What they understand is that the adults do not care about them. They are not stupid. They have the same view on life as my friends grandfather taught him “I hear real good, but I see a whole lot better.” And they think they are going to fool students who understand this with some “Orwellian” rhetoric.
A book has less distractions then a tablet. When i try to read on a screen I ended opening the browser looking for terms expressions and so on.
It takes me lots of time to finish a book online. I’m all for the printed version.
Online reading is about skimming and distraction. A book is about attentive, mono-tasking immersion. Our brains process text on a screen differently (more superficially) than on a written page.
Has there been research done comparing retention rates for reading from a book and reading a PDF?
One good result of digitization will be the end of hideously heavy backpacks and the back problems that they bring.
I disagree. My kindle has helped me be a better reader. Instead of looking up a word in a dictionary I just touch the word and the definition pops up. This not only saves time, but I know I wouldn’t have looked them all up if I had been reading a paper book. I read classic books that were written hundreds of years ago and they would have been much harder to follow without the instant-dictionary.
I don’t feel that I am taking the book less seriously because it’s on a screen. A good story is a good story.
There are no ads on the kindle or kindle ap as you’re reading.
I wonder how many people who fear the loss of libraries and printed books have experience with with e-readers?
I agree. But many students have a special relationship with their librarians. Many of the books we order are based on suggestions from the students as well. The library can also be a refuge.
And why can’t these same books be ordered in e-format?
A physical library can only hold so many books. Then they are lost by students, pages torn and written on, etc. An e-library can be limitless, and the books won’t weather with time.
Our title-one school lost 600 books last year due to kids who didn’t return them. The district’s response was to punish us by limiting our funds for the next year. This wouldn’t have happened with an e-reader program.
“the books won’t weather with time”
the e-readers do, though. they get lost and stolen. they sometimes break if you drop them. also, don’t get them wet.
And tablets will all be returned and won’t get lost?
Yes, and no. I believe in in-school libraries are essential places of reading and learning, especially in rural areas, where no other libraries exist. Libraries allow students to obtain materials about urban areas, ethnic cultures and career paths that they may not be exposed to, otherwise. However, in urban and suburban areas, in-school libraries are not always essential. In urban areas, especially where there are high levels of immigrants, a public library partner might better serve the school. If the public library is across the street from the school, teachers should formulate a collaborative plan where students can visit the public library weekly and check out books. Why? School is open for 180 days in most states, and the public library is open for 300 days, or more, in most cities. I have found that introducing students to the public library system, means that the whole family gets involved and makes regular trips to check out books, take part in learning programs and so forth.
And just how many families can afford an e-reader???? The things you write are just preposterous. Your original premise was to get paid more–meaning that library teachers should be fired.
The school community I served have parents who work 2 jobs and worked weekends. So taking their kids to a local library isn’t feasible. Also you cannot teach the art of reading on an Ipad. Definitions also need to be learned in context. You are comparing your reading experience as an adult to that of a child. Unbelievable!!! Greed is driving your comments, and that’s what I find so sad.
Teachers should be paid more, but not at the expense of our school libraries. Why don’t we start by voiding contracts with companies like Pearson and Murdoch. These contracts are costing our taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and that’s just in one city or town.
This is why the “Let them have tablets” mentality is misguided. http://m.guardiannews.com/books/booksblog/2013/mar/26/ebooks-different-genre-print
In our library we provide both eBooks and print books to students. Many libraries also check out eReaders to students. The eBooks that we purchase are on a platform that allows them to be read on a desktop or an iPad/eReader. They can read them at home or in school. It’s just a matter of preference as to which format readers prefer, although there is research that eReaders may spark the interest of reluctant readers and make them more likely to pick up a print book in time. For my kids, Playaways are the hot ticket item. These are little mp3 players with audio books on them that students wear around their necks and listen to with earbuds We pair them with the print book and the students absolutely love them.
It’s not libraries vs. technology. It’s libraries and technology. It’s libraries as a ‘third place.’ http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2009/2/16/school-libraries-as-a-third-place.html.
Libraries as maker spaces.
Libraries as student performance spaces, as Genius bar places.
Libraries providing access to books, downloadable ebooks, devices, audio content, and subscription databases with high quality reliable content because information isn’t free.
Libraries loaning content to all students to level the digital divide between the haves and the have nots.
Libraries where students can read what they WANT to, not just what they HAVE to.
Libraries where students learn to think, create, share, and grow in the Information Age.
Libraries that manage information in their schools regardless of the technology formats because the formats WILL change and libraries WILL continue to curate any and all formats.
Libraries are information, technology, and discovery spaces where students learn to be informed and literate citizens of a democratic society which exists in no small part because of libraries.
Hear hear!! This is what today’s libraries and librarians are all about.
Agree completely. I don’t like how the argument is being framed: “heart and soul of school” vs. antiquated book dispensary. The library is a resource that will be as valuable as the vision of those in the building/community make it. Libraries can be valuable spaces managed by people trained in finding, organizing, and supporting media. OR, they can be wastelands of dusty, uncurated collections that must be kept neat and silent. I believe in libraries and library media specialists, but it is this vision you posted that will keep libraries vibrant. If people see it as just a collection of books with a clerk, I don’t think libraries will last much longer.
“Why do the children need books? They will all have tablets…”
Joel Klein??????
& Bill Gates!
And look at the costs of those. And in L.A. we just learned maybe huge cost for the City of L.A. also for LAUSD. Then you have to look at all the school districts, in California anyway, who are illegally using construction bond funds for I-Pads. The Green Act which controls how construction bond money can be spent in California states that no bond money can be used for equipment unless it can last 10 years. Does anyone know of an I-Pad that will last for 10 years, especially in a school setting? All they want is their money and to hell with the rest of us. Deasy is even proposing a tax to replace them when they burn out into infinity after his illegal spending of bond construction money which in LAUSD $27 billion or the largest construction project on the planet. Even Three Gorges Dam in China cost $25 billion. They moved cities and still came in ahead of schedule and on budget. LAUSD could never do that. However, China is learning that this has increased earthquakes and changed the weather as a result of this dam.
Kinder Teacher, Amazon offers so many more books, but not for free. You read more on Kindle because you can pay for books, but what about children who live in poverty? A well maintained school library run by a professional teacher librarian is often their only opportunity for access to books. Their parents can’t or don’t take them to public libraries, and they often have no Internet access at home. School libraries are a haven for these students. Maybe you don’t miss your school library, but your students do whether they know it or not.
A qualified teacher librarian ensures effective use of library materials and teaches digital and print Information Literacy to students and teachers. I haven’t seen too many classroom teachers integrating this training into their lessons without a teacher librarian’s help, even in schools with wealthy students. I have plenty of experience with e-readers as a librarian, and rather than fearing technology, we librarians understand the need for both print and digital information.
As far as more money for teacher raises, the Gates and reform agenda is to increase online books and online classes, increase testing, increase class size, and have fewer and newer teachers. Sound like and education plan or a corporate profit plan? Go to your library and do some research.
Here is a page of free titles through amazon and other sources. There are an unlimited number of copies for each title.
http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2245146011
Yes! Libraries are wonderful places for children to begin a love of reading. READING- something that will enhance their life forever. If we do away with libraries, then we are essentially doing away with dreams.
That’s wonderful. Now how are the majority of parents who can’t afford an e-reader supposed to get these free titles. And just how does it help a kinder child know which book is best for them? When was the last time you taught elementary school TeacherEcon??
Schoolgal,
I was providing a link to the free books provided by Amazon in response to poster Teacher Librarian’s post. Nothing more.
Take time to view and share WLMA’s 5 minute video showing “Teacher Librarians at the Heart of Student Learning” might be useful in your area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPTqGnCfoMU . TLs teach learning: and deliver essential curriculum. Some areas that teacher librarians teach best: information literacy, online safety, research and synthesis. TLs are on-site PD leaders for staff and our school’s central portal for online/after-hours extension of school beyond the confines of classtime/school day. Library and Information Technology programs deliver the goods.
If that is true, than it is from lack of staff development support by districts. NYC ran a wonderful staff development program for librarians the same way they also ran a wonderful science staff development program for teachers.. Alas, those programs were cut by the great reformer Joel Klein. The school librarian program included the integration of technology and Smartboards into the lesson. We were giving a list of reliable and student-friendly search engines as well as teaching children how to weed out facts from fiction since many Google searches can be agenda-driven. But most of all we supplemented Literacy and research programs–programs that the classroom teacher couldn’t find time to fit in due to other mandated lessons. And with Common Core, we are the only outlet for fiction. We worked hand in hand with teachers who will tell us what projects their students are working on. Many families can’t always get to their children to local libraries, therefore the school library does indeed serve the school community. Librarians are also the facilitators of many contests, like “Storytelling” and the “Ezra Jack Keats Bookmaking Competition”. When NYS gave the Social Studies Assessment, our librarian continued to supplement lessons using photo, drawings, political cartoons, etc to help students understand how they can find details in order to answer a document-based question. They read actual letters from children who worked in factories, and used photos and other primary sources to teach different units.
When people bring up “funding” as a reason to close school libraries, it’s only a matter of time when they do it for art and music. Wait, that’s already happening!!!