We are living in a revolutionary time. Our country has been struggling with a
turbulent economy, financing a decade-long war, increasingly polarized
politics, and changes flying at us from every direction as the result of
rapidly developing technology and increasingly interconnected flows of
information. It is exciting and daunting
at the same time. Education has been
caught in the crossfires of all of this while undergoing its own attempts at
evolving. Libraries have been keeping up
with changes in technology and have evolved right along with all of the rapid
changes surrounding them, but those outside of library circles seem to be
mystified by what the library brings to the table amidst all of the changes. Although format and delivery of information
are shifting somewhat, libraries remain integral in the same way as when they
were initially created; libraries are about access to content.
In the school environment, this role is particularly
critical. There is a mountain of data showing that schools with library
programs led by MLIS certified school librarians with full time staff and
substantial collection development budgets have higher test scores, in all
subject areas, than schools without libraries or libraries that are improperly
staffed with inadequate collection development budgets. Despite decades of data demonstrating the
clear correlation, libraries continue to disappear. The more I try to understand why, the more
confused I am. At the academic level, we
have maintained strong libraries.
Budgets may be cut, but the idea of eliminating academic libraries isn't
generally broached. I'd imagine anyone
who might raise such an idea in the academic environment would be swiftly
castigated. Research requires access to
high quality information and scholars demand access. They understand that access to content carries
a price and that, even from a financial standpoint, having a library as their
link to that access makes sense. In
the public and school environment, however, decries against the need for
libraries isn't uncommon. I'm coming to
the conclusion that there is a vast misunderstanding of what a library is and
does in these circles that simply isn't as prevalent in higher education.
Libraries and librarians collect and archive work. It is irrelevant what format. Digital or print, it is still about curating
content. The library provides access to curated
content for its users. Public libraries
are tasked with curating content specific to the interests and needs of a given
community and making it available for access by community members of all
different ages. They provide content to retirees and preschoolers, homeless
citizens and bank presidents, parents and children outside of regular school
hours. It is not free; it is paid for with a share of that community’s public
funds. If a community library does not have content that it’s community wants
to access, the community can appeal to the library for content changes. Public libraries were originally founded upon
liberal political views about free and equal access to information, but they
are not political in how they operate. They are organized with a mindset toward
access of information to all people within a community, not a particular
contingent or set of ideals.
Museums and
archives are also creating access to their curated content with public
funding. They provide specific content
related to the collections they house, like the Smithsonian Institution or the
Monterey Bay Aquarium. Museums and archives pay to digitize content, organize
it, host it on servers, and ensure that users are able to access it. It is paid for through membership fees,
donations and public (tax) funding. In
some cases, you must pay a membership fee for access to digital content. It carries all the same rights of ownership
that the non-digital versions carries and requires attribution regardless of
whether the individual user pays for access.
As a nation, we should all be concerned about
a growing trend toward destruction of public access through non-partisan,
non-profit entities. Power, control, and
influence of information determined by those who select and organize content, and
who restrict its access to content based upon ability to pay or other selective
criteria is not in the interests of a diverse democratic society. If we move toward a system where all content
is driven directly through publishers, booksellers, or companies that curate
content for a fee, individual citizens will lose out. Libraries are not free. It costs money to curate, organize, and make
content searchable. Libraries do these
things without gaining profit on the items they curate. Collection development is driven by user
needs. We already have a growing digital
divide based upon ability to pay and continuing to move toward this pay to view
model of information access will create a vast information and literacy divide.
There is great power in what the Internet has brought to
society. We now have the ability to use linked computers to connect curators of
content and to make curated digital content accessible outside of the physical
confines of an actual space. In addition, physical curated content, like books,
is searchable outside of the confines of a physical repository. But the Internet and search engines are about
connection, not ubiquitous access to
content. As an example, type “history of
libraries” into Google. You will get a
list of potential resources on the topic.
The first thing on the list will likely be a Wikipedia entry. I have nothing against Wikipedia, but it’s an
encyclopedia. Entries are written by
people who provide a basic overview and are not necessarily experts in the
topic. Even prior to the digital age,
encyclopedia research was never meant to be more than a basic overview,
primarily used with elementary students.
The greatest value of a good Wikipedia entry is its potential for
leading students toward further resources through a list of cited resources at
the end of the page, many of which can only be accessed for a fee. Just about all of the other resources that
will come up in this query on the “history of libraries” are also only
available for a fee. This includes
Google book references. Not only are
online digital books still unwieldy, but the viewing access for many digitized
books is quite limited in Google books.
In a search for “history of libraries”, Google will send you to an eBook
for Michael Harris’s 1999 book History of Libraries of the Western World. You can read a limited number of preview
pages in Google Books, but then are given a link leading you to the full text
for purchase at the bargain price of $37.12.
Imagine a full research paper with multiple resources at this cost? It becomes cost prohibitive for individuals. Libraries have the ability to provide resources
to patrons within a school or community through collective purchasing power and
sharing. Even documents published under
Open Access platforms have a cost.
Someone has to edit, digitize, organize, format, store (yes, even
electronically, documents need to be stored), and create a portal to that information. There is always a cost.
Unlike all other libraries, school libraries and
librarians are geared toward specific teaching skills for finding and ethically
using information, collection development skills linked to curriculum and
pedagogy, strong relationships bridge between publishers and content creators,
K12 focused content, understanding of copyright/fair use rules (and how they
are evolving), access to diverse variety of pleasure reading with the goal of
cultivating widespread literacy and independent learning, and an ability to
provide scaffolded instruction of skills for students so that when they
ultimately leave the K12 environment they can effectively use both the
resources available via the connection of the Internet and academic, business
and public libraries to research information.
So what about the role of the Internet? Can't teachers just use the Internet to
create all of this rich content? That
implies a misunderstanding of what the Internet is. The Internet isn't really a thing, but the
interconnection of servers, devices, and individual computers. Internet search engines troll content
according to tagging and popularity. The
Internet does not provide ubiquitous access.
It has the ability to point searchers to places where they can access,
but does not give them the keys. Keys
cost money even if the resource is digital.
In fact, digital access costs more than print access and does not
currently carrying the same rights of ownership. But don't we have content experts in our school
districts? Isn't that what curriculum
specialists do? The role of curriculum specialists is centered on finding a
“package” that meets the needs of each grade within a school district. School librarians are about finding and curating
resources from a diverse array of publishers and providers to teach content
that teachers and students can tailor toward individual needs, styles, and
abilities.
As a comparative example of
the potential for these different functions, let's look at two different
schools. School A has a packaged
curriculum for each grade in math, language arts, social studies, and
science. They have no school library and
supplement the language arts program with individual classroom libraries for
silent reading. During the month of
March, students study fractions in math through math worksheets and drills,
follow set reading, writing, and grammar lessons through the packaged LA
curriculum, read about Japan in their social studies books, and read about the
earth in their science books. School B
has a strong library program with rich resources centrally located within their
school. The library has two separate
technology-rich classrooms capable of using Skype with a teacher and
interviewee, sophisticated software programs and learning programs that use
interactive gaming headphones. The
collection of resources is created with collaborative input from all of the
teachers. During March, the 3rd
graders study Japan. Teachers create a
rich curriculum with the librarian that includes versions of the Sadako story,
a strong varied collection of books about Japan, and biographies of famous
Japanese and Japanese-American people.
Students have Skype conversations with Japanese school children in the
technology classrooms, letting them experience the connection of learning with
real children their age in Japan. Math
lessons on fractions include measurements in recipes for Japanese foods from a
collection of age appropriate cookbooks for children and examples of origami paper
folding. The library has age appropriate
resources on the effects of nuclear bombs and radiation on health and the
environment that are used in science lessons. Art classes explore Japanese brush and ink
work ( shodo) and the creation of maneki neko (lucky cat) paintings. Examples of Japanese art are in the library
collection. Music classes teach
Classical Japanese music and children explore Japanese instruments through
videos in the library collection. They
also learn some basic Japanese language skills using the gaming headphones and
a language learning program in the library technology classrooms. Which style of school do you think will have
the most engaged students – and which students are most likely going to retain
what they learn? The skills being taught
are the same, but the content of School B is far richer leading to deeper
inquiry and understanding.
Technology does mean exciting things for education, but technology
is about the tools for access and content creation, not the content itself. And technology without content is like having
a car, but no fuel. Technology is
certainly opening up amazing possibilities.
We can search greater volumes, access content from a distance, communicate
over long distances at a lower cost than ever before, and tailor learning in
remarkable ways. But all content has a
cost; somewhere it still needs to be paid for. Booksellers, like Amazon, have
an interest in selling books. Each item
accessed, by each individual, carries a specific fee. They do not provide access to everything
published. They operate under a model
according to popularity of sale.
Newspapers and magazines charge for access. Look at what your cable bill costs. You pay, either through advertisements or
premium access, for content. Internet
access works the same way.
Unfortunately,
cuts to school libraries mean a huge number of school librarians and support
staff have to rely upon single vendor solutions. This means that the bulk of collection
development relies heavily upon the vendor selecting content and offering it to
the library “shelf ready” at a premium price.
Fewer and fewer school librarians are able to voraciously peruse review
copies prior to selection and the budgets for collection development are
continually shrinking. This is bad for
education. We are rapidly losing rich
and diverse content in K12 education.
The technological tools we all seem so enamored with are worthless
without content. A student may learn how
to use this year’s version of Excel or PowerPoint, but doesn't have a clue that
cutting and pasting things from Internet sites without attribution is
plagiarism. The tools will change and
students will have to learn how to use new tools on their own, just like the
rest of us have been doing as new technology has evolved. If we haven't taught them how to write, research, cite, edit, organize and evaluate information,
and think independently, they won't have the skills to navigate in the world on
their own. If we are to truly embrace
this revolutionary time in education, we should be moving toward centralized
school libraries that are the hub of learning with more, not fewer, highly
skilled staff members who can, and have the time to, cost-effectively curate
collections, find new funding sources, collaboratively teach with other staff
members, and provide access to rich content for students and staff.
Works consulted:
American
Association of School Librarians.
Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Chicago:
American Library Association, 2007.
www.ala.org/alsc/
Boelens, Helen. “What is a school library?: International
Guidelines.” International Association of School
Librarianship (IASL). Web. 28 Sept.
2014.www.iasl-online.org
Curry
Lance, Keith. "School Library Impact Studies." Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
.
Harris,
Michael. History of Libraries of the Western World. Google EBook ed. (full Book Access Costs
$37.12) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999.
National Library of New Zealand. "School Library: Purpose." Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
National Library of New Zealand. "School Library: Purpose." Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
Links to resources related to the impact of school libraries:
School Libraries Impact Studies
School Libraries Impact Studies
Latest Study: A full-time school
librarian makes a critical difference in boosting student achievement
The Importance of School Libraries
Checking Out: Budget hawks see library
programs as an easy out, but what's the cost to student achievement?
School Libraries Work! (Research
Foundation Paper)
What You Can Do To Support School
Libraries In Crisis
School Libraries Make The Difference
A Librarian's Tricks For Finding Those
'Complex Texts' Cited In the Common Core
Starting A Local School Libraries
Friends Group
International Association of School
Librarianship -- list of studies on school libraries worldwide
