The Librarian Is a Geek!
RSSSLJ is about to transform you into a digital savant
Staff -- School Library Journal, 09/01/2000
I
I had no inkling then that less than a decade later, nothing would be the same.
And that includes School Library Journal.
This month's issue introduces two new sections designed to usher you--at times, gently; at other times, more rigorously--through an increasingly digitized library environment. Beginning on page 41, you'll find Technology Editor Walter Minkel's new section, TechKnowledge. In it, you'll find news about electronic developments and trends, as well as alerts on new products and services. TechKnowledge is also the place to look for TestDrive, SLJ's first regular review of software utilities, computer hardware, and other useful tools. Our perennial favorites, "Chat Room" and "Site of the Month," will move to TechKnowledge, too.
SLJ Columnist Gail Junion-Metz will also have a new home in TechKnowledge as she leaves "Surf For" behind and begins a new column with a new purpose: "The Librarian's Internet." Gail will handpick Web sites for your professional use. This month, on page 43, she's rounded up Web-based resources that will help you and fellow educators detect plagiarism.
Next, zip ahead to another new offering, Web Site Review, on page 63 in the reviews section. The mission of this monthly section, written by your colleagues in libraries around the country, is to send you straight to the best free Web sites in two subject areas; this month, we review sites on elections and on Native Americans.
Why do this? Why create extra work for ourselves when there are comfortable hammocks to sink into with a book? (I'll move along quickly; that thought is way too dangerous.) Fact is, we're doing it to help you keep up with a rapidly changing world. As you know, the words and images and ideas that educate and delight young people don't just lie, immobile, on paper these days; they're also traveling over cables and through satellites that circle the globe. Your students deserve to be taught how to do quality research--and, depending on the subject matter, that could mean they never, ever need to touch a traditional book.
That last statement may cause consternation among some SLJ readers and even provoke indelicate language in certain quarters, but it's true. We could do the profession a tremendous service by simply retiring the worn debate over books or bytes (see "The Medium Is Not the Message," p. 49). Instead, let's save our precious energy for working one-on-one with kids. For inspiration, I highly recommend a new book called Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho (Villard, 2000) by Jon Katz. (A brief interview with the author is on page 19.) Without a bit of braggadocio, Katz relates how an adult--Katz himself--gave radical hope to two socially inept, Internet-obsessed guys, who, up until then, had no future. (Get the book. I won't spoil the suspense by revealing what happens. The fact that Katz is middle-aged and describes himself as a writer who isn't particularly adept at technology didn't matter to these kids. He just cared deeply enough to invest himself in their lives.
Katz did what any top-notch librarian does: he acted as a valuable resource for young people. Seems to me that the only thing he didn't do was to read SLJ, cover to cover. But I know you will. When you've finished, consider yourself an honorary geek. And let the kids in your library know you're ready for them.
The Coda. I'm sad to say that this is my last issue as SLJ's editor-in-chief. By early September, I will have undergone a head-spinning change of career and will be the editor of Rutgers Magazine at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. After a fierce mental-wrestling bout with myself, I made the difficult decision to step away from libraries and follow a long-lived wish: working in higher education. I sincerely thank SLJ's staff and all the people I've met over the years at conferences and on whirlwind library tours. You've been fantastic. I'll miss you.
Renée Olson
Editor-in-Chief
rolson@slj.cahners.com
