Computers in Libraries
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Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 4/21/2006
While rooted in the physical world, school libraries need to start expanding their offerings into the virtual world. That was the overarching message that many participants took away from this year's Internet@Schools East, part of the Computers in Libraries (CIL) conference held in Washington, DC, in March.
Sponsored by Multimedia & Internet@Schools magazine, Internet@Schools East is a two-day conference that focuses on new technologies for school libraries.
Among those who believe that many traditional library services can be executed online is Alice Yucht, creator of the blog Alice in InfoLand and an adjunct faculty member at Rutgers' Professional Development Studies program, who attended this year's conference. "A student doesn't have to be in a classroom to discuss a book," she says. "Wikis and blogs are other ways to get students to share knowledge."
But school librarians need to be careful with what they create online and make sure it is as clearly understood and as easy to use as what exists inside the library's four walls. One conference speaker, Marjorie Pappas, an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia, addressed this issue in a session entitled "Doorways to Online Learning," which detailed how pathfinders for information-seeking strategies must be set up similarly in the digital world, recalls Yucht.
"For example, a class comes into the library to do research, and the best way to show them where to start is to do a 'walk and talk' to show them basic resources," Yucht says. "Online should be set up similarly, giving students a ladder of progression, moving from the general to the specific."
But major obstacles still exist in the school library world—not the least of which includes trying to stay afloat as library budgets are slashed, reducing money for staff and materials. Another concern, adds Yucht, are the school technology gatekeepers themselves, who may not be tech savvy enough to add software or access to sites that school librarians believe students should use.
While Yucht took away many ideas from the conference, she disagreed with one suggestion—that librarians create entries on MySpace so students can find them. "If librarians want to have students access them through IM, that's one thing," she says. "But in the K–12 market there's still a divide. The students don't want us socializing in their space. I'm not their friend. I can be friendly, but there's a difference."
