Space are meaningless without meaningful connections with adults and peers in libraries. #engchat

October 22, 2012 6:55 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@meenoorami

Meenoo Rami

Moran, Superintendent of the Albemarle County Public Schools in Charlottesville, VA, and Socol, a special education technology scholar at Michigan State University’s College of Education in East Lansing, emphasized that it’s crucial to the survival of librarians that they keep up with today’s technology driven world.

But how imperative are ebooks? Many tweeters cautioned against wholeheartedly embracing this technology. Middle school librarian Deven Black (@devenkblack) reminded participants that access to ebooks in poorer schools is limited. Jenn Cook (@cookout70), an associate Professor of English and Education at Rhode Island College, warned that abandoning physical books may make libraries less inclusive: “Just like when millionaires talk about poverty, when we assume that ‘change’ means going digital/virtual, we leave many behind.”

Similarly, Buffy Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton), a high school teacher in Canton, GA, and blogger at The Unquiet Library, urged restraint among librarians who view electronic materials as “a one size fits all solution.” Though ebook distributors like OverDrive may seem to hold all the answers, she noted, not all libraries can afford them, and their content may not be essential or interesting to students.

Participants agreed that librarians must maintain traditional skills—such as readers’ advisory—but also be savvy to new trends in order to stay relevant. Becky Fisher (@BeckyFisher73), an educator in Charlottesville, VA, tweeted that “Contemporary librarians have to understand contemporary means of accessing and making information!” and encouraged them not to fear sites like Wikipedia. Going back to basics, librarian Kathy Kaldenberg (@scsdmedia) stressed the importance of encouraging a love of literature: “Hands down. The most effective thing we do at our library is read the books and give personal recommendations.”

Librarians aired frustration that administrators on tight budgets do not always accept evidence showing that libraries improve student learning. Julie Goldberg (@juliegoldberg), a librarian in Rockland County, cited a three-year study conducted by the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers University showing that school libraries have a positive effect on student achievement  but lamented that “many decision-makers are unaware.” Hamilton tweeted, “many librarians are attempting to lead change but meet tremendous resistance from admin and faculty.”

Participants agreed that libraries should be warm and innovative environments, but opinions differed over whether they should also maintain quiet spaces. Shannon DeSantis (@shdesant), a library science graduate student at Syracuse University, tweeted that “the days of the shush library should be over. We want our space to be collaborative and welcoming!” On the other hand, Fisher spoke for many participants when she described her ideal space: “We are looking at providing cozy, quiet, curl up with a book spaces as well as noisy, collaborative, make things happen ones.”

Though participants had many diverse ideas about what future libraries must look like in terms of space and technology concerns, the belief that librarians are vital to the success of a school was a constant. Meenoo Rami (@meenoorami), founder and moderator of Engchat, underscored that what students need most is committed librarians: “Space are meaningless without meaningful connections with adults and peers in libraries.” Participants who want to continue the conversation can use the Twitter hashtag #sljsummit to follow Socol and Moran’s thoughts about the evolution of libraries at the Leadership Summit.

Children working on an “idea paint wall” in the library,
Cale Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA.

When it comes to libraries, educators Ira Socol and Pam Moran are very clear—it’s imperative that these institutions evolve in today’s technologically-driven world or risk fading into irrelevancy.

“I don’t think the physical space for libraries should ever go away,” says Socol, a special education technology scholar at Michigan State University’s College of Education in East Lansing. “But by the same token, every time technology has changed, the shape and form of libraries have changed.”

Socol and Moran, superintendent of the Albemarle County Public Schools in Charlottesville, VA, will tackle the shifting role of libraries in “Triggering Transformation” their “unkeynote” presentation at School Library Journal’s Leadership Summit. At the October 26–27 event in Philadelphia, the two will urge educators to consider the current digital environment and how it affects the way students and other patrons connect with information for both education and pleasure.

Ira Socol

Libraries, in particular, must develop the capacity to function as kinetic centers of learning and activity, where people come to engage, absorb, and create, according to Moran and Socol. Media specialists who understand that, say the two, will continue to play an important part in student learning. Those who see their role as simply manning the circulation desk are very likely to find their jobs at risk in a new era of education.

“Libraries have to be places where they’re making and searching content and also places where they engineer, sketch, and design themselves,” says Moran. “And librarians play an important role in doing that with young people.”

The potential risk, according to Socol, is that patrons will find and create libraries of their own—choosing spaces where they can engage and connect. One example, he says, is New York’s 24-hour Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, which you’ll find abuzz with activity at 2 a.m. Then there’s the local coffee shop where Socol has seen students gather to read and do their work.

“You see people wanting to be together,” he says. “And it’s not just about access to technology, it’s about people being together and sharing. So libraries have to rethink what they do. My town has a wonderful library that doesn’t attract teenagers because it filters the Internet in a way teens won’t tolerate. So the coffee shop becomes their library.”

To Moran it’s a simple scenario of patrons voting with their feet on whether a library works for them or not. That could be an adult choosing to go to a chain bookstore instead of the local branch of their public library, or a high school student who perceives the media center as a staid, dusty tomb. “In the schools where libraries are zones where kids are engaged with each other versus places where you have a ‘shush’ model, we have kids that skip classes to go to the library,” she says.

Neither Socol nor Moran thinks that libraries need disappear. In fact, they believe their place as a center for discovery and learning can flourish. The key, they say, is for librarians to understand the imperative that they’re competing for users’ attention—and that they find a way to not just recommend the next good read to users, but help patrons of all ages connect to material to enable a deeper understanding of the world.

“We have to acknowledge that if we try to maintain the status quo of our past, we could see the loss of libraries,” says Moran.