Anne-Marie --
I appreciate your response to this question.
I, myself, am a big fan of all the new technology. But I have been a
school librarian in communities in which kids only eat at school, have
inadequate heat at home, and we have to take up a collection from the
teachers to buy coats and pants and underwear for students. Until there
are enough of these fantastic digital devices to hand them out to each
and every student, and the content is free, we have to keep the books
that we freely lend and that everyone, including the grandparents &
great-grandparents that are raising some of these kids, know how to use!
(How's that for a run-on sentence?)
Robin Shtulman
Former school librarian,
Transitioning to public librarianship!
shtulman@edthewizard.com
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Anne-Marie Gordon
Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 3:11 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Still buying books? You bet!
Hi, all.
The whole "nobody needs printed books anymore" is a battle we'll be
fighting for a while. I can see the appeal of buying fewer books, I
really can. We have public libraries; e-books never wear out; kids are
constantly online; they're not readers anymore; e-books cost less than
hardcovers; we'll all have e-readers in a few years; online media can
be constantly updated, books can't. Great.
However...
--The digital divide is real. I see sweeping statements (some even
made at teacher workshops) saying "Kids have all this stuff! Use it
in your instruction! They have better tech than the schools!" This is
true in lots of places--but there are still plenty of kids who do not
have laptops, cell phones, iPods, e-readers, etc., that let them use
digital media outside of school. I have kids who don't have internet
access at home. I have taught students who don't always have reliable
electric power, let alone computers! All the subscription databases
and ebooks and downloadable audiobooks in the world make no difference
when the kids are at home with nothing to read. Books bridge that
gap.
--Public libraries are marvelous, magical places. But their budgets
are under fire, too, just as ours have been. They aren't accessible
to younger kids unless their parents take them there. They're not
staffed by certified educators. The YA & children's collections may
be smaller than what's available at school, and may not closely
reflect the curriculum. And I have personally attended town meetings
where folks are saying, "Why buy public library materials for kids?
They can use the school libraries!"
--some types of books don't benefit from a move to digital. Graphic
novels, picture books, art books, animal identification books, and
science books with lots of diagrams would all be difficult on an
e-reader. And how do you read a book on a Kindle to a group of first
graders?
--the technology ain't perfect yet. Password problems, power outages,
dead batteries, format problems and download times will all prevent
kids from accessing digital material. Even if the power goes out in
my library, I can write down a kid's name and the barcode number of
her book.
--Licensing issues. Cushing Academy's Library, now in the news for
making the move to an all-digital collection, will not have the Harry
Potter books for their kids, because Rowling did not license a digital
edition. And lots of Kindle owners THOUGHT they owned a digital
version of 1984, but found out Amazon did not have the legal right to
sell that edition. There is a common misconception that all books are
available in digital form--not even close to the truth.
The technology is getting better all the time, but it's still way,
way, too early to abandon print.
I just blogged about the Cushing Academy move to all digital here:
http://otteroffate.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/124/
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