NASA video - response

[Mike Eisenberg <mike@ericir.syr.edu>]

Here's a GREAT message that was sent.  I HAD to share it with all of


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 06 Apr 1994 18:50:52 -0500 (EST)
From:JCONSTANT@umassd.edu
To: mike@ericir.syr.edu
Subject: Am sending you a copy of my letter to Ms. Sellers



                                                April 6, 1994
                                                73 Jenny Lind Street
                                                New Bedford, MA  02740


Ms. Jennifer Sellers
Sterling Software
c/o sellers@lupine.nsi.nasa.gov


Dear Ms. Sellers:

        As a reference librarian in a comprehensive high school of 3,000
students and 200 teachers, I have used the Internet to obtain information
for my teachers, and I have encouraged them to obtain MassLearnNet accounts
and to participate in Internet projects. I attended a Science Reference
Institute at Simmons College recently, and received an excellent handout on
Internet resources for teachers of Math and Science. I  distributed
these to teachers in those departments, and suggested that they obtain a
LearnNet account in order to access the Internet where these resources are
located. I have also given them information about the Ozone Network Project,
files from NASA Spacelink, and daily logs, reports, and magazine articles
about the Antarctic expeditions, etc.

        During the past two years, I have obtained a number of resources for
our Economics and Social Science teachers. I regularly download the CNN
Newsroom Guide for them, and I have obtained the Budget of the United States,
SEC reports, campaign position papers, etc.

        If we were not understaffed, and if we and our teachers had adequate
planning time, there is a lot more that I would show them about the Internet.
As a school library media specialist, I subscribe to the LM_NET discussion
group, and have used this vehicle to exchange ideas and problem solve. I have
also used it to share information obtained at conferences with those who
could not attend.

        Yes, the Internet is a wonderful tool for accessing information. It
is but one of many tools that are available to our teachers and students at
my school. School libraries have been grossly underfunded during the past
decade, so that is probably why "Global Quest" took cheap shots at school
library media programs, by implying that they were not "cool."

        Schools should provide a quality education and equal access for all
our students, including minorities, the poor, the learning disabled, and the
gifted and talented. There is one place in each school that could efficiently
provide resources that could be shared by students in each class from varied
ethnic and social backgrounds who have  different learning styles and
abilities. That place is the school library media center.

     A democracy needs well informed citizens. If students don't learn how to
access, interpret, evaluate and use information sources in a school setting,
many of them will never learn these skills. That's where the school library
comes in, Ms. Sellers. Ideally, teachers and school librarians plan units of
study which allow students to gain these skills while solving problems or
doing research for classroom presentations.  Since it would be too expensive
for each classroom to have all the necessary resources, it makes sense to
have these resources centrally located where classes, small groups of
students or individuals might go to get information. This should include not
only print but also online, optical and multimedia resources.

     School libraries should be funded adequately, they should be an integral
part of the information superhighway, and their staffs should be trained to
use the new technologies. By implying that school libraries are an
anachronism, you have done a great disservice to students, and you have made
the goals of the school library community much more difficult to achieve.
You have thrown another obstacle in our way, but you have also made me much
more determined to achieve the goal.

        If the other school library media specialists are as upset as I am,
you will probably be receiving a lot of email in the near future. Perhaps it
may convince Sterling Software to include us when producing future videos. I
suppose it is too much to ask that the "Global Quest" video be redone. It
misses the whole point of information access. It isn't enough to know where
to get information. One also needs to judge the appropriateness of the
information source for the project at hand, and one needs to know how to
interpret and evaluate that information to solve problems. People need to
learn how to do this, and that's where the school library comes in. We also
provide materials at different reading levels, and in different formats to
accomodate different learning styles.

        I will continue to promote the Internet as a useful tool to my
teachers. It is but one of many tools that students and teachers will need
to access, interpret and evaluate information.

        Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

                                                Sincerely
                                                Jane Constant
                                                Reference Librarian
                                                B.M.C. Durfee High School
                                                jconstant@umassd.edu