HIT>Why we need CD's in the library

[Suzanne Cane <prlst012@LLWSBE.WSBE.ORG>]

        Thank you to those who responded to my request for help in writing
an argument to convince my administrator that CD-ROMs and Internet
connections belong in the library.  She had wondered why kids couldn't use

those resources from the computer lab.  From the responses I received, I

realize that we need to explain to non-librarians that these resources are

natural extensions of the library.
        Several people asked me to post a HIT, so, although it makes a long
document, here is a copy of what I wrote, followed by everyone else's
original input on the question of

WHY WE NEED CD-ROMS AND INTERNET CONNECTIONS
IN THE LIBRARY

From Suzanne Cane  <prLst012@LLwsbe.wsbe.org>
        I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on why it is
important for the library to have CD-ROM capability and Internet
connections.  Our library is more than a provider of fiction;  one of the

library's main functions is to provide information.  Information is
available in different formats - books, magazines, and audio-visual media
- but increasingly through electronic means, which is more appropriate
than printed resources for keeping pace with the explosion of information.

CD-ROMs and the Internet are just another kind of reference source for

providing information, which is the business of the library.   We want to
have reference sources such as encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases,
magazine indexes, and poetry indexes on CD because they are infinitely
more searchable, less expensive, and more easily kept current. We want to
have an Internet connection because the Internet is a huge source of
paperless information that has print capabilities and fantastic database
search features.
        The fact that the Internet and CD-ROMs are paperless is significant.
The vast amount of information available takes up no storage space and is

always available, unlike books and magazines which are often checked out
when you want them.  The print capability means that we can put as many
copies as we need into the hands of children, ending the frustration
librarians share with students when an entire class is studying the same
topic and the library owns only four books on the subject.  The very
methods of taking notes are changing:  students at all levels are less
likely to take longhand notes from original sources and more likely to

highlight important points on their own personal photocopy or printout of
the original source.  This is a great time-saver and can be a special boon
to children with learning differences who have difficulty taking notes in
the traditional way but not in learning the content. The incredible search

features on the Internet and in reference works on CD-ROM have no
parallel in traditional research and involve new techniques, such as
Boolean searching, for librarians to teach.  Cross-referencing is one
example of the vastly increased power of an electronic encyclopedia over
a printed one.  For instance, in the text of an article about electricity,
the

words "Benjamin Franklin" may be highlighted.  If the user wants to find

information about Benjamin Franklin, she clicks on the words "Benjamin

Franklin" and the information appears before her.  Using the printed
version of the encyclopedia, she would have to check the "see also"
references at the end of the article, then go through the step-by-step
process of looking up Benjamin Franklin in another volume.  This can take
some lower schoolers 10 minutes or more - especially when they first do
an unsuccessful search for "Benjamin" in the "B" volume!  Getting
information is much less cumbersome electronically, and it is the means
which will be used most often by lower school children in their further

education as well as in their careers in the 21st century.  Our students'
time is valuable and the school's financial resources are limited.  When
kids learn how, they can quickly access information on the Internet from
many more sources than the library could ever dream of owning, many of
them current.
        Librarians traditionally teach kids not only how to access
information, but how to use it, compare it to other sources, and to
evaluate it.  Electronic information sources belong in the library where

students can use them along with other information sources they need for
the content of their classes.  Another important role of the librarian is to

select resources which support the school's curriculum or enhance the

usefulness of the collection in other ways.  Resources available on CD-
ROM are discussed in Library reviewing media, as it is a natural extension
of the librarian's job to select reference works in electronic format for
use by the whole community.  When eventually the school becomes
networked, children will be able to consult the library resources directly
from their classrooms.
        In developing the lower school library's technology center, my goal
is to be consistent with the mission statement which appears in
Information Power;  Guidelines for School Library Media Programs, a copy
of which is attached.
(I attached a photocopy of pages 1-2)

From: William Russell Smith <rssmith@tenet.edu>
     I must urge any elementary school to get an Internet connection for
their library and also have CD-ROM technology. There are a number of
reasons concerning the new role of libraries, but the best one I can think
of is that you are building skills that these students will use in their

careers in the 21st century.
     Some schools in Australia, Japan, Canada, Scandanavia, and America
are already far ahead of most schools in promoting advanced library

technologies. I see them every day on the Internet and I wonder why
mostAmerican
schools have not yet joined the global Internet surge.
     Why have CD-ROM technology? Because it is a huge source of paperless

information that has print capabilities and fantastic database search
features. The business world is already embracing CD-ROM technology and
to deny students the opportunity to learn about this new technology tool is
a serious omission.
     When researching articles for national magazines and my weekly
newspaper column I find the Internet databases and CD-ROM encyclopedias
are an invaluable source. I could not be effective as a writer without them
and my colleagues must agree because I was recognized as the top
educational newspaper columnist in Texas last year by the 100,000
teachers in the Texas State Teachers Association.
     I could not have done it without my computer tools because my time is

valuable. For of the 55 people awarded media awards I was the only one
who was not a fulltime journalist. I was a teacher in a Texas middle
school for ten years and now I am an educational technology consultant. As

Russel Smith, and educational technology consultant, put it:  I strongly
urge all schools to join the technology steamroller for you will experience
it in one of two ways: either you will drive it..... or it will roll over
you.

From: "Gail K. Dickinson" <ny001001@mail.nyser.net>
The role of the library media specialist is (one of them, anyway) to be a

teacher of information skills.  No other teacher in the school has that
charge, and that responsibility.   The LAST place in a school (well, ok,
other than the john) to put information access resources is the computer
lab, where they will be isolated from curricular content. not in our school.

The FIRST place to put electronic information resources is the library
media center, where they will be integrated into the student's
instructional life, and the classroom and subject area teacher's content.


From: Pat Moore <moore@chaos.scl.ameslab.gov>
The Internet connects us to information and the library connects us to

information.
Alleman, IA

From: Guusje Zimmerman Moore <guusje@tenet.edu>
You need CD's in the LRC because students need guidance/training in how
to use them...just like you wouldn't give a kid a hard volume enc. without

showing them how to look things up, you wouldn't expect them to look
anything up on a CD ROM without some sort of help (though it's perfectly
OK to "play" with them too.  Also, we have no copy machine in our library
and we've discovered wiht the CD's that the students can print their info.
and highlight what they need for a report...rather than taking notes from a

hard copy....with so much emphasis on the writing process" the teachers
like the fact that the kids can keep all the steps
to a report together.  Besides, in this day of copy machines, who takes
notes from reference books by hand anyway?
Re. Internet....we are just using it....got a couple of classes doing key
pals,

one class e mailed the White House and another looked up the weather in
all the different states they were studying.. Right now we only have one
modem and I'm the only one really well versed in Internet (and I don't know

much) so logistics are a problem.
                           Houston, Texas

From: rshook@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu (Richard R. Shook)
Interenet is a REFERENCE source:  there's a T R E M E N D O U S amount of

information, data, etc. etc. etc. out there to be accessed. I'm constantly

amazed as I browse and see what's there. We usually buy one new
encyclopedia annually but this year we didn't as we have Acadmeic
American Encyclopedia online with Prodigy and Compuserve. Can't afford
to duplicate. These online services are to be considered extensions of
library resources, to be sure!

From: George Littrell Denny <gdenny@tenet.edu>
I'm a librarian at a K-5 school.  Teachers field difficult questions in math

and science and I (or the students) solicit answers through the resources

available on the Internet.  They get answers, learn to use the computer,
and generally enjoy themselves!

From: CC_RITA@mveca.ohio.gov
Does the computer lab teacher/aide/supervisor have training in selection
and acquisition of materials?  Does he/she have training in information

acquisition, Boolean and other searching, .....you just don't turn kids
loose

with technology or anything else...you guide them, lead them, and teach

them....scanning, notetaking, analysis (does the information meet your
needs?) utilization, and finally synthesis...(Bloom's taxonomy...)  I have a

message from a colleague on that very topic which I will forward to you
with her permission...
--Rita Doyle Cedar Cliff Local SD, Cedarville, Ohio

From: Peg Muntz <muntz@cedar.cic.net>
Here's an answer for you, In my school the media center lab is the
computer lab, emphasis in our school for computer use is curriculum
support.  We are about to open a second lab, which will be networked to
the first but still the emphasis is on information access and
maniupulation. We have 27 MPC II machines and the computer teachers
(electives only and  I work together to make all this work ).  Next month
we anticipate an internet node connection that can be accessed via our
school corp BBS our US History teacher who teaches 5 periods a day will
be handling all this.  He needs help, big time. Needless to say it can be a

zoo.  Our service center tech person was over last week and I asked him if

other media centers were so crazy, and his reply was yes, in all where
learning was going on! I guess I'm not alone.

From: Val Nielson <vnielson@MINET.gov.MB.CA>
I am facing the same kind of problem that you are.  I believe it stems from
a deep misunderstanding of the nature and role of the library in the school.
I am in the midst of writing a School Program Overview (all departments
in our Junior High School must do it this year), and I am re-reading

Information Power(1988).  Your best answers can be gleaned by reading it,
I think.

From: Karen Genest <kareng@pacifier.com>
        The media centers need to include CD's and internet and any other

technology that comes along.  I would emphasize a need to not only access
the information but the USE it.  To evaluate its source to determine
validity, to compare he information found with other sources, to test for

accuracy, eg to THINK about what they located.  The lab, too often, is more

interested in the locating of information, not necessarily the utilization
of what they find.  That's where we come in, helping students incorporate
a broader picture.

From:    Carol Anderheggen   CAROLAN@IDS.NET
We also need CDs in the library so that all classes and students and
faculty and staff have maximum access.  Putting them in a computer lab or
a classroom first greatly restricts everyone's access tothem.  I am not
against having them everywhere but let's face it $ is tight.  So as far as I
am concerned, the library is the first and foremost place for these new

resources!!

From: mnemeth@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Mary H. Nemeth)
I thought a concrete example might help.  I had classes (6th grade) in my

library today doing research on Mexico, Central America, and the
Carribean.  I had pulled the books from the shelves and.they were very old

except for a few volumes of new reference material.I introduced

MacGlobe(computer software), the three CD encyclopedias I have, Small
Blue Planet (CD), and Tom,Jr. (CD).  I don't have a network but each was

running independently on its own computer so there were six computer
stations available for the students.  Every station was filled every minute
of every period.  The teacher commented after the third period with her
kids had started, "This really is the future for libraries, isn't it?  Some
of

these kids haven't worked this hard on any project I've done so far this
year."  This class happened to have several LD students mainstreamed in.
The computer makes it easier for them to find the material they need,
they can print it off so they can highlight it to make the parts they need

stand out, and its cheaper to provide current up-to-date materials for all

students to use.  I certainly couldn't have had 3 encyclopedias with a

copyright dates of 92,93, and 94 on my budget. On computer they only cost
me total about $400 and from now on it will be less as the price of CD

encyclopedia keeps coming down.  Also the school technology budget
picked up the cost of Tom, jr. (magazine database) because all subject
areas will use it. In another class today we were looking for author

information.  I just bought Gale's Jr. DisCovering authors.  My collection
on

author info was dismal before I got that CD.  Not one author we couldn't
find in my books was not on the CD so every student got the material
he/she needed. Previously I would have had to send at least three or four

students to the public library.  For $450(I think) I updated my author

collection.  In print it would have cost 2 to 3 times as much.  My only
problem was that it was only on one computer.  The next thing I need is a

network!

--
Suzanne Cane
Lincoln School
Providence, Rhode Island 02906
e-mail:  prLst012@LLwsbe.wsbe.org   voice: 401 331-9696  fax: 401 751-6670