Re: Importance of Library

["Alice H. Yucht" <AliceInfo@AOL.COM>]

Donna:
When talking to teachers, you have to remember that they think *their*
subject is the most important aspect of all education.  So what you need to
stress is that the library is the source and foundation of all LIFETIME
LEARNING SKILLS.
 Kids need to know how to use any library, in order to:
1.  grow up and become successful adults (who will vote on funds for
education and teachers' pensions).
2.  understand that all subjects use the same generic thinking skills, and
that if you know how to problem-solve, you know how to solve any and all
problems efficiently.
3.  become informed consumers of information, in all formats.

Teachers need to know how/why the library is important, because:
1.  Libraries can provide more, and varied information than the textbooks.
2.  Real learning should include real materials, which is the basis for all
resoure-based activities.
3.  Librarians are more in touch with whatever is most current, new,
available in the publishing world, and can provide teachers with updated,
different, (more interesting) material, beyond the textbook.
4.  Libraries provide material for wide ranges of abilities and interests, at
one time.
5.  Libraries are FUN.

No, you don't have to base everything on the Big Six.  There are many other
formats available for teaching Information Problem Solving, including my own
FLIP it! for effective problem-solving (to be published this year by
Linworth),
and Marjorie Pappas' schema, as published by Follett.

Most important point, though, is that Libraries are at the heart of an
Informed Society, and that kids need to learn how to become informed
consumers and effective members of that society, as soon as possible.
  Librarians are not just Information Providers.  We are also (and sometimes
more importantly) the Information Navigation Experts, guiding wanderers
through the complex world of Facts and Opinions.

Alice H. Yucht   aka *Alice 'n InfoLand*
Library Management / Information Skills Consultant
141 North 7 th Avenue, Highland Park, NJ 08904
<AliceInfo@aol.com>