Re: GEN: future facilities?

[Julie Walker <jawalker@TENET.EDU>]

Comments --- below.

Julie A. Walker                         District Media Center
Director, Library & Media Services      13401 Pond Springs Rd.
Round Rock ISD                          Austin, TX  78729
jawalker@tenet.edu                      512-331-6697/512-331-1811 (FAX)

On Tue, 27 Feb 1996, Alice H. Yucht wrote:

> In the January 1996 issue of SCHOOL BUSINESS AFFAIRS,
>  Dr. Franklin Hill "one of the U.S.'s most influential thinkers on
> educational change and facility design" is interviewed on
> strategic thinking on facility design.  Among his comments:
> "...schools are now being built virtually without libraries
> because the entire school is becoming a dynamic, library-like
> information system.

I like the concept; however, I believe Dr. Hill overlooks two important
factors.  First, who is going to design and maintain the "information
system."  Second, what about "traditional" linear text --- we are still
going to teach students to read and reflect on more than "databites?"  If
not, who is going to generate the text for the next generation?


> ... traditional empires may be threatened.  Libraries...can be
> smaller,... an unhappy thought for a traditional text-dominated
> librarian."
>
Maybe this should be a threat.  If all a library is only "traditional and
text-dominated," this should be a wake-up call.  Speaking of wake-ups,
when all the librarians are gone, who is going to guide the
decision-makers to an appropriate, balanced program?  A program which
meets the needs of all students and faculty --- a program which provides
guidance in selecting the appropriate resource --- be that linear or
nonlinear resources.

> Who does he think is going to teach all those kids and
> teachers how to navigate through these information systems?
>
> But remember, this is what the administrators read and hear...
> from their gurus.  We need to get involved with these discussions,
> on THEIR turf.
>
YES!

> comments?
> Alice H. Yucht
> <yucht@pisces.rutgers.edu>
>