LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Thanks to all who responded for your wonderful
thoughts and insights to our dilema. I have compiled
the responses and it will be shown to my principal.
Of course no names or locations.
Here's the responses:
They are needed for research!
-------------------------------
I suggest that you have her renovate the
principal's office or the
superintendent's office instead. If they don't
want to give up their
offices for her music room, then ask if the
backfiles can be stored there.
What are her qualifications to say that there is
no need for the backfiles?
Sorry if this sounded a bit harsh. I get
irritated with people who think
they know our business better than we do. Let
this "well-known actress"
take her renovations to the music department, and
stay out of the library.
I've been a music teacher, and I know that I'd
like to have had more space
at times, but not at the expense of another part
of the same school.
-----------------------------------------------------
I don't know which periodicals or how long you
keep them but I keep very few
and only for about four years. I find our kids
don't use them very much for
research and since we subscribe to electric
library and all of our kids have
excellent public libraries nearby, I feel that I
can domante the space for
other materials. Probably doesn't help
you-sorry.
-----------------------------------------------------
Actually, just today I voluntarily discarded our
back issues except for the
current year. Our students use Electric Library
for periodical research and
never ask for back issues. Two students
requested magazines this year
to cut out pictures. Several students like to
look at recent back issues of
Rolling Stone or Electronic Gaming Monthly.
------------------------------------------------------
Agi,
Why don't you publicly thank this actress and
make her much more well known by telling us who this
lovely supporter
of libraries is and we could each show our
gratitude in our own way. It is not a question of
shunning the Arts, I
would not do that. Having a music minor and also
being a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society,
I can well
appreciate the addition of a music room. That
being said, I can not imagine having a music room
next to the
library, that would be so disruptive to the
educational process. What is your school's policy of
donations? Do
the administrators and school board want to let
this person dictate educational policy, or is it
the size of the
gift that is permitting this person to dictate
how the library and the education of the student
should be handled?
Is there some other place in the building that
can be converted? Trying to find another location
may be a better
tactical move than fighting this from a
periodical standpoint, especially if you have an
online
periodical
database(s). You may be well served by trying to
convince the administration that just because
someone is rich,
famous or well intended, the gift regardless of
size or value, does not change the fact that YOU
are the
professional with the responsibility of
procuring materials for the library and know best what
should and should
not be included in the collection. Do you have a
collection development, weeding and/or
reconsideration
policy(ies)? If these materials are not
available to the students do to this gift and
renovation
from this well
known benefactor, how does this differ from
anyone walking in off of the street and DEMANDING
that materials be
removed or curriculum be eliminated? A deed of
this magnitude should not go rewarded. If only
we knew who this
well known actress, humanitarian and supporter of
libraries was, we could thank her publisher, film
studio,
television network, and the entertainment editors
of various local and national newspapers, for
such a good deed
should not go unnoticed. Please keep us
informed, so that we may contribute to the avalanche
of
kudos that should
accompany this gift.
------------------------------------------------------
I only keep one year of back issues, the rest are
available through EBSCOhost.
------------------------------------------------------
I give mine to the students if they more than 3
years old. The internet
has so much information we seldom miss them.
------------------------------------------------------
Agi:
We keep five years of backissues of our magazines
and find them VERY useful.
First of all, many students can look at many
magazines, even if the computers have gone down.
When we do our
current biography research and our science
research, this has been very helpful.
Plus, many of the online databases and even the
archive websites for these magazines do not have
full text
retrieval capabilites, so that in many cases we
have to find the magazine anyway, so that they can
read the full
article.
I have also found that all of the students need
practice reading things like the Periodical Guide,
because you
can't assume that they have been taught those
skills before.
Even if none of these reasons apply to your
situation, you may have put your foot down and remind
your principal
that you are the best one to make decisions on
how your space is used and what materials you keep.
Even if someone
is rich and famous, it doesn't give them the
right to come in and tell you what they want you to
do. They still
owe you the courtesy of consulting with you and
accepting the fact if you say NO.
GOOD LUCK!!
------------------------------------------------------
Why in the world does this actress have any say
over what happens in your library? Sounds strange
to me!
------------------------------------------------------
I keep 5 years of back issues for students who
are doing reports. They use the Reader's Guide to
locate articles.
We also have online databases of periodicals for
research, but we feel that students should still
learn to use both
methods of research.
Many of our students prefer back issues. The ads
are useful in
advertising, they show how times have changed
over the years. Holding a
magazine seems to satisfy students over printing
pages. It gets
expensive to print and reprint the same article
over and over. Many of
the magazines online only go back a few years.
The history of social
issues would be lost without periodicals. Hope my
quick thoughts help
and good luck.
------------------------------------------------------
Back issues are vital for student research. It's
nearly impossible to make out your signature, so
I don't know what level your school is, but the
higher the level, the more important magazines
are. There's no way you're going to be able to
replace much of that primary source material. If this
actress have money and clout, maybe she can
fundraise for a new music facility.
------------------------------------------------------
Try locating reviews and articles inspired by the
book Double Fold,
Libraries and the Assault on Paper, By Nicholson
Baker. I think it was
this listserv that had some postings about that
last week. He makes a
strong case for saving back issues of papers and
magazines. Hope this
helps!
-------------------------------------------------------
We discard periodicals after 2 years unless there
is some redeeming value in
them that cannot be found elsewhere. Good luck!
-------------------------------------------------------
I am not one who saves Natinal Geographic for 50
years; however, I do like
to keep several years of newsworthy titles. When
I can pull the original
magazine with pics and all for a student, he/she
is thrilled to be able to
"handle" and "digest" info from the actual
magazine highlighting that
researced event. Much is lost, I feel, when a kid
can only read text on a
blue screen. Some events as example include the
Oklahoma bombing, Columbine,
Elian Gonzales, et al, ad infinitum. I only have
room for 5 years but would
keep ten if I could. Databases are wonderful, but
will never beat the hard
copy.
------------------------------------------------------
Is the well known actress willing to pay for the
equipment, wiring, and software to replace them
with electronic sources?
-------------------------------------------------------
Ask the well known actress to purchase a magazine
data base like
Proquest to replace the back issues. Since my
students have
been using the data base, I bet I haven't made
ten trips to the back
issue collection. I am even thinking of doing
away with most of it.
-------------------------------------------------------
You did not make it clear what kind of a music
room was meant. Will music
be played there? If so, you will need to
relocate the library. We
actually had such an arrangement at one time, and
it was detrimental to the
music program, which was always having to
"shush." Caused lots of hard
feelings toward the music department also, as
well as among the educational
staff in general. Both kids and teachers were
angry all the time. Of
course it didn't help the library either, duh.
It was just too stupid for
words, which is why I suspect no smart reasoning
on your part is going to help.
------------------------------------------------------
It sounds to me as if you have a primarily
political situation here, so you need to attack it on
that level. I have made many mistakes over the
years not perceiving this. It really doesn't
matter how great your need
and intelligent your argument if someone already
has his/her mind made up
to do something stupid, especially for money. If
you can enlist an
influential parent or faculty member or local big
shot, to go to bat for
the library that would be ideal. Is there someone
in the community who is
concerned about kids' test scores, for example?
Or literacy? Someone else
other than you needs to do the fighting; it is
much more effective that
way. There is such a national awareness about
libraries right now - I would
think you could find some stats that would help,
and someone to point out
that this is not the moment in time to cut space
in a school library. It
willl make the school look light-weight. Good
luck - don't think you can do
this by yourself.
-------------------------------------------------------
Agi Rosen
Washington Irving HS
NY NY
=====
AGI ROSEN, LIBRARIANWASHINGTON IRVING HSNEW YORK, NYBOOKS4AGI@YAHOO.COM
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