Farewell Texas Library Connection -- you served Texas school libraries =
well but became a casualty of state budget problems that worsened after =
9-11. When push came to shove, the state's school libraries -- and the =
children of the state of Texas -- lose again when the plug is pulled on =
TLC next month. =20
A special thanks to the Thompson Corporation (Gale) for providing such =
an excellent package of online electronic resources through TLC to Texas =
schools for the past few years. I am thrilled to hear from Norene =
Cashen of Gale that her company will offer aggressive pricing to all =
former TLC schools on the very same databases that have served us so =
well. For around 87 cents per student per year, they will provide their =
excellent General Reference Center Gold, Student Resource Center Gold, =
Literature Resource Center, Scribner Writers Series, Twayne's Authors =
Series, Infotrac Newspapers, etc. Texas schools may contact Norene at =
Norene.Cashen@gale.com or 1-800-877-4253 Ext. 8103.
A slightly pricier option is the "Digital Knowledge Central" offered by =
the Education Service Center 20 in San Antonio, which for $1.29 per =
student will provide access to Ebsco's Magazine Article Summaries Online =
Plus, Online Britannica, and NewsBank. Texas schools may call =
210-370-5623 for an enrollment form.
As for the statewide TLC union catalog, there's talk of keeping it going =
as a pay service through the state's Department of Information =
Resources. Those of us who've experienced some of the DIR's other =
services to schools (such as technology purchasing) can't help but =
shudder at the thought.
A huge concern is that one of the last remaining tangible incentives for =
Texas school districts to comply with the state's minimum school library =
standards was free access to the TLC databases and union catalog. With =
TLC gone (on 9/30/03) and no remaining enforceable standards, many =
librarians fear a massive decline in the quality of school library =
programs throughout the state.=20
Although I'm only in my 40s, I'm old enough to remember when school =
libraries in my area hired only one or two library professionals for an =
entire district, campus libraries were no more than converted =
classrooms, the custodians' budget was larger than the book budget, and =
all libraries were staffed by one paraprofessional. Hardly the glory =
days for literacy and equal access to information. Texas school =
librarians arise and get involved! Don't let our state go back there!
||> Noe Torres, Librarian
||> McAllen High School, McAllen TX
||> ntorres@rgv.rr.com
=20
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