Not picking on Donna here; just using her post as an example of the
paradigms:
"The upper school librarian and I have gotten the teachers in both our
divisions to make it a requirement that students use at least one print
resource for their projects (in middle school, I require 2). "
We've had many projects that virtually no MS level book would be likely to suffice,
beyond a tangentially done 'to fulfill a requirement for a print source'. Pop Song
lyrics, personal interest biographical studies, very current events including
science and world news, for examples. A blanket requiring of a print source meets
our needs and probably comfort level more than necessarily enhances the project.
And what is Ebsco, Facts on File, ProQuest, etc if not a repository ( a virtual
library if you will) of material, including books, previously available in print?
In collaboration with teachers, we can usually point out that we have a wide range
of materials. It might not matter whether the map came out of World Book in paper,
Grolier online, CIA FactBook, or a country book. But wouldn't it make sense to make
sure they checked the population at the U.N. or embassy site?
" Faster, easier, cheaper doesn't mean high quality. In fact, if a student uses
mostly Internet resources, the teachers can usually tell because
the information is not as accurate."
It isn't Internet v. print. There are poorly produced books from vanity presses,
not peer reviewed, old, biased, or difficult to read. Just as there are poorly
developed web resources. But, there are exceptional museum sites, news archive
sites, organizations from many points of view. We can use an almanac to look up
stuff, or we can go to the almanac site. Depending on budget, online might be more
accurate and up-to-date. A student in a database such as Fact on File's American
History is going to have more good stuff, specific to their topic quicker than a
session in the OPAC, the shelves, the indices. What we view as intuitive in any of
those resources is often just a product of our familiarity with the resource.
Teaching search / critical thinking skills, for example thinking of broader and
narrower terms to use, that are applicable in paper and in digital mode is more our
job than reshelving books.
Robert Eiffert
Librarian, Pacific MS Vancouver WA
pac.egreen.wednet.edu/library beiffert@egreen.wednet.edu
Librarian in the Middle Blog: www.beiffert.net robert@beiffert.net
"The executive branch shall construe the provisions of H.R. 3199 that call for
furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch, such as sections
106A and 119, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority
to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information the
disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the
deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's
constitutional duties."
President's Statement on H.R. 199, the "USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization
Act of 2005" <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060309-8.html>
Donna Knott-Fac/Staff wrote:
>It scares me to hear younger/newer librarians say that their
>print materials don't get used as much as their online
>resources. That's because they don't push students to do so.
>It's still quite often faster to find information in a book than
>online because search engines and even databases don't have the
>capability (yet) to be intuitive...to know what the searcher is
>really looking for. Looking up the same information in an index
>is very straightforward and quick. The upper school librarian
>and I have gotten the teachers in both our divisions to make it
>a requirement that students use at least one print resource for
>their projects (in middle school, I require 2). Faster, easier,
>cheaper doesn't mean high quality. In fact, if a student uses
>mostly Internet resources, the teachers can usually tell because
>the information is not as accurate. There are also increased
>instances of plagiarism, because it's so easy to copy/paste
>information from online sources. I'm all for accurate,
>authoritative, unbiased materials any day and it's not because
>I'm an old, stodgy librarian who doesn't like computers. I'm a
>computer geek and as bad as the kids sometimes about going to
>the computer to look something up, really quickly, but the idea
>that libraries need fewer print materials and more online ones
>is not acceptable, at least until the online environment can
>provide safe, high-quality, easy-to-find information.
>
>As far as the fiction issue goes, I will never want to curl up
>with a good computer and I hate paperback books. They get
>really ratty looking very quickly, whereas hard cover books are
>built to last much longer.
>
>I do agree that more focus is needed on teaching students how to
>determine what sites/information is "good" and how to do the
>best search possible. The internet is here to stay and I love
>it but it has a plethora of problems that need to be dealt with
>before it's as good an information provider as books are.
>Hopefully, I will not live to see the day when libraries have
>only electronic sources available!
>
>
>Thanks,
>Donna Knott
>Middle School Librarian
>The Lovett School
>dknott@lovett.org
>
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