information center designed to meet the
diverse learning needs of students and
support the curriculum.” Linda J. Shirley
This mission statement is the essence of a
This mission statement is the essence of a
good school library. Enhancing learning is
one goal the school library has in the
educational setting. For example, the first
grade learning about the rain forest would
benefit if a school library had a collection
of non-fiction books and materials relating
to the subject. The students could further
learn about the animals, the plants, the
people and the environment of the subject.
Also they could entertain themselves with
fiction books and materials, for example,
they could see the animated video Fern
Gully or read about a superhero who
saved the rain forest from certain doom.
The first grade could visit the rain forest
via the Internet. There are several web
sites that have live feeds from rain forests
around the world. Another goal for the
librarian is to teach literacy. Every type.
The librarians responsibility is to at the
least expose the students to every type
of electronic medium and at the most
have utilize the medium. The final goal is
for the student to become a life long
learner.
The first criteria for choosing materials for
a library collection is answered by
determining who the library is for. It
would be ill conceived for the head
librarian to pick books and “materials”
(to use the term loosely) with out any
thought for the population for which they
will serve. This planning and for- thought
does not only have to include the age or grade
level of the students but it should also
include the socio-economic and cultural
background of the student demographics.
Dr. Seuss is not an author that would be
appropriate for a high school library, just as
J.D Salinger would not be an author
appropriate for a primary school library.
Another criteria for choosing the materials
Another criteria for choosing the materials
would be: how to organize and display the
collection to entice the student to become
literate or research some interest they might
have. For a primary school the child who is in
the pre-reading stage or non fluent readers
need context clues thus they have to see the
cover of the books or materials in order to
create meaning and make a decision based
on interest. Rather than having bookshelves
they would need book bins with a color
coated system of organization. In this way,
the child looks at the covers while flipping
through the books in the bin. They wont
have to pull books off of the shelf to look
at the covers. The opposite is true for the
middle and high school library. The child in
the middle and high school is assumed to be
a fluent reader and literate in several
electronic media. This child could find
books and materials employing reading
skills and research methodology. This
would not be the case for children with
special needs or children who have not
reached reading fluency because of a life
situation. They would need to be
accommodated in order to take full
advantage of the library and further their
literacy of all types.
This leads me to a criteria that is an
This leads me to a criteria that is an
intergraded part of the book/material
selection process. This is the facility it self.
We have to work with in the space that is
allotted for the library. All too many
schools were built 40 to 100 years ago. It
would be impossible for a head librarian
to put an electronic learning lab in a facility
that doesn’t have the electrical
infrastructure necessary to maintain several
computer stations connected to the internet,
or any other kind of electronic media. An
open area with a soft rug and pillows would
be a great incentive for a 5-year old to lie
down and read The Hungry Caterpillar.
This might not be a good idea for a 15-year
old who might use the space to take a nap
after a long night of Halo IIII.
The final criteria for choosing books
The final criteria for choosing books
/materials for a library would be finance.
What are the budget constraints of the
librarian and the school system. It would
be very beneficial for the teachers in the
primary grades to have an IPOD docking
station in their classroom with a main
IPOD hub in the library to down children’s
music. The same kind of main IPOD hub
would enable middle and high school
students to reap the educational benefits
of pod casts. It is only a dream without the
finances to achieve this goal.
The concrete aspects of creating a library
The concrete aspects of creating a library
have to be considered first before we can
even think about what actual books/
materials which would be placed in the
library. Then we can consider the abstract
notions of intellectual freedom for the
students and the staff, and how to protect
the privacy of the students choosing the
materials. Also at this point of the process
we can consider aspects like censoring the
books, materials and access to the Internet.
Linda J. Shirley states, “Information Power
defines the mission of the school library as
ensuring that students and staff are
effective users of ideas and information.”
To instill in the child a sense of Information
Power our turns the how to organize a
curriculum to take into account new forms
of technological media. I agree with Lev
Manovich in his article Post-media
Aesthetics, their needs to be created a
new form of organizational hierarchy for
all the new media that has been created
since the inception of the Internet and
the personal computer. Is the fact that I
use Illustrator 10 and print out my
artwork the same as when I paint with
acrylics on a canvas? The process for me
as an artist is the same. Also how would
we organize the You Tube video by
Franks Valli Close Up on Existentialism.
This reminds be of a Platonic dialogue
with each video having an implied
question. But how to organize it?
These are the questions we need to
answer in the coming years to be
able to educate all the children in
this the Information Age.
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