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Ask Slashdot: How To Reimagine a Library?
dptalia writes "I'm part of a team tasked with re-imagining my local elementary school's library. Libraries, especially school libraries, are struggling to remain relevant in today's world, when so much reading and research can be done from home. But this school has mostly low-income students who don't have the sort of high-tech resources at home that we all take for granted. What ideas do you have to turn an elementary school library into an environment that fosters innovation and technology?"
Lend out tools, toys, computers, and other things. The grand idea should be for people to learn for free.
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
Then worry about technology.
What you want is a technology and innovation center, not a library.
imagine all of us & all of the libraries connected doing open honest communications & commerce 24/7?. now imagine not being connected at all or afraid to communicate the truth etc....? that would be terrifying?
We'll tell you to stock the shelves with Calvin and Hobbes, How Stuff Works type books, and dinosaur stuff. This may be some of what the boys want, but it can't hurt to actually ask all the students what they are interested in. Skip the card catalog, and encourage exploring.
So school libraries are generally becoming obsolete because students have high-tech resources at home to do reading and research. But your students don't have that. So how is your library in danger of becoming obsolete?
Granted, I'm of the "get off my lawn" group so it's been a long time since I've been in a school library. If you want to foster technical knowledge and give these kids a chance to explore areas that are not otherwise available to them then put something in there besides books and computers for research. Like a maker space kind of set-up where kids have access to tools and supplies to actually create things. Look at the appeal of Legos, now make it a bit more technical. Might even foster the actual reading of books and on-line information in order for students to achieve their goals (which they probably don't even have at this point.)
Currently most visitors, who spend quite a bit of time actually, are taking advantage of the WiFi.
Seems the future of libraries is a clear, well lit place of of moderate comfort, where people can wirelessly browse anything electronically available, within or outside the library.
For those who insist upon seeing physical matter, there can be a climate controlled cellar where such things are stored.
Libraries as big edifices are becoming an anachronism.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
My own kids have this problem. They assume that if they type something into Google, they'll find what they need. The problem is, they don't know how to properly structure their queries so they find the relevant stuff quickly, so they end up wasting time just in the searching. Take the time to instruct the kids on how to structure a query in Google, and you'll save them a lot of time so they can actually complete their assignments quicker. Also, introduce them to other information sites like Wolfram Alpha or searching through a local newspaper database, so that they're aware that sites other than Wikipedia even exist.
Without that, it's really tough to get kids involved.
You make the robots look more futuristic and swap the male lead role with a female.
Internet access first, and help with queries and how to use it, the help on how to search etc uses the same amount of librarian time as book lending so no difference in the staffing.
There is no point in anything else digital until that is done, but you don't exactly need top end machines for just internet....
If all you want is Internet terminals, your community can handle that. I worked at a charity last year, and we were buried in computer donations. Most of them P4s and Core Duo, but never the less more than adequate for library use.
If the community is too poor even for that, check Goodwill and see if they can send some your way - they are being buried in this old shit too. They supposedly send the old equipment to DELL for "recycling" - whatever that really means. And I'm sure they are getting some compensation for it.
I REALLY hope Goodwill will spare a few computers. They are sure getting plenty of Government grants and if they don't, make noise.
They need to realize they are now more of a communal study space than for people to get books. Less books, but keep the book shelves as dividers between study tables and study cubicles.There was a newly designed space that one of my cities libraries moved into, and I was so disappointed; they had racks and racks of nice looking shelves of books, and placed only one crappy area of study table (that's right, singular) on the side.
Get the kids involved in an ongoing operation whereby books are acquired, digitally scanned, and then re-donated to other schools/libraries/etc. Store the digital copies in some offsite database that can be shared amongst other schools/libraries/etc. Provide terminals where the students can peruse the scanned books and allow access to the digital library for students at home.
:)
Can't think of a better way to keep a library as a place to learn new and relevant skills and be exposed to gobs of information and knowledge at the same time.
I'm sure this all falls apart when the copyright lawyers get involved, but I would love to see the publicity the publishers get when they sue a school library
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
A library should foster research and literacy. If you want to create a good learning environment, invest in comfortable chairs and tables, and make sure that the librarian (or other school staff) can monitor all seating areas to help maintain a quiet and relaxing environment. Also, buy more books.
Oh, and one or two computer workstations with internet access might be useful for research, I guess.
Libraries have always flourished because they have provided low cost access to expensive information. Most people can't afford to buy every book or access every database they need to use. Just because you can access resources at home doesn't mean someone doesn't have to pay for them. Libraries mitigate the costs by sharing a limited resource among many users.
You want a hackerspace instead. To me, a library is the place I go to learn the theory. It's a repository of knowledge. I go there to gather knowledge. Maybe even think on the knowledge. A library is not a place for experiments and manual work, which is the kind of thing that tends to be innovative or foster it (get kids interested in doing stuff). Unless, of course, you want innovations in mathematics or perhaps some kind of theoretical advance, in which case you want giant drawing boards, markers (or chalks) and put them all in a relatively private space (quieter than the library itself, and preferably without people looking at what you are doing unless you want them to).
I don't care if I'm wrong. I only care about everyone obtaining something from the discussion.
The students presumably want to learn things. If they don't they will only go there if forced. So, first, you show them what a library is and how it is used to access information. The staff, catalog, the stacks, how to request materials, and most important What They Can Find in the Books (and recordings and videos, etc). Once they see it as a living tool that they know how to use, they will tell You how it should be better set up.
Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, and let us slay him... and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Mak sur you no howw too type b4 posten bout inglish skilz.
Have at least a handful of internet enabled computers, screens facing into the room, and a clearly posted policy of no games unless other computers are sitting unused. Not no games altogether though - help make the library a place where kids want to hang out. Obviously no speakers, and a bring-your-own headphone policy is probably most hygienic - earbuds pack small and functional ones can be had for a couple bucks anymore.
Desktop links obviously to include Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, etc.
Possibly also PortableApps.com - if many don't have their own computer, point them at how they can at least have their own programs on whatever computer they do have access to.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Books! Really people their is nothing wrong with good old fashioned books! We are talking about little kids probably from the ages of 5 to 10 years old. Tools? Technology? Stories, adventure, science, and just fun books is what you need. Get the kids in love with the written word. Most of the ideas I am seeing target maybe the oldest age group but nothing for the majority of the age groups involved.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
touché.
Since we are imagining, I can see Smartboards and tablets, or pehaps e-book readers in the hands of the young ones. Buy an overhead projector or five. Maybe they get help checking out an ebook from the local library to use on the tablets or e-books you have on hand. They can give presentations using the Smartboard about their favorite season/sport/toy/technology/game. They can learn how to connect a laptop to projector, and show classmates how to find and play a favorite online game, maybe? Group research projects done in conjunction with librarians that involve an art project at the end. (What does science tell us about dinosaurs having feathers? What do you imagine those would look like?)
So imagine a perfectly spherical, super-conducting library of infinite density ... oh, is that not what you meant? :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Not sure to what extent considering the age group, but setting it up as a combo computer lab and hackerspace to get some hands on learning on a variety of subjects.
We had no library at my first school. Three rooms for kindergarten to ninth grade. But my second school, starting in 4th grade had a very small one. What I remember most was the impact of stories I read in Argosy magazine. I later developed a taste for science fiction novels. It was after this that I really began to seek out non-fiction and especially history books to satisfy my imagination. I think you need a mix of good old fashioned stories, fiction, to instill a sense of curiosity and imagination and a selection of books for learning. If you can get a kid dreaming of big adventures and wild tales, you are seeding the ground for future growth and fascination with all the world around us.
Don't, just don't.
You have already said these kids don't have a lot of technology available at home.
Well, turning this library into a tech haven will make it inaccessible to kids with weak tech skills. That's a disaster.
What you want is the library to be a place where kids get the basics. An introduction to technology that they will meet as they grow up should be part of it. But at the same time they should be able to interact with the library using the skills they have.
I betcha a lot of that will be good old fashioned books.
You just think of it being different. Poof! It's been reimagined!
Our Media Center has 33 desktops with internet connections. Those + the large Anime/Manga (this is limited to 9-12 graders) sections are by far the most utilized. It's also where you come to get issued a netbook (if you're eligible) or a graphing calculator or a required-for-a-class novel. Outside of these things it's used for testing, and tutoring (including after school).
Teachers have access to a BD/DVD and even, yes, VHS video section as well as borrowing blu-ray players, getting things laminated, and the ability to schedule the computer use (along with our 5 other labs).
The building I worked at previously was a "community school" which meant people could come in off the street to use it like a public library, those people were mostly interested in the computers for job searches or whatnot.
You just get last years tablets or e-readers or even chromebooks in bulk on clearance. That's half the work done. Now, start loading them up with screened dumps of Simple Wikipedia. You'll have alot of penis orgasm GIF's & Charles Manson pages & other weird shit to pull out yourself, but eventually you'll have a well-screened archive you can begin dumping on whatever devices you've stocked up on. This is how today's children learn. You may think it's frightening, or even wrong, but having lived the experience in the Elk Grove Unified School District (before I could get out legally at 16 w/ an equivalency test...I still mark that day as the day I escaped purgatory), there is absolutely NO better or even close-to-equivalent alternative that'll stretch minds faster than autistic kids on acid in the 1960s. Well...except for Khan Academy. Make sure to have that bookmarked on every web browser!
I honestly think you need to explain to the students the value of "reading pre-curated knowledge" from established experts (aka books) versus random one-off drivel on the screen (which includes comments on slashdot)
Too many times people think in a post-wikipedia world "real books" are outdated.
"Foster innovation and technology." Why is this important in an elementary school? Why not focus first on reading and writing and mathematics and the arts?
Not associated other then I live in the city - Haven't step foot in a library in over a decade, but with their Makerspace (3d printers, book printer, kid friendly toys to learn how circuits work, music making devices, etc), ebooks, etc I've become pretty impressed. Very forward thinking and friendly staff.
Edmonton Public Library http://www.epl.ca/
Hello,
I would have a mix of mediums, books, computers and e-readers. You may want to check the Association for Library Service to Children website http://www.ala.org/alsc/ they have several lists on what you may want to stock in a library.
Especially for elementary students, and even for doctorate students. Libraries need to be a place to help guide people in research, help filter out the Crap from the gems, offer access to stuff that people usually need to pay via a paywall to get access to. Peer reviewed Journals, New Paper sites that have a PayWall for archives...
Shared Bookmarks with other libraries to build a source of good information. Wikipedia is good starting point, but it isn't good research, as it can be altered and bias. Show people how to find and going threw the sources would be valuable.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles! Number puzzles, word puzzles, shape puzzles! Tangram! Origami!
Things that make you think! Things that give you a sense of accomplishment when completed! Things that make you feel as smart as you are!
Because...
Average Intelligence is a Scary Thing
Library spaces are becoming collaborative spaces in university libraries across the United States. At the middle school and high school levels the libraries are being turned into collaborative maker spaces to encourage innovation and exploration of imagination among students. Elementary school libraries should encourage the students to begin thinking in a way that will help them to succeed at the secondary and post secondary level. Provide whiteboards, dry erase markers, tables with multiple electrical outlets so a group of children can bring the school's laptops to a table and work together. Provide instruction that supports the maker culture.
I call my suggestion Basic+ because you mention the students are from low-income families without basic high tech resources. So maybe instead of populating your collaborative makerspace with multiple 3-d printers, or any printers, you spend funds on laptops and give the options for students to rent flash drives to transport their work. Or better yet, partner with a cloud service where students can save their work until they can turn it in to their teachers via Blackboard or e-mail.
I know I'm not supposed to feed the trolls, but...Half the white people in America wish they at least had the FREEDOM to leave the country. Do you know how hard it is to get a visa to ANYWHERE else until you've first established yourself high in your industry? We're at 1938 Germany xenophobia levels now & we've already invaded Poland AND Russia. I & every other person I know would love to move to Central America, buy an acre or two of land & build a house & just live, but they made it impossible to leave to even the neighboring countries without Papers Please, & now the racial superiorists are flooding in. WWIII is coming fast & it will be fought on everyones shores with only the deadliest of killer robots. Nice going, Mr. I'm Protecting White People From Der Juden Menace or whatever.
Get a display space near the cafeteria or some other place where students go frequently. Put books there that are interesting to the students. Thor comics, Ender's game whatever the media is already advertising for you.
Talk to teachers and hold classes in the library occasionally so the kids feel comfortable there.
See if the school will add DVDs to the library's collection.
Get them there and they'll figure out how to use it, but you have to get them there.
If they can put meeting rooms in, so clubs can meet there that would be great as well.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell the dancer from the dance." --Corwin Of Amber in CoC
...if it's not too controversial. Research and find a better system, such as LOC or the like. Find some old smartphones to use as bar code readers with wifi capability connected to a Debian server running MariaDB or Postgresql. Dude! I can't wait to visit.
With the web it's easy to find answers (not always correct) to your questions.
With a physical library it's easy to find questions.
Make a game of exploring the library and all its resources.
Don't re-imagine a children's library; instead, encourage children to re-imagine themselves.
When i think back to my elementary school, there was only one reason to visit the library other than to check out books, and that was to play games on the computers.
We had games like Spellevator Math Blaster as well as some adventure game that constantly quizzed various knowledges that I can't for the life of me remember the name of.
(I wish I did because I never beat it and I'd love to go back and do such now)
The point is, there's many an educational game out there, and it's an easy way to get younger kids learning things they may not otherwise take interest in.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Libraries are so often categorized on Victorian assumptions that we are there to do serious stuff - academic pursuits, seeking knowledge, a scholarship, research and such claptrap. Nobody feels, emotes, thinks, imagines, or dreams that way. And nobody reads books that way either.
Books should be categorized on emotions, imagination, our interests and passions, our quirks, our pursuits and hobbies. Books should also be categorized on *how* we read a book, not always on *what* we read.
I really don't subscribe to the standard answers of finding technology answers to these kind of problems. Technology only helps us solve some problems better. But we first need to know what the problem is, and how we want to solve it in the first place.
The problem is that libraries are not aligned with how people think and feel. Libraries are instead aligned with how a certain people once thought that people should think and feel. Which is bollocks.
If home Internet/LAN/WIFI pre-dated the existence of the concept of a physical space that a library currently uses, what would the 'library' be invented to provide? A few ideas:
My suggestion would be to start by renaming the library to the "center for information and learning" or similar. Then it becomes clear this is a place that provides information resources to support the educational mission. "Library" these days implies "books," which to too many people implies "dusty, old, obsolete, and useless:" a recipe for getting your budget cut. :-)
What kinds of information resources do your kids need to support their education?
You said yourself, they don't all have Internet access at home, so a big lab of desktop machines is a good starting point.
Does your collection include DVDs and audio books? If not, you can start to develop that.
My employer has a small library with a magazine rack of several current trade publications. You could do the same, put a rack of educational magazines near the door and create a place with good lighting and some comfortable chairs for reading them.
Keep the books, of course. Books provide a depth of information that is hard to match online even today. However, do active collection management to purge the non-fiction books that are out of date. Nothing says "the library is obsolete" like a shelf full of science books from 1973.
I would also suggest some kind of outreach effort, say a newsletter or blog pointing out some new, free enrichment resources kids can find online (including YouTube videos), what's cool on PBS this month, and what new books you've added to the collection. Maybe ask some teachers and students to write reviews of books and media they would recommend.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
While your educated upper middle class white guy probably doesn't see much use for a large library there are a lot of people that do.
I recommend you go to a small town library and see how it's being used. My wife is a librarian at our local library, and I'm always surprised how many people are there when I go in to see her. There are kids using meeting rooms for school projects, people using the computers to fill out applications for jobs, and there's always at least a few people interspersed between the racks just browsing or even sitting on the floor reading something they've found. The local knitters club meets there once a week and last I checked there were about a dozen volunteers for the literacy program teaching people to read at various times of day depending on when their "student" is available.
Fortunately, our community values our library so she gets a lot of local support, but I'm sure there are people in our community like yourself who see something that they don't/won't use as a giant waste or prime real estate or something...
I would suggest that you view the library as a starting place.
My high school ('97-'01) actually gave up its library and let the public library system come in and open a branch. In theory it was a great idea that didn't work out for other reasons (school wasn't open to the public often, it was 3/4 of a mile from the closest road, etc).
One of the school systems my children attend had its own staff as the librarian, but all the content were a part of the public library system. This meant that if a teacher had the whole class read a book, they could just borrow it from the library and the system as a whole had a much easier time having that volume of books on hand. It also meant that if they read an exert from a book, the library would make sure to have other books in that series or by that author available for the children. Best of all, it meant that I could see what my children were reading by logging into their account (all parents had to have access). It also meant my children could "reserve" books and instead of me taking them to the library, they could choose their school as the branch and their home room teacher would give them the book. They encouraged parents to do the same thing assuming the book wasn't too inappropriate for children on the theory that if children saw their parents reading it would encourage them to. You could also reserve other media (mp3 players, cd's, dvd's, even Wii Games etc) so if my daughter was well behaved, worked hard on home work, and read a book outside of school assignments, I'd typically let her get a movie on Friday. All without my having to drive to the library; if she finished with something and wanted a new one, we could easily go to the library. If we checked something out and needed to return it, I could just stick it in her backpack.
The library there was also really well designed; it felt like you were walking into a book store or a music store etc; I typically have a hard time finding books i'm interested in, with that location it was always hard to limit my choices to a small enough collection I could easily actually consume them. It was on a bike path and very much aimed to be a cool spot to hang out (even having video game tournaments).
Four years ago we decided to buy, so I moved to a poor section of the city and have a different school/library system. The libraries here though have all the text books used in the surrounding public school districts (we have over 170 just in our county). They also have common materials (paper, pens, pencils, scissors, crayons, etc) and volunteers (for when parents don't have time, aren't willing too, or honestly can't help). Granted, you're talking more about a school library then a public library, but I would imagine extended hours with supplies and volunteers could have a significant impact and you may qualify for some of the same grants.
Finally, try to do what you can to spark curiosity. The main branch of our public library has a state for puppets; they will do some shows, but most of them time its children putting on their own shows. The view the library as a fun place and it sparks the imaginative play that research says is important for early literacy. It also helps entertain while older siblings use the library for more traditional purposes.
Some things to avoid:
Our school library will just tolerate lost books; the downside is instead of being up front, children miss recess, they invoice parents, etc but then when called out on it they lie. When budget cut came, the librarians were first to go partly because no parents trusted them (they claimed they never punished nor threatened punishment, yet my daughter missed over a month's recess over a book they misplaced).
Contrast with our public library, has a program where you can read for an hour to take $x off of your account (for late fees, lost books, etc). They can read books, wikipedia, newspapers, magazines, etc; while aimed at children, adult can use it also which is helpful for low income people.
Good luck!
Focus on turning the library into a social center. If you have the resources, set up a game lab where kids can come in and play. Have reading competitions with GOOD prizes for winners. Focus not on classics but the books kids are into even if that means putting Harry Potter titles out in front of Catcher in the Rye. Let clubs use the library as a place to meet if you have private rooms. If there are none, asthe kids that age what they do for fun. Maybe set up a game playing lunch hour or afterschool event for a popular title. You might even need to make separate, smaller, quiet reading areas and let the main areas be for louder, boisterous activities.
A big part of what you're doing is getting people in the door FIRST; and I think you're going to have to compromise on the traditional ideas of a library to do it.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Apart from books (yes, the paper kind), go for a museum kind of thing. Have caterpillers so the kids can see them turn into butterflies. A fishtank with tropical fish. Have some interesting minerals, a slice of tree so they can see the rings. Throw in some arts and crafts, along with the things kids used to make. Whilst on the subject of history, how about slates, old style desk (with inkwells), old telephones (and string and tin can telephones), hand wound nail-and-wire electric motors, a camera obscura.
Make it tactile. Make it a place of inspiration and wonder. A place which is noisy with the sound of kids discovering their own wonder at the richness of the world.
And it doesn't need to be expensive, You can get stuff from donations from old people. Hey, you can even get the kids to make a lot of displays. Imagine a school where the kids can look at the library with pride and say "I helped make that". You might even find you'll end up with citizens who like to be involved with life and the community if you can get them to have fun in the place.
have computers and such in a "study" area but have Yee Olde Shelves of Books
For "fun" you may want to have a "Blackout Day" where all of the computers are turned OFF so they have to have learned how to work with actual BOOKS.
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of materials from verifiable and curated sources. Bring relevancy back to the library by making sure students understand that just because it's "on the Internet" that doesn't necessarily make it true. That's a place where books and encyclopedias still hold relevancy. Teach your students how to curate and verify their own sources so that when they DO have access, they know the difference. That will set them apart from the students from the 'higher-income' schools who were just turned loose on Google by some bored librarian who didn't care as much.
It's an elementary school, put books in it. And, almost more importantly, a good librarian. There's no technological substitute for the inspiring advice of an adult when it comes to promoting reading among children.
It's hard to say for a school library, but my local library has done a very nice job re-inventing itself.
Here are some of the aspects that seem to work well for us.
- Public meeting space ...)
- Multiple levels of programming (senior, teen,
- A maker space area with production and 3D printing capabilities
- Quasi day-care areas
- Social areas with coffee/snacks
- Multi-generational events
- Invited speakers on special topics
- Continuing education classes
Actually, it's possible that school libraries could just become cooperatives with
some other local resource such as a university or local library, or that the school
becomes a resource for other than just school children.
How is a book automatically granted the rank of pre-curated knowledge from established experts? Case in point: this and this.
Just because it gets put onto dead trees doesn't mean it's not drivel.
Speaking as a librarian, the single best thing you can do is budget for a librarian after you recreate the library as an technology explorer and innovation space, or whatever it is you have in mind.
You can stuff the room full of computers, but if there isn't someone there with the special expertise in dealing with this user population, all that will happen is the space will be wasted.
I wouldn't worry much about technology even then. Not even this "innovation" thing, honestly.
What libraries do, have been doing for a few thousand years already, is preserve knowledge and make it accessible. Note how "innovation" is no part of that, though it can definitely benefit from knowledge, such as knowing what has been tried before.
So I would tell librarians to find ways, innovative ways if they must, to bring reader and knowledge together. That is what libraries should be about.
You don't do that with fifty flavours of version-bound program-screenshot books, or with so much other shoddy shelf filling crud you see in poorer (knowledge-wise) libraries. You don't do that with fancy (and expensive, and noisy) techno-toys and more such silliness. You don't do that with "innovation".
You do it by reaching out to the reader.
The other must have for a library is a librarian.
I agree that's important, the other thing I think would be really cool would be a few volunteer librarians also. They would act as active librarians helping other kids find things, and would get a few hours out of classes per week... they could be trained in the evening.
Basically a semi-kid run library might well be a resource more kids would use and find interesting.
Also I'd fold some AV resources into the library for kids to create digital media.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Design a clean API and stick to well known coding standards.
This is /., no need to read more than the title.
Video of some good progressive thrash music
Make them actually learn something while using the computers. Most library catalogs can be accessed with lynx anyways, and Zork will at least force them to read and write.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Since you are tasked with reimagining the school library and don't know who to ask, your school obviously lacks funding and a librarian. The first thing to do is get funding from anywhere you can: grants, awards, sponsorship--anything. You need your school to hire at least a part time school librarian--they are teachers and librarians, and they will help kids learn to work with information and develop critical thinking skills.These are the skills needed to have a chance at being successful in contemporary society. These are skills they wont learn elsewhere because we keep teachers too busy preparing students for the next standardized test.
A qualified school librarian and functioning library account for up to 20% of the variability in student achievement. See more research at the American Association of School Librarians
Low-income students are already academically disadvantaged. Don't make it worse by going along with plans to gut whatever your administrators deem "unnecessary." Think about it::rich kids are browsing books, using tablets, using computers to play on the web, watching and creating videos, and checking out laptops at their school libraries. They are learning to be curious about the world and investigate it--becoming internally motivated to learn. Your kids need a working library more than other students precisely because they are low-income and wont otherwise have these opportunities. So stuff that place with all the donated books and computers you can get.
Don't expect your students to catch up with their peers later, after society has already given up on them. Bother anyone who will listen you about this, and don't back down.
There's no struggle for school libraries to remain relevant. They help kids learn the most essential skills for today's world. The return on investment is high. The only struggle is to keep society from divesting from kids' futures.
I totally agree with everyone about books, lots of books. Still a good thing, kids still read real books all over even if they have tablets.
But if you are talking about ways to make a library better, what about more heavily helping to promote the idea of content creation rather than just consumption?
A library is about knowledge, why should it not also be about aiding others in sharing knowledge?
Here I'm thinking:
1) Writing classes, either during school or after hours (or both).
2) Book making classes, as in how to bind a book with photos you bring in or pages that you print on library printers.
3) 3D printing stuff possibly?? Possibly too early for that yet.
4) Equipment to help the kids shoot videos they can save onto some kind of school S3 account, with green-sceen backdrops, a few props and tables/chairs along with computers with video editing software. (and by "computers" I mean an iMac or two unless you want to spend a LOT of time administering them).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No.
You know, I'm really old fashioned and like to browse books. Electronic browsing is not quite the same, however. What I have thought about doing:
On laminated plastic boards, about the height and width of a standard paperback but about as thick as a piece of cardboard, print out the covers of all sorts of books front and back. Use an RFID or QR Code sticker that can retrieve the book from the digital library. Place all the "books" on a browseable shelf. As a kid, browsing the local used book store or library was one of the few pleasures I could afford. I think this would meld the convenience and cost savings of a digital library with the fun of browsing a physical item.
touché.
The subject was English!
While I an not underestimating the value of books, computers, tablets, and other artifacts of knowledge I would suggest that two of the most important elements of a library for the kids you want to server are a safe quite place to study and collaborate and a person that can help them develop the research skills they need to be successful.
Books and physically manipulating things are still the best tools for kids to learn. Throwing in electronic stuff really does not mean more advanced understanding.
Most of the kids unleashed onto the information highway too early are to become information roadkill -- they just can't handle the super trucks swooping by and got sucked under the wheels. Reading physical books, doing actual calculations, writing detailed articles, slowly, over and over, teach them the driving skills needed to survive the onslaught of the omnipresent web.
I really don't think all the skills needed to do research online need to be taught to kids that early. A couple of weeks of getting amazed by google should be all it's needed for any reasonable kid to start research online. But it's much harder to distill information on their own, so that they can find things that the collective internet still are not able to understand yet -- or are intentionally hidden.
If you are as qualified as to be able to affect a library's decisions, why don't you spend more time working — earn the money to buy your charges some low-cost earlier-generation tablets? Walmart lists a 7" Android tablet for $65 and you may be able to get an even better deal buying in bulk (or buying last year's cheapest). Just be sure, each family buys their own, rather than have them collectively-owned (and thus neglected).
This, really, is a solved problem and may even fit the library's budget — the budget you were going to spend on something else instead.
By turning your whole library for the poorest visitors, you are making it even more likely, that normal people will stay away...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I remember as a kid, some of the best books I had came from purchasing books at a book fair held at the school. Do they still have them? Maybe the profits from bookfairs would help you in your other endeavors.
You want to interest people in the world of ideas. Don't try to push them towards technology....thats the idea you have specialized on.
Think scholars, not geeks.
Yes, there's a lot of drivel in published books. The signal-to-noise ratio is *still* immensely better than random posts off the internet.
Most of us haven't been in a school library in years, unless we have kids who are of that age.
There are a *lot* of librarian mailing lists out there ... if you want the geek perspective, try code4lib. They won't suggest that you try to hack together your own loan system using smartphones & barcode readers. (they'll instead tell you about the one they made that you can have a copy of)
Most of the innovation in library spaces is happening in public & college libraries these days, adding makerspaces or going high-tech ... but that's not applicable to an elementary school. I wouldn't even suggest it for a high school (where you'd have seperate computer labs, shop classes, home ec., etc.)
I wouldn't even bother with educating them on the benefits of real, deep research vs. satisficing with the top hit from Google ... leave that for middle or high school. In elementary school, just focus on making reading accessible and fun.
The only thing that you I think is wrong with school libraries is that they're closed in summer, so the books are sitting going to waste. I'd love to see there be better coordination between our local school & library systems, but our current library system is so disfunctional that I don't see that changing without them getting rid of the director who thought it was a good idea to fire all of the branch managers.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
I have a feeling almost none of what you just mentioned will be relevant to a low income area elementary school.
Thinking of this problem, it seems that k-6 is a pretty wide development scale. One problem is education is that everything is built for like 4-7, about 9-12 year old. Before that it is specialized early childhood. After that it is the equally mysterious teen age years. Both require a special set of practices, so most of the research that want to say 'one size fits all' is the 9-12 age. So I would have a library that uses technology to engage the younger kids in the process of the library. Last time I was an adult in a k-6 library, most of the books were for the later grades. The earlier grades need manipulative, they need to read, they need to create. While sitting in a group and raptly listening to someone read, maybe project and have kids try to read, or write predictions about what will happen, or the like. I would say be creative, try to combine technology and non-technology. The older kids have to read. They have to learn how to learn with computer. Keep games for the sake of games to a minimum. In middle and high school they are going to have use the computer to gain knowledge.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Whatever you do, don't blow the school's money on a project that is going to be obsolete in five years. Obsolescence should be matched to your annual budget. For example, if you have $1000 a year to spend on something that will last three years, make sure you can replace it for ~$3000. No annual budget? Just buy books.
Maker spaces are inexpensive. Their capital cost is low. Given your audience, it can be lower than conventional, because you might use less resources.
Maker spaces are about self-teaching, and research. How do you do .
Maker spaces engage the community, and are about people in different "groups" interacting. Diversity in action - not about institutionalized anything, just those who can do no matter what they look like - its about making, not race/age/social-status/et cetera.
Maker spaces are about teaching. Those who can, both do and teach. Peers mastering and teaching others one on one, or in a larger quasi-formal setting. How do I do x? How do I do it safely? How do I do it in a way that stages me to be able to do the next thing? Don't just stand me on the shoulders of a giant, let me walk a ramp between shoulders of successively larger giants until one day I find that I am one of them and I have somehow, by doing what I love, been a giant whose shoulders others have walked.
Making is several things at once. Software, programming, electronics prototyping, CAD, hardware ...
Books are critical. How do I program in Python, Javascript, assembler, or on this particular widget.
How do I solder, sew, or saw this piece of stuff into the shape that I wanted? What software does it take to make the STL file, to put into the makerbot to make a cutie mark for Twilight Sparkle? What if I want to make a 3d picture of myself - how do I do that? What about making my own mini-strandbeest?
I see arduino, robotics, computer programming, makerbots, origami, kits, knitting/macrame/quilting, kites rockets and LED lights as very "typically makerspace" materials. Books on all of those subject are welcome.
How to make your own notebook is important. Teaching documentation of the process is important for makers/inventors/engineers. We learn more when we capture what we did and we think about how to make it better.
Engaging the modern "buzz" is a common past-time. Deconstruct the new i-thing and make one yourself, even if it has 1% of the actual function and 1% of the cost. What will I find if I take this apart? How do I put this valuable thing together, or make my own that does a passable job?
Here are some links.
http://makerspace.com/
http://www.heatsynclabs.org/
http://gangplankhq.com/labs/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
http://3dprintingindustry.com/...
Do away with the Dewey Decimal system. For god's sakes, what a tedious waste to have to go to a card catalog and look things up. How does Barnes and Noble or ANY bookstore get by without it? The Dewey Decimal System is job security of librarians. Bah!!!
Take a look at the new digital library in San Antonio. It has addressed some the problems that you have described.
- The Design of Everyday Things
- Goedel, Escher, Bach - An Eternal Golden Braid
- Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
- Biochemistry
- Feynman's Physics Lectures
- Encyclopedia Britannica (I know this one is going to be controversial, but I stand by it)
Throw in some technical manuals e.g. ARM's assembly reference and let it simmer.
Innovation and exploration rarely happens without coaches. Coaching in school-based tech / lab / makerspaces - especially school libraries - is a path that progressive education programs are beginning to follow. Volunteers aren't enough.
First, make a few small bets with some experts who are educators and technologists, create a series of project-based workshops - you may find them with a regional arts integration / residency roster.
Once you've had some great sessions, invest in partnerships with a number of providers - either enrichment / OST or in-school - who have the capacity to bring skilled coaches.
These activities and workshops will help determine what tech / tools you should bring into the library space.
If you're in the mid-atlantic region, look up http://www.kidsmakethingsbette... - we serve public and school libraries.
maker ed is your way to go - http://www.makered.org/
"THEIR is nothing wrong with good old fashioned books!"
Yes indeed. You should try reading some... idiot.
"The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries. In the center of each gallery is a ventilation shaft, bounded by a low railing. From any hexagon one can see the floors above and below-one after another, endlessly. The arrangement of the galleries is always the same: Twenty bookshelves, five to each side, line four of the hexagon's six sides; the height of the bookshelves, floor to ceiling, is hardly greater than the height of a normal librarian. One of the hexagon's free sides opens onto a narrow sort of vestibule, which in turn opens onto another gallery, identical to the first - identical in fact to all. To the left and right of the vestibule are two tiny compartments. One is for sleeping, upright; the other, for satisfying one's physical necessities. Through this space, too, there passes a spiral staircase, which winds upward and downward into the remotest distance. In the vestibule there is a mirror, which faithfully duplicates appearances. Men often infer from this mirror that the Library is not infinite - if it were, what need would there be for that illusory replication? I prefer to dream that burnished surfaces are a figuration and promise of the infiniteLight is provided by certain spherical fruits that bear the name "bulbs." There are two of these bulbs in each hexagon, set crosswise. The light they give is insufficient, and unceasing."
- The Library of Babel, Jorge Luis Borges
2. Set it up so that it is an open WIFI network
3. Set it up so that guest users cannot write to the drive
4. Load the drive to the gunnels with ebooks
5. put a few wifi laptops or tablets around the library and set them to read the drive.
6. Post the Guest User password in prominent place.
7. Let them learn.
Done. Total Cost? About $150. Get the ebooks for free. There's jillions of places to get those....
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Yes, learning how to properly structure queries is vital, but it doesn't help that Google keeps changing the rules and doesn't always respect your query elements.
For example, you can read about how Google replaced the plus-sign operator with quotation marks: http://www.seochat.com/c/a/goo...
But what's worse than that: sometimes Google just plain ignores the quotation marks you put in your query. They're supposed to mean that each search result must contain the search term that you've surrounded with quotes. Nope, lately I've been getting a lot of search results that just don't contain the term in quotes.
Other search capabilities are going away, too. For example, eBay dropped support for wildcard searches... and posted some lame workarounds that just don't get the job done: http://blog.ebay.com/working-a...
Please help fight against this trend toward dumbed-down search!
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
Right, why did the library become a place to, "foster innovation and technology?" It's something to allow kids to READ.
IF tech helps them accomplish that, great, if not, not a good idea at all.
How is a book automatically granted the rank of pre-curated knowledge from established experts?
I don't know what pre-curated means, but if it's in a library, it's because some librarian or someone decided that book was high enough quality to put into a library. That's worth something right there, the librarian is filtering a lot of the drivel.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Get rid of the computers and fill it with books on core fundamentals. Combine this with classes on critical reasoning. Then give them computers.
The adult version of "do my homework for me" i.e. "do my job for me".
Awesome. I hope you give accreditations to slashdot users when the library re-opens.
The most important feature of modern libraries is a great space to read and learn. Put "Google interior design" into google images and let that be your inspiration. Lots of spaces for individual and small group learning that people just love to spend time in.
When information is ubiquitous, the essence of a great library is a great place to absorb that information.
way to save your job!
one nice thing in reading this thread. nobody has any good ideas... most librarians don't know dick about the kids they serve... most librarian jobs were wiped out during the last recession and... no net effect to the negative!
One or two good EMP's and 99.95% of the e-books are gone forever. Floppy discs and CD-rom's last a few decades, perhaps. Paper lasts ~500 years or so.
One of these three is much more resilient to disaster than the other two.
You should make it a place with Books that the kids can take home for some period of time and read. Then they return them so others can also use them. The idea is revolutionary.
No sigs in BETA. Beta SUCKS.
as others pointed out - book in library means that someone else curated the content, made a conscious decision.
also - publishing a book is somewhat more of a higher investment for the author and should result on average in more thought out content.
Unlike a website which everyone can pretty much put up for free, to publish a book requires personal effort, financial commitment and the ability to convince a publisher to put their brand and money on the line.
Yes, there's always an exception to this (http://www.amazon.com/Dianetics-Modern-Science-Mental-English/dp/140314446X) but on average there is more knowledge per page than the internet (http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Mathematics-I-N-Bronshtein/dp/3540434917)
I see too many projects like this confuse the messenger and the message.
The point of a library is not the books; that was merely the method for delivering information (and entertainment, one hopes) in bulk to students.
The library can still do that, although the industrial-era compromise of 'having this all in one place' is quickly becoming silly. Do you know what serves the function of a library in today's schools? The wifi network itself. Why should there be a separate room everyone goes to for information? How prehistoric.
Provide kids in the school with a robust and powerful network. Provide them with the tools to easily access this wherever in school that they may need information. Provide them with an education in the basics, certainly, but my guess is that even kids with allegedly "poor tech skills" are light years ahead of most of their teachers. More importantly, provide them with the conceptualization of information in 'internet space', taking into account organization, the importance of search methodology to get useful information quickly and (very importantly!) a conceptual method to evaluate the reliability of the information they see. Many schools blanket-ban the use of wiki as a source for papers; this is idiotic. The use of wiki and other such sources is part of the world today; to tell a kid to write a paper without referencing them would be like a teacher telling us years ago that we had to write with our toes - more than a little silly. The use of wiki is a huge teachable moment to discuss real questions about information, propaganda, and viewer-manipulation that should resonate to ALL aspects of a child's life (not just on their use of the internet).
Don't get caught up in iconodule bibliophilia: the books themselves are not the point, and today's kids have an ENTIRELY different relationship to technology than we (in my mid 40s) do or did.
-Styopa
Libraries nowdays aren't just for being quiet and studying, but that is still an important functional requirement.
Games, music, laughter can all be a part of a space in the library but if physical space allows, also plan for some walled off (maybe compact or even small/high) quiet space that would remain as quiet as possible in the case of louder activity. Make them in a few sizes if possible. Oftentimes these 'study rooms' have windows for supervision, but frosted or waved glass walls could create a sense of stillness and reflection as well.
To handle the cases of tech, provide a way to check it in and out of the circulation system and monitor it to prevent theft with more diligence than books but otherwise, treat it like any other resource and just have policies that make it fairly available.
Adapt technology.
lend out ebooks, give out librarybox, load TED and free courses into TV sticks and pass them out.
Organize activities that reward reading, guide students create more contents after readings, writings, movies, podcasts, ...
More important is let people think other than just read.
And to help get basic reading skills, there's nothing like having read-aloud sessions. In particular, have kids in grade "n" read to kids in grade "n-2" on a regularly scheduled basis, in a cozy environment with lots of pillows and stuffed toys.
And, to resolve the boundary condition problem, have parent volunteers read to kids in the top two grades, and don't require kindergartners or 1st graders to read, just to be read to.
Jim Davis of Garfield fame gave my middle school library permission to use Garfield as our official mascot. This meant that not only could we use all the pre-made Garfield library posters (and at the time there were a lot of those) but the librarians could also draw him on custom posters and have a giant mural of him on one wall without fear of lawsuits. The letter he gave us granting us permission was on Garfield letterhead and framed in the librarian's office.
I'd write a nice letter to Nintendo of America and ask if you could have a Pokemon themed library. They'll probably say yes, and if they say no it's because they are total jerks who hate children.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Go over to Seth Godin's blog. He had a great article about what a modern library should be. It was published last year some time but, well worth the read. Please check it out. sincerely, Jim
I work outside of the USA in international schools. I manage tech for two schools right now. My last job I worked for one school full-time and 5 others as a consultant on various things. I can say without a doubt that the library is one of the busiest spaces in all the schools I have been in, in the last 10 years. This includes schools in the USA, Hong Kong, Japan, China, the UAE, QATAR- I could go on. Not only that, the tech that powers the library manages textbooks, resources you checkout, ebooks, laptop carts, and pretty much anything you want to track and set a deadline on. Ebooks are so hard to manage legally because of their licensing, so libraries are feverishly trying to stay current and grab as much physical space as possible. The volume of print materials is extremely high, and the orders from departments have increased significantly in the last few years.
Unfortunately, the books schools need for an AP curriculum, Standard North American curriculum (this is one based on a state or region in the US or Canada), the IB curriculum, the IGCSE, etc. are inconsistent in the mediums they choose. For example, one IB course might have an ebook available, where another might only have a textbook which is available from one publisher, and then another might have 2-3 options for books. This means that the library needs to store all the requirements and options.
Finally, most third-party assessments are requiring students to submit research and evidence of research from databases which are not public. These are most affordable if packaged through the library management system. So many libraries I have seen recently have a classroom for teaching students how to do their research on these databases, and properly document the information.
I helped redesign a library about two years ago. We removed most of the small privacy tables and installed long tables with power in the center to allow students to work with their laptops. We installed some sofa's with power next to them, but they were positioned so the screens of laptops face out (helps with the gaming addicts), we quadrupled the Wifi, and we took as many items as we could and digitized them so the students could watch, listen, etc online via streaming.
That library is currently now out of space, and needs to hold another 50 students every studyhall.
If anything we need to build larger spaces for students to work and get resources quickly, instead of building massive classrooms for them to sleep in.
I remember going to the library and pulling out various dictionaries. Their print was different. Their binding was different. The words they contained were different. Even their definitions of words were different. Being able to compare items, both in their intended purpose (definition of words) and in other characteristics (easy to read; number of definitions of each words; different origins of the same word, weight of book, smell of book, smell of pages, durability of pages,etc) was a good life lesson and educational that electronic media cannot match.
By library, do You mean:
(1) Google.com,
(2) A place where You check out paper books,
(3) A place where You load eBooks onto standard readers,
(4) A place where copyright pigs make all learning impossible,
(5) A hacker space, or
(6) A collection of all the world's knowledge on PCs?
I have experience with #5 and #6.
For #5: Have an elderly engineer bring in all his toys, and have him on call to help the kids understand how to build what they want. Some sort of safety lock should prevent the 3rd graders from amputating anything important.
For #6: Download every moderately useful PDF available on the torrents, and organize them. (come back 10 years later when You are finished.) Keep this archive on a decently powerful computer (because You will be format shifting lots of stuff) with a dozen hard disks in it. (rack mount cases are nice.) Keep backups on USB hard disks that are stored off-site. Give every PC read-only access to the files.
One of the most successful implementations in a library was done in a low income high school in the Tacoma area. I had the amazing opportunity to interview the guy who ran it, and his story went like this- When he inherited the library from a kindly old librarian, it had become a place where students took naps. What he did was he moved the bookshelves out of the way, created a circular desk in the middle, and had four rows of computers, monitors facing him. He could see what information students were interacting with and if need be, police it, but he rarely had to.
Normally when I go to a library, I see a bunch of teenagers on facebook, youtube, etc. These kids were looking up blogs, wikipedia, etc. He explained that the first thing he did was integrate with the teachers, and ask if they wanted web quests, or similar web integration. He had a real talent for coming up with all sorts of cool online activities that could be easily integrated into a curriculum, and teachers were constantly giving him material to work with- if a student was struggling or wanted to do work on their own, he'd take them. This did mean a lot of extra work on his end, but the implementation was worth it. Not only was he getting students engaged with the material, he was helping students gain digital literacy.
I don't know how much you could take away from this for an elementary school library, but there's a lot to be said about finding cool online integration for whatever the teachers are working with- and that's huge. If you are in alignment with the teacher's curriculum, you'll have a much better chance of being successful. Also, the big thing he said he owed everything on was administration support, so best of luck with that side.
I'm really worried about this whole endeavor if you're asking that question. A library shouldn't need to foster âoeinnovation and technologyâ. If you want to foster innovation and technology build a technology lab. Libraries should be a place students can borrow books and other media to enjoy. It sounds like you've got an earmarked budget for one thing (libraries) and you're trying to shoehorn it into another area (technology).
Now if technology is your buzzword that draws funding then add media besides books to the catalog. Pick up some cheap (and/or durable) televisions and DVD players with DVDs of educational shows like Reading Rainbow. Put a few donated computers loaded with educational software in the back. LTSP terminals instead of full desktops might even be more survivable.
If you want to get really innovative and technological you could add hobby projects to the list of things students could check out. Hobby project kits like Arduino and Raspberry Pi. You could even lend out eletronic science lab kits. Besides stocking science and electronic books for kids sync up with a local Maker group and have them come in for special electronics lectures and demonstrations.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
There's no longer any sense in offering things that everyone can access for free from the comfort of their own home. So I say forget that libraries have books in them. Put things in libraries that are not practical for everyone to own but everyone wants access to. Like, for instance, 3D printers. Or just rare books. Or local historical records. Nicer teleconferencing areas for small businesses that can't afford them. Etc., etc.
...is something I did for my kids. It's very simple: load the Gutenberg library onto a self-booting flash drive that'll run on any x86-compatible machine with a usb port. It has space remaining on it for user data as well, so school projects &c can be stored on it and mirrored on a central server so even if the flash drive gets lost or stolen, the work is still accessible.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Innovate the two things people think about when thinking about libraries:
1) The physical space. Griffith University have recently done a good job of this, have a look here for an idea. People still want a place to study, access to power points, comfy couches, seats, beanbags, meeting rooms, whiteboards, silent spaces, access to TV's, movies, documentaries, computers, electronic resources
2) The resources: More electronic resources, access to electronic journals, access to library materials from offsite, loans of ipads and laptops as well as books and resources.
There are lots of innovations that can help kids read and access information, other than making everything 'digital'. Internet access is definitely important, but even many low-income homes have some form of it nowadays. Libraries allow children to access resources they can't elsewhere.
There are lots of children's magazines and comics which you can subscribe to cheaply or buy up back issues in bulk on eBay. Older elementary school children love books on cars, dinosaurs, various history things, how about the 'piece work' magazines on this type of stuff. Free daily newspapers which might be rather trivial for adults could be accessible and stimulating for kids in the final grades of elementary, same for magazines on pop music.
Lots of children's books come with CDs nowadays. Could there be a good way for children to listen to those and/or watch DVDs in the library? I have seen standalone mp3 players which play a single book and only cost a few dollars, little enough to be taken home.
Dictionaries, both in English and between two languages, books in foreign languages and bilingual books are essential if you have many students whose first language is not English, and could still be popular among other children, especially if it's a language they are interested in/going to study.
As a couple of people have said one of the most important resources in libraries is librarians. You might not know what your students want to research until they come to you, but you need to have good starting points to show them - eg. paper encyclopedias, Wikipedia, help with web searching, other reference books. Then you just need to be open to getting them the books or other resources they need when they've told you what they want.
Right, and then you also need a brain to help distinguish the good information from the bad. Even if you're not an expert on the subject matter, a rather well-educated person (filling the librarian role, for example) can pick up on the subtle clues in the search results that help pinpoint the accurate, relevant, important and trustworthy information from the rest; and help make the best of the search results provided.
I can't remember the exact details, but I read an article by a teacher at a school's science convention trying to convince one of the students that her exposition stand on the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide was actually a hoax, and explaining the truth of what it actually was. The student stood her ground firmly, shrugged of what this teacher said with something along the lines of "This is what my research said". So, yes, she did use a somewhat proper research procedure, and probably contrasted different search results and compiled data and whatnot, but this particular hoax is so widespread and so well propagated that it wasn't easy for her to realize it was a load of crap.
Point being, she could have used some guidance when doing her research to filter out this kind of misinformation.
Get a group of volunteers - perhaps parents - to be there every day after classes, to help with homework. Often, kids with little resources at home also struggle to get their schoolwork done; and trying alone often means failing alone.
Give these kids a place to go where they can get help with their homework and pick up school-related knowledge. They not only need it, but a library or "knowledge center" is also the perfect place to do it. Give the concept a more clear-cut name, like "homework cafe" or similar.
With this role it is easy to incorporate the role of the library in the minds of kids and parents. It becomes something essential for them (at least for the kids who decide this is useful to them) and it becomes a "community project" at the same time, making it easier for you to seek additional resources like volunteers and cash. Mixing books and information technology into this concept should not only be easy but a necessity.
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
Get all the dictionaries and if any of them say "reimagine" is a word throw them away. Or at least cross it out.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
One or two good EMP's and 99.95% of the e-books are gone forever. Floppy discs and CD-rom's last a few decades, perhaps. Paper lasts ~500 years or so.
One of these three is much more resilient to disaster than the other two.
Depends on the disaster. You could probably keep the entire library on a Terabyte drive and easily afford 2 or 3 spares, including offsite backup. And, as far as I'm aware (which isn't very), an EMP would only fry the controller electronics and leave the media intact. Though, fortunately, EMPs are not an everyday occurrence and hopefully won't become one. Lightning strikes on the other hand...
Conversely, paper books burn quite well, as Ray Bradbury once noted. They even provide their own fuel. I can personally attest to what a flood will do to them, and then of course, there are roaches, silverfish, bookworms, and so forth.
There are two ways to be "resilent". One is in the durability of the current media, one is in the durability of the content. Physical paper is durable physically, but replicating what's printed on it is a non-trivial task, and even if you did back up your dead tree books with spares, they'd still require a lot of physical space and climate control. On the other hand, I have files that were originally created on 8-inch floppy disks. I have doubts that after all these years I could still make those old drives in the garage read them (much less the computer with the controller that operates them), but since I migrated the content from media to media over the years, I still have the information, even though the original physical media is now essentially useless.
That's how I would really like to re-imagine the libraries today.
Sorry for the rant loosely related to the specific problem. It just hurts too much to see this artificial scarcity, nonsensical legal prosecutions... Oh, and while you are at it, do away with the censorship, too.
No, you have after care *in* the library.
If you think about it, most sports teams are after-care for the kids, but with this one, there's little chance of injury and the kids aren't missing class on a regular basis to go on bus trips to other schools.
Personally, I think it's a great idea; when I was 2nd through 4th grade, I went to a DoDDS (Department of Defense Dependent Schooling) school in Europe -- on the days that my mom was working at Family Services (basically a thrift store) on the base, we'd have to kill time ... choir practice, library, rec. center, bowling alley, etc. Sometimes we'd go and visit my mom or dad at their work, but mostly we'd hang out with the other kids who were in a similar situation.
If you get to the kids early enough, and teach them to appreciate the library, I think you've got a chance. My local library system has a policy of intentionally *not* opening up libraries near high schools, because of the kids who come in there and goof off and talk back to the librarians when they're told to calm down.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
If it's full of books then it's a library otherwise it isn't. You're not reimagining a library, you're converting it into something else - would you add a swimming pool to it and still say it's a library?
Not everything can be had from Google or Amazon. For doing academic research three things are absolutely required of a library: JSTOR, ILLiad/OCLC, and somebody who can help people use them. I regularly use ILLiad at my public library to borrow books from Universities and bigger libs in other states (sometimes other countries!). Libraries that participate in ILLiad can boast of having the largest collection in the world. For library operations, look into overhead-cutting software like Evergreen.
We need to look at how we use the library rather than trying to reimagine the library. What are the goals for your library? What do you want it to contribute to the school?
One use is developing reading skills. Another is developing research skills. Another is developing research skills. What is most important in an elementary school library?
Much research says developing reading is key for elementary schools. And reading is a bigger problem in low income schools. So, how can you use your elementary school library to do a better job developing reading skills? Technology isn't the problem and isn't the solution, but may play a role in the library.
Simply reading is key to developing reading. How do you get kids in the library and read the books?
Some posters have suggested after care and such to get kids in the library and they will read by default. What other programs could you have?
Our school uses the Accelerated Reader (AR) program with great success. Kids read a book, take a small quiz for comprehension, and get points for each book they read. They get recognition by getting their name on the wall for different point levels and an award in assembly at the end of the year. And kids are required to accumulate a minimum number of points. Our school has good parent involvement so there is a lot of encouragement/coercion to get kids to read. In other schools you may need more salesmanship, staff involvement and follow up with students to insure they get their points.
What other programs can you use to build reading?
For AR, the quizzes are done, and results are tracked on computers. So technology is a facilitator, but the key is the program. And reading is done with traditional books at our school.
As an aside, my children are big readers. I have tried, but they won't use ebooks. They say the ebook reading experience is too distracting, and they prefer traditional books. Providing ebooks might be an enticement for some kids, so it could be an option, but having a good program would be the biggest factor to get kids in the library and reading and thereby improving reading skills.
I think the idea here is that one helps accomplish the other...
A library is a resource. For kids, it can be something to turn too when they are curious or even upset. It can be used to guide them towards discovery in all ways of all things. Perhaps, the kids should be the ones to decide what their library will become. What do they want to do? I say give provisions to their interests, wherever they are in their interests. They may not know how much they enjoy something until they try it. Being able to find ways to their own interests is something they should find in a library, which is like a hub. The library is an inviting and open place, how will this library express that to children? What are they to find when they enter this library? Having an array of electronics, books and games, etc is not enough. It needs a strong community to be something. What is a resource but a collective of information? Collective, Community, Resources.