I was surprised, at first, why this article was included in the required reading. My idea of the library and librarians could very well be old school. A quiet, still, musty, book-laden room accompanied by a very sweet, elderly, slow-moving, but alas, very intelligent librarian.
Snooze. At one of my first colleges that I attended, the work study option was to work in the library. I lasted a day.
Luckily, I found the reading fresh and innovating. I know for a fact that the culture of the school library at the secondary level is in transition. The Junior-Senior library in my school district is run by a media specialist that does indeed stimulate intellectual curiosity and encourages information seeking (Small, 1998). How do I know this? The library is all full and very active. There is air of productivity. It reminds me more of a busy office. There is collaboration, group work, individual research, sharing, a hum of activity, yet no one is yelling, "It's too noisy in here, be quiet!" I would say that the industrious environment matches the Flow Theory (SLMQ 1998). The students appear to be immersed in a challenging activity where they must be experiencing a sense of control and personal reward. I would also say that our librarian is able to provide a supportive environment that allows and assures students that they can get pass the exploration stage of a project and gain momentum with direction. What I like most about this design is that the librarian, also known as the library media specialist, works with the teacher more as a co-teacher sharing the responsibility of guiding students in their mastery of information skills.
5 comments:
Hi Denise,
I loved your description of the old librarian! I have the same idea in mind when I think of that as well. Libraries are such important places for kids and I was glad to see the idea of how a library should be utilized change over the years. Normally a quite stifling place, it has now bloomed into a thriving area where kids can talk openly, and learn from each other as well as librarians. I liked what Small said on page 1: that library instruction "must also stimulate intellectual curiosity and encourage continued information seeking and exploration". That is certainly not the library I once knew! Thankfully! At my daughter's school the library is a central part of the curriculum so when a class is doing a unit on some type of insect, the library gets in on it as well (as do the science dept, English, and so on) but the library acts as the starting place for the learning and exploration.
Denise,
I've enjoyed your insights about the changing role our libraries and librarians ( or library-media specialists) have, and specifically in the secondary setting. I am so fortunate to say that my librarian is quite possibly the most passionate, dedicated, curious and inspirational educator I know. I've been able to work closely with her in the past few years, and I can speak to what you've said about the need for collaboration between classroom teachers and media specialists - she makes the work we do so meaningful. When I do my best and most motivating work, it's because she brings it out in me.
To speak to your observations about the changing mood of libraries, I would add that I too am seeing the shift - and I welcome it. Moving away from the notion of libraries as quiet places of solitary study to "learning commons" of collaboration and creativity, we can demonstrate that 21st century learning behavior cannot be the same as it was for us. Our audience has changed, therefore so must schools, our instruction and our libraries.
Thank you for your thoughtful reflection!
Denise-
The evolution and role of the library media specialist is an essential element in instruction in the school system. As Information Power states, interwoven into all components of instruction, as they are: teachers, instructional partners, information specialists and program administrators.
Denise,
Thinking back as far as I can remember, in terms of library usage, I would say that any library education for me was from grades 1-5 and then not again until college. I seriously can't recall a time that I was showed much, other than using "dogpile" search engine in HS. I would say one of the biggest impacts for my library usage was when I took Eng 101 and 102 and we were taken into the library for, I guess, what you might call research day. On this day we would take the class time in a library classroom and learn the different research tools available through the university library system. I found these days interesting because they would have us use the topics for our next paper. doing this made the lesson easy to relate to. The best part was once the library specialist showed us all sorts of articles from one source, he/she would say "ok, minimize that search. Now we'll use this one." At that early stage of research, my quick uncountable amounts of articles seemed like gold. This was very impressive, not only to me, but also to the entire class. It was a great way to keep the students motivated and engaged in the lesson. I can't really image the days before computer research, those students must have been really, really motivated to learn and wanted to do the physical reasearch. Because it seems that the ease of use and the technology really helped to keep students motivated.
I know I posted a comment yesterday... your blog must be the one where you have to approve the comments.
I have to confess, while I know 'librarians' are not what they used to be (libraries now have media specialists and do so much more than when I was a kid) but I still have to remind myself of this.
Post a Comment