Keeping Up to Speed

I really liked this article by Christopher Harris about libraries keeping up with the times and technology that fills our world today. I loved the title of his article - "Say Good-bye to Your Mother's School Library". It is so true! Libraries of three decades ago have been changed so much that a lot of moms wouldn't recognize them as the same "places of knowledge".

Mr. Harris sums up his reasoning for this title so well. In one paragraph of the article, he states, "Redefining the school library is not a response to some inherent failure on the part of the institution. It’s an opportunity for library professionals to engage in some exciting activities that will enable our institutions to remain effective in the midst of fast-moving technological change. It was school libraries, in fact, that led the way in the first wave that brought computers and then the Internet into our classrooms. This is about adapting, once again, to a new, perhaps even more compelling digital revolution, in which powerful new ideas are enhancing the way in which we function in an electronic information environment."

I love that paragraph because it tells me that libraries really are important, now more than ever, and that we need to become competent, techno-savvy school librarians if we want to keep our jobs. We have to comply to the times, or as Harris puts it, "we library professionals have continually sought to establish the media center as the central foundation of a school. We must persist in this effort." We need to do all in our power to promote the library, especially "to extend [our] services beyond the four walls [of our establishment]". And all of this means, becoming intellectuals of the Internet and its vast resources.

This is where Library 2.0 comes into play. Librarians need a resource that they can turn to for technological support and learning. Why not put it into a program like the one we are completing for this class? This type of program makes it so easy to go step by step and learn about all the different things that are available on the Internet. Even better, we don't have to waste our time looking for good resources because the sources for these programs are reliable. I think that all school librarians need to have access to library 2.0 programs to help them engage their students, teacher peers, parents, and school administration and remind their schools of the importance of libraries.