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Just got back from a great conference day. Stephen Abram

and Chris Harris have given me SO much to think about. Where to start? I liked Stephen Abram’s advice – “Just play”! Anyway – thanks Stephen and Chris – and thanks also to Doug Johnson, who challenged me to write this post.

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What could our libraries look like with a little money and a lot fewer roadblocks?

Based on the following posts:

1. I Will … (as a student). from John Pederson Pedersondesigns
2. I Will … (as a teacher) from Doug Johnson – Blue Skunk Blog

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I WILL … (as a school librarian)

Note to everyone in the biblioblogosphere: PLEASE ADD TO THIS! Additions will be added in Green Text. Look at the comments to find out the authors of the additions. Some minor changes have been made to improve clarity or flow.

Let’s have a little competition at our school library and get ready for the future.

I will use a laptop, interactive Library/Web 2.0 tools, a library web page with access to subscription databases, plus unfiltered access to the Internet. You will use a desktop computer, no subscription databases, a filtered Internet connection, and no interactive technologies – not even email. Are you ready…?

• I will access research databases with the full text of thousands of periodicals & reference articles – you will have the library’s 30 periodical titles and a copier.
• I will have 24/7 access to on-line research books and reference articles – you can work in the library whenever you have the time.
• I will save my notes to a blog, wiki or other collaborative website so I can work on them from any computer, anywhere, anytime – you will save your notes to a disk or other portable storage media, and carry it with you from computer to computer.
• I will communicate directly with leaders and experts using email, blogs, wikis and other on-line collaborative tools – you will read their words from a book or a web site (as long as the sites are not blocked by your school’s content filter).
• I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will collaborate with peers in your school.
• I will work with my collaborative learning group to complete a school project any time, any place, using a blog, wiki or other web-based collaborative tools – you will meet with your group in the library whenever you have the same “free” period.
• I will add podcasts, video clips and other multimedia to my presentation and post it to the web – you will share it with your teachers and students.
• I will share my opinions about books with readers around the world using using Library/Web 2.0 tools – you will share your opinions with other people in the library.
• I will take my learning as far as I want – you must wait until you get home, away from the library’s filtered web access.
• I will use the tools my NetGen patrons prefer to communicate with them (blogs, wikis, webpages, chat) – you can send out overdue notices.
• I will help my students develop the search and evaluation skills they need to survive in an enormous, unmoderated information environment – you will help children learn to use the Dewey Decimal System.
• I will teach my fellow teachers how to use these new tools so that they too can feel comfortable in the new digital landscape — you will drag your feet about learning how to use the tools yourself, because “that’s not why I became a librarian.”
• I will remain calm, even if a student’s cell phone accidently rings. You can freak out like a buggywhip maker hearing a new fangled car horn.
• I will play games because I know playing is just another word for learning that is fun. You will say “No Games in the Library” because your students have to be working, not enjoying being in the library.
• I will remember that we have always had students just copying encyclopedia articles and turning them in. You will complain that with this new media students are just cutting and pasting rather than reading.
• I will remember that technology isn’t the point, that the point is to design projects that make kids think, rather than projects that show all the bells and whistles. You will stick with the same projects your kids have always done.
• I will balance my “collection” – print, electronic and online – allocating resources to encompass all areas. You will focus on one area to the detriment of the other.
• I will call myself a teacher-librarian because the title “school library media specialist” is focused on a room and materials, not on students and learning.

The cost of a laptop per year? – $250

The cost of quality research databases – Expensive

The cost of librarian, teacher and student training? – Expensive

The cost of well educated & well informed citizens and workforce? – Priceless

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Alternative viewpoints:

I will (as a School Librarian) want to get some of that kool kids hype on me and buy wholesale into the web 2.0 triumphalist rhetoric, positing even my good ideas in a confrontational, condescending style – you will not be able to do anything but agree wholeheartedly without eliciting my rude, snarky scorn.