Continuums of library use

How are the ways students are using libraries, especially in the secondary schools, changing?

Accessing print .......................................................................... Accessing electronic/multimedia

Solitary work....................................................................................................... Social work

Directed use............................................................................................. Independent use

Information consumer ............................................................................... Information producer

Academic research ........................................................................................ Personal research

Static needs, resources, tasks ............................................... Rapidly changing needs, resources, tasks

And how might those changes reflect on library facility design?

Study carrels ................................................................................................... Study rooms

Tables ..................................................................................................... Upholtered chairs

Computer labs ............................................................................................. Production labs

Reseach stations ....................................................................................... Wireless notebooks

Print shelving and storage .................................................................... Collaborative work spaces

Fixed spaces ................................................................................................... Flexible spaces

 What are the changes of library use you see and how do our physical libraries need to change to meeting them?

Create better schools by creating better societies

If you want to change the world, change the world of a child. – Pat Schroeder

I've always believed that one can create a better society by better educating the members of that society. I still do. But I wonder if the reverse isn't just as true and important: the only way we will create better schools is by first creating a better society. (OK, so I know this is not a new concept, but we are all entitled to our own little epiphanies.)

The Gates Foundation tackled school improvement head on by working to create small, project-based schools in areas of high poverty that focused on relevance. Didn't work.

It's time to try the alternative approach well-expressed by Kevin Riley on his El Milagro blog where he recommends these "school improvement" efforts to President-elect Obama:

1. Provide health care for all of my students [at his charter school] to address the scourge of childhood obesity, diabetes, and poor nutrition;

2. Ensure that every child has access to comprehensive eye exams and appropriate interventions when they are struggling just to see– let alone to read;

3. Ensure that every child has regular dental checkups and access to highly qualified dentists so that my students’ baby teeth aren’t rotting in their heads;

4. Provide the funding support and infrastructure so that all of my students can attend preschool like the affluent kids do;

5. Create a way for every child in America to have a laptop and access to the Internet so that poor children aren’t pushed further behind by the technology divide that favors their more affluent counterparts;

6. Divert the 10 billion dollars we are currently spending every month in Iraq and re-invest in the modernization and construction of state-of-the-art school buildings in every community in America;

7. Guarantee a college education of the highest quality for all children so they are motivated to apply themselves academically;

8. Eliminate unemployment so that the parents of my students can properly provide the basic necessities for their children-food, clothing shelter;

9. Significantly raise the minimum wage so that our parents are not forever struggling against the tide…fighting the unwinnable battle to stay ahead of a runaway economy and its stunning indifference to the working poor…

And… let’s see… I guess this is a big one…

10. Eliminate politically motivated accountability systemsthat, for the most part, test our students’ ability to test while ignoring all of their other assets: like their creativity and their critical thinking and problem solving and communication skills; and their proficiency with technology and their ability to speak in multiple languages or lead others or serve their community…”

Eight of the ten suggestions Mr. Riley makes are fixes to society, not schools. And I bet each suggestion would actually make a genuine improvement in how well kids do in school.

I would riff a bit on Riley's tenth suggestion:

"Make all state and national tests be "value-added" rather than "normed." Let's work on getting the personal best from each child, rather than continue to sort the winners from the losers."

What is the one suggestion you would make to the incoming Secretary of Education that would actually have a chance of improving education for all kids?

Image "Impoverished mother and children from an etching by Jacques Callot." Life Magazine images available on Google Image Search

Venting's just one piece

The post Ranting: School Internet Filtering appeared recently on the Informania blog. The school library media specialist author begins:

My district has a new filtering program and I guess they are trying to get their money’s worth because they continue to block sites - not just daily, but hourly.

The author lists several egregious filtering abuses and recognizes:

As an educator, my job is to prepare students to function in the real world.  The real world doesn’t filter web sites. This seems to be a bit of a problem to me.

And concludes:

Ranting is done - for now. 
Send blood pressure medicine.

Ah, I can almost feel the author's relief of getting that out of her system! Many librarians and teachers will identify completely. The post was well-written and her case well-made.

But...

I hope her vent was not the final action she, or any of us, take when Internet filters are abused in our schools. I offered Informania some suggestions in response to her blog entry:

1. The first line of your post attributes these actions to a “they” - “they are trying to get their money’s worth because they  continue to block sites”. Do you know who the “they” is and if not, you should find out. Could it be the smoking man? A vast right-wing conspiracy? Space aliens bent on mind-control and world domination? Or is it a single tech who is probably out-stepping his/her authority in making these decisions?

2. Have a visit with the "they." Ask for a clear policy statement about what is blocked and the basis for the decisions. Ask if there is an appeal process for unblocking. Ask (or find out) who this person's supervisor might be.

3. With either the person in charge of the filter or his/her supervisor, lobby for filtering policies to be determined by a district tech committee and then become a member. Censorship is far too easy when decisions are  made by a single individual, no matter how well-intentioned, than by a range of stakeholders that reflect the educational community’s wider values.

Those who vent feel better after doing so - myself included. But venting itself is only a small piece of the change puzzle and alone doesn’t do much to help the students and teachers in our schools who may be in a venting mood themselves. Don't let venting be your first and only response when change is needed.

Image created using dumpr http://www.dumpr.net/ Thanks, Kathy Schrock!