The public library - still the best deal going

Even before the pandemic, I rarely darkened the door of a public library building.

But even so, this month alone my public library has saved me about $38. Using Overdrive's Libby, I have read Deacon King Kong, Leave Only Footprints, and The Silence. Amazon gets plenty of my money as well, but this January, not quite as much. I also check out audio books and magazines from our county library system.

Our library system recently switched from providing ebooks on Cloud Library to Libby. I don't know how the number and variety and currency of titles compare, but I love the fact that I can easily read Libby titles on my Kindle, with all the features I have grown to expect from that format. (I've been a KIndle user since June 2008. Buying books is one of my not-so guilty pleasures. In 2020 alone I bought 34 books - about $500 worth.

In 2011, I wrote in What is the new economic model for libraries?:

The economic rationale for libraries has always been simple: It's less expensive to buy one book and share it than it is to buy a book for everyone. (See Common Sense Economy)

And that worked just fine when information and entertainment came in atoms and only one person could access one container o'information at a time. It worked best when information and its physical containers were expensive for the average person. It worked well when people seemed OK with paying taxes to support the common good - like public libraries and public schools.

But libraries need to find a new economic rationale for their existence other than sharing - and fast - since sharing doesn't really work anymore - or will stop working soon.

It seems I may have been wrong. Thank goodness. Maybe the old economic still works in the digital age. Here is hoping it works long into the future.

P.S. The public library in my small hometown of Sac City, Iowa, had truly been a life-saver for my 88 year old mother. Confined to her home by the virus, the library has gone out of its way to provide her a constant flow of reading materials.

BFTP: 7 reasons your school doesn't need a library

I know there will be some raised eyebrows seeing my name associated with the “nay” side of any question about the necessity of school libraries. But let’s be honest here. There are schools that don’t need library facilities, library programs, or librarians. These school’s teachers and administrators:

1. Are content to have their instruction be textbook and test-driven. Given the number of standards in the state-mandated curriculum and the state’s test-based accountability requirements, the staff does not see the need for in-depth study of topics, problem-based teaching, or authentic assessment. A single textbook meets teacher needs.

2. Are unconcerned about providing quality information sources to staff and students. Administrators feel that edited sources of information – books, commercial databases, or reference materials - are necessary when “everything is free on the Internet.” Questions of information reliability and authority are deemed irrelevant.

3. Believe students and staff can locate reliable information without assistance. Citing the ability of students to do a search in Google and find pages of information on which the search term appears, teachers dismiss the notion that more sophisticated strategies and search tools were needed. Kids can always change their topic if they don’t find what they need with Google in these schools.

4. Feel that the ability to process and communicate information in formats other than print is unnecessary. Students in these schools use standard written term papers as the sole means of communicating the results of research. That they are word-processed was cited as proof of “technology integration.” Having students communicate using audio, video, photographic or visual productions, is dismissed as irrelevant to preparing students for college.

5. Feel no need for F2F collaborative learning space. Classrooms and quiet study halls are the only places considered appropriate for learning in these schools.

6. View independent voluntary reading is a waste of time. Strict adherence to the basal readers and reading “skill building” software results in students scoring acceptably on standardized tests, so both administration and teachers are reluctant to “mess with success.” Developing a desire to read is not part of the district’s strategic plan.

7. Believe differentiated instruction is just babying the slackers. Providing materials at a variety of levels, in multiple formats meeting the needs of learners with divergent abilities, interests and learning styles is given a low priority by these schools.

Small classroom book collections that supplement the reading series and a word-processing lab with access to Google are all that such schools currently require. Since the skills of librarians are viewed as unimportant, the library can be staffed by clerks.

I would not send my own children to such a school, but it’s differences that make a horse race, I guess.

Published as a counter point in ISTE's Leading & Learning, Nov 2009

BFTP: Just as important as fact vs opinion

Yes, I noticed that difference is misspelled in the graphic above. But I still like the quote.

• Schools have been teaching how to tell statements of fact from statements of opinion for at least 40 years (Fact - I was teaching it in 1976.)
• Schools have not been doing a very good job of teaching how to tell fact from opinion. (Fact - a study by Pew Research shows that only 36% of Americans could discriminate fact from opinion.)
• I am good at telling facts from opinion. (Fact - based on a score of 100% on a quiz given by the Pew Research.) Or wait, maybe that's an opinion...

Knowing how tell whether something is a fact or an opinion has long been viewed as an important skill, especially for citizens in a country which is supposedly democratic. Yet with each passing day, whether because of current events or due to my encroaching senile dementia, I find telling fact from opinion seems not just more difficult, but insufficient in making good decisions.

Just a few random "skills" that are as important as fact/opinion discrimination:

1. Determining the reliability of the facts. Just because something is verifiable doesn't make it true. Many statements are verifiably false should we take the time to examine them.
2. Understanding the relationship among facts, opinions, and values. How do our values impact what facts we use to support our opinions? Opinions are the result of weighing and selecting facts according to personal values.
3. Asking if any writing can be free of bias. What is the purpose of the writing and how might that purpose influence the facts (and language) chosen for inclusion? Objectivity, like fairness, is perhap an unobtainable quality.
4. Understanding the context needed to determine the importance or value of a fact. If I tell you that I weigh 200 pounds but neither my height or body fat percentage, how much good does knowing my weight do anyone trying to determine whether I am healthy?
5. Accepting that no political stance is free of confmation bias. While Stephen Cobert's statement that facts have a liberal bias gets a nod and a chuckle from most of my friends, the sign of a genuine thinker is that she/he understands it is human nature to seek out the evidence that best supports one's personal values. And this includes liberals as well as conservatives.
6. Understanding that opinions can be valuable. Many opinions, espcially expert opinions, are judgements based on the collection and analysis of lots of facts - facts that have been substantiated and placed in context. A thoughtful opinion is an effective means of getting reliable information.

Oversimplification of good decision-making seems even more dangerous than not being able to tell fact from opinion. That's my conclusion.

But then as Arthur Bloch once said  "A conclusion is the place where you get tired of thinking."

Your opinion?

Original post 6/26/18