RECENTLY I wrote about the plan of Pasadena Unified School District to get rid of all of its school librarians and, probably, shut all of its school libraries.
HERE is a new interview librarian Sara Scribner, who is also my wife, gave to her field’s main publication, School Library Journal, on this and related topics.
Sample exchange:
Do you think administrators and teachers value school librarians?
This is the way I see it: most teachers and administrators went to school more than 10 years ago. If you’ve been in an undergraduate or graduate program recently, you see that everything has changed so drastically in the realm of research and technology that it is a new world, a new universe. Everything is different.
Teachers see how students are manipulating the technology, though, and they’re seeing bad information, false information, and an explosion of plagiarism.
They’re worried. But they are so busy preparing students for these high-stakes tests that they often struggle to make the time for research projects.
Sara — who is quite a shy person and is only wading into this debate because she’s fighting for something she believes in — has also launched a new blog devoted to books, libraries, technology and education. Here it is: Dig Me Out.
Photo credit: I cheated slightly, as this library is in Italy.