What follows is a superb column that we wish was longer even though the title says plenty. It's a keeper (print, bookmark, whatever you do). It was published in Forbes and was written by Mark Moran, CEO of Dulcinea Media.
A year ago The New York Times presented a multimedia, packaged gift to school librarians everywhere. With its profile of Brooklyn, N.Y., school librarian Stephanie Rosalia, at long last, a major newspaper had chronicled the 21st century school librarian’s role as Web curator and information literacy specialist.
The article made the Times’ "most e-mailed" list for days and was featured on more than 100 blogs, as educators and parents everywhere recognized the need for media specialists to guide students.
[Snip]
Cut to the present, and librarian blogs tell a different story. Many absolutely clueless administrators still believe that a search engine is an adequate substitute for a trained research teacher. With the nation's schools budget-strapped, librarians--and even libraries--are being cut from coast to coast.
To use the Internet as a library you need new research skills: the ability to pick out reliable sources from an overwhelming heap of misinformation, to find relevant material amid an infinite array of options...
[Snip]
And as the founder of a company whose mission is to teach the effective use of the Internet, I have pored through dozens of studies, and recently oversaw one myself, that all came to the same conclusion: Students do not know how to find or evaluate the information they need on the Internet.
All of this mess falls in the sad but true category. Almost daily, we come across news stories or discussion list postings about schools letting many of their librarians go. Of course, this doesn't only apply to school librarians. Browse our blog or just head to your favorite news search engine, enter your keywords, and (as you know) you'll see cuts at all types of libraries to all types of librarians.
-- Quick Comment/Small Rant Follows After a Click --
As we've pointed out before, an idea we credit to Karen Coyle, watch what could happen if the Google Books program is approved and moves forward. These administrators, trustees, superintendents, and the others who "pay the bill" could say, "Why do we need to be building a collection and purchasing books, e-books, serials, etc? It's all on Google (wrong) and it's free. If it's not in Google Books we can live without it and use something else." They're letting staff and resources go now what happens if this massive and free database goes live? Plus, issues like the number of terminals and the utility of the text on the page (can it be printed, copied into a report) come into play
We would like to know what the info industry is doing now to illustrate (a better term would be "sell") end users (most librarians already get it) on the value of their products and why they need to pressure the appropriate people to keep them in their collection.
The FreePint Family is a family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success.
'FreePint... provides most of my professional development because it won't come through work and [other resources] just don't cut it.'
FUMSI Forum: Do you have a research question? Post it to the FUMSI Forum, where professionals share Q&A and useful tips on how to Find, Use, Manage and Share Information. It's free.
FreePint Shop:
VIP LiveWire:
