Thing # 15

I am very interested in the issues Library 2.0 brings up--what a vast change from the old days in my high school library where we were not allowed to browse around in the stacks but had to choose a book from the catalogue and ask the librarian to bring it to the desk.

Few of my friends used the school library for that reason--we would walk the couple of blocks from the high school to the city library where you got to experience the distinctive smell of old books and find serendipitously not the book you thought you wanted but the one next to it which really piqued your interest.

Browsing the web has some of this same charm--you keep clicking links until you find something intriguing. The problem, it seems to me, involves sifting out the chaff to find the precious nutritious grain.  So much junk is on the web--and I am concerned that anyone can post something on wikipedia--so untrue information can find its way into students' research papers.  

I warn my students about looking for the source of their web pages to ensure their validity and scholarly value. A search for a critical source for The Catcher in the Rye can bring up someone's junior high school paper on the novel.

Things are moving so fast--I admire librarians who are keeping pace and finding new ways to  serve their patrons.  And I do think we should begin some study groups to help each other at school to find ways to help our students use these technological tools effectively.  I am musing about what I can do differently in my class to avoid the glazed-over stares of the students in the video!