“Partnership for 21st Century Skills.” 2004. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. “The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has emerged as the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education.”
Gail Rebuck: New Chapter or Last Page? Publishing Books in a Digital Age. Random House UK's C.E.O. Gail Rebuck presented a brilliant essay at the Stationers' Company Annual Lecture on the evening of March10th, 2008. Comments from Mary Burkey’s blog, Audiobooker: Confessions of an Audiobook Addict (March 15, 2008)
Choices, Choices: Selection Issues in Independent School Libraries
by Carla Bosco Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, Bethesda MD
I have been the Upper School Librarian at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart for five years. Before that, I was Assistant Director of the Virginia Wing Library at the Winsor School (Boston). I graduated from Mt. Holyoke College and received a Masters in Liberal Arts from Harvard University in addition to my M.L.S. from Simmons College. I have also worked at the Cambridge (MA) Public Library and Lesley University (Cambridge MA). I love to read and to follow baseball, specifically the Red Sox.
ESSAY ABSTRACT
In the Fall of 2009, the Cushing Academy, a private school in Massachusetts eliminated its print collection, disposing of thousands of books, well-worn treasures, and lightly used tomes. (Abel) This controversial decision is a dramatic example of the dilemmas faced by many independent school librarians throughout the country during this era of revolutionary change. Paraphrasing Shakespeare: To purchase print or not, that is one of many questions school librarians now wrestle with as they develop their library collection in a fast paced, digital world. Only a decade ago, it was expected that a school librarian would develop her library’s collections by acquiring books and possibly videos that were then neatly arranged on the shelves in the library. Now, the world of information has shifted drastically with abundance of online sources, both free and subscription, which often satisfy the information/research needs of the digital generation; meanwhile, Kindles or other e-readers could become the preferred means of recreational reading in the near future. Instead of ordering DVDs, for example, she might rely on a Netflix subscription to satisfy the temporary needs of a teacher, particularly for films that she might consider of fleeting fame. These issues are some of the decisions facing school librarians today as they develop and improve traditional physical collections even as they attempt to anticipate the changing digital realities of the next few years. There are no easy answers. Read this essay for suggestions on how the librarian can best select appropriate print and electronic resources in order to develop a high-quality independent school library.
