"Life In The 21st Century"

The marriage between the library and technology (over the years) has certainly had its bumps and I am comfortable to say...knock down bruises. Mainly, there's a rift between whether the "good old fashion" library will welcome its new patron...the computer/digital information/technology. There are also other issues: the role of the teacher/librarian in schools, who is responsible for information literacy? to weed or not to weed? are we phasing out librarians with technology? NO! My head of school took to these issues to task in his titleless post from Friday. He takes a stab at what would make for a better relationship between these sometimes warring couples.

Here's a clip...Libratech is a new way of approaching learning and research. Libratech is a new way of enjoyment and understanding. But, as with any new idea, Libratech's challenge is to blend the virtues of an "old way of doing things" with a sparkling and often confounding "new way of doing things." You have your "purists" who speak eloquently of the library and the use of books and criticize in many respects the "new ways" for acquiring information and understanding. The boldness of Libratech is that in this approach, and through a coordination of virtues so to speak, children and adults are more fully engaged and presented with a library world that plugs into the information age as well as the age of critical thought through reading books. Sometimes, there is that accusation from purists that a library is under siege from the technologists.

I actually tried to explain the concept of Libratech a few months ago. So this is why having heads of school (or your bosses) on blogboard makes for further clarity. They also have PLENTY to write about.