This article spoke a lot of truth about where libraries are today and the mentality we must have as librarians. I took a few mental notes of each of the three "icebergs" the author described:
1. Just in case books- I was amazed at the percentage of book circulations this particular library had dropped in the last couple of years. The author made a great point in asking why we continue to purchase books that we know partons will not check out if they have a wealth of information in reliable online resources. In our middle school library I have noticed that students really do not check out books from most of the non-fiction section unless it comes from the 700's (graphic novels, comic books, art). I recently received a large shipment of books and have them out on a display cart; the fiction and graphic novels are the first to be checked out, but our new science and social studies books have, for the most part, been sitting there. Students show not much interest unless they are working on a project and even then, they would prefer to go to "Nettrekker" or Google for their information.
1. Just in case books- I was amazed at the percentage of book circulations this particular library had dropped in the last couple of years. The author made a great point in asking why we continue to purchase books that we know partons will not check out if they have a wealth of information in reliable online resources. In our middle school library I have noticed that students really do not check out books from most of the non-fiction section unless it comes from the 700's (graphic novels, comic books, art). I recently received a large shipment of books and have them out on a display cart; the fiction and graphic novels are the first to be checked out, but our new science and social studies books have, for the most part, been sitting there. Students show not much interest unless they are working on a project and even then, they would prefer to go to "Nettrekker" or Google for their information.
2. Reliance on User Ed. - I also strongly agree that if we want our patrons to be serviced effectively, there should be more staff on board. In our library it is only myself and my librarian assistant. We not only service students through regular classroom visits, but we have walk-ins throughout the entire day. There will be weeks where over 1,000 students would have walked through that door, and many for research purposes...at times it gets a bit overwhelming trying to service everyone at the same time. I truly believe our role would be more effective if there were more trained employees to aid in servicing students at the library.
Library Web 2.0 is to me...no better word to describe it, but WONDERFUL! It is an emmense amount of resources in an instant, at a turn on of the computer! These tools can be very useful in promoting the library in many ways. Because this is the way of the future, I truly believe that librarians need to jump on the bandwagon and learn as much as they can about these wonderful tools that are available and ready to be used and accessed by everyone! I am jumping in with both feet!!!
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