What Role Does the Library Play at CSS?

by Donna Alden, Teacher-Librarian

As CSS enters the second year of our full one-to-one laptop project, I’m curious about the changes in how students are accessing information resources for their research and inquiry projects.

In years past, when students used the computers in the library, there was a natural movement between the print collection and online resources that was observable. It seems to me what’s observable now is the decline in students accessing information in print (books), and I’m wondering what impact this change will have on student learning. A number of questions about knowledge are starting to emerge:

• Is it still necessary for students to know how to access information in print resources?

• Does having the knowledge of how information is organized in libraries and in books provide a structure for understanding how information is organized on the Internet and in online databases?

• Is there a problem with our students having experience and knowledge of only online information sources when they go to other schools?

As the teacher-librarian at Calgary Science School, I want to start exploring these and other questions. I'm hoping to use this blog as a space to share my thoughts about knowledge and libraries in the 21st century. For now, I'm going to focus on two questions:

1. What impact has one-to-one laptop projects had on school library programs?
2. And, are there changes that need to be made to the collection and my role as teacher-librarian?

Please feel free to weigh in on the discussion!