The " School Library " Question !

Half a century ago parents evaluating a school for their children often put it to the " library test ".   Did it have a well stocked library and a librarian to help the kids obtain their quest for knowledge. It was common then for students to be set learning tests that required study and the information needed was available in the school library.  The question being asked today is whether that form of information is needed in the computer age ?

Love it - or hate it - the computer is fast becoming a necessity in most homes as more services are now provided online.  The computer has become a familiar tool in most classrooms and in todays world few kids will go to a library and seek information from a book when exactly what they need can be Googled onto their computer screen.

One of the advantages is that this computer knowledge is available at any time of the day or night, and a personal computer in one form or another is fast becoming an essential for every student. The government is actually providing computers free of charge for the under privileged of our society. It begs the question of whether school libraries are now a thing of the past that are soaking up education funds to keep them stocked and to pay staff who would be better used in a teaching role ?

That depends on who you ask ?  For the serious researcher libraries are a treasure trove of how a particular item of knowledge developed.  That same knowledge may be presented in a highly condensed form in Wilkepedia and without the guidance of a trained librarian that may be the extent of the students search.

Sadly, school libraries are fast becoming an economic question in many schools.   The cost pressures are seeing funds for relevant new books constantly reduced and the needs for librarians is being questioned.   In fact, many new technical books are not now available in printed form and the only access is the online version.  It must be evident to thinking people that eventually all forms of print libraries are doomed.

That raises the question of the public library which is serving older Australians who are computer illiterate.  Just about every municipality boasts a well stocked library and they need a constant flow of funds to keep their material relevant.  There is a public outcry any time one of these closes, but we rarely see a statistical record of borrowing numbers and how that equates to previous years.  It is quite possible that public libraries are serving an ever decreasing clientele.

The cost of publishing is increasing and production runs are getting ever shorter.  Many people experience the joy of holding a printed book in their hands and reading is not the same joy when read on a kindle, but the economics insist that this will be the format for the future.  Pressure is building to preserve forests and not cut trees for the production of paper.

The question of school libraries depends heavily on usage figures.  Only a practical analysis of student use will determine if they are still relevant or whether those funds should be put to another use !