Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 23:54:31 -0500
From: K.R.Mulla
Soquel High librarian encourages students to research on Web - By Nancy Pasternack - sentinel staff writer - February 8, 2006
Hi [LIS-Forum]!
Thought you might be interested in reading this story from the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/February/08/local/stories/09lo... http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/February/08/local/stories/09lo...
Regards
K.R.Mulla
February 8, 2006
SOQUEL
Soquel High librarian encourages students to research on Web
By Nancy Pasternack
sentinel staff writer
Soquel High School's Madeline Britton is part of an endangered and often
misunderstood profession: the modern school librarian. Unlike librarians
of yore who managed index files, taught the Dewey Decimal System and
worked in rooms crowded with books, Britton teaches her students to mine
the Web efficiently for the most reliable information, and to find
creative solutions for stretching nearly extinct library budget dollars.
She can't afford, she says, to spend the whopping $4,000 she has for
2006-07 all in one place. The $2,400 subscription bill for Ebsco Host, the
primary database she has used in the past to teach her students research
skills, is too steep. So that subscription, which allows access to
magazine and academic journal articles, is out — and Santa Cruz
Public Library cards are in. Britton's campaign to get all her students a
public library card will have them using comprehensive databases like
Ebsco Host, as well as many others the school cannot afford. They can
access these resources from any Internet-linked computer, between the
hours of 6 a.m. and midnight. And Britton can continue, she said, to teach
students the necessities for adult life in today's real world. "This is
the iPod generation," she said. "You have to teach them to use their
brains in the ways they're wired." Her push has caught on in Santa Cruz
City Schools' other high schools. Librarians from both Harbor High and
Santa Cruz High have teamed up with public librarians to take students
through the steps necessary to gain access to the public library's
resources, and to take full advantage of those resources. "It's win-win,"
said Heidi Smith, the system's development librarian. "We have wonderful
databases the students can now use." And because of the number of new
cards the Santa Cruz Public Library system will issue, Smith can make a
stronger case for continued funding. "If our databases don't get enough
use," she said, "our governing board won't continue to fund it." Britton's
school district is the only one in the county that still funds
credentialed librarians. The ratio in California of professional media
library teachers librarians to students is the lowest in the country: one
media teacher/librarian for every 4,541 students. The average, nationwide,
is one to 870. Because Soquel High's feeder schools — in the Live
Oak and Soquel school districts — do not have professional
librarians, Britton and many teachers must make an extra effort to get
incoming students caught up with the online world. In order to do this,
you first need access to reliable resources. "They need to learn library
skills every year," O'Reilly said. "They need practice over and over
again." Those skills increasingly consist of an ability to edit out
sources that are either not going to be helpful, or that are not reliable.
"They need to know what's a bogus Web site, and what isn't," O'Reilly
said. Britton compares the Internet to an open fire hydrant. "You have to
know how to swim through all that, just to take a sip of water," she said.
She tells her students, "You guys have to be your own censors." "Your
lives are packed," she tells them. "And you want to go to that party
Friday night, right? Well, being good at this Internet research will save
you time." Contact Nancy Pasternack at
mailto:npasternack@santacruzsentinel.com?subject=Soquel High librarian
encourages students to research on Web npasternack@santacruzsentinel.com .
