A Question of Balance

[Rob Rubis]

David W. Lewis, in a paper delivered to the "Visions of Change" at California State University at Sacramento in January, said,

"...there are five parts of a strategy for maintaining the library as a vibrant enterprise worthy of support from our campuses."

To paraphrase, Lewis suggests that in the next 20 years, academic libraries will need to;

1) Complete the migration from print ot electronic collections
2) Retire legacy print collections
3) Redevelop the libary as the primary INFORMAL learning space on campus.
4) Reposition library tools, resources and expertise so they are embedded in curriculum, and
5) Migrate the (library) focus from purchasing materials to curating content.

I believe that Lewis has it essentially right, even for HS Libraries. It's a question of balance (and some might add, "tipping points"). At ISB, we have begun the process. We now;

- spend more money on databases (EBSCO, Gale, Newsbank) and electronic tools (Noodletools, Turnitin) than we do on Print resources (and most of our print budget is now spent on Fiction)
- subscribe to more media content than we own (Discovery Streaming)
- license more ebook titles than we hold in our nonfiction colleciton (ebrary, with 30,000 ebook titles compared to 17,000 NF titles)
- offer a wireless laptop loan program for dedicated (but informal) library use
- use an online booking system to book classes to one of 6 different teaching/learning spaces in our Main Library
- cater to the research, study & social networking (at the school level) needs of 1200+ visitors a day.

What do you believe? Does any of the above ring completely false for you? If not, what are you doing NOW to begin the process? How do YOU strike the appropriate balance today? What are your plans for 5 years on?

Rob Rubis
HS Librarian
International School Bangkok

[Pat Ropchan]

Hello,
I am fascinated by this topic and am dedicating my year to developing a plan for our school library (grade 1 -12). I am particularly interested in a focus for the high school. I am collecting and reading all kinds of materials on the "21st century learner" as well as taking an online course and am overwhelmed by the information available that I need to make my way through.

One particular aspect of your topic is one I would like a quick answer on. What software are you using to schedule classes/groups into the library?

Par Ropchan
Senior Teacher-Librarian
Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School
Okotoks, AB, Canada

[Rob Rubis]

To keep things as simple as possible for our users, we just use the Public Calendars feature of Microsoft Outlook to book space in our Main Library. We have designated six different teaching/learning spaces, and teachers can book the time, the space and the number of computers they need for a particular class. We recommend that they also communicate with their divisional librarian by email with details of their assignment so that the librarian can be of most help when they arrive.

The booking system works reasonably well since all of our teachers already use Outlook as their primary mail system. The email communication regarding details of their proposed usage is less "systematic". We stil get teachers who say, "Oh, they only need to do research. We don't need any help..." We continue to work on this :)

Rob Rubis
HS LIbrarian
International School Bangkok