Thoughts on the School Library Journal Summit in Chicago continued: November 9, 2006
Posted by pcreighton in : Community , trackbackSaturday morning in Chicago was a bit overcast and windy as summit attendees reconvened in the Gold Coast Room of the historic Drake Hotel for a plated breakfast. Joan Frye Williams, http://www.jfwilliams.com/, library futurist and designer of innovative library services, delivered a speech on making sense of the future while attendees feasted on a glorious array of fruit, pastry, eggs, bacon and sausage, coffee and tea.
Williams maintains that innovations trickle up from the market level rather than down. While I glanced around the room of technogeeks with their PDAs, tablet PCs, Blackberrys and other bluetooth devices that were sending data to their wikis and blogs via the hotel wifi, I couldn’t help but smile.
Joan added that in an infodiverse environment, we must start with a student perspective and ask, “Is this my kind of place?” We must also stop whining and start practicing with new toys to be credible to today’s students. We might begin by seeing the library as library as an idea factory a place to try new things such as a book art studio, a media production facility, a new tech showcase and a place to crunch scientific data. We must simplify “wayfinding” and, most importantly, never forget why we are “doing this!”
The remainder of the morning was devoted to breakout sessions discussing the critical action steps identified Friday afternoon. Before lunch, all groups reassembled in the Gold Coast Room. Ross Todd, http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~rtodd/, of Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries at Rutgers University, presented reflections on the summit’s work so far. Todd contends that a purpose of the summit is “is contentious debate which is necessary for solutions and actions” and adds that “not taking action means we are taking someone else’s solution which is not necessarily in best interest of students.” He urged us to think outside the box and consider the educational influences beyond the school library media center. Todd asserted that key opportunities for school media specialists today include modeling effective inquiry and investing in teachers.
More to come…
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