Do School Libraries Need Books? - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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constant need to acquire new books
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Robin Cicchetti on 11 Feb 10Still need to acquire digital versions. The spending doesn't disappear with the paper.
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Our library is now the most-used space on campus, with collaborative learning areas, classrooms with smart boards, study sections, screens for data feeds from research sites, a cyber cafe, and increased reference and circulation stations for our librarians. It has become a hub where students and faculty gather, learn and explore together.
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But they need more help from librarians to navigate these resources, so we have also increased our library staff by 25 percent.
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Cushing Academy today is awash in books of all formats. Many classes continue to use printed books, while others use laptops or e-readers. It is immaterial to us whether students use print or electronic forms to read Chaucer and Shakespeare. In fact, Cushing students are checking out more books than before, making extensive use of e-readers in our library collection. Cushing’s success could inspire other schools to think about new approaches to education in this century.
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Holding a book in our hands, we orient ourselves within a larger system.
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Who wrote that? Where are the competing voices? How is it organized? By what (and whose) terms is it indexed? Does it have pictures? Can I write in it myself?
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knowledge is proximate
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The digital natives in our schools need to have the experience of getting lost in a physical book, not only for the pure pleasure but also as a way to develop their attention spans, ability to concentrate, and the skill of engaging with a complex issue or idea for an uninterrupted period of time.
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The printed word long ago lost its position of eminence in the American library.
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The tangibility of a traditional book allows the hands and fingers to take over much of the navigational burden: you feel where you are, and this frees up the mind to think.