Sunday 22 July 2012

Still on the ground 2

Welcome to those who climb the library ladder of learning.

This blog was created as an online learning journal reflecting my evolving perception of Teacher Librarianship as I progress through my Master of Education – Teacher Librarian course. The learning curve will be steep… actually, the more information I gain the more it feels like a climbing a ladder than a stroll up a gentle curve… However I do believe that the view from the top of the ladder will be quite different from what I see now and well worth the climb.

I have worked in TAFE libraries for the last 20 years, I remember filing cards for a ‘Browne’ index system, got excited when ‘microfiche’ was the innovation of the century and had to struggle along with my ‘older’ colleagues to master the many stages and intricacies of computers. And now I enter another phase of my lifelong learning.
I know from experience that the ‘library’ is an evolving concept, as the fifth law of Ranganathan’s five laws of library science states, “The Library Is a Growing Organism” constantly adapting to new social conditions, technological developments, and the changing needs of our clientele (Mitchell, 2007).
If I intend to guide my students and fellow staff members into the information century I had better catch up first and then ‘evolve’ along with them.  

  • Trivia spot – Did you know that the library profession is a ‘graying’ profession. Those who work in libraries are, as a group, significantly older than those in other professions, 67 percent of librarians are over 40 years of age, and only 7 percent of librarians fit in the 20-29 year age range (Lynch, M. J. (2002). Age of Librarians. American Library Association), this is in contrast to the age groups of the majority of their ‘digital native’ clients who know no other world than the one that encompasses a world of smart phones, I-pads, Wikis, Blogs, Twitter, I-technologies, QR codes, emails and forums and insist on instant access to information in work, study and social activities (Oakley, S. & Vaughan, J. (2007), Higher education libraries. In Ferguson, S. (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century: charting new directions in information services).  

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