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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
2011
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ916344 |
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Table of Contents:
- Going Out of Print Wetschler, Ed School Libraries Public Schools Electronic Libraries Technology Uses in Education Books Handheld Devices Costs School librarians took notice when in 2009 Cushing Academy, a private secondary school in Massachusetts, transformed its library from a traditional facility to a digital media center. The library gave away most of its 20,000 books and bought 200 iRiver Story and Kindle e-readers. The school also sold to all of its 445 students a laptop to which the library could deliver databases and Web-based electronic books. The transformation of school libraries is well underway. Under No Child Left Behind, the federal government has spent millions on retraining school librarians, many of whom have rebranded themselves as "library information specialists" or "library media specialists." School librarians have gotten so involved in technology. Meanwhile, even districts that have been slammed by budget cuts, such as those in Moraga and San Bernardino counties in California, have computers, databases and/or e-readers in school libraries. But as administrators know, it's funding cuts, not books, that block the way forward. Another financial issue is that once content is loaded onto a Kindle or Nook or iPad, it can't be "returned" to the library, so another student can use it. Thus, much of the rationale for libraries--the cost-effective sharing of books--goes up in smoke. However, this could change. Ten years from now there may be some system that doesn't attach digital content to a specific e-reader.