As a follow-up to my last post, I would like to touch on the benefits of accepting the realities of the world today when considering the effects of e-readers on the profession. It may be the case that the proliferation of these devices has affected the job prospects of today's librarians negatively, but it is certain that there are many other factors at play. There is another side to this coin, though. With the job market being the way it is, there are many working librarians who are forced to take on more and more responsibilities for the same pay, and who are expected to take care of it all in the same amount of time.
As an example, Michael (whom I mentioned in my previous post) told me about how his elementary school's librarian is only there for half of the day. The other half of the day is spent at another school, and parents who volunteer fill in as best they can while the librarian is out. Sure, it would be great if the school district could afford to staff the two libraries separately, and perhaps interested parties should do all that they can to help that become a reality, but we can't confuse the reality we wish for with the reality we have. By doing so, we would be saying to librarians like the one at Michael's school that we are abandoning them to their fate. The reality of the situation is such that e-readers could be an incredible benefit to employed librarians who are finding themselves shouldering much more responsibilities than they ever anticipated. Think about how much easier it would be to manage two libraries if the collections consisted mostly of e-books. It could be done from a single computer and, presumably, would be equivalent to managing a single collection. Students would not need to physically check books out and it would not be necessary to ask for parent volunteers to staff the library, which is better for everyone as parents have less and less time these days outside of work.
As with many aspects of the relationship between librarians and technology, we must keep in mind that change happens; it is not something we can avoid or that we can prevent. It is our job to look at the changes which are taking place and take advantage of them in order to benefit our patrons and our profession. Yes, it is a shame that librarians are having a difficult time finding employment. We are not the only ones, however, and we cannot use technology as a scapegoat. What we can do is recognize the prevalence of e-readers and use them to provide the best service we can for our patrons and, as I think many of our blog posts show, there are plenty of ways for librarians to use e-readers effectively.
Team Hedgehog blogs about the effects that eBooks and eReaders are having on the LIS professions.
This post, and the previous related one, really interest me as I am considering a career as a school library media specialist. I definitely think in some cases, ebooks and ereaders could successfully be integrated into schools, particularly at an older level. I think it would be great, for example, to have textbooks on ereaders that could possibly be updated for less money than purchasing a whole new set of physical books every year or so. However, I definitely see some drawbacks to incorporating ebooks and ereaders at the elementary level.
ReplyDeleteAt the elementary level, we have to consider how children develop their reading skills. Will ereaders allow children the same large fonts, vivid pictures that help them figure out what the words on the page are, and space to run their fingers line by line along the words in the book? I don't think so.
ereaders are meant to be small and compact. With this size constraint, it seems hard for me to imagine them serving the same purposes as physical books. I doubt they will ever make an ereader "Big Book", or manage to provide the same detailed, vivid illustrations that a children's picture book has to offer.
I may be being cynical, but I think that pushing ereaders/ebooks in schools is not always appropriate. Technology may save us money and space, but it also can diminish some of the valuable features that physical formats have to offer.
-E.H.
I will admit that, when I spoke with the two teachers for my previous post, I was surprised at how they felt towards introducing e-readers to students at such young ages. I agree with you that it may not be appropriate, but I do think that it is going to happen. I suspect it is only a matter of time before many of the issues that you listed (vivid pictures, large fonts, etc.) are taken care of. I can definitely see companies marketing digital devices like tablets or e-readers specifically to parents.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, though, I think that the biggest reason e-readers might not catch on at the elementary level is the tendency of children that age to be a bit destructive. E-readers would save schools money on replacing worn-out materials, but and e-reader is much more expensive to replace than a paper book that a student might have damaged accidentally.
Good point on the destructive nature of children. :)
ReplyDeleteWe also need to consider the costs associated with providing an ereader to every student in the classroom (because we all know kids have a hard time sharing). Schools are having enough difficulty right now just trying to fund the basic things. When we can't afford enough paper and pencils for our pupils, should we really invest so much in technology?
I understand that, in some cases, electronic formats can last longer than their traditional physical counterparts, but with the wear and tear associated with young student use, we may only see these ereaders lasting 2-3 years in a given classroom. To me, at this stage, it just doesn't make sense.
-E.H.