Doug Johnson

The last of the “book-only” librarians
Head for the Edge, Nov/Dec 2011

A while back I did a workshop for a conference called Spotlight on Books up “nort’” here in Minnesota. It was a very nice conference that focused on … wait for it …. children’s and young adult books.

Like the hundreds of such conferences held each year, there were book authors, book presentations, book signings, book sales, book talks, book-themed apparel, bookmarks, book groupies, and people reading books – even the old paper kind. My long-held experience is that one really doesn’t want to stand between a book lover and a book and live to tell the tale. Book lust is as much a religion as anything.

So what the heck was I doing there?

When the organizer asked me to come do a workshop, I warned her that any expertise I may have had in kid-lit was long past its sell-by date. I only read adult books, find the majority of stuff written for non-adults somewhat tedious, and wouldn’t recognize J. K. Rowlings if she came up and bit me – which I admit is highly improbable. But the conference planners assured me that I would have plenty to talk about that would be of interest to the “bookish” attendees.

So my workshop addressed three “challenges” both school and public libraries are facing: digital publishing and the rise of e-books, online intellectual freedom, and digital copyright/fair use issues. And as sort of after thought, I threw in a little section on how the reading experience can be enhanced with technology.

As it turned out, the “after thought” was the most fun part of the whole afternoon. I shamelessly stole exciting ideas I had been watching our district’s librarians doing and had reading about on Anita Beaman and Amy Obert’s Reading 2.0 site  <tinyurl.com/readingtech> site and from Joyce Valenza’s Reading 2.0 slide show <tinyurl.com/reading2-0>.

There are just dozens of really interesting things that librarians who work with kids and books can do to generate interest in books, enhance the reading experience, and help kids share their reading experiences. These are among the more popular ideas.

• Author and fan websites. Young readers like know more “about the author” and the Internet is rich with resources produced both by the authors themselves, their publishers and their fans. Want to know what’s next in a favorite series? Check the author’s page. Want to read more about a favorite character? Check the “fanfiction” often written by other young readers. Clever librarians find ways of helping students easily locate these materials by pasting printed lists or QR codes in the backs of books or by adding links as a part of the electronic bibliographic record..
• Sharing sites. Making reading a social activity no longer means just having a weekly book club meeting. Using free websites like Shelfari or a feature in a library automation program like Follett’s Destiny Quest, students can record what they’ve read, write recommendations, share their recommendations with other students and discuss books online.
• Library/student productivity tools. Book “reports” take on a whole new look when readers are allowed to use multimedia tools to generate creative responses to books. Using Glogster, Animoto, poster makers, digital image editors and dozens of other often free tools, students can communicate through sight and sound as well as in writing.
• Library review/promotion webpages Good library sites, of course, promote good books. But the best homepages hook readers through slideshows, videos, widgets, and podcasts - generating interest in print through media. Creative librarians do surveys and polls on book related topics using free online tools like GoogleApps Forms and SurveyMonkey.
• Virtual author visits. Author visits can generate a lot interest in books and reading, but unless only local authors come to the school, such visits may not fit a library’s budget. But it is far less expensive to bring an author in virtually using Skype or other interactive video program. Check out the Skype an Author Network website to help you get some ideas.
  

During the workshop, I had a small epiphany - one I am sure most of you, dear readers, had years and years ago:

You can’t be a professionally competent librarian, even if your area of expertise is literature, if you can’t use technology tools in your work.

Tech’s no longer a “nice extra” - it’s a vital set of tools, skills and understandings you need to master if you want to provide the services kids deserve.

Librarians who fail to recognize how technology can support their goals and use it – even if reading and literature is their primary love - are as incompetent as a doctor who can’t use a CAT scan, an accountant who can’t use a spreadsheet, or an engineer who doesn’t use CAD/CAM.

Like it or not, there are no more “book-only” librarians.

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