Is it tomorrow yet?

Our grandsons are here for the Fourth of July weekend, and the younger one (the evil ninja on the right with the hopefully clean underwear on his head) woke up early with a lot on his mind.

"Nan, is it tomorrow yet?  Or it it later?  Because we were supposed to go buy fireworks then!"

Guess what, fellow librarians and educators? It is tomorrow, and it is later. The 21st century is here! Are we ready?

SLJ Summit 2010

I had the privilege of attending the School Library Journal Leadership Summit 2010, The Future of Reading, last week in beautiful downtown Chicago.

It was fabulous.  I'd never been to Chicago, so I was able to stay over on Sunday and take the beautiful waterway architecture tour, ride the GrayLine all over the gorgeous city, and see fireworks over Lake Michigan at night.  I will cheerfully admit that one of the highlights was riding the subway for the first time ever (Yep, I'm a green gal from the country).

Oh...and the Summit was great too!

Dr. Brian Kenney and his staff at SLJ did an amazing job of planning, and no mention of the Summit would be complete without thanking the sponsors: Capstone, Follett, Gale Cengage, Junior Library Guild, Mackin, Rosen, Safari Montage, and Scholastic.

It was a wonderful learning experience to network with about 250 library leaders from around the nation and to listen to library consultants, professors, and gurus in the field.

Among the distinguished speakers were Stephen Abram, Tom Corbett, Peter Gutierrez, Steven Bell, Karen Cator, Paul Zelinsky, and Patrick Carman.  Wow.  And that's only the beginning.  You can peruse the full program here.

The Summit has provided lots of food for thought...

What teens want (Abram)
*they prefer fiction in print
*often can't afford an eReader
*don't Tweet but love Facebook
*get fiction recommendations online
*don't often need help from librarians but will initiate contact if needed

Joyce Valenza admits this time of change and transition for libraries leaves her with many questions and some confusion.  We're in pretty good company, huh?

Tom Corbett updated us on Cushing Academy, one year later.  Basically, Cushing kept all fiction, nonfiction volumes that had been donated, and art books.  They donated the rest of their print collection to other libraries and used the additional space for flexible study in this 1 to 1 laptop campus.

What can we learn from this 21st century library?  As the amount of available information grew, the amount of information in their library shrunk.  Kind of blows your mind, doesn't it?

I loved Peter Gutierrez and his belief that the present of reading (as opposed to the future) is student interest.  Connect kids to text by helping them connect text to self and the world.

Speaking of text, what about eReaders? The Carnegie Corporation proposes nine recommendations for eReaders such as operating system compatibility, standard core and innovative features, and reader personalization.

After spending lots of time talking with library leaders, it was gratifying to come to the conclusion that for now, at least, eReaders are not feasible for our libraries due to price, copyright limitations, and purchasing restraints.  We will continue to explore web-delivered fiction ebooks and audio books, but in the meantime, we will purchase them in physical media.

Like Cushing, but albeit in a slower, less dramatic fashion, we will gradually reduce our nonfiction and reference in favor of online resources and ebooks.  Sticker shock prevents us from moving more quickly.

Teens from the University Laboratory High School in Illinois who attended the Summit reinforced these decisions as they spoke of their preference for print fiction and textbooks but online reference material.

There's tons more, so if you you want the play-by-play for Summit, check out the Twitter feed, #sljsummit10.

For me, the Summit solidified the belief that the future of reading is changing.  It's not a leisurely, stroll in the park kind of change, but a subway-rushing-down-the tracks kind of change.  Jump on, librarians.  It promises to be an exciting ride!

The future of reading and libraries

Things I believe...

1.  Nobody knows the future of reading and libraries.
2.  There will always be people predicting doom and gloom.
3.  Budget woes come and go.
4.  Libraries date back to hundreds of years BC and will likely be around many more centuries.
5.  Reading is more important than the format of the book.  If printed books eventually get squeezed out in favor of digital formats, we'll still be reading.
6.  Education is slow moving and school library budgets are slim.  So while school libraries may move toward online and digital formats, especially for reference and nonfiction, traditional printed books will be around a long time.
7.  There's a difference in libraries merely surviving and libraries being vital.
8.  Librarians are that difference.
9.  A few critical things to vibrant libraries:  relationships, service, willingness to share knowlege, meeting students and staff where they are, and keeping current.
10. If we hold on to the 20th century model, we'll be alone in our quiet libraries!