Congratulations to teacher-librarian Judith Comfort for a fabulous website and presentation at the BC Library Conference on her Open Access School Library.
Excerpt:
Open access, open mind
Teacher-librarians are needed more than ever.
Open Access has exploded online and captured the imagination of librarians, scholars, and students on a global scale. But how much of this has filtered down to school-age children?
Push open the door of the bricks-and-mortar school library. The place is abuzz with kids packing so many batteries, screens & wires that the security gate screams in protest. Gone are the study carrels as teachers expect collaboration amongst students.
Comment: Judith Comfort points out that teacher librarians are needed more than ever in the internet age, and I agree. While there is more information readily available on the web than anyone could ever read on virtually any topic, students need skills to know what to do with this information - basic literacy, information literacy, and media literacy skills. How to read, interpret, and evaluate the information. In the knowledge age, we will need knowledge workers, and this includes teachers, and librarians, of all types.
Thanks to Convenor Janet Mumford. This post is part of the Canadian Leadership in the Open Access Movement series.
