The idea has been expressed in many ways over the previous several years – overhaul, reform, revolution, and now a reboot – but however it is put, the facts it describes are still the same: the American higher education system is in need of some drastic and immediate changes if it is to continue to remain competitive in the global marketplace and produce graduates ready and willing to become the pillars that support and grow the nation’s economy.

Although there are a number of challenges facing the higher education system in this country, according to Steven Bell writing in Library Journal, the three mains hurdles seem to be the ever-increasing cost of attending college, the stagnation that keeps many universities from breaking with the status quo, and a failing primary and secondary education system that leaves its graduates unprepared for college-level academic work.

All these issues were brought up and discussed recently during the Summit on Higher Education hosted by Time Magazine. In all, 100 leaders of academic institutions and higher education experts gathered together to discuss the steps colleges and universities need to take in order to ensure continued success. The matter of finances got a lot of air time, with many attendees admitting that out-of-control spending by many schools — often with the goal of raising their prestige to become more attractive to the best potential students — is forcing them to recoup these expenses by continuously raising tuition.

Whatever you think of those three themes, and there’s no mistaking that higher education has other significant challenges—retention, accountability, athletics, adjuncts, deferred maintenance, just to name a few—it’s clear that the vast majority of colleges and universities have substantial opportunity for change and improvement. It would be hard to claim that academic libraries, as with other academic support services, contribute to the overall problem. Maintaining our resources certainly adds to the escalating cost of tuition, but much of that is owing to circumstances beyond our control.

Bell issues a reminder that university libraries, some of the most useful resources made available to students and faculty, have an important role to play in the higher education revolution. Over the years, they’ve continually set an example of fiscal responsibility by weighing the pros and cons of the allocation of each dollar from the budget. They have also been strongly committed to expanding access to academic publishing to more people both on and off campus .

They’ve also led the way on digital innovation and have embraced the integration of information technology into their domain.

When academic librarians demonstrate the value of their services and the institution’s return on its investment in the library in research dollars or student graduation rates, the assessment effort helps all of higher education to achieve greater accountability. Despite these positive contributions to a better, more effective higher education, academic librarians know they can’t rest on their laurels. Higher education is headed for a reboot, and we will want to be right there helping it along.

The post To Survive, Does Higher Education Need to Embrace Change? appeared first on Education News.

Neal McCluskey, the associate director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, believes that the 30th anniversary of Banned Book Week is an excellent opportunity to evaluate how government control, even when it is benign, could prove to be a force for curtailing freedom rather than preserving it.

As librarians around the world talk about the pointlessness and destructiveness of playing gatekeeper to literature, it behooves us to remember that they themselves serve as gatekeepers of a sort by using their power to select the books that make it onto the library shelves to shape how we think and what we learn.

It seems hypocritical to try to take away the power of community members to decide which books are suitable and which are not while reserving this power for libraries, schools and other government entities. Even the choices made for the best of reasons and with a goal of expanding access to knowledge can still serve to influence the opinions and perceptions of a large percentage of individuals — even more so because few realize to what extent their views are shaped by the choices made for them.

Allowing the government to act as an arbiter of taste in this way also disenfranchises people who disagree with these views. Since library books are purchased with tax dollars, taxpayers who hold different opinions are put in a position to fund speech they do not support.

Ironically, one of the main reasons public schools and libraries exist – at least to hear their advocates explain it – is to advance “democracy,” a rhetorically powerful term generally used to imply some sort of egalitarian, unified society. But the effect of having government buy books – much less require children to read and report on them – is to divide diverse people, not bring them together. It forces them into war with each other, to see who can gather the most political clout and have their values advanced by the government for which they all must pay.

It is true that words like “democracy” and “freedom” have often been co-opted to describe systems that are anything but democratic or free. Yet, shouldn’t the hundreds of protests lodged against books – which are meticulously logged by the American Library Association, the organization which originated and sponsors Banned Book Week – be considered an expression of that freedom rather than an attempt to stifle it?

The solution is to take government out of the equation entirely, says McCluskey. Charter school libraries are stocked by educators themselves rather than via government mandate. And that is just the way it should be, he says. It only remains to offer the same kind of freedom to librarians by stopping government funding for libraries.

For libraries, the answer is to move away from public control and toward civil society: people freely choosing to support libraries that lend at no cost to patrons and are open to the public.

The post Cato: Libraries Bigger Threat to Freedom than Banned Books appeared first on Education News.

A lot has changed in the 18 years since Sue Reinaman first took over the reigns of the Northern High School library. Back then, the venerable card catalog was the still the main tool for looking up a subject, with several CD-ROMs serving as an insufficient backup. Today, students who are researching a topic make use of one of seven online databases — and more and more of the library’s budget is going towards digital tools including e-books. But what hasn’t changed in the nearly two decades is the library’s main function: to serve as a repository of information that students are then taught how to use “efficiently and ethically.”

Northern is lucky. The district has defied the trend set by others in the area of saving money by cutting library resource budgets and staff. No Northern librarian lost their job this year, unlike in the nearby Shore School District, where half of its 12 library staff positions were eliminated due to budget cuts.

Ryan Argot, the district spokesman, said that a large chunk of the library budget is now going towards digital resources. The procurement staff is also looking into any tools that would allow each librarian to fill the needs of a larger number of individual students. Libraries on the elementary and secondary school level each have a staff of three librarians.

“Especially at the elementary level, libraries are an important component of what schools do to ensure students read proficiently,” Argot said, adding that school library programs help students find research materials and teach Internet safety, in conjunction with regular classroom teachers.

Northern wasn’t the only Pennsylania district to prioritize libraries in its budget. East Pennsboro Area School District wasn’t able to preserve all its library staff positions, but it managed to preserve most of them, with only one librarian spot eliminated as a result of budget cuts. Also, as a concession to fiscal reality, the elementary school librarians cover two schools each, traveling between campuses during the week while middle school and high school have their own staff.

In the past, the librarian was more of a selector, protector and preserver of materials, Katie Siwert, one of the elementary school librarians, said, sharing books and fostering a love of reading.

“Today, a school library-media specialist is more of a discerning cultivator matching their patrons with the print and digital resources to meet their information needs,” she said.

Computer labs are connected to the libraries in both elementary schools, Siwert said, so students can immediately apply the skills she teaches them.

The fact is that even when they first begin to do research for school, many kids already have a rudimentary working knowledge in the use of the popular internet search engines like Google — and that is both a good and a bad thing, according to Siwert. She said she finds it necessary to remind students not to always be so trusting of the search results, especially when searching for factual information. Knowing how to locate and consult reliable sources remains a key skill that libraries need to impart to their charges.

The post Even While Changing Role, Libraries Serve the Same Functions appeared first on Education News.

Starting this year, K-12 schools around the country will be able to take advantage of an on-demand eBook lending service offered by Minneapolis-area’s Brain Hive, LLC. The service, called Brain Hive after the company that originated it, will offer unlimited access to a book collection valued at over $100,000. Each student at a participating school will be able to borrow a book without there being a limit on the number of copies allowed to circulate at one time. In exchange, the school will be billed $1.00 for every book taken out.

Schools can join the program for free, and since the service was first announced this June, more than 100 schools from all over the country have already declared their intention to join. The company expects that hundreds more will also sign up over the next several months.

The lending program was developed in partnership with Impelsys, one of the largest electronic content delivery specialists. Brain Hive will be the first eBook rental service that operates on the on-demand model rather than on the model currently being used by library eBook providers like OverDrive which limit the number of copies of a book an institution is allowed to lend out at the same time. Signing up for Brain Hive will allow schools to supplement their own library collections with thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles including teaching resources, printable activities and Accelerated Reader quizzes from Renaissance Learning.

Brain Hive includes titles from respected children’s trade and school library publishers including Random House Children’s Books, Open Road Integrated Media, Charlesbridge Publishing, Lee & Low Books, Lerner Publishing Group, Andersen Press USA, Gecko Press, The Creative Company, The Kane Press, Red Chair Press, and Stoke Books. Brain Hive will release dozens of new titles and bring on new publishers every month offering a dynamic, continually updated content library for schools.

A program like Brain Hive seeks to exploit the gaps that exist in the eBook market, especially when it comes to issues of accessibility, availability and affordability. By signing up for Brain Hive’s a-la-carte mode of book lending, schools don’t have to spend their limited dollars stocking their libraries with books that the students won’t need or use. Instead, money will only spent on books that students actually check out and read. An on-demand borrowing program allows schools access to a huge selection of books and materials without the attendant investment risk.

“With Brain Hive, you pay for what you use and buy just what you need. It’s an out-of-the box and creative pricing model that sets a new standard.” said Carolyn Foote, district librarian, Eanes ISD in Austin, Texas, and Brain Hive advisory team member.

Brain Hive was designed for use in school and at home using a web browser. The service is compatible with PC and Mac computers, as well as Android tablets and iPad® which has seen tremendous growth in the school market. Brain Hive will also have a native iPad® eReader App available for free download in the Apple App store

The post Brain Hive Launches On-Demand eBook Lending Service appeared first on Education News.

As part of its 2012 Target School Library Makeover program, Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Target Corp will be renovating libraries at 32 elementary schools around the nation. In addition, the 118 libraries that have already been part of the Makeover program will get additional reading resources for both teachers and students.

The renovation projects will be done in partnership with The Heart of America Foundation and in addition to improved facilities that will include bookshelves, carpeting and furniture, their collections will be expanded by an infusion of 2,000 new books. They will also benefit from a complete technological upgrade that includes new iPods for the patrons and staff to use.

“At Target, we understand that a quality education can empower and prepare children to become the leaders of tomorrow,” said Laysha Ward, president, community relations, Target. “Through the Target School Library Makeover program and collaboration with partners, educators,parents and caring adults, Target hopes to pave a path to graduation for more U.S. children.”

The company is planning to spend $12 million on the refurbishment, in addition to donating the work of its in-house design and construction teams, and employee volunteers. The effort goes towards fulfillment of the company’s commitment to spend $1 billion improving education nationwide by 2015.

In addition to transforming 32 elementary school libraries, Target will show its continued support of the program’s previous library makeover recipients. Target plans to provide $1.5 million in reading grants to more than 100 of these alumni schools. The remaining schools will benefit from a literacy pilot that Target is launching in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. school districts. These districts were chosen based on in-depth research from third-party experts. The literacy program is an addition to a pilot that was launched at six Minneapolis elementary schools in 2011 and is focused on improving reading proficiency by the end of third grade.

Target School Library Makeover isn’t the only program aimed at schools. Those selected to participate will also get an opportunity to take advantage of the Target Meals for Minds food pantry which is the company’s effort to improve academic outcomes by combating childhood hunger. To achieve this, Target partners with local Feeding America affiliates to distribute fresh fruit, vegetables and other staples to the participating schools on a monthly basis.

The post Target Corp Names 32 Schools to Get Library Makeovers appeared first on Education News.

A library in Charlton, MA has taken the extraordinary measure to collect overdue books from children – by bringing in the police

Many local parents believe that the library has crossed a line.

One Charlton mother recalled the moment when police were sent to collect her daughter’s overdue library books, with her 5-year-old girl so afraid that she burst into tears.

Shannon Benoit received the visit to be informed that her daughter had two books several months overdue which needed to be returned or paid for.

“I thought it was way overboard,” says Benoit.

“I closed my door, I looked at my daughter and she started crying.”

Her daughter, Hailey was upset and confused, thinking that the police had come to arrest her.

“I was scared,” she said.

Shannon subsequently found the books and returned them to the library, but she believes that sending a police officer to their house was like “pounding a ten penny nail with a sledge hammer”.

Even the officer that made the house call, Charlton Police Sergeant Dan Dowd, admits that he wasn’t particularly keen on the procedure.

“Nobody wanted to, on this end, to get involved in it,” says Sgt. Dowd.

“But the library contacted us, and the chief delegated, and apparently I was one of the low men on the totem pole.”

It seems extraordinary, but the police decided to make the call, as state law does in fact outline a misdemeanor for such things, and a “friendly reminder might make a better impression and get better results than a cold summons to court,” writes CBS Boston.

However, Shannon and her daughter are adamant that they still haven’t received any written warnings.

The post Library Sends Police to Collect Overdue Book from 5-Year Old appeared first on Education News.

A new report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has analyzed services, staff, collections and expenditures of academic libraries

The report has found that, across the board, e-books and electronic resources are on the rise in our academic libraries.

Some of the highlights of the report includes:

• Approximately 158.7 million e-books and 1.8 million electronic reference sources were held in academic libraries in 2010
• $152.4 million was spent by academic libraries on electronic books,  serial backfiles, and other materials
• Expenditures for electronic current serial subscriptions totaled about $1.2 billion in 2010
• Almost three quarters of academic libraries would advocate virtual reference services
• During the fall of 2010, academic libraries were recorded as having 88,943 full time members of staff

This comes after an interview with Molly Raphael, President of the American Library Association on  how libraries across the United States need to adapt as they are threatened with closure or having significant cuts made to their budgets.

“Rapidly changing technology, adequacy of financial resources, and changing demographics are three major issues facing libraries,” said Molly Raphael.

“Communities are experiencing major shifts in demographics, which require new approaches to meeting community demand.  Libraries have to adapt services and often have spaces which limit their abilities to offer effective services.”

Keeping libraries central in people’s lives is a priority for Raphael, and this must mean adapting to technologies and trends.

“If a community is a middle class community where lots of people have e-readers of some kind, there is likely to be far more demand for e-books than there is in a lower income community where people may come into the library to use the computers because they are dependent on the library to provide access to e-resources and the Internet.

“Libraries need to engage with the local community and what are that community’s needs and aspirations, and look at what else might fit with the community as well.”

The report on academic libraries is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences.

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How must the role of the school library and the school librarian evolve in the 21^st century school?  Our time is an information age.  There are many unique challenges we face related to information such as accuracy, ownership, accessibility and privacy.  Lifestyles are more hectic than ever, which means we feel the need to process information faster. It seems more often than ever we hear concerns about the lack of media literacy.  Whom or what can we trust?  Both formal and informal sources of information have been challenged.  What does this mean for our children?  Naturally that depends on the kind of society we want to create.  However, I think we would all agree that it is essential we help our children navigate and interpret the vast complex pool of material they are exposed to so as to make informed judgments both as users of information and as future creators of information.  Has there ever been a time in our history more crucial for kids to have the right kind of support?

I had the pleasure to chat with Carl Harvey, President of the American Association of School Librarians about the SKILLS Act (Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries) among other things related to the impact of 21^st century school libraries on the educational process as well as college and career preparedness.

Carl, what are the issues facing 21^st century school libraries?  

I think the biggest issues facing school libraries are the same issues facing education as a whole: budgets and funding.  I think schools are grappling with those issues on every level.  We are trying to get the funding that we need for collections, staffing and other resources.

I think there is also a perception that if we don’t have the paper books then we don’t need the library or the librarians in schools.  I think it’s flawed logic.  Information is changing its format; yes, it’s online, it’s an ebook, it’s a book you can download onto an iPad, but it’s still information.  Kids need to know how to evaluate it even more so now than before because there is much more of it.  Kids need to be able to determine whether it is useful or valid information.  Librarians take the lead in helping educate students through the information jungle, and with even more sources and formats, the role of the librarian becomes even more critical.  So even though paper books are becoming less prominent, the skills needed are even more advanced than what was needed before. School librarians are critical to helping students navigate through this information explosion.

What are the important changes 21^st century school libraries need to make to continue to attract their student audience?

I think school libraries are looking at ways that kids can work in small groups.  Libraries are not a quiet place anymore.  There are lots of activities and classes going on, including instruction, checking out materials, bringing in special speakers, bringing in the community, letting the kids perform, and setting up a café or a special place like that.  Libraries are always looking at services they can provide to their patrons.  I think the other thing that is the big draw is that when you come to that library you also have that librarian.  You have someone you can quickly go to for help in terms of facilitating your project.  If a kid is off somewhere by himself, he may not have that support or service.  And so I think all those things combined create a place where kids want to go.

What will 21^st century school libraries do as digital books become more and more accessible?

I think we will do what we’ve always done each time we got a new format, such as audio books and video tapes.  We figure out what is the best way to provide those types of resources for our patrons.  What is more difficult with ebooks is the vast amount of different readers that are out there.  It is therefore a more complicated issue to figure out.  Right now you are seeing different pockets of people trying different things to try and figure out what might be the best plan, and I don’t know that the best plan exists yet.  We have a product here called myOn Reader which uses ebooks from a library publisher.  We also have Playaways.  We also have ebooks from other publishers’ catalogs, so there are many different things which we are exploring, trying to see what might be the best system.  At this point it’s all still new and people are trying to figure out what the best model is going to be.  We have students with many different devices (or no devices), so how do we make sure the resources we’re purchasing can work on a multitude of platforms and devices?  How do we provide access for students who don’t have devices?  Lots of issues to consider.

So if I asked what is the timetable to opening library doors to a digital library what might your response be?

There are school libraries that are already doing that but there is not a consistent way across the country that this is being done.  We’re asking ourselves: what are my patrons asking for? That’s what we need to figure out.  It’s in process.  Ebooks is a very hot topic in our field at this point.

Why is the Skills Act so important?

(Note:  The Skills Act was conceived to help improve student achievement by ensuring more students have access to effective school library programs that will allow them to compete in today’s information age.  The Skills Act would provide more funding to enhance library programs such as digital literacy instruction for librarians, increased staffing levels in school libraries, better co-ordination between librarians and teachers, and reducing the “access gap” between schools in wealthy communities versus those where there are high levels of poverty.)

When “No Child Left Behind” was passed, school libraries were not mentioned at all in the legislation.  Our hope with the Skills Act is to put school libraries in and be recognized as a vital part of the school ecosystem and as important educators in the school system.  The Skills Act asks that government support school library programs so that they support all students.  We are trying to paint the picture of what a 21st century school library should look like — a digital collection with digital resources as well as print.  We’re trying to get some funding for school libraries targeted from the Federal level.  For more information: http://www.ala.org/aasl/congressionalbriefing

Any final thoughts on 21^st century school libraries: why are they such an important part of our culture and why must we continue to support them?

I think all libraries in general provide their patrons access to information whether online or print.  That access is a core value.   School librarians are also teachers.  And so their role is to help students figure out how they get through all of the information that is out there.  How do I figure out if this is valid?  How do I figure out if this is relevant?  As information continues to explode, there is a limit as to how much content school is going to be able to cover in K through 12.   Therefore, we have to provide our kids with processes and systems to deal with all the information they are going to get beyond the content that they get in school,  so that when they leave us,  they can find the information they need for their job and figure out how to use it effectively.  I think that the school library’s place is to help with that process.

Carl Harvey and C. M. Rubin

(Photos courtesy of Carl Harvey and Henmead Enterprises, Inc.)

In How Will We Read?, join C. M. Rubin and globally respected thought leaders each week as they explore the future of reading.

How Will We Read? Community Page

C.M. Rubin has more than two decades of professional experience in development, marketing, and art direction for a diverse range of media businesses. She is the author of the widely read on-line series, The Global Search for Education, and is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.  

Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld

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Although one of the positive aspects of the digitization of our world is an increased access to information – Wikipedia, anyone? – Christopher Mims, writing for Technology Review, believes that the slow but steady growth of the e-book market is putting up a barrier to learning, especially for financially disadvantaged people who depend on libraries for their reading needs. Once purchased, electronic books cannot be either loaned or sold second-hand, and most publishers even limit the number of times a library can loan out a book. Furthermore, in order to read ebooks, a consumer must purchase a rather expensive secondary device which might prove to be a hurdle too high for poor kids to overcome.

Public libraries are considered a vital resource, which is why, Mims reminds us, they are funded by taxpayer dollars. With the recent announcement of agreement between libraries and Amazon that will allow Kindle owners to borrow books for the first time, it seems all but inevitable that ebooks will make up a large chunk of a libraries’ catalogs in the future. What Mims doesn’t clearly explain is why that would be a bad thing. Though he writes longingly of the first experience of discovering a book, a tactile memory of running fingers over the worn spines or being handed a ragged paperback by a beloved relative, he ends up trading nostalgia for an actual argument. It isn’t for nothing that his piece is subtitled “Could Abraham Lincoln have become president of the United States in a world in which poor children lack access to physical books?” Harking back to one of the most famous of American stories of “a poor boy makes good,” will surely resonate with almost any American reader.

Almost. Stephen Downes seems entirely unconvinced. If Mims’ point is that ebooks will restrict people’s access to information, Downes thinks exactly the opposite. He argues that ebooks will allow greater access in part because their proliferation will lower costs of storing and preserving paper books. Projects like the Community Access Point will allow anyone possessing an internet-enabled reader to get access to countless books online. All of this, according to Downes, for a price of that it would have cost Lincoln to purchase just a single book.

Don’t be fooled by the publishers’ last-gasp locked-down ebooks. They aren’t the future. Open (or at least, very inexpensive) access is.

The post Will E-Books Stifle Progress With Literacy? appeared first on Education News.

Research Libraries UK, which includes the Russell Group university libraries, as well as the UK’s national libraries and Trinity College Library Dublin, have told Elsevier and Wiley-Blackwell that they will not renew their current deals when they expire at the end of this year unless the concession is made, writes Paul Jump at the Times Higher Education.

Big deals involve libraries paying a blanket fee for electronic access to a publisher’s entire journal catalogue. They were initially welcomed by librarians when they were first introduced a decade ago.

However, David Prosser, RLUK’s executive director, said consistent above-inflation price increases and the current squeeze on library budgets meant that big deals were accounting for an ever-greater proportion of libraries’ budgets and were no longer affordable.

If the libraries cancel their big deals they intend to make savings by buying only high-use journals from the publishers. Articles from lower-use journals will be shared between them in an electronic version of an inter-library loan.

Dr Prosser admitted that the publishers might react by putting up the price of high-use journals, but predicted that such a move would fall foul of competition authorities.

He said he expected that libraries would already be talking to researchers about the titles that could be dropped with the least impact.

“It is not a question of whether we drop journals, it is a question of which we drop,” he said. “In my view it is better to drop low-use titles bundled into packages than to drop medium-use titles from smaller publishers outside big deals (so that we maintain) a healthy publishing environment with a wide variety of publishers.”

RLUK also wants publishers to quote prices and price rises in sterling so that library budgets are not affected by currency fluctuations.

“If you are spending over £1 million a year on one big deal those fluctuations can be quite significant,” he said.

Usman Ali, vice-president for higher education at the NUS, said:

“For too long private publishing companies have been getting away with gouging universities on journal costs. It is time the publishing companies made themselves accountable to the wider academic community in the UK.”

The past few years have seen a growth in the provision of electronic resources in both academic and public libraries, writes Linda Ashcroft in her article ‘Ebooks in libraries: an overview of the current situation’ for Australia Policy Online.

“While there is much activity in the ebook market, the situation regarding ebook provision is less stable. The nature of provision is fluid, both in terms of the type of ebooks provided and the means of access. An ebook survey in 2002 found that 62 per cent of student respondents would prefer to use their textbooks in electronic form to save carrying heavy books and to take advantage of the enhanced functionality of ebooks.”

Later, in 2004, Abram commented that “some medical and dental schools have gone whole hog to purchase e-textbooks”. Also in 2004, research found that the most highly subscribed ebook subjects in UK higher education institutes were engineering and science based subjects writes, Ashcroft.

Currently the ebook market has expanded with many types of ebooks available – textbooks, reference books, fiction, etc, and with various forms of software and reading devices, writes Ashcroft.

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