Addie, a recent graduate of SI and a full-time school librarian in Indiana, came to class last week to chat about school libraries. She offered a lot of interesting insight on the future of school libraries, the role of professional development, and job search strategies. Like the other librarians we have had the opportunity to meet in this class, Addie seemed to be a model school librarian. Not that I am complaining, but I wonder how "average" the experience of the librarians we have met are in comparison to other (non-SI?) school librarians (or even school librarians not in Michigan or Indiana).
Following Addie's visit, we discussed intellectual freedom and what it means within the school library context. While I think the implications of information access policies can be felt in any grade level, some of the gray area in collection development seems particularly problematic in high school. How can educators balance meeting students' information needs and interests with creating a collection (online or offline) that is not offensive or liable to bring about complaints?
Of course, much of the issues around intellectual freedom deal with online materials and social networking. I am still quite interested in the idea of digital citizenship and encouraging students to make their online presences reflect their in-person presences. I'm not sure how this can be done or why students feel that the internet is somehow not "real life." It seems much less probably that students would engage in the same behaviors--blatant plagiarism/cheating, taunting/name-calling--offline as they do in the virtual world. Hopefully, as students realize the illusion of anonymity is just that, they will become more conscientious of their online actions.
I agree - I think a lot of kids don't think that what they write on the Internet is "real" or carries as much weight as an in-person conversation does. We need to worker harder with this up-and-coming generation to make sure that they understand; it's real and it counts.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest concerns about young adults and adolescents is that they do portray themselves differently online, and may end up exposing themselves more than they realize. I became concerned a few weeks ago when the ladies from Ann Arbor came and discussed taking that out of their policies. I just don't think it's something that should be taken lightly, so I'm very interested in this topic as well.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that students should not create alternate identities online. They should be taught internet safety so that they will feel comfortable being themselves online without giving away too much information about themselves. Hopefully this will encourage healthy online true identities now, and pave the way for future responsible adult online users.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, adolescents portraying themselves differently online is one of my pet peeves. Especially since I am related to one who has made herself older (significantly so) on Facebook and posts in a manner that is usually fairly disturbing to me. If a future employer were to get ahold of her Facebook page, I can see some eyebrows being raised. Ugh, I could go on. It's so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteI think that we got a taste of what non-SI librarians are like when we went to MAME...
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