Cushing Academy, in Massachusetts, has made the decision that they don't, and that the future for school libraries is digital - ebooks, databases, portable devices, the web.
The result? Their new digital library is the hub of the school, with increased use and the need for more librarians to help students effectively navigate the digital world. Cushing hasn't thrown away its paper holdings - they have been redistributed to relevant departments within the school. But the library itself has been reborn, digital.
I admire them for so completely accepting the challenge of technology. One of my primary goals with Harrow students is to have them being information independent (and information authentic) by the time they leave school. I define this as their being able to access, interpret, present and acknowledge authoritative information - which increasingly means, electronic information. By exposing students so fully to digital information, and scaffolding that exposure with thorough, expert advice from information professionals, Cushing Academy is surely going to meet that goal in a way that is highly relevant to success in the 21st Century.
But I also agree with the dissenting voices in the debate. I believe in, and love, the stillness of the page. Reading a book is, I agree, a singleminded process - there is only one tab open. Books are not, thankfully, connected to the grid. Tactile, silent, pleasurable, lovable, dog-eared - books are the primary reason that I am a librarian.
They are not, however, the primary reason that all students come to the library. Some want to read The Hunger Games, or Bear Grylls, or Charlie and Lola. Some want to game. Some need to print last night's homework - now. Some want to watch Youtube, go on Facebook, browse car image sites. Some want to do research. Some want to talk to their friends. Some like the air-con. Some feel happy and safe sitting alone in a chair reading Asterix. Some read the papers, or Time magazine. Some need help. Some want to do Mathletics. Some want to....
Which I guess is my point. I think Cushing Academy, with an end-goal of information independence in the digital age, has done the right thing. But I want Harrow library to not just be about Electronica, with a capital E. I don't want it to just be for research, or even research and ebooks. I want it to be for research and reading and being social, or being alone, for surfing or lying prone in a beanbag, reading Meg Cabot or The Great Gatsby for the first time. I want you to come here and connect, charge up and fearlessly onwards. But I also want you to be able to come here and disconnect, to power down, to look, slowly, quietly, longingly - backwards, or sideways, or yes, even forwards.
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