The fundamental tenet of ThinkWing Radio is that “Education is a prerequisite for a democracy.”

The article below is one of a pair that I’m posting, because I see them as steps away for this ideal rather than toward it. I believe that they are classic examples of seriously misguided attempts at being ‘leaders’ in the use of educational tools in the information age which will contribute to further degrading our already teetering public (and even private, apparently) educational system in this country.

Culling out-of-date books from a library is a reasonable and useful practice. Science books from 1995 would be a good example of books that are in dire need of updating.

But the dismantling of a library of books, and replacing it with a few computers, lots of e-books and a for-profit coffee shop?! (Yes, it’s run by students, but the idea is still to make a profit off of other students, at the expense of library space.)

Let’s not even talk about the wrongheadedness of addicting kids to caffeinated coffee!!

This article and the one I’m posting after it make some good points about why these ‘upgrades’ are bad ideas: Not everyone has a laptop; not everyone has internet at home; not everyone has a Nook, or Kindle, or whatever. I’ll make some others: Not all worthwhile books are available as e-books; many worthwhile out-of-print books are now available only in the old print versions remaining in libraries.

Last year I wrote an article for TGDaily.com which addressed other concerns I have about the current state of e-books.

I don’t know how we can prevent these seriously misguided ‘educators’ from taking us down this road, but someone needs to figure out a way.

Mike Honig

PS: I suggest going to the actual article to read some of the comments. I’ve included one below The range from informed and thought-provoking to frightening.

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http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/11/lamar_highs_library_ousts_book.php

By Margaret Downing, Tue., Nov. 23 2010 @ 9:00AM

We love the smell of burning literature in the morning.

Just adding a coffee shop to a neighborhood library so people can feel like they’re in Starbucks and ultra hip was apparently too passe a trend for Principal James McSwain of Lamar High School.

Finishing up a week ago, McSwain has thrown out nearly all the books and filled the space they were unnecessarily taking up with couches and coffee and food and told his students that they can access the exciting world of reading through e-books! And if they don’t have a laptop of their own and Internet access to do so, they can use one of the laptop computers in the library coffeeshop!

He’s even expanded the library coffeeshop hours to 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. which works great if you’re one of those kids with your own transportation and not one who is too young, too poor or with rotten parents who won’t let you drive to school yourself rather than riding the bus.

And he’s bought 35 new laptops! For a Houston ISD flagship school with more than 3,000 students in it.

A veteran educator who visited the school a few weeks ago said most of the books were already gone by then. “There were a few down one side. They assured me they’re getting rid of those as soon as they could. The plan is to turn the whole space into a coffee shop run by students.”

Students will be able to access places online such as Questia, an online resource facility where you can get articles about anything that you want, she told Hair Balls. There’s books online, too, but as she put it, the selections are limited. Her reaction:

“I was appalled. I was stunned by the whole thing I can’t imagine what he was thinking. I’m assured this is old school thinking and we should just appreciate that they’re not old school thinkers.”

The change, she said, was “designed to impress the new superintendent [Terry Grier] with the forward thinking nature of that particular principal at that particular school. ”

She said she was told one teacher who had kids after school working on their volunteer hours was asked to send them to the library to “get rid of the books.” She said he asked what they meant and “They said they didn’t care; just get them out of here.”

“He couldn’t bring himself to throw away books. He said it didn’t seem like a good thing for the kids to do. They got somebody [else]. My impression was that most of the books were thrown away. Some of them may have been donated.”

Hair Balls tried to reach McSwain; he would only speak to us through HISD Sarah Greer Osborne. This is what she told us:

“The school library has been updated. It’s got a lot of new electronic equipment. Most of it’s e-books and new laptops and they’re putting their money, instead of into paper, they’re putting it into electronic resources.Yes, there are still books there but most of it is now e-books where the kids can check out the book and as long as they have Internet access they can read the book. The library is now open from 6:30 to 6:30, a.m. to p.m., and he says the kids are eating it up; they have never seen so many kids in the library before. They only did this a week ago and he says the number of e-books being checked out is through the roof.

He says the kids love it. They did put coffee and food in there so the kids when they’re staying after school and before the kids can have a little coffee, read a book it’s just like Starbucks. Except they’re providing the books as well. The kids are eating it up that’s what they want. They want the e-books.”

The veteran teacher wasn’t as excited. “It’s just stupid. It just boggles the mind. I’m sure there’s more to the story and I’m sure that they can make it sound better than I’m making it sound to you but in the end it’s a terrible story. There’s no way in my mind that you can gloss this story and make it seem like a good idea.

“There’s no way to get hold of a book on the campus to read for pleasure or to use to write a paper. If you don’t have access to a computer of your own then you have to compete for one of the computers that are in the coffee shop. And you have to find a way to get it done during the time the coffee shop is open.”

The teacher said the whole thing breaks her heart; but she can walk away from it. At least she’s not the Lamar High librarian, whose library has been “repurposed” (a favorite educator buzzword these days), presiding over a coffee shop with all those swell couches.

Tags: books, HISD, Lamar High School, library, Terry Grier

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Supplemental Links:

Emily says: Here is a piece on the project from the River Oaks Examiner. This provides some insight from the library about why the change is being made. http://www.hcnonline.com/river_oaks/news/article_74f77bcc-f737-5a57-a35d-1344b89227c5.html

As a librarian I completely understand the need to provide more access to ebooks. Similar projects have occurred at private institutions http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/05/boston-prep-school-nixes-all-the-books-in-its-library-replaces/ – The difference being that these schools may provide better access to the equipment needed to use electronic materials.

This discussion about the need or desire to switch to only electronic resources is going on all over country in many different types of libraries.

It will be interesting to see how this project pans out. It can become a dangerous situation for librarians as our role as knowledge navigators is replaced by Google.

Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 23 2010 @ 1:20PM