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List:       publib
Subject:    Interesting Article (fwd)
From:       plib2 () sunsite ! berkeley ! EDU (PUBLIB)
Date:       1997-03-28 18:39:55
Message-ID: Pine.SOL.3.91.970328153932.23091E-100000 () sunsite ! Berkeley ! EDU
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 16:55:35 -0800
From: James B. Casey <jimcasey@lib.oak-lawn.il.us>

School libraries -- of which there are many more than public libraries
-- should provide after school study possibilities and supervision.
(In Oak Lawn, school libraries outnumber public library 18 to 1.)
Since school libraries close promptly at 3:30 PM or 4 PM on weekday 
afternoons during their 9 month year, kids from dozens of schools remain 
at loose ends until their parents come home from work or must crowd into 
the public libraries to overwhelm the one or two public librarians who 
are scheduled to work to 9 PM.  The latchkey problem poses a major 
opportunity for libraries to promote library use and to enhance library 
literacy.  BUT the schools must finally exert themselves to keep school 
libraries open and give the public libraries a hand.  If the school
libraries do nothing after 4 PM to support library service to kids, the 
public libraries have to do everything.  

As for the parents, they are working long hours (both spouses) to
earn the money to pay their taxes and thus to pay our salaries.  
They aren't asking us to "babysit" but to give them a hand and
provide decent hours of library service so those among their kids
who want to use a library can do so rather than just be forced to
go home to watch TV, play volley ball, wander the streets, join gangs,
or flock to the already overcrowded public libraries.  

There are kids who would use the school library after class or on
late afternoons if given the chance.  If school library doors and
services are locked away, that chance to learn and grow is cut off.

James B. Casey - My views as a public librarian and member of ALA 
Council.


Steven Dunlap wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 27 Mar 1997, marykchelton wrote:
> 
> > Of possible interest from one of our MLS students.
> >
> > Mary K.
> >
> >
> > >Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 16:58:20 -0600
> > >Sender: owner-SLIMStu@esunix1.emporia.edu
> > >From: "George" <george@qni.com>
> > >To: "SLIMstu Listserv" <SLIMStu@esunix1.emporia.edu>
> > >Subject: Interesting Article
> > >MIME-Version: 1.0
> > >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> > >X-Priority: 3
> > >Status:
> > >
> > >I wanted to share this with those who don't regularly read Katz's rants.
> > >It looks like he's going to start an interesting series about libraries.
> > >
> > >Georgeann Haynes
> > >http://www.qni.com/~george
> > >
> > >----------------------------
> > >from:
> > >     http://www.netizen.com/netizen/97/12/index3a.html
> > >accessed 27 March 1997
> > >
> > >Library Wars, Part I:
> > >The Librarian'sDilemma
> > >              Media Rant
> > >
> > >Here's a situation, unfortunately not hypothetical, to be pondered by those
> > >who, like me, sometimes grow smug in our attitudes toward censorship and
> > >free speech and access to information. This is a real-life puzzle, complex
> > >and confounding, emailed to me by a real-life librarian named Dan who
> > >experienced it.
> > >
> > >"Yesterday, I was walking across my department (the children's section) and
> > >some guy [sitting at an Internet terminal] has a huge picture of an erect
> > >penis on his screen. I asked him to turn it off, and he refused, saying he
> > >had a First Amendment right to look at it, and if I didn't like it, it was
> > >my problem. Help me! I love the Net and want kids to get on it. Our policy
> > >is that only when a person complains do we suggest to somebody using the
> > >computer that they move along. In this case, nobody complained. I'm not
> > >really worried about minors, who seem to be more interested in online chat
> > >rooms than pornography. I'm more concerned about adults." Then Dan added
> > >this chilling comment: "We had a pedophile researching the other day."
> > >
> 
> Perhaps you could restrict use of computers in the children's room to
> children?  This is not out of the question.
> 
> It would be nice if you could restrict the children's room to children
> and those adults accompanied by children but then you have the lone adult
> looking for books for a child not present.
> 
> > >We need those equalizers. Tutoring in a middle school recently, I attended
> > >a class on crustaceans. One eighth-grader had downloaded research tracts,
> > >pictures, and diagrams from the Maine Department of Wildlife, as well as
> > >several university and other Web sites. She had printed out color pictures
> > >of fishermen and fishing boats and lobsters. She had also printed out a
> > >score of research sources, including photographic government survey maps of
> > >lobster beds.
> > >
> > >Most of the non-wired kids in the class had traced pictures of lobsters or
> > >drawn crude sketches with pencils on yellow legal lined paper. They
> > >couldn't match the presentations of kids who had worked online. The teacher
> > >was near despair. "God, how am I supposed to grade these kids?" she
> > >wondered.
> 
> Who's to say that the kids who did the tracings, etc did not learn as
> much or more about crustaceans as the ones who downloaded pictures?
> Tracing and sketching are more "hands on" and more work.
> 
> > >
> > >So the question before us is, How can we bring the value of new technology
> > >to the public without setting the stage for a battle between free-speech
> > >rights and public standards?
> > >
> 
> Supervise the children more closely.  Yes, it's more expensive.  But as I
> stated in a thread a year or so ago ("It's a library, not a playground)
> the same politicians whose policies and legislation (i.e.: Prop 13 in
> California) created latch-key kids try to censor internet in order to
> protect all those children who surf unsupervised because both parents
> work.  As another librarian (who's name I've forgotten) pointed out: what
> about after school programs and intramural sports?  What I read between
> the lines of the netizen article is that parents use the library as a
> free baby-sitting service and then flip when their children get exposed
> to something nasty on the net.
> 
> > >Next: Count on politicians and journalists to make things worse.
> 
> Well, that is their job isn't it? ;-)
>            ~~
> 
> Steven Dunlap                          Golden Gate University
> Regional Campus                        General Library
> Services Librarian                     536 Mission Street
> sad@crl.com                            San Francisco, CA  94105
> 
> "If you accept his assumptions, even a madman sounds reasonable."
>                           ---Russian Proverb


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