NY Times: "In Lean Times, Schools Squeeze Out Librarians"

“In Lean Times, Schools Squeeze Out Librarians”
Source: NY Times

Reports from:

• Pennsylvania
• Oregon
• Illinois
• New York City

From the Article:

In New York, as in districts across the country, many school officials said they had little choice but to eliminate librarians, having already reduced administrative staff, frozen wages, shed extracurricular activities and trimmed spending on supplies. Technological advances are also changing some officials’ view of librarians: as more classrooms are equipped with laptops, tablets or e-readers, Mr. Polakow-Suransky noted, students can often do research from their desks that previously might have required a library visit.

“It’s the way of the future,” he said.

The thinking that it’s all online and always as always as easy as entering a few words is a MAJOR problem. Plus, analyzing where info comes from, it’s currency, etc. is more of an issue today than it has even been before.

What do we need to do to get people–in this case educators–to understand the importance of digital info literacy and that it’s much more than going to a search engine, typing a few words, and clicking a button?

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, Reports, Resources, School Libraries