The Future of Libraries

Currently, I am working with my 5th graders to create podcasts that advertise a book they have read and liked.  As I struggle through this process with each successive class, I can't help but think back to the coursework I took to become a school library media specialist and wonder at how much the job has changed since then.  I mean, podcasting didn't even exist!  Now, it seems almost second nature for my students to go to technology first when producing something.  The last time I tried to get them to create a poster by hand, it was a disaster, but introduce them to Glogster, and I get interesting results.  The ability to use technology is replacing the ability to create by hand in many of my students.

Will it be the same for books, I wonder?  I introduced Playaways (which are basically audiobooks on MP3 players) this year, and they have been in continuous use.  While I cannot deny their popularity, I wonder if students are getting from them what they can get from text.  Do they listen once and move on?  Are they actively involved or passively accepting the story?  What happens when they don't understand something?  Do they use the same strategies we teach them to use with the written word?  Maybe, hearing the words actually leads to better understanding, since the reader can add all the inflections and emotions, but is that making them better readers or just better listeners?

So, what is the compromise between text and technology?  Is it readers like the Kindle or the Nook?  I have to admit, I am intrigued by those machines and by the idea that I could carry hundreds of books in my pocket. If that is the direction we head, what should the library of the future look like?  I imagine there will still be some  actual books, but we wouldn't need as much shelving.  More machines, maybe?  More space for students to work independently and in groups?

I see the library as becoming the center of all exploration, so it would need to include all types of technology, be they paper, machine, or something yet to be imagined.  It would need to be a flexible space, where shelves and tables can be moved to create large and small group areas.  Whatever it looks like, it needs to be a place of activity, where students are constantly interacting with others in their quest for understanding and entertainment.  If a library is not a center of active learning, if it remains a place where students are expected to be silent and work alone or where their access to and use of technology is limited and controlled, its place as part of the future is in question.