No one would argue if you stood in front of your peers and made the bold claim that today’s students spend more time accessing information online than in a physical book. Some may even be brave enough to suggest that many students may not have visited the reference or non-fiction sections of the library for quite some time. Increasingly, students and teachers are relying more on digital information resources in the classroom.
On the surface, this seems reasonable given that we are living in the digital age. However, it does present a dilemma for teacher librarians. How best to support teaching and learning in the school context through the curation of digital and print materials? What balance between the two should be achieved? What considerations need to be made about formats when purchasing resources for the library?
Librarians need to consider the purpose of the purchase, the cost of the collections, and issues surrounding the library’s physical and virtual space.
Do we, or don’t we?
It really comes down to purpose, cost and space.
The decision to purchase digital or physical resources must start with what purpose they will serve. How will the resources help teachers and students? The role of the TL is to ensure that teachers have what they need to teach, and students what they need to learn. Digital reference and non-fiction materials (atlases, databases and dictionaries) are increasingly moving online. For teachers this means that the learning opportunities that previously required a trip to the library can now be maximised in the classroom. Students are also able to access reliable information at home and in ways that meet their specific learning needs.
Digital collections provide a greater capacity to differentiate for reading and cognitive levels, as well as incorporate accessibility functions for students with specific learning needs. The library’s Collection Policy must include these factors as key considerations for which format of material to purchase.
Cost is another key consideration when choosing resources for the collection. Although digital resources are convenient, they are also expensive. As is replacing out of date and damaged physical books. A library’s budget for books and resources will ultimately determine which decisions are made – we wish it wasn’t so! The school’s views on either owning resources or simply accessing them also relies on financial constraints. While physical books are a one-off cost, digital resources often come as subscriptions that must be renewed if access is to continue.
The final key consideration is physical space. Most school libraries cannot afford to dedicate generous shelving to non-fiction material. Space is always limited. This is particularly true as libraries are being transformed into collaborative spaces for innovation and creativity. More space is being used for 21st Century learning tools. This means less physical shelving if the space doesn’t change to meet that need.
Whether a school library purchases digital or physical formats (or a mix of both) really depends upon what the format needs to achieve, how much money the library has to spend, and how much space they have to play with.
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