School libraries nowadays are essential for fostering critical appraisal of information, information supply, and broader digital literacy (Tait et al., 2019).
Library media centres have changed a lot in their collections, supplemented books with multimedia collections, and are currently gathering digital collections that are available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. The print collection gets more vivid and smaller as the digital collection increases in size. The time that was previously spent on maintaining, reshelving, cataloguing, and rotating the print collection will now be directed towards keeping the digital collection up to date and available seven days a week. The expansion of digital collection is leading to a shift in roles towards Chief Information Officer and Information Coach (Loertscher, 2002).
Digital resources provide the opportunity to use critical thinking skills and provide information for a variety of inquiry-based learning tasks. Today’s libraries use new technologies such as 3D printing, robotics, marker spaces, gaming, and recording suites to enhance learning and creativity (Tait et al., 2019).
There are some pros and cons for digital collections that need to be analysed by a TL before including them in the collection. Digital libraries respond quickly to curriculum changes. It reduces the need for staff time spent following up on returns. Moreover, it has more affordable options for users and more freedom for members to access off-site collections. On the flipside, digital collections have less visibility and complicated licencing and negotiation (Mitchel, 2016).
As social media and “fake news” have grown in popularity, libraries and school librarians have an even greater responsibility to give students access to actual, reliable data and to educate them on how to find, identify, and present that data’s supporting evidence. Knowledge of research on digital learning and reading will assist TL in reshaping the library in order to compete with online technology and stay relevant in the 21st century (Pawlowsky & Ryan, 2016)
References
Loertscher, D. V. (2002). Digital and elastic collections in school libraries: A challenge for school library media centres. School Libraries in Canada, 21(4), 3–4.
Mitchell, P. (2016). Digital collections.
https://www.slideshare.net/pru_mitchell/digital-collections
Pawlowsky, S., & Ryan, T. G. (2016). The 21st-Century School Library: Perpetual Change or Evolution? International Journal of Educational Reform, 25(1), 38–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/105678791602500103
Tait, E., Vo-Tran, H., Mercieca, P., & Reynolds, S. (2019). Don’t worry; a school library with fewer books and more technology is good for today’s students.April2, The Conversation: http://theconversation.com/dont-worry-a-school-library-with-fewer-books-and-more-technology-is-good-for-todays-students-114356