For the setting in which I work, I would much prefer my students to use books, for the simple reason that the depth of knowledge that they need to have on Ancient History (I teach secondary high school history) is simply not covered by on-line material. If I do let students use online resources to study from, they struggle with digital literacy and have a tendency to believe that the internet has the answer to everything. In a library context, for the teacher, a well-maintained lib guide and subscriptions to resources such as click view and various podcasts would be a godsend. However, I can see that the upkeep and development of this across the high school curriculum would necessitate at least one more library employee. I do not consider there would be much problem with access to subscriptions, as all of my students have a device.

This need for subscription based resources is a results of the TAFE NSW Collection Policy, where at the moment, textbooks are not supplied to classes or teachers. I understand that this is due to the high prices, additional work involved in stocktaking, as well as content changing quickly. I have noticed especially with history books covering indigenous Australians, they have become quickly out of date, especially in terms of new interpretations of ancient Australian life as well as terminology.

In an ideal world, my class would have access to a comprehensive textbook, along with the accompanying subscription plus subscriptions to appropriate resources which could be clearly linked to their work by being included in details for their assessments. At this point, this would take a large part of the TAFE library budget, as well as work, effort and time.