Comments on: Thoughts on Schools and Libraries

By: thedonofpages

thedonofpages — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:25:39 +0000

We are members of society. To fit in to that society, certain basic skills are required. We learn these basic skills through structured training, such as schooling. Hardly anyone wants to be constantly told what to do. It’s a lot more fun to pursue one’s own subjects of interest. Sir Newton said something about standing on the shoulders of giants. We can generally reach farther toward our own subjects of interest because those basic skills pounded into us are the foundation that gets us above the dirt ground. Only if we are permanently tied flat to that foundation will it usurp our curiousity. A simplistic using of libraries is one of those skills we learn. A realization of the possible uses of libraries as a tool is something we must understand for ourselves. If we are truly searching for some specialized knowledge, the path will probably take us through some libraries.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:44 +0000

To me, it sounds like the difference is being told what to read under a specified time period as opposed to reading on your own within your own time periods. Not that you wouldn’t read the same amount or more within the time period, but that you are doing it for yourself.

This does sound like a good example of structured and unstructured learning.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:50:48 +0000

For myself, my love of information is what brings me to the library. It’s a living organism that grows and contracts, fluid in its movements and structure, and feeds on the curiousity of humanity. I like searching for things as well, figuring out their subject headings, and getting the right piece of data to someone. I’m a people person, so working with the general public is rewarding (…most of the time). For us, we not only get to ask the questions we want to ask, we get to answer them as well.

I think the better Devil’s advocate argument would be that the library doesn’t provide the support for people to foster their own independent curiousity. What we would regard as being ‘respectful of the customer’s privacy’ by leaving people alone in their browsing, we could take a step towards them to see what they want. In my own experience, walking the floor and saying hello or seeing if people needed anything has resulted in people asking questions that they probably wouldn’t have asked in the past. Whether it is for additional authors, works, subject books, I have actually heard the words “I’m glad you came by” from these smaller encounters.

If anything, we need to be more proactive in our approach to customer needs rather acting like we are the caretakers of the “bank of knowledge”.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:31:54 +0000

That’s a great quote. I think the more memorable of teachers that we remember later on are the ones who did something that stood out from all of the educators that we had before. The ones that made you get up and move around, to look at the world differently, or shook things up.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:23 +0000

I don’t see it as a phobia, per se, but as an aversion. That is, if it doesn’t fit into the model of the learning process we have become accustomed to, then we avoid it.

And while life is full of unstructured learning experiences, I think the library is enough of an educational institution to remind people of their school days. I’m not talking that people have PTSD when it comes to schooling, but that they have similar approach when it comes to the library.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:05:36 +0000

I’ve thought about this a lot lately as I recently went back to graduate school. I love learning and I love reading, but it never fails that once I get back into a classroom, all of that passion gets sucked right out me. It’s a terrible thing that school can take away one’s passion for learning and reading. It should be the opposite, right?

But is it the structure that does this or the emphasis on fulfilling learning objectives? I don’t know. I wish I could figure out so I could find joy in learning again. I honestly cannot wait until this semester is over so I can pick up a science book or a history book on my own and fall in love with reading again.

By: Librarian in Real Life

Librarian in Real Life — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:01:47 +0000

Hi there!

I like this idea. I really do. I had never thought of it that, but it makes perfect sense.

but juuuust to play Devil’s Advocate …

Do you think that this says more about our peculiar “learning style” than that of most people? If you think of the way that most librarians process information, we seem to absolutely THRIVE on chaos. Most librarians are almost painfully geeky, have a natural curiosity, and enjoy stocking the meatspace in our brains with every useless bit of knowledge from the Schwarzchild radius of V4641 Sagittarii to the unladen air speed of the European swallow.

I know damn well that when *I* was going to grade school, I couldn’t bear the structured, regimented system of learning. When I went to a library, I could just turn myself loose and absorb all the information I could find. This is what started me on the long, hard road of library science. Oh sure, there were plenty of people at my school who probably LOVED the comfortable predictability of the modern United States School System, but I couldn’t stand it.

Who knows how many of my fellow students would have made wonderful librarians if they just knew how absolutely liberating library science could be!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:32:03 +0000

Very interesting…. I think our education system not only hinders natural curiosity, but also prevents truly gifted teachers from doing what they do best, authentic teaching.

One of my favorite professors includes this quote at the beginning of the syllabus for each class he teaches:

I feel sorry for teachers who are required to spell out precise “learning objectives” long before a class begins so that they can measure their own “effectiveness.” I feel sorry for their students, too. Education dominated by preconceived images of what must be learned can hardly be educational. Authentic teaching and learning requires a live encounter with the unexpected, an element of suspense and surprise, an evocation of that which we did not know until it happened. If these elements are not present, we may be training or
indoctrinating students, but we are not educating them.
Parker J. Palmer, The Active Life, 74-75

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:00:08 +0000

Interesting point. I think in a lot of ways schools are designed to teach us how to be cogs in the machine. Arts programs are the first to be cut because they’re not considered practical (read: job-oriented). Most schools crush intellectual curiosity and creativity in favor of order, discipline, and conformity, IMO. Hence the development of “library phobia.” :0(

By: pcsweeney

pcsweeney — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:12:47 +0000

I think this is very right on and highlights a significant problem in education as a whole, not just public school. I’ve been around both and for the most part, the way the students are taught are fairly similair.