— Fall 1996 —

ECIS Annual Conference in Nice Acropolis,

France (21-24 November, 1996)

However will we "top" Munich

The May conference hosted and organized by the ECIS Committee on Library and Information Service was called "Libraries in International Schools: Meeting the Challenges." The challenge that we now have to meet is to continue to host and participate in even ts that match the extremely high standards set by the conference at the Munich International School. With nearly 100 participants from around the world, the conference was marked by excellent speakers and workshops, high-quality social events, and a top-r ate exhibition of goods and services by some of the leading firms in the field. Certainly the two Keynote speakers alone would have been worth the trip. The remarks by Gwilym Huws are echoed by his excellent article on the back cover of this newsle tter and provide much food for thought. Gretel Schurer gave an excellent introduction to German literature for children and young adults, which was complemented by the display and sale of books by a local Munich bookshop and set the tone for one of the real treats of the weekend: the Internationale Jugend Bibliothek. If you weren't able to join us in Munich, try to someday visit this International Youth Library, housed in a historic lake-side castle, with research, storage, and exhibition fa cilities that enable it to fulfill an important role in the study and promotion of quality children's literature. Conference participants were treated to especially informative guided tours, including a stroll through the massive, underground, archival va ults. Another undisputed highlight of the event was the Gala Dinner hosted by SIRS at one of Munich's most elegant and historic hotels. And, although the conference organizers can't take any credit for it, there are few sights that match the majest ic view of the Alps from the Starnberg train station!

The seaside promenade and picturesque old harbour of Nice are majestic, too, but the sight that really takes one's breath away is the printed programme listing the Library and Information Service oriented workshops and presentations that make up part of t he ECIS conference. Certainly Carol Kuhithau is one of the most influential practitioners in the field of Information Literacy today. The workshops of the poet and author Paul Janeczko should also prove equally rewarding. Other workshops wil l look at topics ranging from storytelling to the Internet. In addition to the Friday-Sunday programme, SIRS and Winnebago are both holding one day training/support sessions on Thursday. Both plan a special mailing to their regular custome rs, but feel free to contact them if you want further information (or The Link, if you need contact names and addresses).

And what visit to France would be complete without fine food? The Committee is once again arranging its ever-popular librarians' informal dinner evening. On Friday, November 22nd a special evening has been organized at the Restaurant Patin Couff in, in the old town of Nice, near the cathedral. A special, typically French menu has been arranged, and vegetarian options are available. As in years past, you need to reserve ahead of time (sorry, no last minute reservations are possible), and (to k eep costs down) information about the evening will only be mailed to those who request it. If you are interested in taking part in this special evening, please contact (for details and prepaid reservation form) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:

Krysha Papillon, Upper School Librarian, American School of Paris
41, rue Pasteur, B.P. 82, 92216 Saint-Cloud Cedex (France)
phone: (33) (1) 4112 8297, fax: (33) (1) 4602 2390

More Food for Thought

Les Droits Imprescriptibles du Lecteur

Bruno Costemale, French teacher at the American School of Las Palmas (Spain), has drawn our attention to a wonderful book by Daniel Pennac called Comme un roman (Paris: Editions Gallimard/Folio, 1992), which seems suitably Gallic to warrant mention in this issue of The Link. With a preface note from the author begging the reader not to use the book as an "instrument de torture pedagogique," Pennac sets forth 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader, which every librarian or teacher working with readers (or emerging readers) should have taped on the wall above their desk. They are:

1) The right to not read, 2) The right to skip pages, 3) The right to not finish a book, 4) The right to reread, 5) The right to read anything, 6) The right to "Bovary-ism," a textually-transmitted disease (read t he book! this one's hard to translate. Ed.), 7) The right to read anywhere, 8) The right to sample and steal ("grappiller" ditto the above. Ed.) 9) The right to read out-loud, and, 10)The right to be silent.

Updates

Gossip

In addition to seeing so many colleagues at the Munich conference, it was delightful to see them in such a good mood_due, no doubt, at least partially to all of the raffles, draws, and door prizes! Among the many winners were the Frankfurt Internati onal School, who will get free processing on their next order from Follett Library Resources. Carolyn White (I.S. Paris) won the impressive World Nature Encyclopedia, and Gretel Schurer (J.F.K. School, Berlin) took home an extremely hugg able Clifford the Big Red Dog stuffed toy from Scholastic. Barbara Kinsey came all the way from Oman to win a multimedia package from AIMS, as well as a quilting library from NTC. Germany's Black Forest Academy was a multiple winner, too, ta king home the delightful "Bears for Books" reading promotion materials from LFC, as well as a "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" book and toy. Bears are big in the Black Forest, apparently!

School Libraries

Ask and Ye Shall Receive...

Jacquie Tarr, a secondary school teacher at the Windhoek International School (Namibia), is looking for information about Study Skills, to help them establish constructive guidelines for IGCSE pupils.
Barbara Noels, librarian at the Antwerp International School (Belgium) is looking for ideas for teaching automated catalog skills.
Sarah Yates, St. Stephen's School (Rome, Italy), is curious about policies and procedures for student access to the Internet. How is it organized, and who pays the phone bill?
What's YOUR Experience? Write to them, but also to us, so we can share with colleagues in other schools who may be facing similar issues and problems.

The Feature Article

School Librarians in a Time of Transition: Threat or Opportunity?

Gwilym Huws, University of Wales (Aberystwyth)

I make no apologies for re-visiting the theme raised by Dr. Carolyn Markuson in her Feature Article in the Spring 1996 issue of The Link ("From Clay to Copper: Some rejoicings and some caveats"), as it is becoming increasingly obvious that the pace of cha nge in microcomputer and telecommunication technology has already begun to transform the workplace and will accelerate even faster during the next few decades. As more and more people gain access to increasingly powerful PCs, and the vast store of informa tion they are able to provide through the Internet, these developments will radically alter much of our work and leisure This is why it is no longer possible for school librarians to ignore technological developments, as these are about to transform the r ole which they will need to perform to survive.

Of course this is not the first momentous change of its kind in the history of Western culture. For example, the invention of print had a dramatic and far-reaching impact on European society in the fifteenth century_an impact which has been sustained for over five hundred years. One of the lessons of that invention is that both the new and old communication technologies co-existed happily for quite some time. Paul Staffo, a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Future, aptly described the society we ar e living in today as one belonging to the moment in time "between two revolutions_one of print, not quite spent, and another of electronics, not quite underway." Although the printed book as we know may eventually disappear some time in the next century, both print and digital technologies will exist side-by-side for several decades at least. This is why Staffo believes that the main challenge for the foreseeable future is maintaining print technology on the one hand whilst exploring the potential of the "paperless media" on the other.

It is in the context of this transitional period that we should consider the challenges facing school librarians over the next few decades. The most formidable challenge will be to decide the nature and range of products and services offered. Naturally, w ithout a clear vision of the roles which the school library can perform for the benefit of its users, it will be difficult to produce a meaningful plan. Hopefully our education and training as information specialists will ensure that we will be prepared t o provide the necessary vision and leadership in developing effective services to meet those needs. Of course, translating the vision of the school library's role in preparing young people to exploit the whole range of print and digital information sources is only possible if there is adequate time and resources to implement them. A major task therefore will be persuading the school's Senior Management Team that the "major challenge" for the information age school is to educate children for living and learning in an information-rich environment"(1), with the school library playing a central role in achi eving this goal. The plethora of information sources found in the transitional school library's collection ought to be sufficient evidence to convince educators of the key contribution which the school library might play in developing autonomous learners. More than ever before we will need to project an enthusiastic and pro-active approach to avoid being marginalised from this central role of developing students' learning skills. One of the difficulties with this is that so much of the school library's pr ofessional activity takes place out-of-hours and is not visible to other members of the school community (2). To overcome such an obstacle it will be essential to plan effective methods of marketing the school library and its services. As a profession we cannot afford to undersell ourselves if we are to survive the challenges ahead.

Another challenge facing school librarians during this transitional period is in collection management. Academic libraries have for some time been learning to grapple with the dilemma between information "ownership" and "access." No doubt those of you wor king in International Schools will already have made some difficult choices between purchasing the CD-ROM version of the print copy of certain titles (e.g. encyclopedias). With the development of the World Wide Web such decisions will become increasingly commonplace by the beginning of the next millennium.

There is conflicting evidence regarding the likely shape of school library resource centres by the second quarter of the next century if the shift from "ownership" to "access" gathers momentum. Indeed, some would go so far as to predict the end of the sch ool library resource centres and other types of libraries as separate physical entities. The scenario of everyone having direct personal access to the Internet to meet all their information needs has been extensively hyped by the media during the past two years as something which is just around the corner. Fortunately, our experience as information workers who are aware of the current limitations of the Internet as an information resource know full well that this claim is ill-judged, and that students wil l continue to rely on print formats for much of their learning and for information for the decades to come. This is why I have deliberately avoided discussing the concept of the "virtual school library" or the "school library without walls" in this articl e: I feel that the main focus for practicing librarians for the next two decades is to address the immediate problems presented by the need to supply an effective service through a wide range of formats.

Whilst acknowledging the threat that digital technology will pose for school libraries in the next century, our generation is blessed in having to evolve strategies to address the problems of dealing with the needs and expectations of library users throug h a period of transition between two major cultural epochs_one dominated by print and the other by digitized information.

In many ways the personal qualities and competencies required to manage school libraries through this time of rapid change present the biggest possible challenge for the profession and those responsible for their training. As school librarians are increas ingly expected to provide expert advice and services to help users to exploit both traditional and an ever-expanding range of new technologies, there should be appropriate training opportunities to support them. Schools for their part must ensure that the re is both time and funds available so that library staff are able to take advantage of such opportunities. Professional bodies such as the ECIS Committee on Library and Information Services are able to perform an effective role in this respect through th is newsletter and conferences such as the excellent one held in Munich last May. Also some ECIS librarians have taken advantage of part-time university degree courses, such as the masters and undergraduate degree courses offered through distance learning at the Department of Information Studies at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, as an effective way of gaining professional development to meet the challenges of managing school libraries in this time of transition.

Notes:

1. Carol Collier Kuhithau, "The process of learning from information," School Libraries Worldwide 1(1) 1-12, p.1.
2. John Royce, The perception gap: a study in the disparities in perception of the role and work of professional school librarians. (M Lib dissertation, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1995).