A Muse in the Cloud

photo by Alun Salt

Aristophanes would, I am sure, find much material for a rewrite of The Clouds based on my readings about collection management models. It would seem that in the future we teachers and TLs will be spending our time in lovely collaborative chats about what materials the teachers would like to have, assuming the TL can drag him/herself away from the consultations with local public libraries and community interest groups that seem to be a crucial element in collection development. Not that any of it really makes any difference because it's all about rapid response to student demands. We're simply here to guide them to an online expert, not to teach them anything.

Well, perhaps I am being unfair, but it seems odd that Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2006) should describe the traditional collection management model as being time consuming, but replace it with something that sounds infinitely more so. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't dare knock the value of collaboration. It's probably a hanging offence at least. But is this Collaborative Access Environment a model grounded in reality? Is there really value in consulting with everyone from the cleaner to the little boy who lives down the lane? Frankly, who has the time?

More to the point, there needs to be someone in the school who is the resource expert. They seem to think teachers are all experts in what is available for their areas. Hah! Anyone who has worked in a school environment knows that teachers have no idea what is available until it is thrust under their nose, and unless you tell them what's in it and how to use it they'll more than likely have forgotten about it by the next day. They are snowed under with planning, assessment and reporting, not to mention teaching. They really don't want to be burdened with selecting resources for the library, no matter how great it sounds in theory. Why should TLs be so keen to abandon an area where they can still be a respected expert?

This sounds a bit ranty, and I am not a reactionary traditionalist, but I don't think we should get carried away with ourselves. Yes, we should try to consider outside opinions in resource selection, but ultimately the school library is there to meet student curriculum needs. Teachers will look to the library for quality resources just as they have always done.