kids talk about libraries

Kim Leeder at In the Library with the Lead Pipe posted an article a few weeks ago on the topic of Vision and Visionaries. As part of her introduction, she compares two blog posts by school librarians in Georgia, each interviewing their respective students on the topic of "What makes a library a library?"

One of the librarians is at a high school.

The other is at an elementary school that goes up to grade 5 (download huge file with students talking and a very interesting slideshow).

Leeder notes that the elementary students are focused on resources and the high school students were focused on atmosphere and social interactions. You can read the rest of her summary if you want, but I hope you'll check out the original sources. It is always interesting to hear what patrons have to say.

I don't think these voices represent the way every high school or elementary school student thinks about and uses libraries, even in Georgia, or even in those schools. If we are willing to believe that the librarians didn't edit much out, and faithfully reported everything they had permission to use, then I think the two sets of student responses shows that distinct groups of people can have distinct different experiences of "library".

I love that Leeder, an academic librarian, uses the mouths of babes to open a discussion of vision in libraries. It's not just that some of those kids are going to be college students someday - sure, sure, I believe the children are the future - but rather, that each person's experience with libraries today, and in the future, is heavily influenced by their personal history with libraries: did the library help them in some way? Were staff friendly? Were they made to feel that they belonged?

Will a student who comes to our virtual reference serivce from a library that is full of resources have a different experience than one who comes to us from a library that is a place where people quietly hang out? Are we prepared to serve both students well?