A Century of Change

 Lamb, A. (2015). A century of change. Knowledge Quest, 43(4), 62-70.

I recently read a great article by Annette Lamb entitled A Century of Change. In it, Lamb (2015) takes us through the last 100 years of school libraries from 1915-2015! She starts with an introduction about an article which ran in the September 1915 issue of Library Journal called "the best-equipped and most up-to-date high school library to be found anywhere in the country." The article referenced the library at the Girls' High School in Brooklyn. By today's standards, their lantern sliders and Victrola records would look like something in museum, but at the time, it made their collection stand out! At the time, they were one of the few libraries whose offerings went beyond print books to give patrons more options in accessing other types of materials.

Lamb (2015) notes that “the past century has seen tremendous changes in school library resources. However, the mission of school libraries has remained the same (p. 63).” She adds that school libraries have sought to both meet the needs of students while also fostering a lifelong love of reading. The article goes on to offer a mini library history lesson and highlight the changes in the following areas: instructional resources, books, information collections, visuals, audio/video, computers and access.

Instructional Resources
The article points out that school libraries were becoming more widespread in the early 1900’s because of a shift in teaching instruction. Schools were starting to be “viewed as laboratories where students used books and visual resources for information exploration, small-group discussion, and project-based learning (Lamb, 2015, p. 63).” This is a lot like instruction today, only the libraries have expanded upon available resources for instruction.

Books
The author notes that around 1915, children would read Shakespeare in printed books, while today, a century later, a software app called Shakespeare in Bits allows students to learn Shakespeare through high-quality animation. This is just one of the many examples she provides to illustrate how printed materials have changed in libraries over the years. “The evolution of the book from text on paper to multimedia digital formats occurred gradually as each new technology added a new dimension to the classic form (Lamb, 2015, p. 63).” Lamb (2015) points out that print was combined with other media as far back as the 1910, when students would listen to poetry on phonograph records. In the 1970’s books on cassettes became popular, only to be quickly replaced by books on CD in the 1980’s and 1990’s and digital downloads in the 2000’s. In the past few years, we’ve seen the rise of e-books and graphic novels geared specifically toward young adults have become very popular.

Information Collections
The article discusses how, since 1915, librarians have spent a lot of time and energy organizing materials for vertical files. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, libraries began converting newspapers, books and manuscripts to microfilm. Thirty years later, libraries had microform readers available to patrons. Today, many reference materials are available online with subscriptions.

Visuals
In the article, a librarian from 1923 notes that she provides her students with visuals of maps, plants, insects and animal life on the bulletin board. Today, librarians are able to access a world of visuals with the internet. Lamb (2015) notes that “a quick search of the Web would provide students with access to millions of visuals including easy-to-access digital collections (p. 64).” She goes on to provide a brief history of visuals in library settings including the 1920’s use of photographs, slides and filmstrips, the 1940’s use of charts, graphs, maps and cartoons and the recent use of infographics and data visualizations.

Audio/Video
The article gives a quick overview of the changes in audio options from the Victrola to podcasts. It highlights that in the 1920’s and 1930’s instructional radio was briefly used in some schools while in the 1960’s and 1970’s audio tutorials were placed in library study areas. Today, audio is used in, for example, language programs such as Rosetta Stone and Mango, which libraries use for patrons to explore and learn other languages. As far a video, the 1910’s saw the use of low-cost portable projectors in schools. In fact, Thomas Edison once said “books will soon be obsolete in the public schools” (Lamb, 2015, p. 67). Imagine that! From the 1960’s through the present day, video is still widely used in instruction through the use of videotapes, laserdiscs, CDs and DVDs. Modern streaming services make it even easier for libraries to access and share the videos they seek, be it small clips or full-length programs.

Computers
One fact I was unaware of, was that “computer-assisted instruction emerged in the 1960’s” (Lamb, 2015, p. 68) and later, microcomputers of the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Today, as we know, computers are in nearly all schools and/or libraries and are used frequently for instruction. Software programs and social media are getting incorporated into daily curriculum as technology continues to grow and change.

Access
But as Lamb (2015) notes, “it’s not just the resources, but how we gain access to the information that has changed (p. 68).” As we see from the details above, the resources certainly have changed, but as librarians, our need to provide quick access to information has remained the same. Today, we have Google and other search engines which put multitudes of information at our fingertips. When I was growing up, I used the school library’s card catalog. It is interesting to note that, “in 1916, only 16.5% of school libraries in the South had card catalogs (Lamb, 2015, p. 69).” The card catalog became automated in the 1980’s with the use of microcomputers, and today, the physical card catalog of old is basically gone and in its place, online searching and databases. Technology and other inventions have sought to make information access easier and faster for school libraries and other kinds of libraries as well.

Lamb concludes by noting that, although school libraries have existed since the 8^th century, it took us until the 20^th century to view them as a “source of enrichment for the curriculum (p. 70).” She adds that “while the formats available and tools for accessing information have changed, the school library’s focus on providing access to quality content and designing engaging learning environments remains the same (p. 70).” As an educator, I was very interested in this article. It really got me thinking not only about where we’ve been in the history of school libraries and their collections, but also where we’re going. What will an article such as this one say about US in the future? Will our libraries seem as archaic as the ones from 1915 do to us now? What changes will come about? How will collection development develop and how will be better serve students in the next century to come? All interesting points to ponder.