1731: Ben Franklin opens first library on a subscription basis

1800: Library of Congress established

1814: British burn the LOC

1815: LOC starts building collection again with purchase of Jefferson's private library

1835: New York establishes first official school library at the urging of Horace Mann (at first, school libraries also served the public)

1854: Boston Public Library opens (first free municipal library supported by taxpayers, not private subscription)

1876: Dewey Decimal system created

 

Congress, Library of. "Thomas Jefferson: Jefferson's Library." https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html

 

Jenkins, Farley. "Resources for Library and Information Science." University of South Florida's School of Library and Information Science, 2010. http://fjenkins.myweb.usf.edu/lis/basic/timelineb.html

 

image from http://librarycompany.org

1887: Dewey creates first school of library instruction at Columbia College

1900: Mary Kingsbury becomes first professionally trained school librarian; assigned to Erasmus High School, Brooklyn

1914: AASL becomes a section of ALA

1920: First guidelines and standards for school libraries: Mary Hall (second professionally trained school librarian) and C. Certain publish Standard Library Organization and Equipment for Secondary Schools of Different Sizes

1945: First national standards for elementary and secondary school libraries: ALA publishes School Libraries for Today and Tomorrow, Functions and Standards

1951: AASL becomes a separate division of ALA 

1969: National guidelines connect school librarians and technology (i.e., audiovisual personnel) and use the term "library media specialist": ALA and NEA publish Standards for School Media Programs

2007: AASL releases Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

2017: New AASL Standards set for fall release

American Library Association. "First School Library?" 2008. 

http://www.ala.org/tools/first-school-library

 

American Library Association. "Standards for the 21st Century Learner," 2007. http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/learning

 

American Library Association. "Learning Standards and Program Guidelines: Review and Revision," 2017. http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards

 

Internet Archive/MARC
https://archive.org/details/libraryo00natistandardrich

 

Pond, Patricia. "Development of a Professional School Library Association." School Media Quarterly 5, no. 1, 1976. http://www.ala.org/aasl/about/history-1914

 

"School Libraries: History, Goals and Purposes, Materials and Equipment," 1998. http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2396/School-Libraries.html

 

Image from https://www.wccusd.net/Page/3428

1970s: Libraries begin using microforms in place of some print materials due to budget and space issues

1983: Official birthday of the Internet (shift of APRANET host protocol to TCP/IP enables everyone to communicate on the same system)

1995: Internet as we basically know it today with IP service

1990s: Database use explodes and continues to grow

2016: Database use in libraries changing (easier for patrons to google something than to log in and navigate different databases); future of library databases uncertain

 

Albanese, Andrew, and Brian Kenney. "The Changing World of Library Reference." Publishers Weekly, 2016. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/71322-we-need-to-talk-about-reference.html

 

Leiner, Barry, et al. "Brief History of the Internet," Internet Society, 1997. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet

 

QuickBase, "A Timeline of Database History," 2017. http://www.quickbase.com/articles/timeline-of-database-history

 

Southern Regional Library Facility. "Microfilm: A Brief History." http://www.srlf.ucla.edu/exhibit/text/BriefHistory.htm

 

Image from http://www.cnwintech.com/general/information-technology/impact-technology-libraries

 

Fast forward to 1903 and the publication of A Library Primer (third edition; first was published in 1899). It discusses the function of the public library, including:

1.    "It supplies the public with recreative reading. To the masses of the people—hard-worked and living humdrum lives—the novel comes as an open door to an ideal life, in the enjoyment of which one may forget, for a time, the hardships or the tedium of the real." 

2.   "Whenever possible show the inquirer how the answer is found, so that he may next time in some measure help himself."

3.   "People will use a library, not because, in others' opinions, they ought to, but because they like to."

4.   In the first purchases buy largely for children. They are the library's best pupils. They are more easily trained to enjoy good books than their elders. Through them the homes are best reached. They will, by their free use of the library, and by their approval of it, do much to add to its popularity. The best books for children will be enjoyed by all."

 

A Library Primer is filled with gems like those and it shows again that the library's mission has stood firm over time. We might not use the same terminology, but books do offer an escape and a way to live other lives through them. We are dealing with more advanced technology, but we still want to teach students how to find the information themselves. We still strive to make visiting the library such an enjoyable experience that it becomes a natural place for people to gather. And don't you just love number four? That last line continues to be wise and true: "The best books for children will be enjoyed by all."

 

If the core values of the library remain the same, what, then, has changed? 

 

First: the transition to a library commons space. Instead of simply a place to house books, libraries have evolved (or should be evolving) to support the new needs of learners. The library is a place for students to meet, collaborate, and have technology (and print material) at their fingertips with the support of the library media specialist. A vital part of this transformation is redefining the look and feel of a library's physical space. It should be open and inviting with the flexibility to rearrange furniture for an optimum learning experience. It should be a welcoming environment that encourages creativity and rewards curiosity.

 

Second: the addition of makerspaces. In 2005, Make: magazine was launched and initiated the beginning of the "maker movement." MakerSpaces are about more than creating something; they're about bringing students together in an area designed to promote innovation and investigation, including low-tech and high-tech projects and everything in between. In this way, MakerSpaces support a range of learning styles. They can also motivate hands-on learners to do some research in order to make an even better product. Some have argued, too, that makerspaces in public libraries may help keep them in business. That's debatable as I think school and public libraries will always be necessary, but it certainly makes them more appealing.

 

Finally: the dissemination of material, which continues to change rapidly. According to Albanese and Kenney, patrons used to ask for help finding things; now they want to know how to do things. They propose that instead of library media specialists (public and school) asking "What are you trying to find?" or "How may I help you?" that we instead begin with, "What problem are you trying to solve?" From there we can guide students to the right technology tools and teach them the information literacy skills they need to sort through the information overload we all experience in this digital age. They need to learn how to locate information, evaluate it for reliability, apply their new knowledge, and communicate what they've learned. 

 

While libraries have functioned the same way in many areas for thousands of years, we've come a long way from simply directing someone to a particular book. 

 

"A case may be made that the future lies in the hands of school librarians. They have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to optimize the acquisition and use of information and digital literacies by students. And these students will need those literacies to improve their worlds—and the conditions for society. Few vocations are as powerful." ~ Lesley Farmer, Information and Digital Literacies

 

Albanese, Andrew, and Brian Kenney. "The Changing World of Library Reference." Publishers Weekly, 2016. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/71322-we-need-to-talk-about-reference.html

 

Curiosity Commons of Library Learning. "A Brief History of Makerspaces." 2015. https://curiositycommons.wordpress.com/a-brief-history-of-makerspaces

 

Dana, John Cotton. Library Bureau, Chicago. A Library Primer. Third edition, Library Bureau, Chicago, 1903. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15327

 

Farmer, Lesley. Information and Digital Literacies: A Curricular Guide for Middle and High School Librarians. Roman and Littlefield, 2016.

 

Holland, Beth. "21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons." Edutopia, 2015. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/21st-century-libraries-learning-commons-beth-holland

 

Manguel, Alberto. A History of Reading. Penguin Books, 1996, 2014.

Image from https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-design-thinking-to-the-school-library-laura-deisley?col=480766