Imagining+the+Library+as+a+21st+Century+Textbook

by Mark Ray

At the recent NSBA T+L conference, I attended a presentation that billed itself as an exploration of the eTextbook. As it turned out, one of the schools that was presenting didn’t buy print or electronic textbooks at all. They used subscription databases, collected electronic resources and the odd novel set. Now that’s thinking differently. More recently, I was chatting with a favorite library sales rep and we got into a good discussion about the future of e-publishing. Since both publishing reps and teacher librarians feel much like dinosaurs during the waning days of the Cretaceous Era, there was much to talk about. One idea struck me in particular.

In the analog era, there was a literal gulf between the textbook and the library book. Textbooks were invented because you couldn’t have a library in your locker, book bag or desktop. Sure, there was the issue of editorial authority and the blessing of a textbook as ‘approved’ for student use. But fundamentally, the textbook was a means to provide content and information for the learner in lieu of the library. That and a bunch of story problems. Compared to the wealth and diversity of resources in a library and now the Googleweb, the textbook is a dry, homogenized and very 19th century way of conveying information.

As a teacher librarian for whom textbook management is part of my job description, I have long waited for the eTextbook. How do I loathe the textbook? Let me count the ways…. And for years, I’ve decried the slow pace of publishers to provide viable options for the K-12 marketplace. Higher education has made forays into electronic textbooks either for purchase, lease or rent. But solutions for K-12 are years away.

But here’s the a-ha moment. In the electronic era, the gulf between the library and textbook is gone. We need to think of electronic resources not in terms of their analog labels of library books, instructional resources and textbooks, but in terms of how information supports teaching and learning. And I would argue that we don’t need to wait for textbook publishers to come up with an electronic solution. In some subjects, we might not even need textbooks at all. Here’s why.

According the current best thinking, we have to teach students to find, process, evaluate, share and create information. Just like they should be doing in the library. Virtually every 21st century learning framework, plan, document or weltanschauung contains expectations for students to be able to powerfully engage with the information age. As just one example, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills includes the following language for information literacy:

Access and Evaluate Information


 * ·Access information efficiently (time) and effectively (sources)
 * ·Evaluate information critically and competently

Use and Manage Information


 * ·Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand
 * ·Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources
 * ·Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

But these are not library skills (as they have been in the past). These are basic, core, fundamental and deliverable habits of mind and learning targets that all students should have and which all teachers should be teaching.

Textbooks don't really get students accessing, using, managing and evaluating information. They are something akin to Campbell’s Condensed Soup of the American Revolution. We already know that students bristle at using print for information, intuitively seeking electronic resources for their research and learning. Print textbooks are not native to millennial learners. In many ways, the assignment of print textbooks to students recalls the sadistic brilliance of Spanish inquisitors. In addition to being forced to use something that they loathe and find largely incomprehensible, they are further burdened to carry it around like a ball and chain.

Unfortunately, electronic textbooks are not likely to be much better. Electronic textbooks, even good ones, will be limited by one or more of the following issues:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reader/viewer issues
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Convergent rather than divergent information
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tight licensing and usage limitations
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Proprietary access
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Limited copy/paste/save functions due to paranoia over copyright and fair use
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Facsimile of print pages rather than built-for-web design
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Unrelenting dullness

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So why fight this fight? For some subjects, an investment in an online database, set of eBooks or other electronic resources could overcome all of the above challenges, not to mention foster a far more entrepreneurial usage of information both for teachers and students. There are a number of other upsides of using electronic resources in lieu of textbooks. Here are just a few:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cost. Even Cadillac subscription databases purchased at rack rates pale in comparison with print textbook costs. Given the competition in the marketplace, systemic site licenses and/or multi-year commitments would bring list prices down to earth quickly.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Circulation and management? Unnecessary.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Loss? Doesn’t exist. Unless you forget the password.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Weight? Truly ethereal.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Currency? Databases are reviewed and updated regularly.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anywhere/anytime access. Yes, you need a computer with Internet access. Or a jump drive. Or a printer.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So here’s the last hurdle: training (or re-training) teachers to use these tools. No problem. Here's where we can ride in on a white horse. We've been promoting this stuff for years (or should be). Again, we're the hero with a a great solution, leaving teachers, students and curriculum departments with a smile on their face.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And we're moving a few less textbooks. Win-win-win.