Recommended Summer Reading

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I’d encourage you all to read “Libraries and Learning: A History of Paradigm Change” by Scott Bennett (Portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol. 9, No. (2009), pp.181-197).  Bennett discusses the shift from reader-centered to learning-centered paradigms in libraries.  He challanges librarians to stop thinking of themselves as only “traffickers” of information (or one who “supports learning by facilitating the use of information resources”) to that of enacting the learning mission of the institution through being educators.   He goes on to discuss making appropriate choices in library design which supports a learning-centered paradigm (hence, librarians must understand how people learn!).   There is no scarcity of information– it is everywhere.  The challenge is creating libraries which connect space and learning. Going beyond the Information Commons, the learning-centered model places intentional learning at the center of library design versus service.  On the same note, the March/April 2009 Educause issue is entirely devoted to learning spaces.  Also, check out Educause Learning Spaces e-book (it’s free and full-text). Ok, get reading (and thinking!)…  -LF