Librarianship

Spencer Johnston

Scholarly Journal LIS

LIS 2941

Seguin, Dalrymple

Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson have written “Bring Back the Joy”, an entry in a scholarly journal pertaining to librarianship.  The purpose of this writing is to assist librarians in teaching methods through creative means.  Much of the text is pertinent to librarians in K-12 schools.

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From the very beginning, the two authors make it be known that “creativity is declining”, especially in terms of its being utilized in an academic setting.  Children and young adults undoubtedly have imaginative thought processes.  Ideally, this knowledge is highly applicable in a teacher or librarian’s realm.

Much of today’s concerns about the future of librarianship are focused on technology and its place in the library.  “Is technology a friend or foe of the library?” is a popular question.  “Bring Back the Joy” sheds positive light on the uncertainty of libraries futuristic future.

As time goes on, media consumption and computer literacy are continuing to snowball.  This is not a bad thing.  In fact, for the library and information science communities, it’s quite good.  Lamb and Johnson offer alternatives to dry lesson plans that utilize young people’s knack for technology.  This not only improves the students’ perception of the library as being dated (as I have overheard), it also appeals to the creative learning bone.

The suggestions that are made help to think outside the box.  When integrated into lessons, audio books, visual thesauruses, and animation tools serve exceptionally well.  Perhaps most interesting to me was using “avatar generators” to help young authors envision the characters in their writings.

I understand and appreciate the holistic approach of this article.  It is very similar to the book I’ve been reading entitled “Ideas for Librarians Who Teach” by Naomi Lederer.  This is inevitably the human aspect of integrating valuable technologies into libraries and its respective classroom environments.  I feel it’s very important to keep in mind that without proper education and execution of such technological advancements, their worth as tools is virtually lost.  This reminds me of those television programs that talk about “the world without humans”.  All that is left is ridiculously huge shells of buildings that no longer serve a meaningful purpose.

In summary, this particular scholarly journal entry helps to perpetuate our advancements in technology and their respective places in the library in particular.  The suggestions it offers serve two main purposes.  Its conventional purpose, being an aid to librarians and related staff, is relatively simplistic.  However, unconventionally, the article serves the library community in another complimentary and perhaps alleviating way:  job security!  For me, it has shed new light on what has been conveyed to me as a bit of a paradox.  Hopefully other students of library science will feel the same way that I do in that technology is to be used as a tool, not feared as a replacement.