Technology has expanded students’ access to information and made the research process easier and faster, which is beneficial. But where does that leave the OH Learning Resource Center (LRC)?
“I think a lot of things that teachers are starting to assign and teach us are online,” noted OH senior and National English Honor Society (NEHS) president Gabrielle Baier.
As Baier noted, many things have moved online, and English teacher Jamie Bechina also referenced this, saying, “We don’t really use [the LRC] that much, honestly.”
As technology has grown and changed, educators’ and students’ reliance on that technology has increased significantly, shifting how print resources are used and how LRCs fit into that digital age.
“When I first started here at OHS in 2002, a lot of what kids would do when they come down to research is use our non-fiction section,” said OH LRC Director Drew Mundsinger. “The internet was in its baby steps, so [it] wasn’t used a lot. We had encyclopedias, [and] we had a lot of magazine subscriptions.”
“Then we started to get some online databases, like the baby EBSCO and stuff like that,” he added. “Really now, everything research-wise… is online.”
There are many benefits to this kind of access: it is much easier to get up-to-date information from the internet than from an encyclopedia, students have access to more resources, and students do not have to worry about having multiple copies of a resource or waiting for someone else to return one. That shifted the focus of the LRC from books to websites and computer labs.
“Back in [the early 2000s], the only place to really find technology in schools was in the library,” Mundsinger explained. “That’s just where everything was housed: your TVs, your VCRs, all that stuff, maybe basic computers.” But even that has changed with district-issued, one-to-one Chromebooks.
“We used to have to sign up to go to a computer lab,” Bechina recalled. “If we were doing a research project back in the olden days, like, we would have to go to the LRC to do all of that stuff, and now, we don’t have to.”
This is also beneficial. Students don’t need to take the time to sign up or walk to the labs. They don’t need to wait until a lab is available, and having more frequent access to online research lets students learn to streamline the research and reading process.
So if students don’t need print research books and no longer need physical computer labs, what can the LRC offer?
“I think it’s especially important for people who otherwise don’t have access to books,” Baier said.
Where the LRC has stopped getting as many nonfiction books for research, Mundsinger has worked to get more fiction books for personal reading, which is supportive of the independent reading done at OH.
Mundsinger said, “My thing has always been ‘I don’t care if you like to read or don’t want to read, I can find a book for you.’ Maybe it’ll just be one book, but if I can get you one book, maybe you want to come back and get a second book.”
Even when it comes to digital research, the LRC provides resources such as EBSCO to help students find quality sources.
“With a research database [like EBSCO], you’re going to get more academic material… You can get full-length articles, and you’re not worrying about necessarily a paywall or something like that,” Bechina said.
As the resources students use to learn change with technology, the LRC has to change what it offers, but it is still an important part of the school community.
Mundsinger graduated from OH, so he remembers what the LRC was like when he used it as a student. “It was a very sterile environment. I think libraries in general have moved from being a place where you could go, but maybe you didn’t feel comfortable to ‘all right, you know what, this is a place where I can come, and I can sit and I can kind of do my work or relax with friends,’” he said.
“I’m very proud of our library, because I think… this is a space where kids should all feel like they are valued and appreciated, and I’ve worked really, really hard at making that a place where everybody wants to be,” Mundsinger added.
I'm Taylor Jo Ana, I'm a Junior at OH, and this is my first year on 42Fifty! I'm on the Speech Team, and I'm in the National English Honor Society and National Art Honor Society. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
