Give me an "A!" Give me a "C!" Give me a "C-E-S-S!" And what does that spell?! ACCESS!!

On par with every illustrious superhero, I think the following motto applies to teacher-librarians as well: "with great power comes great responsibility."

From what I've learned this week, it appears that absolutely EVERY decision that a teacher-librarian makes in the school library will have a ripple effect on student access to information and resources. Both what we do and what we don't do similarly carry the same amount of impact; therefore, it is extremely important for teacher-librarians to be aware of the influence they hold over student access and consequently, student learning.

While intellectual access (i.e. is this book appropriate for this age group?), and physical access (i.e. is the library open after school or at lunch?) have always been major factors in affecting student access to resources, we are currently entering into an uncharted territory where digital access (i.e. do students know how to log in to subscribed databases on remote home computers?) has become a critical concern.

Now, digital media and the Internet are "hot topics" when it comes to education and school libraries. The big question of how to navigate these uncharted waters is continuously pondered and re-pondered. So many factors are involved: maintaining adequate equipment and gadgets, safeguards and limitations on Internet searches, equal time and access to digital tools (computers, iPads, etc.), and the list goes on...

I do think that the future of school libraries will be largely comprised of digital collections (if not have a complete monopoly). Our generation of teacher-librarians are on the wave of transition; the seas will be the roughest for us as we grapple with establishing digital access philosophies and "best practices." Don't get me wrong, I am a LOVER of physical books and I think there will always be a place for them in some respect. But, rather than resist the technologies of a new emerging generation, we must embrace the good, mitigate the bad, and have fun in the process.

On the positive side: Learning and the Pursuit of Knowledge are still at the core, it's just the outer shell that is changing.

In closing, I have written an acrostic poem, which I will use to remind myself of my commitment to ACCESS:

Accountable for
Connecting
Children to
Exemplary resources.
Seven days a week, all
School year long.