Library feature fall 2016

LIBRARY THE

IN THE

AGE OF

EVERYTHING

By Aaron Severson

Although alarmist headlines often suggest that libraries are an endangered species, rendered obsolete by the many online resources now at our fingertips, the library at Webb is becoming more relevant than ever. In fact, it’s helping to reshape Webb’s curriculum and campus life.

L I B R A R I E S T O D AY Times have been tough for public libraries.

In many communities, funding is tighter than ever. There are also signs that library use is declining. In surveys conducted by Pew Research Center, the percentage of Americans 16 and older who report visiting public libraries in the past year has fallen from 53 percent in 2012 to 46 percent last year. Use of library websites hasn’t increased commensurately and it appears public library patrons, particularly younger ones, have been slow to recognize the range of resources many libraries now offer.

Nonetheless, Pew surveys reveal that more than 70 percent of American adults still feel that libraries serve an important role in supporting education in their communities and nurturing “lifelong learners.” There’s also a strong correlation between library use and other forms of community engagement and activism.

Those points figure prominently in the arguments of library experts and advocates like John Palfrey, head of school for Phillips Academy Andover, former vice-dean of library and information resources at Harvard Law, and author of the 2015 book BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google. Palfrey’s thesis is that libraries must also become hubs of interaction and creation, helping communities to connect and navigate an increasingly complex technological and informational landscape.

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I check out books (some for leisure, most for school), and I spend my lunches in one of the library classrooms with my friends.” Barrett Fischer ’16 says the library “somehow manages to be both intellectual and casual. One moment you could be talking to your friend about last night’s game and the next you’re working on a history paper.”

Students have played an important part in that transformation, suggesting ways to improve the physical space and creating

“The library somehow manages to be both intellectual and casual.”

S OU NDS OF CHANGE Anyone seeking a model of the thriving and vital library of the future would do well to study Webb’s W. Russell Fawcett Memorial Library, which has been undergoing a renaissance under the leadership of director of teaching and learning resources Mark Dzula, Ph.D. Dzula says the library “should stimulate wonder, nurture discovery, and support extended study.” One of the many changes he’s made to support that vision can be heard the moment you walk in the door. “Our rules allow collegial conversation instead of requiring hushed silence,” he explains.

“Fawcett Library is a dynamic place. I am proud to have the library open to a broad spectrum of use.”

Dzula’s philosophy has helped transform the library into a vibrant community center as well as a haven for study and research.

“At Webb, the library is also seen as a social hangout spot,” says Maxim Sapozhkov ’17, who adds that it’s still “a very good study place.”

“I use the Fawcett Library in a variety of manners, everything from studying to socializing,” says Anjali Reddy ’18. “During my free blocks, I like to complete my work at the main tables,

Webb Magazine • Fall 2016

artwork like the new mascot, “Billy the Book,” and the “Kaleidoscope” mural installation that adorns the back wall.

“The [mural’s] frame was designed to match the geometry of the Fawcett Library: octagons and circles,” explains Leo Zhang ’17.

“We agreed that the sketches should be a reflection of life at Webb. The cool color scheme was designed to be a contrast to the warm scheme elsewhere in the library.”

In addition to student art, the library now regularly hosts events and programs, from poetry readings to karaoke. New after-school programs like Creative Writing and News & Views provide an informal setting for students to share opinions and exercise their creativity. During each Creative Writing program, for example, former library assistant Liz Harmer used to offer writing prompts, advice, and snacks for a dozen or so young writers.

“You bounce ideas off of your friends and peers, sometimes writing a story together,” explains Andi Delgado ’18. Reddy, another regular participant, says, “It’s definitely helped me with my creative spontaneity.”

TRANSFORMATIVE TOOLS Another addition to the library is the Berry Center, a “maker space” offering an assortment of materials for drawing or model-building. Some students use these materials for class projects. Last fall, for instance, sophomores in Webb’s new Integrated Physics & Chemistry (IPC) class designed model bridges and marble roller coasters. “It was beneficial for our students to have access to the library’s new maker space, where they could collaborate between classes and experiment with new designs,” says teacher Andrew Hamilton.

Sapozhkov turned to the Berry Center for a project in Honors American Literature. “Our assignment was to visualize the mansion of Jay Gatsby from the book The Great Gatsby,” he explains. “The colored pencils and markers were very useful.”

Many students also use the space recreationally. “I love the Berry Center,” exclaims Delgado. “I sometimes find myself in there after a particularly rough academic day to doodle.”

Zhang is fond of the wooden KEVA planks. “I go there and just build some random shapes for fun,” he says. “We all get something from the wooden blocks, either the joy of building them and watching them collapse or a study of the geometry or spaces.”

CULTIVATING INFORMATION LITERACY None of these new features have supplanted the library’s core mission, which is supporting student learning.

The prevalence of online information and new media present both opportunities and challenges for educators. The convenience of search engines, says Director of Academic Affairs Theresa Smith, PhD, hasn’t eliminated the need “to be really good at locating good information, which implies the ability to know what is good information.”

Webb students themselves generally express confidence in their “information literacy,” but their teachers are less sanguine.

“The students are good at what they can glean from the first or second page of a Google search,” says dean of faculty

Tracy Miller, PhD “Our kids are used to the instant gratification that comes so often with information online.

It’s something we work on from the minute they arrive on campus.”

“I think incoming students are not always as skeptical as I would like,” adds Smith. “They’ve grown up in a world where media, advertising, and information are blended so much that I think they have a hard time seeing how information might be shaped by business or the source it’s coming from.”

Corinne McGinley ’16 says that was definitely true for her as a freshman. “I was very naïve when it came to being discerning of different sources,” she says.

The library staff plays an active role in helping students develop that discernment while taking advantage of the many powerful resources available online. “We’ve invested in databases like EBSCOhost and the New York Times archives at teachers’ requests,” says Dzula. “We demonstrate the capabilities of these resources and help teachers and students integrate them into their projects.”

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“Sometimes, I have absolutely no clue where to start for a project or paper,” admits Delgado. “I have found the online databases to which we have subscriptions, such as JSTOR and the Gale Discovering Collection, to be immensely helpful.”

Hamilton says that last fall, “the library arranged for every sophomore to attend a lunchtime presentation on research skills and tools.” Harmer, who conducted part of that presentation, explains that she “went through all our online resources to show students which ones tend to be better for different approaches: sociological versus scientific versus historical.”

Dzula conducted a comparable tutorial on the New York Times archives for the 11th grade U.S. History class. The first major research project teacher Susanna Linsley, PhD, assigned for that class was to write a first-person diary of a historical figure of the 1920s based on information from the Times archives.

Linsley says part of the goal was to help students “gain an

The Webb Schools • WEBB.ORG

understanding of what we can know from newspaper articles and what sort of information a newspaper can’t provide.”

Sapozhkov, who wrote about Pan-Africanism founder Marcus Garvey, found the tutorial illuminating. “I was very surprised that the New York Times has papers even from the 1890s,” he says. “These archives helped me not only in history class, but also in my Honors American Lit class.”

CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT The library staff’s involvement extends well beyond demonstrating databases. For Linsley’s 20s diary assignment, Dzula and his staff prepared a 12-page research guide outlining books and resources available on each historical figure. “I work very closely with Mark and the library staff when developing these projects,” says Linsley. “They make sure they have a detailed understanding of the projects so they can help students find resources.”

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To help IPC students design “supergraphics” illustrating concepts in quantum mechanics, the library staff introduced students to the work of infographics master Edward Tufte.

“The [library’s] display included a video presentation and a short biography of Tufte,” Hamilton explains. “Dr. Dzula also pointed us to The Vizzies, an annual award sponsored by the National Science Foundation for scientific illustration, and located several magazines that contained great examples.”

An emerging role of the library, notes Smith, “is to help us access academic resources for departments beyond what we normally think of as academic resources.” One exciting example is the recent collaboration between Dzula and Miller for Miller’s 11th grade AP Language class. In teaching Mark Twain’s 1894 novel Pudd’nhead Wilson, Miller “was looking for a way to link the book to conversations about race that are happening in our world today. Mark helped me shape the direction of the assignment. It was his idea to tap students into public discourse through a venue in which it’s happening today.”

Among the most important of those venues is Twitter, where headline-making hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter link an incisive, acerbic running dialogue about race in America.

English and Humanities Department Chair Andy Dahlstrom, who adopted Miller’s assignment for his 12th grade AP Literature class, says the library “assembled an amazing document: a collection of the social media discussions of race in 2015.”

Students conducted additional independent research and then recorded five-minute oral reflections using their smartphones.

Webb Magazine • Fall 2016

McGinley says the library guide was “incredible and deeply appreciated,” helping her come to grips with an assignment that touched on everything from identity politics to police shootings. “This was a project reflective of Webb’s values of creating students of the world,” she says, “encouraging us to engage with the world around us and not isolate ourselves to traditional forms of research.”

“I never had an assignment quite like that,” adds Fischer, whose own oral reflection considered the links between violence and poverty. “It was a good reminder that the work we do in school, although sometimes seemingly arbitrary, holds a lot of personal significance.”

“ It was a good reminder that the work we do in school, although sometimes seemingly arbitrary, holds a lot of personal significance.”

Library-faculty collaborations like these will grow more frequent as Webb develops its new junior and senior elective curriculum. That curriculum will include a strong research component that Miller says is aimed at “getting students to engage with primary sources, which is often not what you get when you Google.”

Miller calls Dzula “a great colleague and interlocutor” and says the library staff “can be really powerful partners for teachers. They know the kinds of questions the kids ask and the roadblocks to research.”

INTO THE FUTURE

INTO THE

For all he’s accomplished, Dzula is just getting started. Aside from expanding the library’s role in curricular development, he’s exploring additional partnerships with other libraries—the library is already a member of the Independent School Library Exchange, the local affiliate of the Association of Independent School Libraries—and collaborating with Miller “to promote the library as a resource for professional development.”

The revitalized library’s most important contribution may be its impact on Webb students. If the Fawcett Library is a model of the library of tomorrow, its users are the forerunners of tomorrow’s library patrons: engaged, curious, and passionate about everything a library can offer. As Delgado puts it, “I feel like Fawcett is raising my expectations of libraries in general.”

FUTURE