Lesson 4-- Print and/or Electronic Reference Materials

"Teacher-librarians should not discriminate, for or against, one format (print or electronic) over another. They should try to determine what reference, in what format, will help students and teachers to answer their questions and support the development of information skills"(class notes). I have to say that I agree entirely with this statement.
I appreciated Naryn S.'s post:" I don't know if exclusively being an internet resource person is any less valuable than the "old days" where a t-l was exclusively a print resource person. The concept of helping students navigate to the right info is still the goal. With digital resources and the internet, the t-l now has less control over the information the students have access to, and I think helping students navigate through the internet (and giving them skills to do it critically and independently) is as crucial as it ever was to help them find something in an encyclopedia."
When I reflected on this topic, it got me thinking about my own two boys and how they would handle their own research. My oldest could navigate the Web when he was three years old. I know for a fact that he would almost always use the Internet for his research. He is a very spatial learner.
My youngest, however is a very hands-on learner. For him, the Internet would be far too overwhelming and I know he would prefer using print for his research. He would enjoy actually touching a book and having well-selected reference works to begin his project. He would benefit from the "predictable layout of entries and the formal and structured arrangement of most of these print references" (class notes).
It was interesting to learn from Wendy B.:"I know of a couple of TL's in our district who insist that students use books and print resources as well as internet. The skills they learn are transferable and the information is already filtered. They do not need to spend hours on the internet finding a good site to use. "
I agree with Riedling when she says that "we must embrace the continual changes, not resist them. We must move forward to make the school library centers of tomorrow purposeful and exciting. We must make information gathering effective and efficient-- and create information literate, socially responsible lifelong learners" (p.104).