JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
Llano High School junior Cory Clausen is the library technology aide at the school tasked with overseeing the 3-D printer. Staff photos by Daniel Clifton
LLANO — As Cory Clausen winds his way though the Llano High School library, he passes shelves of books and a rack of magazines and cuts through a smaller room before ending up in a supply room. He’s here to do library work — just not book work.
Clausen, a junior, is the library technology aide tasked with working on and with the library’s 3-D printer.
Yeah, a 3-D printer, not a typical paper or document printer, though the library has some of those. The library also sports a technology center complete with a green screen for making videos and computers for video and audio editing. Students can even check out a variety of cameras for video projects.
Llano High School library technology aide Cory Clausen printed this three-dimensional figure of a library staff member using the school’s 3-D printer.
While books still make up a big part of the school library experience, technology and other components are creating an entirely new experience and expectations.
“Libraries are definitely changing,” Llano High School librarian Jil Dillard said. “We’re not only about books anymore. We’re also about technology and combining it all together for the students.”
Technology is helping change the face of libraries.
For years state officials and the Texas Education Agency have told school districts they would like to see students issued fewer texts books, opting for electronic tablets through which updated text books can be quickly downloaded at a lower cost than buying traditional printed ones.
Libraries still serve much of the same function – a place where students gather to brainstorm on group projects, check out books, peruse magazines and browse the Internet, but now, school libraries are heading into new realms.
“We are constantly evolving,” Dillard said. “We’re trying to keep up with trends and technology.”
Most students today, however, have a mobile library in their hands — the smart phone. But libraries are still carving out a niche for themselves as informational and technological hubs, often because of the creativity and hard work of the librarians and other staff.
“When I was in school in the 1980s, research was hard,” Burnet High School librarian Elizabeth Drake said. “School libraries today have definitely evolved. Google had come out in 2000. That changed everything a lot. (Back then), they weren’t using computers how we use them today.”
Librarians and staff aren’t just about pointing students toward books, shelving books or “shushing” them when they get a little loud. In fact, the days of “shushing” in many school libraries are gone as the facilities become more about collaboration and exploration than quiet reading.
The librarian now serves more as a technologically savvy guide who can help find obscure research on the Internet or answer questions about film editing. Libraries still provide books and other reading material — sometimes in both traditional printed format and electronic format.
“I think school libraries are important to the school campus and provide what is needed,” Drake said. “In elementary school, you absorb everything. In middle school, you have interest reading. In high school, you’re pulling out good information and finding good information. Kids are coming in and getting books to read. From tutoring each other and finalizing projects, this library is a hub for information.”
Librarians also shuffle through the vast amount of data available to discern which information is factual to help students with their research.
“It’s my job and teaching job to help the students learn which would be an appropriate source,” Drake said. “My role is to help them seek the best information.”
Dillard agreed.
“There’s so much information that kids don’t necessarily have the skills to figure out what’s garbage and what’s real information,” she said.
Dillard said it’s not enough for librarians to keep their facilities updated with the latest printed books and eBooks; they also must be familiar with copywriting, technology and curriculum. She credits the Llano Independent School District board of trustees and administrators for having a vision of a library’s role at a campus and the commitment to see it through.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “They recognize the value of a library.”
The LHS librarian has big plans for the 3-D printer. She sees students using it to print out models for their science classes.
Clausen, who spent last summer interning with the district’s technology department, learned the ins and outs of the printer. He’s the specialist to whom Dillard turns when classes or staff need to use the piece of equipment. Several other students make up the library’s technology aide program. These students specialize in one or more of the technology-based pieces in the library and provided guidance to other students and even staff when needed.
But the goal is for every student to become better versed in the changing technology and its uses.
“For our students, the expectations are constantly evolving,” she said. “If kids aren’t able to operate in an online environment, they’ll flounder. It’s up to us to help get them ready.”
Librarians are also guiding the look and feel of the new libraries.
Marble Falls Independent School District Superintendent Rob O’Connor said his district’s campus librarians will take field trips to libraries in other school districts to get ideas of what MFISD should do at their own campuses.
“They’re going to observe what (other school districts) are doing to see what a 21st century library looks like,” he said. “There are so many resources online. The libraries of today are portable campuses. Our librarians are going to guide us into what that looks like.”
The modern library serves as a place that accommodates all tastes of getting information, he said, adding he doesn’t believe books are going away. One picture includes a combination of technology-based learning with the most up-to-date textbooks.
For all its wonders and abilities, technology has drawbacks. Dillard pointed out if a school or district doesn’t have a plan on how to implement new technology, whether it’s a 3-D printer or a tablet, then it’s just a shiny new thing collecting dust.
“You need a plan on how it’s going to be used and how teachers are going to use it,” she said.
And there’s the cost. Not all districts can afford the latest technology.
Even at the student level, cost can become prohibitive.
O’Connor acknowledged some families might not be able to afford buying their students electronic tablets or similar devices.
But the reality is that libraries must find ways to embrace and utilize technology. For students such as Clausen, it could serve as a jumping-off point as he looks at college prospects and even career opportunities down the road.
“I think Cory will definitely have an advantage as he applies to colleges or looks for jobs because he already has this incredible skill with 3-D printing,” Dillard said.
Clausen agreed.
“How many other high school students have a chance to work with something like this,” he asked. “And here it is in our library.”
As for future developments at the LHS library, Dillard is eyeing one more, though not quite as high-tech as more recent additions.
One day she should would love to have a coffee shop inside the library.
“I’ve tried to figure out a way around the dietary restrictions,” she said with a laugh.
jfierro@thepicayune.com
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