In 1980, a computer programmer working for a local entrepreneur stopped by to ask if I would be interested in using an Apple II-based checkout system and online catalog. I couldn’t quite imagine the online catalog, but we did go for the checkout system and implemented it while local skeptics expected the business would fail. A couple years later at a different job, I made the leap to a computer catalog. It took me no time at all to dump the old file drawers. Innovative stuff for the early ’80s.

Multiple-drawer card catalogs have long been relegated to storing bulbs and batteries in media centers or nuts and bolts in garages. Static OPACS accessible only in the media center have become web catalogs accessible throughout our schools and beyond; WebPACS have evolved into full-featured, one-stop-shopping access points for media centers’ collections, websites, databases, customized lists of state award winners, top checkouts, ebooks, book excerpts, and thumbnail images of book covers.

The New Generation

Media specialists use these next-generation systems to create reading lists and webliographies. A second-grade teacher who loves her system explained: "It is very handy to have all of the information in one place. If I log in to the system, I have access to lists the media specialist has created … resource lists related to the curriculum classroom teachers are teaching. The lists include books in our media center related to my topic. It makes it much easier to pull books related to what we are teaching." Another teacher loves to have students create their own reading lists at home so that they are prepared when they go to the media center the next day. Another elementary media specialist said her students love the book covers they can view online. Home access also means more parent involvement in the child’s learning. According to one media specialist: "Students still have some trouble finding the call number and then the book on the shelf, but they can show me on the screen what they want. They are really excited about the features that are more visual and interactive."

Students at Naples (Fla.) High School access Follett Software Co.’s Destiny Quest from the school’s award-winning website maintained by media specialist and school webmaster Adam Janowski. Information about new arrivals and popular titles appears with a mouseover. Search results pop off the screen. Features such as these speak to Digital Natives and help bring libraries into the 2.0 online world. When you are done checking out Destiny Quest (http://tinyurl.com/cdvbtd), be sure to take a peek at Janowski’s colorful, student-centered media center website at http://collier.k12.fl.us/nhs/lmc (see Figure 1). It’s bound to draw students to reading with its lively and colorful interface.

Social Searching

Student reviews posted on web catalogs have led to a new level of involvement. Students are no longer just searching for books but contributing to the catalog’s content. Ivy Demos, a media center paraprofessional in Maine, coined the term "catablog" to describe these newer options. Demos, a teacher, and a library media specialist are collaborating on a grant project involving Maine authors. Destiny Webcat allows students to review and rate a book with one to five stars and write comments. Students post their book reviews, and the LMS "publishes" them if they are deemed appropriate. They have also applied for a grant to expand their project with student accounts.

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