Part 1: How Can We Redefine the American Library?

Julie Todaro D.L.S., the American Library Association’s President-elect, spent time with Dr. Berger to follow-up on their recent discussion regarding the state of libraries around the country and the role they play in schools and communities. 

 Todaro has been a library manager for over thirty years and has experience in all types of libraries and library settings. She is a Dean in a community college library, consults, presents workshops, and is an author and frequent presenter at association conferences and in organizational settings. Most recently, Todaro was co-chair of ALA President Barbara Stripling’s “Libraries From Now On” Invitational Summit at the Library of Congress, May 2014 and is the author of Library Management for the Digital Age: A New Paradigm (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014) and Mentoring A to Z (Neal-Schuman, 2015).

Todaro is the recipient of distinctions and awards including the 1999 YWCA Austin Educator of the Year Award, the 1996 Librarian of the Year and 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Library Association.

Interview

Eleni Miltsakaki, Ph.D. founder of Choosito! and adjunct faculty member teaching educational technology at Penn Graduate School of Education joined Todaro to further discussion on the state of American libraries and how we can support librarians in their efforts to support students, teachers and communities.

Choosito! provides a set of web-based search tools, which make online research meaningful and useful to students. Choosito! Web filters typical searches in real time, using thematic and difficulty filters that adapt the results towards the abilities of the students and the needs of their research project. With Choosito!, teachers take charge of the web with control features that enable them to build their own Teachers’ Library, rate/block sites, and suggest new filters. Choosito’s Questbook builds a strong community of teachers who browse and contribute designs of research activities per grade and theme. For more information check out their video below:

Check out more interviews examining the state of U.S. Libraries